The Dead Beat Club, Denver, CO
I was in Minnesota when I read that the former Dead Beat Club, at 4040 East Evans Avenue in Denver, Colorado, had been destroyed by fire. According to reports, the fire broke out on a late Friday afternoon, on September 25, 2015. Firefighters arrived on scene at 4:25pm, and smoke was already billowing out of the roof, on both the north and south ends of the building.
I never once went there. I have very little emotional attachment to it either. I likely wouldn't have noticed it without the murals painted on the walls. However, I did know about it. The girl that I was kinda on and off seeing in 1996 and early 1997, was a big fan off that place, and asked me to go a couple of times...
Coincidentally, she was mutual friends with Laura, who did go to the Dead Beat Club with her in 1996. When I told Laura about the fire, she showed me this empty box of matches that she took from that visit. After this blurry photo of the match box was taken, she donated it to the Archives. I would have liked to get a better picture to use for this story, but the match box is still packed away somewhere in Basement Universe.
My first job after moving to Englewood, Colorado, in October 1996, was the graveyard shift at a poor imitation of 99 Spillihp. For the 10 months I worked there, I became very accustomed to listening to the radio during my shift. Radio ads for the Dead Beat Club would run probably every other commercial break.
KTCL was usually on in the gas station at night. They payed an acceptable mix for radio, and I liked the DJ that worked overnight shift. He'd stick to the station playlist, but threw stuff he liked on the air occasionally. On his last night before leaving for San Diego, I called up and requested Mr. Bungle. He played The Girls of Porn in honor of me toiling away at the gas station. This was likely the first time that song aired on corporate radio. Breaking every FCC regulation for language and decency in the first 20 seconds. Sure broke the monotony of Local H, Fury and the Slaughterhouse, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Bush songs that still get stuck in my head over 20 years later...
While the Dead Beat Club didn't use the song in it's ads, they always brought to mind the B-52's song of the same name. The one with Kate Pierson and the blonde chick singing about their club, and Fred Schneider pops up randomly in the chorus to say "Dead Beat Club" in his Fred Schneider voice. Almost in a "Hey guys, remember me? I wanna be in the song too!" kind of way...
In it's last days, the Dead Beat Club was known as Step Night Club. I'd been under the impression that Step was still open, although the story noted that Step was not only closed, but a temporary security fence was placed around the building. Firefighters had to move it to access the building.
Step opened in May 2012. I don't know when it closed. My only ties to this version of the building were liking the murals painted on it's exterior walls. Which had quickly been tagged as soon as the fire had been put out.
I never took the time to park the car and take pictures of the property before the building burned. And it's location made it hard to get a decent photo of while driving eastbound. I took this shot of the building, blindly over my shoulder, while waiting at the red light on Colorado Blvd. Making this drive as part of my 2014 photography mission on 420, to an abandoned K-Mart, still located about 20 blocks east of here.
The Minnesota vacation of September 2015 ended, and I would return to Denver the first week of October. I made plans to check out the remains of the Dead Beat Club the first weekend I was back in town. Driving over after work that Saturday morning. I miss those days of my shift ending around 5am, then driving around town for pictures of buildings, once the sun rose. Usually had a few hour window before traffic would get to heavy for decent drive by shots.
This former gas station at the corner of Colorado Blvd. and Evans Ave., was used for parking my car at, while I walked around for photos. (You can see some Step wall art on the left side of this picture) While it hadn't sold gas in years, in recent months, one of those fly-by-night hail repair garages set up shop here. This one was known as the Ding Devil. I took a few pictures of this place, but not nearly as many as I should have...
In the years after the Step fire and Ding Devil demolition, most of this entire block was demolished. Including the former Criterion Shopping Center, Blue Moon Sushi, Gas 4 Less and the Country Fair Garden Center, all removed from the earth in favor of a large complex of luxury apartments.
Cheapo Discs used to operate a store in the Criterion Shopping Center. I spent a lot of time here between 1996 and 2003. They sold me the first albums I'd ever own from both The Residents and Negativland. So this store's importance ranked high to me... I'm pretty sure Cheapo ceased all Colorado operations in 2004, with only their Minnesota stores remaining. To this day, I love asking Minnesota Cheapo employees about the former Denver stores. They usually have no clue that Cheapo once had stores outside of Minnesota.
