Cheering Myself Up... With Urban Decay! And Dime Boxes!

After careful debate, I turned in my notice at work a little over a week ago... 

That means the countdown to Laura and I leaving Colorado has officially begun. 

For months, I knew this day was coming and had become inevitable. Between the Colorado economy and a steady diet of non-stop tragedy, we simply could no longer make a go of it here... We tried... But the laws of supply and demand are not in our favor.

We demand a supply of affordable rent, but too many others are making that same demand... Guess what that does to supply...

Much like the owner of whatever this business (at Sheridan Avenue and I-76) once was, our dream of making a go here has all but run out. And I still feel pretty depressed about that, a whole lot of the time...

I do love living in Colorado...

In the hours after I pretty much quit my job (a couple of months before I'd planned on doing it), I really felt terrible. Life as I've grown to know it has just instantly been thrown in a bingo hopper. I needed a good long drive around town to clear my head. I needed to see decaying buildings that were once useful. Because that was how I felt. And I needed to see little cardboard pictures of baseball players.

That's what I need today...

But that wasn't going to happen last Saturday morning. There was too much other stuff that needed to be done after work, and I was way too tired to do any of it...

However, the next morning happened to be a Sunday. I decided that I wanted to go to Mike's Stadium Sports Cards in Aurora, Colorado. What I really wanted to do was flip through bins of cards and look for Twins and Expos that I don't have. Well, that store is about 12 miles from the apartment, and they opened at noon...

Meaning, I should leave home a little bit after 6am! 

Just as the sun rose over Aurora... You don't want to be late!

The sun also rises over the recently closed Englewood K-Mart. Which would still look open if it weren't for the haphazardly placed pieces of plywood over it's entrance doors. And the former K-Mart sign at the parking lot entrance, now painted solid black to cover up K-Mart's logo. As well as the "open 24 hours" notice that was covered up in 2008, when they started closing at night...

I had no destination in mind when I started out this morning, I just wanted to see some cool buildings that looked as bleak as our current Colorado prospects. And speaking of prospects... I also wanted to lose myself in looking at Baseball Cards for a little bit.

These are both things that typically cheer me up. And this weekend needed both baseball cards and a heavy dose of Urban Decay. I just didn't know where I was going to find it quite yet...

This building at 3925 S Broadway, used to be coated in off-white stucco. Most of it was occupied by AAMCO Transmissions, until they moved out in 2014. The entire building was sandblasted clean of stucco, leaving just the red brick exposed. Only the storefront on the far right is currently being used. By an exotic bird shop.

The "International Order of Odd Fellows" (or IOOF) building at 3425 S Broadway, has been a favorite of mine for decades. Named for a band of upper-classmen, that went out of their way to help the less fortunate. They were called Odd Fellows, because people found it odd that they would help people. This movement had chapters all over the country in the early 1900's.

Currently, the Englewood, Colorado IOOF building is undergoing a massive renovation. This will allow the new owners to charge even greater sums of money to lease retail storefronts upon completion. Goodbye Bonnie Brea Hobby Shop...

Image my surprise when I found the IOOF previously operated a chapter in Coon Rapids!

(That's Coon Rapids, Iowa... Not Coon Rapids, Minnesota...)

When I moved from Denver to Coon Rapids (MN) in 2003, I drove around to my favorite places in town a few days before I moved away. Taking horribly blurry pictures from a terrible 35mm camera, as I drove a loop around the city and suburbs. Those pictures would serve as my memory bank of Colorado life. And I still use some of those pictures today...

Given advances in photo technology over the last 15 years, I can do that same mission on a much grander scale, before we leave Colorado for Minnesota in a couple months. Yes, I'm still going to drive all over town to get all the pictures I want and need, but with a much better means of capturing images.

Think I'll start by getting pictures of stuff on Federal Avenue....

Like these railroad tracks for example... They cross the intersection of Dartmouth and Tejon, and end shortly south of here. Many years ago, these tracks lead all the way to Fort Logan, with spurs shooting off in all directions, to provide materials to local businesses.

