Abandoned Chase Bank - Woodlawn Center - Littleton, CO

Nowhere near finished with any of the stories that I've been working on over the last few months. Now there's possibly more delays on the way, but I'll get to that later. So, I'll call in another quick replacement story now!

Which is kind of timely, since Chase Bank has unintentionally been mentioned in a couple of recent posts. First, it was the punchline in my Bakers Square story, a few months back. Chase Bank was also referenced in my Circus Cinema & Big Top Video story, a couple months ago. Though I'm not insinuating any link between a banking powerhouse and an abandoned burned out porno theater.

So this story would be the next logical progression in the unofficial 4 Baggers Chase Bank Trilogy.

And it's the best one yet!

January 7, 2018.

Wrapping up another of my early Sunday morning drives around the Denver metro, checking progress on abandoned buildings and demolitions, I found another surprise to add to my list. My path home led me eastbound on Littleton Blvd. Passing by the Woodlawn Shopping Center, I saw it...

A Starbucks sign clued me in from the drive by. Then I saw the fence around the property. I knew this bank was here, but never paid any attention to it. Don't bank with Chase, so it barely registered on my radar. Didn't know it had even shut down. 

Now it's about to be torn down. 

Wasn't spending a whole lot of time at the Woodlawn Center for the last few years I lived in Englewood. Most of the stores I liked were gone, or simply lost relevance to me.

Louis' Diner was always a good place for pretty tasty food with big portions. I highly recommend it and should have gone there more often. You should go right now. Finish this story later. It's really not that interesting... 

This photo was from the 2014 X-Mess morning photo tour of Denver.

I've been using pictures from that drive in multiple stories I've posted here.

Here's another one!

Anytime Fitness had recently agreed on terms to move into the "anchor" storefront at Woodlawn Center. They would be taking the place of Angelo's CDs. Who closed their store here, in June of 2013.

And you've gotta give it up for that sweet Woodlawn Center leaf logo!

Angelo's CDs moved about 8 miles northeast of here. Their new store was three times as large as this Littleton location. Housed in a renovated older brick storefront, it has a lot more atmosphere for this kind of merchandise. Just one of many places in Denver that I miss greatly.

But I still had some great memories of the Woodlawn Center Angelo's!

Even though I wasn't buying much for new music as the 2010's dawned, Angelo's stocked a fairly deep selection of Stand-up Comedy CDs. It was pretty rare for me to not buy at least one on every visit.

Doug Benson had a five year streak of recording a new standup album every year, at his 4/20 (April 20th) show, in whatever town he was in that year. One of them was recorded in Denver, I should have gone. Later in the year, that recording would come out on CD. I bought every one of them at Angelo's. 

One of them includes my favorite Doug Benson bit, about the movie Ice Castles.

Which I've never seen.

I had never played it for Laura before she told me that her parents were crowd extras in one of the skating scenes. After we moved back to Minnesota, I played this track for her mom, who isn't known for an affection of stand-up comedy. She chuckled a few times during it, and I chalked that up as a win. It still makes me laugh, even though I’ve heard it many times.

Another thing Angelo's was good for, cheap and obscure used DVD sets!

I remember watching reruns of The Critic, on Comedy Central, in the later 1990's. After seeing most of the episodes, I started to really like the show. Then Comedy Central stopped airing the reruns late at night, and forgot all about it. Until the opportunity to own the entire series for $8 came along. Sure! I've even watched it a couple of times since buying it.

Angelo's also carried rarer music magazines (back when magazines were still printed).

Don't see too many publications that will put Ween on the cover anymore.

And the world is a worse place for it...

So yeah... Anytime Fitness is taking that Woodlawn Center spot over. 

Good for them.

Oh yeah! I was talking about that doomed Chase Bank in the parking lot!

The drive up lanes reminded me of Pole Position.

That's a pretty small building. 

I would feel awfully claustrophobic spending 8 hours a day, encased in a brick building this small.

