Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary part 4
And stay out!
But if you need to catch up on past installments before reading this new entry, they can be found here:
With that out of the way, it's time for the Gates Demolition Diary part 4!
December 15, 2013
My previous trip to Gates was November 28, 2013, early Thanksgiving morning. That story was covered in part 3. Shortsightedly, I took a week off from documenting duties before returning for my fourth visit. A look back at my 2013 journal showed that I spent a lot of that time doing some housecleaning of The Archives. Which included photographing a lot of the things that I kept and a lot of things that were thrown away. I still use some of these pictures in things I’m writing today, so at least it was a good use of my time.
But now it was time to get back to photographing the Gates destruction. Knowing that I was behind on my project, I woke up early in the morning on Sunday, December 15, 2013, in order to get things back on track.
Along the way, I made a quick check on Englewood High School, which sits virtually minutes away from the first cracks of the shovel. The next time I would drive by the doomed school building, demolition would be fully underway. So I didn’t bother stopping on this morning for pictures. After all, there’s an abandoned rubber factory that is already being demolished, that I need to take pictures of first.
After snapping a few pictures at the high school from my car, I drove north on Logan Ave, past the Shop n Go. 15 or so years earlier, this was a 7-11, and a frequent stop during my pizza delivery days. If I remember correctly, this convenience store stopped being a 7-11 in the Winter of 1999. On this day, it was there for a photo as I waited to make a left turn on Old Hampden, on my way to Broadway.
On my way to Gates.
Along the way up Broadway, I noticed that Phat Glass Gifts had closed and was now boarded up. I wish I would have stopped for some more pictures. Not only of Phat Glass, but also that sweet neon sign for Dependable Cleaners next door. This photo was used in a story on here a few years ago, showing off all the Marijuana businesses around Denver I had taken pictures of, over the last five years. I liked that story. It doesn’t exactly fit with what I’d been doing on this site, but it was fun to write!
This building was demolished in 2016, but I missed it. According to The Googles, 1729 South Broadway is still a flat and vacant lot, as of June 2019 anyways. And the Dependable Cleaners sign is no longer neon. But a cutesy logo with colorful buttons. I get wanting to update your look, but if you're going to change something cool, don't make it's replacement painfully lame.
During the two weeks that I hadn’t paid attention to the Gates demolition, the office building that faced Broadway was reduced to piles of bricks, garbage and large steel girders. Some bent and twisted, looking like the aftermath of a massive explosion. With a lot of that debris falling into the basement.
But I’ll check this area out further, once I park the car.
As I mentioned in part 3, I was going to start parking at the I-25 RTD Park & Ride, on the north side of the property, instead of parking at the US Bank and walking up. There probably wasn’t a great deal of difference in terms of how far I had to walk to take the pictures I wanted. However, the RTD lot was closer to where the current phase of demolition was easiest to see.
Getting out of my car and looking west at a passing train, with the Rocky Mountains on the horizon. Just a smidgen of snow remains here from a few days earlier.
I didn’t realize when I parked the car, that I could have driven under the bridge to get a lot closer to the factory. I figured access to this part of the property would have been blocked due to the demolition activities going on. So I made a mental note of this, as I made my way to the sidewalk on Broadway. Although if I’d parked down there, I’d have to walk quite a ways just to get out to Broadway.
Planning my strategy would be an ongoing work in progress...
Looking under the bridge at the newest damage brought on by the team of shovels. The main factory building was now being chewed apart.
Another view from a few paces east.
Further down on the perimeter, a legal notice was applied to the chain link fence. Apparently, I missed the meeting, which was held four days earlier.
Drat...
The north side of Gates with the former power plant in front. Picture taken while standing on the corner of Broadway and the access road to the RTD Park & Ride. Various constructiony type equipment is set up along the fence and under the RTD Light Rail Bridge.
Looking further down to the rest of Gates.
Before I would walk down to photograph more of the new damage, I decided to take a walk north, under Interstate 25, to snap some pictures of that area.
I wanted to take a couple of this empty structure, sitting neglected at this busy intersection. Which wasn’t too busy on a Sunday morning. Precisely why I chose to do this today.