Today, the military base has long since closed, and most of the tracks have been removed. Parts of the track still serve a purpose today, including delivery of coal to the power plant and giant rolls of paper to the printing company I work at.

For a few more days at least...

We could have had a nice fish dinner break at this Long John Silvers restaurant, but it closed in 2011. I've already photographed it extensively, so I'm not going to worry too much about it today...

In fact, I've already grown tired of Federal Avenue, so I'm going to take a left on Jewell Ave, and make like I'm going to my friend Brad's house...

At the intersection of Jewell Ave and Sheridan Blvd, there is Vasa Fitness. I've never heard of this business before this morning. For the last couple of years, this building was an abandoned Safeway grocery store. (Closing in early 2015.) That too was extensively photographed for a future story... Nice to see it repurposed instead of demolished...

Continuing west on Jewell to Wadsworth Blvd., you will find a Starbucks. Big shock, there is a Starbucks on almost every corner... However, before this became the place where Cody buys his overpriced Latte every afternoon, it was an abandoned Conoco.

That was also photographed for a future story here... 

I've got so much material to write more stories about...

A year or so ago, I photographed the non-descript shopping center behind Conoco/Starbucks, which didn't have either of these two businesses here. DD's Discounts was a closed up Savers, and Rite Aid was a closed up Chinese Buffet...

Driving north about a mile or so on Wadsworth, past Alameda International High School, sits this ACE Cash Express. It looked abandoned at first glance, due to the missing sign on the marquee. But it's still open. And still uninteresting...

However, sitting behind ACE is the former Brunswick Bowl. This former bowling alley building was one of the first abandoned buildings that I covered on this site. It was sealed up tight without much to see from a parking lot drive by back then. Today I notice there is a demolition fence placed around the entire building. So it looks like Brunswick Bowl is about to be removed from it's longtime home.

Getting final updates on abandoned sites that I've been following for the past few years. That's what my last couple of months in Denver will do...

I reflected on Brunswick Bowl long enough to wait for the light to allow me to turn right onto Mississippi Ave. About a half mile away, I saw this abandoned gas station. Once again sitting empty after having lost it's temporary tenant... A popular story for this building. Seen it repeated a lot over the last 20 years...

The placement of a demolition fence around this building came as a bit of a surprise. I'd seen people using the offices here for years, last being Redd Electric.

Here is the location where the pilot (and only) episode of My Buddie was recorded... 

Go watch it, I'll wait...

And congratulations to Lauren (who was played by Shelby Benefield), for her recent move to Hollywood, and appearance in a new video from the Tobacco Motorwear Company.

Mississippi Avenue ends at Sheridan Blvd. If I were to continue east, I would then be driving on Morrison Road. As that statue commemorates...

But we are going north on Sheridan.

At the corner of Kentucky and Sheridan, sits the Jiffy Stop. 

A 1960's era gas station with minimal retail space. 

And it's skull crushing teal!

My 28th Birfday...

Winchell's Donuts and Carniceria La Guadalajara (located inside one of those rare and awesome round buildings, that are sparsely scattered around town), at Sheridan and 1st Avenue.

I don't know if Gateway Auto owns that messed up sign, or if it belongs to whatever is going on next door. Either way, I liked this picture...

Holiday Shops consisted of two buildings worth of in-line retail, that had only two open stores left. Both of those open stores were very busy this morning, but what wasn't open looked REALLY run down... And therefore, awesome...

But there was this stupid truck parked directly in front of the store I wanted to photograph most... The Square Dance Record Roundup!

Just a couple of blocks north of Colfax Avenue is Sloan's Lake Park. It was built in front of Sloan's Lake. Which makes sense.

This isn't the best picture of what I wanted... On the northeast corner of Sheridan and 29th, there used to be a long closed up gas station. I got a few pictures of it over the years, but never made the effort to stop. Despite it being very accessible on foot. Obscured by Bella Calla Floral, is the shell of a new luxury apartment complex. Squeezed onto the tiny plot of land once held down by an cute little abandoned gas station...

