Dinner Break!!! Long John Silvers, Denver, CO

As opposed to being closed for evil?

Fish Yeah!

For whichever reason, the what that was closed used to be a Long John Silvers. The building was fairly new, likely a mid-1990's design for the fried fish fast food joint. I'm not sure when it closed, but I think early 2011 was the first time I noticed it no longer being open. It made my watch list of abandoned places, but low priority. Driving by it multiple times per week made it easy to follow. Nothing seemed to change about the rather unremarkable property, so I continued to ignore it for years.

In fact I didn't even take a picture of the place until this shot, taken February 28, 2015. But it was blurry, and snow covered much of the ground. So I needed to make an actual effort to document the place. After all, who knows how long it will remain sitting here, rather open and unchanged from the day it closed.

For GOOD!

I went back to Long John Silvers about a month later, on March 22nd, 2015.

The snow had melted by then.

Long John Silvers sat between a 1980's style Conoco gas station to the north...

And a Blackjack Pizza to the south. 

Forget about the fish, I want a deep dish Sausage and Canadian Bacon from Blackjack. Just like this one that I enjoyed on my second to last shift at the printing company in Denver.

Thanks Brad!

But today we're here for the fish...

In addition to the set of Long John photos taken on March 22nd, 2015, a second set was taken September 5, 2015. Not that a lot had changed at Long John Silvers, just felt like I needed to re-take some shots. So let's walk around the building and take a look at things then. And again six months later!

Staring with the dining area from the first window...

March 2015...

And September 2015. In six months, the butcher paper has fallen off the windows.

So that's something...

The front door announcing the for good closure...

Looking through that door, into the lobby. March, 2015.

And again in September...

The restrooms are over there.

Well, they were in September. I didn't photograph those in March.

They may have been moved since then.

Since the doors are locked, let's back out of our parking spot and hit up the drive through instead.

This place owes me some fish!

Drive through entrance in March...

Drive through in August 2015...

Curveball!

That same drive through in September 2015!

You could cut the tension with a knife!

Maybe they used that knife to cut down the weeds that were here in August?

Menu board in March 2015...

So much to chews from!

Menu board in September 2015...

And well... Uh... The glass door has fallen off the board!

Waiting in the drive through, in September 2015.

As shown on the back of the building, any tagging of the Long John Silvers was immediately covered up. And in this neighborhood, that is a real accomplishment. Whomever was managing this property kept a pretty close eye on it. When I left Denver, the fast fish food joint had been closed for at least 7 years. All of the windows remained open, and were never shattered.

With as busy as lunch rush was back in March 2015, it's taken longer than expected to get up to the window. Good thing there are an abundance of exterior lights along the walls, just in case it gets dark before my order is ready.

Keeping my fish safe!

Thanks, Yum Brands!

We made it! The drive through window! 

In September 2015, it wasn't covered at all. Or the paper that was hiding the inside had long fallen down.

The Long John Silvers kitchen has been stripped of all food prep equipment. I don't know how they plan on deep frying my fish filets with no deep fryers on site. Or coolers. Or prep tables...

Or cash registers... So I guess I won't have to pay!

Coming back around the corner, exiting the drive through in March 2015. 

But before we leave, let's take a look across the dining area, in September 2015. Opposite the first set of windows we looked through back in March. Of 2015...

Trying to make that 6 month period into some sort of tension. Because this story is even boring to me. 

And I like abandoned buildings...

Elsewhere in 2015, August to be exact, a setting sun casts interesting light on the fish house of no fish…

Where a month later, the incomplete awning was still asking perspective customers if they were indeed hungry. And if they were, well that’s just too bad. Go to Blackjack Pizza. Or Conoco. Or that new 7-11...

And Walmarts is still lurking behind the abandoned Long Johns…

Or Cowbobas!

(Wait, you can’t, they moved too…).

But I’ve got a much better idea… If you are in the South Federal and Evans area, and are truly hungry for greasy fast food, I would totally recommend Tacos Rapidos. They are also located behind Long John Silvers, and make some of the most delicious greasy Mexican food from their taco stand, that you’ll find in Denver.

I recommend the Colorado Burrito and the Rolled Tacos.

But I cannot recommend the fish.

So you’re still out of luck…

Looking through the empty Long John Silvers dining room, you’ll see an empty kitchen. There’s still hoods, but no equipment to even gut a fish, let alone deep fry one…

With absolutely nothing happening at Long John Silvers, I quickly stopped caring about keeping tabs on the building until I saw that something was happening. Be it a renovation for a new tenant or even a boarding up of the windows.

In early February 2016, I saw this homeless guy napping by the front doors.

Just so he could be first in line.

Waiting for some fish that’ll never come…

By September 2017, the place still looked the same…

But wait! 

Even through the blurry out of focuses of this picture, I see something new! 

There’s an official legal notice on the door…

CLEAN UP YOUR TRASH AND CUT YOUR WEEDS!!!

Well, that’s not very interesting either…

Two years after taking the last photo through this door, it looks no different inside. Other than the lower light causing the picture to look really crappy. See, over the last two years, somebody decided to shut the kitchen lights off.

So there’s something different for you!

I guess the dining room looks crappier. But not yet crappy enough to be interesting.

The only real trash left inside would be the fallen window coverings. Is there an actual strong ocean breeze blowing around inside the building that would cause the tape to release paper onto the floor?

Wait, that ladder by the restrooms wasn’t there before… Maybe something is happening here? Other than turning the lights off after 5 plus years of zero customers…

By the first week of January 2018, people were tired of waiting for their fish dinners, so a mobile burrito cart was set up at the Conoco next door. While Long John just looked on in tired envy.

In February 2018, I saw a “No Trespassing” sign had been added to the front door. Perhaps the building was tired of me taking it’s picture once a month, and figured that may chase me off?

Well, it didn’t because I took three pictures that day instead of only one. 

Funny thing is, I was planning on taking more that morning, but a full size motor home was parked in the drive through. Blocking the entire north side of the building. So that magical “No Trespassing” sign only served to invite a massive Winnebago to trespass.

And I still took pictures anyways…

But something had changed. Likely in an effort to curb homeless campouts, the walls were removed from the Long John Silvers dumpster storage area. Leaving an odd series of posts opposite the drive through entrance.

As far as the closed up Long John Silvers restaurant, it pretty much defied all abandoned retail logic. Being closed for years didn't affect it's appearance. All windows were still intact. None of the decorative fixtures on the building were damaged. No more tagging (covered or open) than any of the other buildings on the block. As those years went by, it became fascinating to me that nothing ever happened here.

I kept waiting for the building to become interesting, but it was one of the most boring abandoned buildings I ever closely followed. Disappointing really. I'd hoped for more. Long John Silvers looked pretty much the same in 2011, as it did when I left Denver in 2018.

May 27, 2018

The last picture I took of the former Long John Silvers, just before moving to Minnesota.

It could have been taken at any point during the last decade and there would have likely been no difference.

Yes, you are…

Gonna do anything about it?