Closer look at the building, but not a very good picture. I’d take better ones in the coming years.
I walked up to Griff’s Hamburgers before turning around and going back.
I’ve written about Griff’s before, but I have to mention again how much I missed Griff’s once it closed. They made a fantastic greasy cheeseburger. If you ordered a triple, it was like eating cheesy meatloaf on a bun. With onions, pickles and ketchup was always my preferred option. You’d feel your arteries hardening as you ate, but it was so worth it!
Let’s walk back to Gates now.
Consolation for not getting a tasty burger...
Battling difficult lighting due to the sun, I’m still very happy with this shot. Taken from roughly the same spot where I took the two before walking up to Griff’s, this covers almost the whole plant from the northeast.
Closer to where the demolition crew have moved their attention, after taking down the office building.
I remember standing and looking inside the building from this vantage point. While there wasn’t a whole lot to see from here, there was a whole world inside those walls that I’d only dreamed about seeing.
Shovel at rest on this Sunday morning.
For these shots, I was standing in the open driveway at Tennessee Avenue. The access gate was closed, but the open area allowed me to take these pictures without actually trespassing!
I have no idea of what was once in these areas. Looks to be remnants of a drop ceiling on the second and third floors.
But I do like the plainly labeled "water truck".
Zoom out a bit for perspective.
More shovel!
The corner of what appears to be a loading dock entrance. Ground level windows are boarded up and painted red to match the brick, with broken uncovered windows on the floors above.
Looking out at what was the office building just a month ago. Now a pile of ever shrinking rubble, as a parade of trucks are hauling it all away. But not on this morning.
Back out to the sidewalk on Broadway, to see what’s going on where the offices used to be.
Some of the mess left around the benches in the now trashed, once landscaped driveway.
The north end of the former office building is gone, leaving some of the Gates basement visible from the sidewalk. There's an open door into the factory down there...
Enhance!
Actually, there's a few open doors down there. But no lights were left on inside, so I can't see anything.
And that's really disappointing!
Looking down from over the security fence.
Slightly blurrier, looking up version of the last picture.
It's important to remember that Gates was surrounded by a 6 foot chain link fence, which was wrapped in a tarp. Most of the pictures I took of the Gates demolition were done at least partially blind. So I didn't really know that I took several pictures of the beat up fire extinguisher laying on the ground, until I got home and copied them from my camera.
Two large support beams stand bent at an angle that would no longer hold up four floors of a red brick office building. The fact that they hadn't been removed yet made me pretty happy. Because this just looks cool!
Further down under the missing office building, more dismantled basement rooms are starting to show up. Along with another large support beam, twisted into submission and snapped off where a second floor should be.
I feel like this should be some sort of grand entrance way. Does look like it was an important area at one time. At least in showing the dividing line between the older brick part of Gates, and the newer addition to the south.
Lots to see down there...
Frustrating that this is all the closer I can get...
Let me come down there! I'm missing out on all that great stuff left inside!
Oh well...
Guess I'll start walking back to the Park & Ride.
There's that fire extinguisher again...
A pile of scrap metal lays in front of the shovels that placed them there. Throughout the demolition process, a key part was the on-site sorting as they went. As the structure fell, everything had its place to wait for imminent departure. Stuff like this was being loaded onto semi trucks to be hauled away, throughout the demolition process. At least the Interstate had easy access from here.
Just not today. Because it's Sunday.
Another view of that front loading dock, with the smashed curb and benches.
Like this one! With a tiny bit of unmelted snow behind it.
More snow behind the brick half wall, with the next area of demolition underway behind it.
Through an uncovered section of the chain link demolition fence.
******
Baseball Break!
As I was writing this story, I lucked into two significant additions to the Colorado wing of New Baseballcardland. So let's hit pause on all this Gates so I can talk about that instead!
The other morning, I had to make a Walgreens run to pick up a prescription. Any visit to the local Walgreens means one thing: Check the toys & games aisle for more Fairfield Repacks! $5 for a small box of 100 randomly assorted baseball cards from 1970-2020. Mostly overproduced garbage, but with a good ratio of needed cards and diamonds in the rough. You never know what you'll find inside!