Damn you progress, I was planning on stopping today!!

In my 20+ years in Colorado, I've never made it to Lakeside Amusement Park. A tiny park sitting on the banks of equally tiny Lake Rhoda. I've driven by it a bunch, but have never made it to the forgotten cousin of the much grander and more popular Ellitch Gardens, which sits on the outskirts of Downtown Denver.

More from Lakeside Amusement Park...

The Cyclone! 

How scary and rickety must that coaster be?

Sheridan and I-70, looking north...

Abandoned restaurant for lease! Sheridan and 54th!

Had I not looked closely behind the road construction on Sheridan & 81st (directly behind where I was standing while taking this picture), I would not have known there was an abandoned gas station tucked away down here.

Oddly enough, Google had an image of this gas station dating all the way back to September, 2007. Obviously it used to have a canopy, but I didn't expect it to be laid out this way... This picture is from the northwest corner of the property, looking in. The previous shot that I took, was from the southwest looking in.

A few blocks east of Sheridan on 80th is the Los Arcos Mexican Restaurant. The lower level was previously accessible from the back, and was home to a bar named "The Rear Inn". Laura and I met some of her friends here a couple of years ago. I didn't know it at the time, but the bar had just lost it's lease, and closed for good a couple of weeks after we were here. Today it's sitting boarded up and looking very sad...

I decided that I would take 80th Avenue east to Federal, then take that back south and see where I felt like going next. There were a few things I wanted to see on Federal, about 2 miles east of these railroad tracks, so it was time to cross over. Going further north on Sheridan was just going to bring me to newer and characterless suburbs...

The first picture I took on Federal? 

It's Saturday Night Live! Featuring Exotic Topless Dancers! 

And your host... Christopher Walken... 

(Not really...)

A few blocks south of there is the now closed Nolan's RV Center. A rather large campus of buildings and parking lots that were once home to a large RV retailer. It was still open last year at this time, so I think it's fair to say Nolan's didn't do so hot in Trump's America...

The corner of Federal and 60th had what looked like a mostly demolished auto body shop. Remnants of foundations and a debris field can be seen in this area, underneath the snow, with only that tiny boarded up shack, and a sign reading: "JL Auto Repair" left behind. Most of this area is being/or has been redeveloped for the RTD Light Rail, which cuts directly through here.

Crossing under the tracks, you'll pass the now closed Bergland Auto. The bridge and ramps for I-76 can be seen in the distance.

Hard to get a decent picture, but there is a giant painted cowboy statue at the Rustic Ranch RV Park.

Despite feeling down, I decided against shopping at Olde Glory Fireworks... 

Though blowing some stuff up would probably make feel me a lot better...

More vacant storefronts, Federal and 52nd...

Sometimes the pot culture of Colorado can be downright embarrassing... Definitely not the bomb...

The old Federal Theater, with that sweet marquee, has been reclaimed by the Victory Outreach Church. I'm just glad they kept the exterior fairly intact.

Federal Tire and Wheel is a sweet grungey classic gas station... Inverted hockey stick lights! Tagged clothing donation boxes! Unfriendly looking atmosphere! They don't get much better than this!

There was clearly a fire that destroyed these two houses. And not very long ago. The sign in front says: "Land for sale." I'm assuming that means the buyer will be responsible for cleaning up the burned out houses? Better be one hell of a bargain...

Can I come and take a look at the houses before placing a bid?

The Broncos play here. But it's just a generic stadium now... After a good year or so of advertising a corporate name for a dead corporation, all "Sports Authority" signage and logos have been removed from the New Mile High Stadium.

Does anybody remember Invesco Field at Mile High?

No clue what it's next identity will be... Just please let it not be stupid...

Buildings just south of ______ Stadium, painted to look like 1985 fashions...

Just north of ______ Stadium sits the Turntable Studios. Originally built in 1967 as a hotel, the Turntable was saved from the wrecking ball and converted into ridiculously small and stupidly expensive apartments...

Such as 339 square feet for $1200/month... 