The building at 4040 E. Evans was a total loss after the fire. Since it was abandoned already, with gentrification of it's block looming closely on the horizon, the Dead Beat Club stood zero chance of being rebuilt.
Video of the fire shows a lot of flames and smoke coming from the roof of this entrance area. The black awning once here must have looked cool as it burst into flames. And I like the fake rock walls inside the broken burned out window. Very 80's...
Going around back, the boarded up windows were no longer boarded up, thanks to the fire. Step was charred, but left wide open.
Tagging in black and white was new to the building after the fire. Which is kind of funny to me... Local ruffians could barely wait for the embers to cool before climbing up to tag their name to the wall. Good job Kean...
The Dead Beat Club opened up in the early 1990's and ran through 2006. In the days where I was made aware of the club, it was known for featuring a mix of New Wave, Pop, Rock and R&B dance music, in multiple rooms inside the building. With lots of 1980's retro nights, because that was big in the late 1990's.
New owners took over the space in 2008 and changed the name to Skin. Which was then changed to the Posh Ultra Lounge, then to Club Next. On New Years Eve 2011, the name was changed back to the Dead Beat Club.
Many of the interior walls were removed during a 2010 renovation, to make the club more open. Instead of multiple rooms playing different music, the dance floor was larger, with only one bar inside. This was made to accommodate a larger 18 & over, non-alcohol crowd. In addition to the over 21 crew that partied there regularly. Security was also beefed up after a parking lot shooting on Halloween in 2009.
This photo of the destroyed Dead Beat Club was actually going to play a large role in the planned My Buddie TV series, that Brad Raven and myself were trying to put together in 2016. At one point, Brad asked me if I had a picture of a fire damaged building that could pass for the one we were going to be shooting in. This shot of Step worked perfectly. He took the angled roof off the right side, and got rid of the signs behind the building. A black and white print of the photo was blown up and framed. The photo can be seen on the receptionist's desk in the pilot episode.
It was never hinted at in the pilot episode, but the fire damaged building in the picture was actually foreshadowing the end of season 1's story arc. The first season would end with a mysterious fire that would destroy the My Buddie dispensary. Seeds would be planted in the episodes that would build to the big "Who burned My Buddie down?" cliffhanger, with everyone as a suspect with plausible motives.
The south end of the club had a large wooden patio. Sections of it's wall were ripped down by firefighters to gain access to the burning building. In a statement to the press regarding the fire, a Denver Fire Department official said they were "Pretty sure" there was no one inside when the fire broke out, and the building was a total loss. It looked pretty sealed up, with crews having difficulty getting inside the burning building.
In a video of the fire posted to You Tube, a fire fighter is shown with a circular saw trying to cut his way into the building. From the chipped angle on the damaged fence at the left side of the picture, it looks like the patio walls were simply cut away from the deck.
I like that the painting of the green hairy laughing phallic symbol is pointing to a fire charred rolling door.
Directly behind where I was taking pictures of the most destroyed parts of Step, sat this aging 4-plex of dated retail. Bill's Clips & Collars and iCandy were the last businesses to operate here. Had I realized the imminent danger this block was in at the time, I would have taken more and better photos...
Not long after I photographed Step, the 4-plex including Bill's Clips & Collars was also demolished.
The deck of the Dead Beat Club was concealed by a wooden wall, shielding access to the inside. All ripped apart by firemen far too concerned with what was burning inside the building, to be careful to not destroy it's delicate exterior.
I'm also assuming this amateur tagging was done by Step patrons, when the club was open, rather than post fire vandals. CC Danger and Nick Danger also autographed the deck. I'm guessing Danger Ehrin was unavailable? What about Danger Mouse? Was he up in Castle Danger?
I'm bummed that taggers covered up two of the four paintings on the front wall of Step. They were cool and should have been preserved until I could have at least gotten decent pictures...
In the years since the Step fire at the Dead Beat Club, I've never read what the official cause of the fire actually was.
Given the suspicious fire at the abandoned Rockies Inn, a few blocks to the east, almost exactly six months later. I find it rather curious the coincidences.
The burned out shell of a building was demolished in March, 2016. Land that it used to rest upon is now included in plans for the giant luxury apartment complex.