Does it even have enough space for a restroom inside?

Or did the tellers have to perform a long range pee pee dance all the way to Louis' Diner, when nature called?

That's a very tiny lobby.

The "out" part of the drive-up.

Looking across the Woodlawn Center landscaping island, through the empty drive-up lanes and into the dark windows.  

Wish I would have been here before the fence was put up. This blurry shot being as close as I could get to the drive-up windows. Would have liked to read those signs in the window. Kind of see a hint of an X-Mess decoration in the left window. Which could imply this bank closed around or after the 2017 holidays. Possibly on December 31st, 2017? I took these pictures on January 7, 2018, so that's just a guess.

Well, go for it Starbucks. Everybody knows that you have to open more stores. People simply cannot be expected to drive more than one mile to get to a Starbucks. That's just plain unreasonable to ask of society.

On December 25th, 2014, Savers was still selling second (or third or fourth) hand items inside an old Safeway, across the parking lot from Chase Bank.

I discovered this Savers, shortly after I moved to Englewood, in October, 1996. Wandering around that store was a fun and cheap time waster. Was a big fan of its resemblance to an abandoned grocery store, despite being a completely different business. Marks from the Safeway's previous aisle shelving were all over the floor. Cut out areas of the retail areas were likely once the meat or dairy departments, now selling broken toys and other oversized semi-broken items.

Bought some stuff there in 1997. Most of that stuff probably came from the old Safeway bakery. Old Atari games (that I later re-sold), some books and record albums, some clothes, pants and a few shirts... 

And in the spring of 1997, I bought my first...

"I'm a Cool Fucking Guy" hat! 

This hat was sadly destroyed a couple of hours after this picture was taken.

When I jumped into a swimming pool wearing it. 

Had no idea it wasn’t waterproof. 

Now I'm out $2...

At some point around 2016-17, Savers left this building and it became an ARC Thrift store. I didn't go back inside as an ARC, but I should have. Just to see if they cleaned up the floors a little. Sure hope they didn't.

Taco House sat across the street from Savers. Never ate there, but that building is several shades of awesome!

Especially the classic Taco House sign!

East of Taco House is more L-shaped In-line retail, anchored by Littleton Pawn, on the north end. I don't think this is still part of the Woodlawn Center. But I don’t know what it’s called. So whatever... It's part of Woodlawn Center. I can only say so much about a bank I've never used.

Mile High Comics once operated a store in the armpit of this shopping center. Not sure when they left, but you can vaguely see their sign at the very center of this picture, taken in March 2014. They moved to this location in the late 1990's, migrating west from a storefront in the Littleton Square Shopping Center. 

Which had become a Starbucks.

Because of course it did.

Many years ago, I tried to fill in gaps in my Transformers comics. I was able to find about 13 of them from the old Littleton Square Mile High Comics. I was inside this location a few times, and there was a lot of cool and expensive stuff inside. I'm not a comic book guy, but I'm glad I went to see Mile High Comics warehouse store in Denver, before we moved to Minnesota.

But what about Chase Bank?

A quick check back at Chase! In the early morning of Saturday, January 20th, 2018:

No new progress to report.

That mini tower on this side makes no sense to me.

It has windows at the top.

But how do you reach them?

What reason would you go up there for anyway?

Is it an elevator shaft for only a single floor?

Were they going to add a loft above the canopy?

Is there a basement inside?

So many questions will go unanswered before the building is torn down in favor of caffeine.

This is the last photo I took of the intact Chase Bank.

Goodbye Chase Bank.

Boy it's really hard to care about this one...

So let's cover some of the other sites on this particular stretch of Littleton Blvd. Since I drove on it easily hundreds of times during my 20+ years of living in Littleton and Englewood. Kind of like looking back at this neighborhood now. 

Sweet nostalgia of the absolutely unimportant!