Or if that is too small, you can always opt for the 820 square foot 2 bedroom/ 2 bath. 

That goes for only $2400/month...

Plus your $85/month fee to park a car there... 

Looking far across the ______ Stadium parking lot and I-25, is a fair amount of Ellitch Gardens. The roof of the Pepsi Center (home of the Avalanche and Nuggets and other stuff) sits in the middle, just behind Ellitch's somewhat less scary and rickety wooden coaster (dwarfing the one at Lakeside). But I've ridden this one! Downtown Denver can be seen on the right side of the picture.

Another tiny abandoned gas station, that barely survived the latest widening of Federal Blvd. 

Soon-to-be demolished Reed Imaging building at Federal and 9th Avenue.

Driving back down to a neighborhood that I'm more familiar with, the 2000 south block of Federal. Home of the Brentwood Shopping Center! Now a less colorful series of in-line retail shops than it was in the past few years. Federal is home to a lot of these larger retail complexes, many of which have clashing blue and pink and orange and purple and red painted stores, all next to each other. As if there were trying to attract a mate.

And I'm sure a bunch have disappeared over the years as well. So they may have not been successful in their attempts...

I've long been a fan of the Crown Lanes bowling alley sign.

A few blocks south of Crown Lanes, I turned right on to Yale Avenue, and took that west all the way back to Wadsworth. From there I drove another 25 or so blocks south to the Southwest Plaza Shopping Mall.

None of what I passed while driving through this area looked overly different from the last time I drove through. And the few sites of note, didn't give me decent pictures. Thanks traffic and sun...

I mainly wanted to check up on this closed sports bar in the Southwest Plaza Shopping Mall parking lot, formerly known as The Draft. I photographed the building a year or so ago, just a couple of weeks after the owners decided to close up shop. In the time since, the property has been cleaned up and the signs removed.

Driving even further southeast of the mall, was my old Safeway. This building wasn't as lucky in getting converted to a discount gym, but was instead demolished. Though the parking lot remains as intact as it was when I bought 40 cent bean and cheese burritos and bags of Berry Crackles every week.

Continuing eastbound through my 2005-06 neighborhood, and all the way past the Circle K, Cooley Lake, RTD Light Rail, Jackass Hill, and the Market at South Park. Now you're at Broadway! Just several miles south of the Broadway that we live on...

And I'm still going further south...

Wow! The Littleton Old Chicago is closed now? That's new... I walked around hoping to get some decent photographs. The interior was nearly intact, and would have made for some great shots... But an alarm was going off inside so I didn't stick around long. I did want to get a decent shot of the pizza shaped door handle because it's awesome...

Not too sure what happened to the once formidable Old Chicago chain. This former Old Chicago in Blaine, Minnesota closed a year or so ago as well. Wonder what my old roommate has to say on the O.C. issue. The former Blaine store was his home base for a long time, and he patronized the Littleton Old Chicago above, an average of more than once per day during his last few trips to Denver...

Dood... You cheated on the World Beer Tour!

We also enjoyed a few dinners at the Waffle House on occasions where he was in town... 

Overlooking C-470 and the blue bloods of Highlands Ranch...

From there I followed County Line Road east, past the Target by University Avenue that provided a lot of apartment supplies for Kenyon, when I first moved here in 1996. 

Past the Sprouts store, that was a Mervyn's that sold me some shirts and boxer shorts in the late 1990's... 

Past the Applebee's where I had my celebratory dinner with a friend after dropping off all my ex's belongings at my replacement's parent's house, a few blocks north...

Past another Vasa Fitness, also in a former Safeway...

Past the major retail mess of the County Line and Quebec intersection... 

Which was nothing 20 years ago...

And smack dab into the heart of all evil in the Denver Metro, if not the entire state of Colorado...

(Well, excepting Colorado Springs...)

Park Meadows Shopping Mall.... Boooooooooooooo....

The upscaliest of the upscale... The pompousity of the pompous... The snootiest of the snoot... That is what you'll find at Park Meadows...