Although the use of that particular tagline has always bothered me. The pretty people that would frequent dance clubs like this, are not the ones that I'd typically assume to be a "loser'. Maybe more in the sense they would find misguided and novel irony in calling themselves losers.
I never once went there. I have very little emotional attachment to it either. I likely wouldn't have noticed it without the murals painted on the walls. However, I did know about it. The girl that I was kinda on and off seeing in 1996 and early 1997, was a big fan off that place, and asked me to go a couple of times...
Me?
Go to a dance club?
Yeah, that'll happen...
Coincidentally, she was mutual friends with Laura, who did go to the Dead Beat Club with her in 1996. When I told Laura about the fire, she showed me this empty box of matches that she took from that visit. After this blurry photo of the match box was taken, she donated it to the Archives. I would have liked to get a better picture to use for this story, but the match box is still packed away somewhere in Basement Universe.
My first job after moving to Englewood, Colorado, in October 1996, was the graveyard shift at a poor imitation of 99 Spillihp. For the 10 months I worked there, I became very accustomed to listening to the radio during my shift. Radio ads for the Dead Beat Club would run probably every other commercial break.
KTCL was usually on in the gas station at night. They payed an acceptable mix for radio, and I liked the DJ that worked overnight shift. He'd stick to the station playlist, but threw stuff he liked on the air occasionally. On his last night before leaving for San Diego, I called up and requested Mr. Bungle. He played The Girls of Porn in honor of me toiling away at the gas station. This was likely the first time that song aired on corporate radio. Breaking every FCC regulation for language and decency in the first 20 seconds. Sure broke the monotony of Local H, Fury and the Slaughterhouse, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Bush songs that still get stuck in my head over 20 years later...
While the Dead Beat Club didn't use the song in it's ads, they always brought to mind the B-52's song of the same name. The one with Kate Pierson and the blonde chick singing about their club, and Fred Schneider pops up randomly in the chorus to say "Dead Beat Club" in his Fred Schneider voice. Almost in a "Hey guys, remember me? I wanna be in the song too!" kind of way...
In it's last days, the Dead Beat Club was known as Step Night Club. I'd been under the impression that Step was still open, although the story noted that Step was not only closed, but a temporary security fence was placed around the building. Firefighters had to move it to access the building.
Step opened in May 2012. I don't know when it closed. My only ties to this version of the building were liking the murals painted on it's exterior walls. Which had quickly been tagged as soon as the fire had been put out.
I never took the time to park the car and take pictures of the property before the building burned. And it's location made it hard to get a decent photo of while driving eastbound. I took this shot of the building, blindly over my shoulder, while waiting at the red light on Colorado Blvd. Making this drive as part of my 2014 photography mission on 420, to an abandoned K-Mart, still located about 20 blocks east of here.
Past the crusty old Rockies Inn Motel!
Which I've already written about. You can read all about it's own mysterious fire, at this link here!
Dead Beat Club!
That's right Fred! It's time to talk about my photo mission to document the fire damage!
This former gas station at the corner of Colorado Blvd. and Evans Ave., was used for parking my car at, while I walked around for photos. (You can see some Step wall art on the left side of this picture) While it hadn't sold gas in years, in recent months, one of those fly-by-night hail repair garages set up shop here. This one was known as the Ding Devil. I took a few pictures of this place, but not nearly as many as I should have...
Shortly after this, the Ding Devil was ding diddly GONE!
Cheapo Discs used to operate a store in the Criterion Shopping Center. I spent a lot of time here between 1996 and 2003. They sold me the first albums I'd ever own from both The Residents and Negativland. So this store's importance ranked high to me... I'm pretty sure Cheapo ceased all Colorado operations in 2004, with only their Minnesota stores remaining. To this day, I love asking Minnesota Cheapo employees about the former Denver stores. They usually have no clue that Cheapo once had stores outside of Minnesota.
But the Criterion Shopping Center's closure and demolition is a story for another day.
It's time to talk about the burned out Step...
Dead Beat Club!
Right Fred...
Video of the fire shows a lot of flames and smoke coming from the roof of this entrance area. The black awning once here must have looked cool as it burst into flames. And I like the fake rock walls inside the broken burned out window. Very 80's...