Going back a few blocks west of Chase Bank, for some Littleton Blvd. structures. Any further west and you're in downtown Littleton. That's it's own beast and I’m not getting into it today.

I have no ties to the Court House Offices, at Littleton and Spotswood.

I just liked that building.

Heheheheheh... Spotswood...

Made a couple of appearances at the Arapahoe County Human Services Building over the years.

None of which involved me.

The First Presbyterian Church of Littleton sits on the northwest corner of Windermere and Littleton Blvd. This place never involved me either, but it's another pretty cool looking building.

Unlike directly across the street...

Now a Circle K, on December 25th, 2014, it was still a Diamond Shamrock gas station. Also located on the furthest southwest corner of the old Pizza Hut delivery area. Meaning it was a convenient stop for supplies and gas, if needs arose before heading back to the store.

But if I didn't need gas...

Then the 7-11 on Cedar and Littleton Blvd was usually the winning choice.

I spent a lot of money at this particular 7-11 between 1996 and 2018.

Next door is an office building, housing (in July 2015) the Broadway Assistance Center, Littleton Print & Copy and Follow Real Estate. Another building I have no ties to, but I love the interlocking circles attached to the front of it.

The Littleton Cafe sits a few feet to the east. It's been the Littleton Cafe for a while now, but I'll always remember this as IHOP. Ate quite a few pancakes with various Pizza Hut co-workers here, throughout the years. Before IHOP suddenly closed this location. I don't remember when that happened, but I think it was before 2010. The building itself is nearly all roof, and the inside is very small and cramped. I can easily see why it no longer fit the IHOP corporate model for restaurants they want to promote. 

Hmmm... With all of this various commerce in the area, you'd think there would be a bank or something around...

Oh yeah!

Oh...

I missed it...

Doesn't look like I missed it by a whole lot.

That shovel is sitting there looking awfully guilty.

All swept up into a nice pile. 

Doesn't look like the canopy is in there. Must have already been hauled away for scrap. 

This pile looks to be mostly wood, brick and insulation.

Not even a cool looking safe was left behind. Unless it was buried under here.

Oh, that's right! There was a Family Dollar Store in the shopping center. Forgot about it, and found out it closed at the end of 2020. There is a Dollar Tree open in the southern wing of Woodlawn Center. The part I didn't take any pictures of.

A few doors down to the left of Family Dollar, there used to be a used bookstore. 

It was jammed full, nearly floor to ceiling, the entire length of the store. Thousands and thousands of used books. Yet fairly easy to find the subject matter you were looking for. Wonder what happened to all of that inventory when the store closed?

Two of the purchases I made at the used bookstore, that I don't remember the name of. Bouton's book is legendary as far as baseball titles go. I picked it up in 2010, when I was researching the Seattle Pilots for a Wasted Quarter story. That I never finished.

The Lenny Bruce book had seen better days, but was a steal even considering its condition.

And it's 50 years old now!

As I walked out of that bookstore, after buying Lenny Bruce's book, I would have been facing the old Chase Bank. Somewhat at this angle. 

I may have even parked in this spot.

That's good Starbucks... I can't possibly drive another less-than-a mile to your other locations...

Looks like Schomp Automotive (a bit further down Littleton Blvd.) just couldn't wait, and had to move closer to another Starbucks. According to the Googles, this building is still vacant today. Can't believe it hasn't been torn down and something else built on a fairly decent sized piece of land. 

Why hasn't Starbucks built here yet?

Or here?

A few blocks east of ex-Schomp, resides what was known as D's Tavern in 2018, when I took this picture. This fairly large restaurant shaped building has been home to many failed eateries during my time living around this part of town. 

Though, it was still operating as D's Tavern in March of 2015 as well.

That's a REALLY lame message board!

In June of 2013, it was Delvickios Incredible Italian. Which probably couldn't compete with Romano's on Littleton Blvd. and Windermere, which is why it didn't last. Now Romano's has some really good food!