Saturday's box yielded this gem:
1989 ProCards Joe Mitchell
These boxes will sometimes include minor league baseball cards. Minor league cards will feature photos of stadiums and ballparks outside of the usual Major League circuit. So they are something new and generally unseen by me. In this case, the great Denver landmark, Mile High Stadium (1948-2001) serves as the backdrop.
It took me a second when I first saw this card, to recognize what I was seeing. Immediately, I noticed the stands and took a closer look. In its baseball configuration, the triple decked left field stands would be pulled back from the rest of the stadium bowl, to allow for a full size outfield. This would be done by pumping water into channels under the structure, to float it back and fourth on 1/3" of water. When set up for football, these stands would fit in perfectly with the three decks wrapped around home plate and the right field line. The process of moving the stands would take around 6 hours, to move them in either direction.
But that's not all!
The upper left side of this picture shows half of the old Hotel VQ. Built in 1967, the 13 story, round hotel sits just northeast of old Mile High Stadium. The hotel closed years back, and faced demolition. Ultimately, it was converted into 179 micro-apartments in 2014. Now it's known as Turntable Studios. Where for just under $2K a month, you can lease a 330 square foot studio apartment! Parking -and whipped cream- is extra.
Two iconic Denver landmarks on one baseball card! Of a player I'd never heard of!
A former 24th round pick in the June 1983 draft, by the Milwaukee Brewers, Joe Mitchell never made it to the major leagues. He would return to Denver for his final professional baseball season in 1990, then leave the game.
Denver, Colorado, was a long time minor league city, until the expansion Rockies moved in for the 1993 season. Before a 1984 rebranding to become the Denver Zephyrs, the AAA Denver Bears played at Mile High Stadium, since it opened in 1948. They were an A Ball team in the Western League until 1955, when they joined the American Association, and became the AAA affiliate for the New York Yankees.
Between that point and the franchise leaving Denver for New Orleans (after the 1992 season), to make room for the Rockies, the Bears/Zephyrs were the AAA team of both the Montreal Expos (1976-1981) and Minnesota Twins (1965-1969). So Denver has ties to the two other MLB organizations that I care about!
Today, the team that used to be the Denver Bears/Zephyrs, is known as the New Orleans Baby Cakes.
Yup...
Baby Cakes…
Later in the afternoon of the day I found Joe Mitchell's card, I made a run to the LCS. When I got there, I was asked if I'd seen the new Todd Helton card in the display case.
I hadn't yet, but I'd definitely go look!
Oh, I must own this card!
A 2020 Topps Archive Signature Series buyback of a 2010 Topps Chrome Refractor, autographed by Todd Helton and stamped by Topps as 1 of 1.
Nice!
I moved to Denver in 1996, and lived there (more or less) until 2018. Todd Helton made his Major League Debut for the Rockies in 1997, and played his entire career in Denver, before retiring in 2014. For better or worse, I watched a lot of Rockies baseball during that time, and Helton was the constant. Through all Rockies teams -good and very bad- Helton was the player that represented Colorado baseball the most to be.
But I never had his autograph.
The Rockies aren't exactly a team that collectors care much about (lucky for me!), so there aren't a whole lot of certified autographed Rockies cards hanging around the secondary market. To add a specimen like this to my collection was just what it needed.
But Todd Helton never worked at Gates Rubber Company.
There! And now I'm back on track!
Let's wrap this up quick so I can get to the store...
Walking back to the RTD Park & Ride, looking over the overflow lot with more snow, at Gates.
Closer look at the north building.
And the alley between that and...
The former power plant.
Looking back at the most recent demolition.
Let's include the chain link fence on this one!
Standing under the light rail bridge again.
Looking over the Park & Ride overflow lot fence.
More power plant.
Closer more power plant.
If you want to read that sign on the lower left corner of the building, you'll have to wait a bit. At some point I zoomed in on it for a picture. That wasn't today. But keep following further installments of the Gates Demolition Diary, and I'll eventually get to the date where I took a good picture of it!
Non-zoomed photo from under the RTD light rail bridge.
Looking over the light rail tracks, to the power plant and warehouse building behind it.