Front door left wide open, but I didn't dare try to go inside... But I wanted to...
Because the structure is unsafe for occupancy!
Wait, what structure?
Dead Beat Club!
Thanks Fred, but I think it's called Step...
That's what the skull crushing teal tagging says!
Which is still very much unsafe...
Looking back a year and a half earlier, the back of Step looked like this.
A little over a week prior to this picture, smoke was pouring out of this burned hole in the roof...
We don't need no water, let the mother f...
Well, that was another KTCL radio hit of 1997.
This was the...
Dead Beat Club!
Well, I guess it is a hobby...
The Dead Beat Club opened up in the early 1990's and ran through 2006. In the days where I was made aware of the club, it was known for featuring a mix of New Wave, Pop, Rock and R&B dance music, in multiple rooms inside the building. With lots of 1980's retro nights, because that was big in the late 1990's.
New owners took over the space in 2008 and changed the name to Skin. Which was then changed to the Posh Ultra Lounge, then to Club Next. On New Years Eve 2011, the name was changed back to the Dead Beat Club.
Many of the interior walls were removed during a 2010 renovation, to make the club more open. Instead of multiple rooms playing different music, the dance floor was larger, with only one bar inside. This was made to accommodate a larger 18 & over, non-alcohol crowd. In addition to the over 21 crew that partied there regularly. Security was also beefed up after a parking lot shooting on Halloween in 2009.
Thanks internet for stuff I didn't know!
This photo of the destroyed Dead Beat Club was actually going to play a large role in the planned My Buddie TV series, that Brad Raven and myself were trying to put together in 2016. At one point, Brad asked me if I had a picture of a fire damaged building that could pass for the one we were going to be shooting in. This shot of Step worked perfectly. He took the angled roof off the right side, and got rid of the signs behind the building. A black and white print of the photo was blown up and framed. The photo can be seen on the receptionist's desk in the pilot episode.
It was never hinted at in the pilot episode, but the fire damaged building in the picture was actually foreshadowing the end of season 1's story arc. The first season would end with a mysterious fire that would destroy the My Buddie dispensary. Seeds would be planted in the episodes that would build to the big "Who burned My Buddie down?" cliffhanger, with everyone as a suspect with plausible motives.
Brad and I at the camera, surrounded by cast and crew of My Buddie. With the black and white framed photo of the fire damaged Step Night Club on the desk...
I so wish we could have shot the full season we planned...
Dead Beat Club!
In a video of the fire posted to You Tube, a fire fighter is shown with a circular saw trying to cut his way into the building. From the chipped angle on the damaged fence at the left side of the picture, it looks like the patio walls were simply cut away from the deck.
I like that the painting of the green hairy laughing phallic symbol is pointing to a fire charred rolling door.
Directly behind where I was taking pictures of the most destroyed parts of Step, sat this aging 4-plex of dated retail. Bill's Clips & Collars and iCandy were the last businesses to operate here. Had I realized the imminent danger this block was in at the time, I would have taken more and better photos...
Not long after I photographed Step, the 4-plex including Bill's Clips & Collars was also demolished.
Dead Beat Club!
Oh, Fred...
I'm so kidding!
I'm bummed that taggers covered up two of the four paintings on the front wall of Step. They were cool and should have been preserved until I could have at least gotten decent pictures...
In the years since the Step fire at the Dead Beat Club, I've never read what the official cause of the fire actually was.
Given the suspicious fire at the abandoned Rockies Inn, a few blocks to the east, almost exactly six months later. I find it rather curious the coincidences.
Dead Beat Club!
The burned out shell of a building was demolished in March, 2016. Land that it used to rest upon is now included in plans for the giant luxury apartment complex.
I will cover that part of the story some other time.
You sure can't get more 1990's than adopting a Beck lyric as your club tagline...
Although the use of that particular tagline has always bothered me. The pretty people that would frequent dance clubs like this, are not the ones that I'd typically assume to be a "loser'. Maybe more in the sense they would find misguided and novel irony in calling themselves losers.
Because it's cute, get it?!
Well, I guess you can always go to Pitchers...
Hop in my Chrysler it's as big as a whale! And it's about to set sail!
Okay, Fred...
That's enough...
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