Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary part 5
With the addition of photographing the Gates Rubber Company demolition to my weekends becoming routine, I'd been trying to figure out new places around Denver to drive around for pictures. With this in mind, X-Mess 2013 was highly anticipated for me, but not for celebratory reasons. Laura was going to be back in Minnesota visiting family, at the end of December. Once I finished work on the 23rd, I would be off until the 27th. The key date in there being X-Mess itself. A morning that should see very little traffic on the road, giving me a chance to get some real good pictures without much interference from traffic or people.
Like this one.
I really like this one.
That day was such a success, it was already written about in a two part story, posted here a couple of years ago.
You can read both of those here:
I purposely left Gates out of the story (mostly) I wrote back then, because I had every intention of going back to cover it more in-depth. Back when I wrote these stories, I was still planning the recurring day by day feature on Gates, that I’m currently writing.
So let’s start that!
December 25, 2013.
My planned route for the morning would obviously include a stop at Gates, but it would be on the return instead of the specified destination. After giving it some thought, the place I wanted to see the most was the old Fan Fair store in Aurora. That was if it was still there. I hadn't seen it in over a decade, but remembered it as a place I need pictures of. Long before Four Baggers was even dreamed of.
Then the oddest thing happened...
When I drove up on the property, the former Fan Fair had been half demolished. I’d missed getting a picture of it intact by several weeks, but I was still here in time to take a bunch of what was left.
Fan Fair Ad, June 1963
Thanks Internets!
The large scale shopping center opened in 1962, but lasted only a few years before closing. It was used as office space until the early 1980's, then sat unused and decayed until 2013. Filled with asbestos, bird shit and other dead animals.
And it fascinated me the first time I saw it in 1997!
An old gas station sat closed up on the southeast corner of the Fan Fair property. Too small to provide the amenities that draw in customers, despite a good location. A few years later, it had actually been reopened, with only some minor cosmetic changes.
Fan Fair was the half way point on my drive around town today, but there were a lot of points of interest that I hit along the way. You can go read that stuff later. I’ll briefly highlight a few places that still stand out from that early morning’s photographs.
Starting with the former AMC Lanes and Dairy Queen. Both were open in 2013. Both closed in 2017 and demolished later that year. For expansion of a Jeep dealership! I could see these buildings from my third floor apartment, at Greenwood Point.
I stupidly missed the 2006 demolition of Southglenn Mall, in Littleton. But the southest part of Southglenn survived for about another decade. Shown here as Sears, on December 25, 2013, I’m not sure if it has a tenant today. Wish I could go look for myself...
Across University Avenue from Southglenn was this abandoned Amoco station. It was really busy in 1996, when I first moved to town. After changing ownership a few times, it closed up after some point where I stopped frequenting this area. Not long after I took this picture, the station was demolished and replaced with a bank.
A few years ago, I came up with a fun idea when I was bored. I was going into Google Maps and uploading pictures of abandoned and demolished buildings to the sites of new businesses occupying that land. This picture had thousands more views than any pictures of the bank that was now at that property.
Eventually that picture was removed, but it still amused me.
I should do more of that…
After finishing up in this part of town, I made my way to Fan Fair. I’ve already talked about that, so fast forward to after I left, and was on my way elsewhere. Including an unplanned gas station stop to look for batteries. A gander across the street revealed...
A closing Blockbuster Video!
The way people receive their entertainment in this day and age has made video stores obsolete. Which is kind of sad knowing the memories I have of video stores going back to the mid 1980’s. But even more sad to me is the demise of other retail entertainment stores there simply isn’t enough demand for today. Places that had long been staples in my life, highlighted even more by today’s date (X-Mess 2013).
The Amish Furniture store, in the Criterion Shopping Center, was a Cheapo Records during my first stretch of living in Colorado. Between 1996 and 2003, I spent a lot of time and money at Cheapo. In a tradition that dated back to the old Cheapo in Columbia Heights, MN, they were open until midnight, 365 days a year. Meaning I could hang out there late, on any day of the year I chose. Since I lived alone all those years, and very little was open on holidays, places like this became a solid part of my holiday tradition.
But Cheapo Records left Denver around the same time I did.
When I returned in 2005, Cheapo didn’t.
The entire Criterion Shopping Center was demolished in 2017.
That will be covered here in the future.
Second Spin was a new addition to my music and video store hangouts. I first started going here in 2011, upon recommendation from friends, and it became another place I spent a lot of time and money at until they closed in early 2018. (I'll cover those pictures at some point in the future as well... And don't forget Tradesmart!)
But my all time favorite place to hang out and soak up a wide variety of entertainment options was in the Cherry Creek Mall (Boooooooooo!).