I hate this place. I have not been inside since October 1996 and have zero plans to ever do so again. I simply don't make enough money to breathe their oxygen, and that public will let you know that you don't belong in their overpriced boutique...

On my only visit inside, way back in October 1996, I purchased a mouse pad with a print of The Scream by Edvard Munch on it. I'm still using that mouse pad today. But I bet that store isn't open anymore. If it is, that mouse pad probably costs about $30 today. It was $9 then...

This closed up restaurant used to be a Thai Basil before closing. Not sure why such a place would demand such a gothic entryway...

One more Park Meadows story before I leave this part of town behind for good...

Back in early 1997, as I getting ready to start school and working overnight shift at the gas station, a guy kept coming in, talking up his plan of opening a Beanie Baby selling kiosk at Park Meadows. He wanted me to run it during the daytime.

While it never panned out, I daydreamed about that possibility a great deal. While the rich crazy middle aged collector housewives would have driven me insane, the people watching at that mall would have been top notch. And the nature of the job would continue to allow me to write in my notebooks, just as much as the gas station did. Only I wouldn't have to keep running over to brew more coffee every few minutes...

Of course, that guy stopped coming in and I never worked at Park Meadows. And I still have never sold a single Beanie Baby...

Highlands Ranch... Where even the pedestrian bridges are over the top extravagant...

The former 3 Margaritas Mexican restaurant, just south of Arapahoe Road on Clinton Street. From the looks of things, this place had just closed fairly recently. Seeing it closed made me very happy... Nine or so years ago, I went to dinner here with a group of people I didn't like, including their bratty child, and had a really bad night. Now it's closed!

Around back, in the outdoor patio, a homeless man set up a tent and was sleeping among the patio furniture. So I avoided entering the patio so he could sleep. I also could not get any interior pictures, as the windows were heavily tinted and could not be seen through.

I'd now made it back up to Arapahoe Road, which can be taken all the way west back to Broadway. Or my old gas station, which was about 4 miles west of here. This is notable because in 1996-97, this Home Depot was a massive 24 hour K Mart, with a full grocery store. A whole lot of Kenyon apartment stuff came from this K Mart at the start of my Colorado stay. because it was easy to access in the early mornings after I finished up pumping gas...

I'm rarely in this part of town, but the last time I was through, this was a Gunther Toody's. A 1950's themed restaurant. The exterior was scraped down to bare cinder blocks, and the inside was gutted to just studs. The food was good, the atmosphere a little heavy handed. I ate here a few times between 1996 and 2003. It's obviously closed now, and currently being renovated for another restaurant, called Zig Zag Gourmet Burgers.

The only remaining indication of Gunther Toody's is this lone door...

Lotsa hotels at the Arapahoe and I-25 exchange. 

The red and yellow BBQ place used to be a Denny's...

I still haven't made it west to get back to Broadway and home. Nope... I'm going even further east, all the way to South Parker Road, in Parker, Colorado. From there, I'd take Parker northwest to my ultimate destination, Mike's Stadium Sports Cards...

But first....

That's a really cool abandoned gas station...

Since I'm a good hour away from the card store being open, I'm going to go inside this here McDonald's, enjoy a Quarter Pounder value meal and jot some notes down while wasting some time...

I still get a lot of strange looks when I'm writing notes out in public...

Mike's Stadium Sportscards opened at noon, and I got there about ten minutes after.... I was dying to look at cards... But I didn't want to appear TOO eager...

I'd only been to this store once before and had a great time. The owner (I'm assuming he's named Mike...) was very cool to deal with, knew exactly where what I was looking for was at. (His storage is absolute chaos, but he knows where everything is. That is an absolute collector mentality.) He also suggested stuff I didn't know I needed, and was very friendly to talk cards with.

"Mike" wasn't there today, but the guy working was every bit as helpful and cool to deal with. He asked what I was looking for, and when I said Twins and Expos, he found the boxes and brought them up for me to dig through. Over the next 90 minutes, I flipped through all sorts of cards, between his team sorted stars and inserts boxes and several more 25 each boxes (with the traditional escalating discounts).