After climbing down from the cement blockade that I stood on to take the last picture, I got in my car and left Gates. I had some other Aarons to run on the south side of town, so I'd be heading out to Mississippi Avenue, then southbound down towards where I needed to go.
South end of Gates, from Mississippi.
Railroad bridge, crossing Mississippi.
At the Santa Fe Drive intersection, I took a left turn to access South Platte River Drive. Drived past my old job and onto westbound Evans Avenue. Where I would then drive by my favorite house in all of Englewood.
While being virtually surrounded by the jagged Denver city limits, this long abandoned house on Evans and Tejon, is actually part of Englewood. A four block wide strip of Englewood city limits extends all the way north to Evans, for some strange reason. This boarded up house sat untouched the entire time I lived in Colorado.
I always wanted to see the inside.
Turning south on Federal, I drove past the colorful and recently closed Bubba Chino's. This place didn't stay closed for long, it was renamed, repainted and reopened fairly soon after I took this picture.
A few miles south of Bubba Chino's, and still on Federal, is the new King Soopers on Belleview Avenue. In 2011, there was an old 1960's era King Soopers at this location, wrapped inside a shopping center. Stupidly and shortsightedly, I never took any pictures of the old store, the demolition of it, or the construction of this new store. All of that took place between the fall of 2011 and the Summer of 2012.
I regret that...
And would not make the same mistake when it came to the former Columbine Square shopping center, at Belleview and Federal. Not yet fenced off, this property would see a lot of me and my camera over the next few years. I've already written some about it, covering the old Burger King in a story here.
I would be turning left on Lowell Blvd., where it crosses Belleview. Near where the "Eat This" food truck sits in the parking lot of the shopping center, on the corner. Then down past the public swimming pool, towards Bowles Ave, where I would be stopping for actual groceries, before heading back home.
A couple of blocks south of Eat This, is the Bowmar Gas Express station that my friend's mom worked at. They were both roomates of mine, along with two other longtime friends, when I moved to Littleton in 2005. That was a really fun year... This became a frequent stop for me to pick up gas and driving supplies for photo tours, in the mid 2010's. I'd get what i need and talk to her for a few minutes before going on my way.
Today, I would be getting what I needed for that week's food, from the WalMarts test concept store, Neighborhood Market, at Lowell and Bowles. Between 2011 and 2014, WalMarts took on leases at several Denver area abandoned grocery stores (in this case, an old Albertson's) and set up a condensed WalMarts that only sold groceries. I liked this store, but it was only open for a few years, before WalMarts pulled the plug on the concept and closed the store and the chain.
I think we're all better off that they did.
Now can we PLEASE bring Kroger to Minnesota!
I didn't take any pictures of WalMarts presents: Neighborhood Market today, so I can't show you what it looked like. I did take some on other days, but you'll just have to wait for those.
But I did manage to snap a driving by photo of this creepy looking abandoned house on Bowles. Added creepiness is likely due to cigarette smoke in the car, if I had to guess. This house would be demolished soon after I took this picture (like, within a couple weeks), to make way for the rest of the new houses going in around it. It was the last of the small farm houses in this area that began disappearing shortly after I moved to Denver, in the late 1990's. The land was getting converted from old farm, to new suburbs. Just as much of Denver was around this time.
And that's going to pretty much wrap up Part 4 of the Gates Demolition Diary.
These photo taking tours were becoming a bit more structured and inclusive of multiple side missions, from over the previous month. This would be especially true during the next one.
X-Mess morning, 2013, saw me going to Gates as usual, but it was on the way home, instead of a lead off. Laura was in Minnesota for the holidays, and I stayed behind to work. With the day off and likely next to no traffic, I made a big list of places I wanted to take pictures of in the Denver metro area. Departing just as soon as the sun had risen, about 6:45am. I returned home just after 2pm, so it was a pretty full day of exciting photos. I've already written a two part story of that day a few years ago. That can be found here (Part 1 - The Road to Fan Fair) and here (Part 2 - Gates Rubber Factory and More).
Left out of those two stories is that day's photographing of Gates itself. So that part will be new.
But that will come later, in the Gates Demolition Diary part 5.
Coming just as soon as I write it.
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