Tower Records!
Also open until midnight, 365 days a year. from 1996-2003, there were very few X-Messes and Thanksgivings and New Years and Fourth of July's, that I wasn’t wandering around Tower Records, picking and choosing over a wide variety of magazines, books, zines, DVD’s, VHS tapes, porno and CD’s. Tower Records was where I went on 9-11. Weirded out that complete strangers were starting conversations with me as I flipped through counterculture magazines.
Guess we all deal with traumatic events differently.
No one's right and no one's wrong.
Tower closed in 2006.
Because Cherry Creek needed a...
Container Store?
Lame..
(Not really Cherry Creek Mall to blame there, Tower Records went out of business on their own in 2006.)
As I was rounding the corner on First Avenue, on the approach to Tower Container, the light turned red. Which allowed me to snap a couple shots of this bank demolition. Soon a very large and fancy multi-story structure would get built on this chunk of land.
After breezing through the Cherry Creek Mall area, I turned west on Alameda to make my way towards Broadway, and down to Gates.
First I had to snap a picture of Caboose Hobbies. Unfortunately, the sun was running interference so that awesome smiling train mural smashing through the wall is rather hard to see. Caboose Hobbies closed and was demolished in early 2017, because Denver needed another Starbucks... But don’t worry, I got a ton of pictures of the closed Caboose and subsequent demolition. Some former employees opened a new model train store several miles west on Alameda, this one simply named Caboose.
Rumor has it that Gary Coleman -yes, that Gary Coleman- worked at Caboose Hobbies in the late 1980’s.
As a little kid, I loved model trains. More specifically, I loved the huge worlds that model train collectors would build for their tracks. Weaving through miniature cities and forests, seeing what people would create for their tiny trains is still something I find cool.
But I never stopped in at Caboose Hobbies.
One of my childhood toy trains, found partially melted after the fire at my parents house, in May of 2020.
Just down the road from Caboose is the RTD Light Rail Park & Ride. A convenient parking area for all of my Gates photo wandering.
Especially once I figured out that I could drive under the bridge and into the overflow lot…
To park up close to the north end of Gates.
Where I could get out of my car to take some nice close pictures.
Reaching up over the fence, to make it appear like I’m trespassing…
But all the while, I’m safely and legally behind the barricades.
Looking down towards the northeast corner of Gates, where the demolition crews were currently doing their work.
Just not today, because it’s X-Mess (2013).
The exterior facade has been peeled off this part of the factory, allowing an excellent peek inside. Looking at all of the rebar sticking out of the cement, and the piles of rubble out front, those floors had to able to hold tons of weight. I have no idea what the layout inside Gates was, but those floors should have been able to hold anything related to rubber manufacturing.
Damn sun…
This day would have been absolutely perfect if it had been cloudy. Unfortunately, I was battling bright sun for all the pictures I took. Aiming the camera into bright light washes out all the details I’m trying to capture.
Zooming in helps somewhat.
Zooming in even more helps even more!
Unbelievable amounts of rebar...
Blurry photo that shows a lot of detail inside the oldest part of the factory.
Slightly different angle.
Pictures taken not looking into the sun have a nice amount of light to see inside.
Even though it’s disappearing fast, it was a nice looking brick building.
Standing at the southern-most part of the Park & Ride overflow lot, a great place to see this part of the factory. Those crusty snowbanks provide a nice boost in looking over the fence.
Allowing a better view of a decimated elevator shaft.
With the entire first floor obscured by fallen rubble.
After taking this photo of the northeast corner of Gates, it was time to walk all the way back out to Broadway for pictures of the east side of the factory. So this is what was above that front door loading dock. Behind the walls that once had the large Gates clock above it. Actually, this part of the building would have been next to the the clocked, single door entrance. That had already been demolished.
Enhance!
Chopped off rooms with doorways that lead to falling death. Or at least falling severe injury.
Little above ground remains of the office building that stood out extending towards Broadway.
Time to go back...
Alley between Gates and their on-site power plant.
The power plant building.
I left my car parked in the lot as I walked back around to where I drove in. Then out to the sidewalk lining Broadway, and south for Gates from a different angle.
Good to know, Dorner!
Once beautifully landscaped, Gates former front yard looks pretty ragged. The former factory looming behind is still massive, even with crews chipping away at it for over a month now.
Former elevator shaft behind skeletal dead trees.
Shovels taking the holiday off. I really like the half destroyed rooms (offices?) exposed by the removed walls.
This interior corner is falling away fast.
Pulling back to see where I am standing. Which would be the driveway entrance on the east side.