A previous identity as the Symposium Cafe also stands out in my mind. 

Around 2008, I'm thinking...

Though I may be wrong on that one.

Straight out of a 1950's time warp, here’s the Littleton Professional Building.

And Pyramid Discount Liquor... If your buzz wears off between Starbucks.

Speaking of, I better check the progress on that new Starbucks. 

February 17, 2018.

All of Chase Bank is gone.

Well, except for the former landscaping islands.

Now it kind of looks like a small Go-Kart track!

Which would be a much better use of this space instead of another Starbucks!

A sad puddle is forming right where the auto bank teller tube shuttle dispenser sat. Almost like it wants to be a Chase Bank Memorial Reflective Pond. And that puddle is about the only interesting still going on here, so I guess it's time to go. Besides, I'm thirsty.

Too bad there isn't any place at all where I could get a cup of coffee around here.

How about a gas station? For years gas station coffee was good enough for people out and about. Coffee didn't need its own building. It could just be added onto a gasoline purchase. Or donuts, cigarettes and a newspaper. 

But we're not in those times anymore.

Littleton Neighborhood Food & Gas was decked out in Phillips 66 colors and logos, when I moved to Englewood in 1996. Then it took on the identities of various private ownership throughout the years. According to the Googles, it's a Conoco again in 2022. The corporate partner of Phillips 66. So it goes full circle!

But I like the Littleton Neighborhood Food & Gas costume better.

March 18, 2018.

Coffee's not ready yet...

April 22, 2018.

Have you even begun to grind the beans? 

What's going on back there?

I moved away from Colorado at the end of May, 2018.

Without even seeing the ground being broke to build the new Starbucks.

Good thing I wasn’t waiting for coffee...

******

Meanwhile, a possible tragedy has fallen upon Honkassland.

The trusty and reliable, yet tired in it's old age, Macintosh Powerbook G4 isn't turning on anymore. Shown here in fully functional mode, scanning cards used for my 2022 Minnesota Twins season preview, on April 2nd, of this year. 

This top of the line machine was released by Apple in 2005, at a retail cost of $2599. I bought it off a co-worker, in the spring of 2008, for $1000. Since the day I bought it, there have been very few days where I did not use it for something, even though it hasn't sniffed the internet in over seven years. Five issues of Wasted Quarter and 211 (of the 212) Four Baggers stories were posted, with most of the work done on this machine.

The power cord was damaged not too long after I bought the computer, in one of those unavoidable slow motion "oops... oh shit!" moments. But continued to work with no issues. Until a few years ago.

Being old enough to legally hold a drivers license, I'm lucky that more of this machine hasn't just completely crapped out on me. Like I said, it doesn't go online, the CD burner is burned out and the battery is long past rechargeable. It still worked when plugged into an outlet with no problems. However, that damaged power cord didn't quite provide a good connection to the computer itself. If there was an interruption with the power, there was no longer a charged battery to compensate. If the power cord was bumped the right way, it would just shut off. 

This started happening with more frequency over the last month.

Getting to the point where I couldn't get the power cord to sit right in order to turn the machine on.

And that's where I am now.

My hopes are that a new cord (ordered and currently awaiting arrival from Amazon) will solve the problem. Fingers crossed that this isn't a more serious issue with the power supply, or other parts I simply don't understand. I'm not worried about any of my files on the computer itself. Everything is recently backed up, so nothing will be lost if the machine has finally gone to the big sleep.

I really don't want to attempt another open Mac surgery on this machine. I'm simply not skilled nor patient enough to pull off another extensive computer repair. The above 2014 emergency hard drive replacement procedure was messy, and didn't turn out as well as it should have. 

But it worked!

If all is indeed lost, I'll have to look into getting a new computer.

This exact model will set me back about $250 to replace.

Since I've loved this computer so much, I may just do that.

Come on Amazon... The waiting game sucks!