Mike's inventory included ample stock from not only the junk wax era and today, but also had a great deal of cards from my lean collecting years (1998-2004). I was checking off all sorts of want lists I haven't even written yet...

Where else can you pick up some needed Tsuyoshi Nishioka rookie cards?

And how did I go so many years WITHOUT a 1990 Score Chuck Knoblauch Draft Pick card?

I inquired about autographed Byron Buxton cards, knowing that will not be available as cheap in Minnesota as they would be in Denver. He dug around for a while, and only came up with 2 Chromey Refractory Buxtons. Both nice, I will gladly take them...

We talked about Buxton for a bit, he agreed about him being a hell of a talent, and a player whose cards fly off the shelves. Even in Denver...

At one point he fielded a phone call from someone wanting to dump a likely heavy brick of junk wax. Leading to a conversation about people not understanding the buy/sell/book value side of running a card store. I shared some of my similar experiences from running a few tables at several card shows during the Junk Wax Era.

Of course any discussion on this kind of subject matter has to eventually get around back to The Becketts... And the damage that kind of publication does under the guise of helping the hobby...

Tucked deep in the dark recesses of the half wall of Monster Boxes were some obscure team sets that I was more than happy to acquire.

And a 1990 Fleer Jumbo Pack with a Kirby Puckett on top! The junkiest of junk wax! A joy to revisit for a $1. (I let Laura open that pack after I got home.)

I was in baseball card heaven and was having the time of my life...

Then Laura called and wondered where I was. She'd forgotten that I said I may be out late today... 

So I wrapped up my boxes searches and asked for my running total. He took all my separate stacks and starting adding them up and separating them into different priced smaller piles. Most cards were not priced, so I didn't know how much I was looking at, as I pulled them from their previous homes. The cards that did have prices on them, would all be lowered considerably as the final tally was coming together.

In fact the only card I paid "full price" for was the Brendan Rogers autograph. Due to him being a recent Colorado Rockies Draft Pick, and top prospect, and future all awesome etc.... Yeah, I don't have a problem paying full price for this. I really wanted that card...

Rogers hit his second home run of Spring Training yesterday...

When all was said and done, I had zero gripes with the price quoted for everything shown above. The fun was in digging these gems out of their cardboard tombs, and all will have a prominent home in my various collection of team sorted 3-Ring Binders...

And those are all 1000 miles away... 

Oh well, I gots to get home!

Directly west of the shopping center that is home to Mike's awesome card store is the Cherry Creek Reservoir. A large lake (for Denver) that is held back from flooding the city on the northwest side by a high and wide dam with a road on top. Before I leave Colorado, I must get pictures from the top of that dam. It's kind of a scary narrow road though, and very windy up there...

In June 1997, a bunch of my friends from school had a party at the beach of the reservoir, after class on a Friday. After about an hour, a massive rainstorm blew up over us, and chased our entire group to Amy-With-The-Big-Hooters' apartment... Where drinking continued WELL into the night...

The South Parker Road and I-225 interchange looks DRASTICALLY different than it did in 1997...

I was unable to get a decent picture of The Green Solution, from across the road. Which is a former McDonalds that has been converted to a Medical Marijuana dispensary. The brick and mortar looks exactly like a McDonalds early 1990's remodel, and I have eaten here before... Though the windows are covered up so you can't see inside today. And the McPlayplace now has frosted glass instead of a ball crawl...

Don't fret McDonalds fans, a newer and much more McDonaldsy McDonalds has built McBuilt nearby... It's also a convenient stop on your way home from the Green Solution!

A rare and awesome corporate chain two-fer... An abandoned Subway inside an abandoned Taco Bell! 

Already been photographed...

From there I drove the usual Hampden to Broadway and then home...

Snapping a photo of my neighbor, 

since I took pictures of where he used to play Sportsball earlier today...

The next couple of months will be my goodbye to Colorado. 

There's things I want to do and see before we leave. 

And there's abandoned shit everywhere...

So I felt a whole lot better!