Offering a better view of a picture I showed earlier.
Looking out toward where the office building once was.
With all the fallen rubble cleared, you can get a good look into the basement level of Gates.
Looks like some restroom stall doors on the left side of the picture.
Continuing my walk and shoot, looking into the basement of Gates.
Without knowing what actually happened down there, these rooms almost look like a science lab.
Big fan of that bent beam that hung out for a few weeks after the building it supported was gone.
Yeah, that looks a lot like a high school science classroom.
On the left side of this picture, you can see what looks like the outline of a removed staircase leading to the basement. Really wish I could have seen all of this fully intact…
Some of the office building foundation remains. At least for now.
A better shot of that foundation.
This sign lasted longer than the factory. Remaining behind after all the buildings had been removed. Wonder what happened to it? Sure would have been something cool to keep...
The parking lot it is referring to could use a little refinishing.
It’s pretty uneven and choppy.
Rounding the corner at Mississippi Avenue, and looking north across that parking lot.
There’s that Water Truck!
A few more paces west, looking at the south driveway entrance.
But there’s not a lot happening at this side of the property, so it’s time to walk all the way back to my car. Besides, it’s very cold and windy, and I’ve got more places to go!
There’s the office building foundation again. This time with extra added tree branches!
Better shot of that bent steel beam.
High school science lab basement with restroom stalls!
Rounding the corner of Broadway and the entrance road to the Park & Ride. Strange that my car avoided making this picture of the overflow lot in front of Gates. It's either behind that yellow spool, or just out of frame to the right.
By the time I made it back to my car, something rather funny and embarrassing happened to me. Rather than type it out here, I’ll make you work for it.
Here’s an excerpt from the journal entry I wrote about my X-Mess 2013 Photo Tour. Which was written later in the afternoon, once I’d returned home. If you can read my tiny hand writing you’ll be rewarded with a bonus ending to today's Gates story!
Leaving Gates and driving south down Broadway, towards the north Englewood portion of my holiday Photo Tour.
Past the remains of Cushion World. Recently destroyed by fire, only the facade remains. Google satellite photos show nothing exists beyond that front door. No roof even. Not sure if anyone ever cleared this storefront up and rebuilt anything at this spot. When I left Colorado in May 2018, it still looked about like this. Only with the sign removed and a bunch of small scraps of wood fastened to the boarded up windows. Covered by layers of tagging and cover up paint.
Blurry photo of Angelo’s CDs. They moved to this location on Broadway, just north of Evans, in the fall of 2013. Their old location in Littleton was a frequent stop for my music needs, and the new location was even more convenient. Angelo’s had a very good selection of comedy CDs, which were a big draw for me. I could stop here on my way to work, without going very far out of my way. Which I did fairly often.
I really miss the old Englewood King Soopers, off Broadway and Floyd. There’s not a single time I’ve walked into a Cub Foods in Minnesota, and not wished it would be taken over by Kroger.
The hole left behind by the old Bally’s Fitness Center, when it was demolished in 2012. Really wish I had one photos of it still standing. I used to be able to see the building from the window in my shower at Kenyon.
Today a Rite Aid drug store lives here.
And speaking of Kenyon, after driving by my old apartment, I made the familiar right turn onto Mansfield and drove by another local landmark that was changing forever...
Englewood High School!
The front offices were being destroyed for X-Mess.
While I haven’t given the old school any real attention here, I was photographing the school demolition even closer than Gates. It was easy to swing by and take some pictures every couple of days. I never attended classes here, but lived across the athletic fields from it for seven years. Meaning I had almost as much of an attachment to it as I did my own high school, some 1000 miles away.
Oh, how I’d love to watch that place get destroyed...
Unlike Gates...
But I’ll be back to cover Gates demise in the year 2014, with another installment of the Demolition Diary in a few weeks.
Or a few months...
Whenever...
******
Believe me, I'm not in any danger of running out of new material any time soon. But I will take any opportunity I can to add to my inventory of abandoned properties to write about in the future. Over the course of the last two weekends, I was able to add three properties to the Archives:
The former Northeast Business Center, in Columbia Heights, MN.
A former Amoco/BP gas station in Crapids, that has only been closed for two years.
Though it looks more like 20 years.
And my favorite of the three...
This large Crapids restaurant, last known as Khan's Mongolian BBQ. Closed in February 2019, and first photographed by me in March 2019. I went back two weeks ago and it looks exactly as it did right after it closed.
I went here on a "date" in 2007, and ate in that first booth beyond the bar, on the left side of this photo.
None of these stories will likely appear here for years.
There's just too many ahead of them!
******
In case you're behind...
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