Abandoned Colorado Stories


Abandoned gas station, about 10 miles east of Mancos, Colorado.

Here's a list of links to my stories of abandoned buildings and stuff in Colorado.

Denver

A Leisurely Walk Around Capitol Hill - Colfax and Logan (and vicinity)

A Subway Farmers Car Wash - Hampden and Havana


The End of the Broadway Motel - Broadway and Iowa

Caboose Hobbies - Broadway and Alameda

Circus Cinema & Big Top Video - 5580 N. Federal Blvd.

The Dead Beat Club - Evans and Colorado Blvd

East Asia Garden - Broadway and Mississippi

Econo Lube & Tune - Evans and Monaco

Firehouse Car Wash - Colfax and Williams

Griff's Hamburgers - Broadway and I-25

Kitty's South Adult Theater - 119 S. Broadway

Long John Silvers - Federal and Evans

Mile High Market & Saturdays - Colfax East

Rockies Inn - Evans and I-25



Twister's New Mexico Burritos - Evans and Franklin

Watson's Grocery - Lincoln and 9th

Watson's Memorials - Quebec and Alameda

Weaver's Automotive - Evans and Milwaukee


Gates Rubber Company


Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 1

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 2

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 3

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 4

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 5

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 6

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 7

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 8

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 9

Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary Part 10



Englewood



Fireside Books & Coffee - Hampden and Delaware

Flood Middle School - Part One

Flood Middle School - Part Two

The Hill Top Motel - Broadway and Lehigh

The Kool Aid House - Logan and Girard

Larry H. Miller Nissan - Broadway and Belleview

Lenny's Sub Shop - Broadway and Floyd

The London Motel - Santa Fe Drive and Dartmouth

Martin Plastics - Santa Fe and Oxford

That Old House - Cornell and Fox

Star Express Gas Station - Hampden and Downing

Wachovia Bank - Broadway and Belleview

Wasted Quarter Presents: Darryl Strawberry - Don't Read This...

Littleton

AMF Broadway Lanes - 5485 S Broadway

Burger King - Columbine Square

Columbine Square Shopping Center - Part One

Columbine Square Shopping Center - Part Two

Chase Bank - Woodlawn Center


The Draft Sports Grill - Southwest Plaza

King Soopers - Littleton Square




Lakewood

Brunswick Zone Bowling Alley - Wadsworth and Mississippi

Gas Food Save Mart - Kipling and 9th


Super Buffet - Alameda and Jay

U-Pump It Gas - Mississippi and Sheridan

Villa Italia Shopping Mall - Alameda and Wadsworth


Elsewhere

Abel Convenience - Sheridan

Apartments and Abandoned House - Louviers

Carroll's Corner Pub - Sheridan

Cheering Myself Up With Urban Decay - West Denver Metro

Colorado Feed & Grain Cookhouse - Ft. Collins

Happy 420 - A collection of photos displaying Marijuana retail in Colorado.

United Artists Theater - Greenwood Village

X-Mess 2013 - Driving around the Denver South and East Metro - Part One - Part Two


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Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary part 11

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Been a while since I checked the demolition progress at Gates Rubber Factory.  Yup, still going on!  So let's hop into that time traveling machine and go all the way back to mid-morning, on Sunday, February 23, 2014. I told her that I was going to drive up to Gates for pictures, and she asked me to bring food home. "How about Griff's?"  I lived in this apartment from May 2006 to May 2018. It worked just fine when I was single, but when Laura joined in 2012, we outgrew the place quickly. The deck faced south, with Big Dry Creek flowing beside a tree lined bike path. With the Rocky Mountains visible to the west, the view from our third floor balcony was worth an extra few percentages of the skyrocketing rent. Standing on that deck, enjoying a cigarette, watching all of these things from my third story perch, was a definite highlight of my Colorado time. We also had an excellent view of the Littleton High School baseball and soccer fields. Not that I'd particularly w...
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What Happened to Clark's Submarine Sandwich?

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Well, they went out of business! Yeah, that's the short answer.  But more importantly, what happened to each individual Clark's Submarine Sandwich store? Once there were 15 of them scattered around the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, but they were all gone by 1991. Clark's still has a small but loyal following around town, and a reputation built off the bread, thinly sliced onions and most important, the sandwich oil that was it's signature. While the chain is long gone, I want to know just how gone is it?  For example, my hometown had a Clark's Submarine Sandwiches, and that building is still standing. Former Clark's Submarine Sandwich Location: 401 Northdale Blvd. Coon Rapids Back in October 2006, the building had long been sitting empty, but was still in good shape. Shortly after I took the picture of the abandoned Clarks/Cousins building, it was renovated and turned into a Dunn Bros. Coffee. But still standing! Clark...
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Gates Rubber Company - Demolition Diary part 1

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As far as I'm concerned, the city of Denver's most important landmark was the abandoned Gates Rubber factory. Shown here from the southeast, at roughly Broadway and Mississippi Avenues, from two photographs spliced together somewhat decently. The massive factory's first structures were built in 1910. New construction and expansion took place over much of the 20th century, until the plant's closure in 1991. Ever since the rubber production was outsourced, rumors of the complex's demolition have run rampant. Until that one year when it finally happened. I did a poor job of documenting many of my favorite properties in the state of Colorado, nearly the entire time I lived in the state. So I made the resolution, that as soon as I first found out the shovels were chewing red brick, that I would be there to extensively cover it's demise. That happened in early November, 2013.  By April 20, 2014, Gates Rubber Company was rapidly disappearing, and now lo...
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Abandoned Mall: Villa Italia Mall - Lakewood, CO

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Villa Italia Mall in Lakewood, Colorado, opened in March 1967.  It closed for good on July 15th, 2001. I'm not going to get into the biography of the large shopping mall. My experiences there number a grand total of two. Once in June of 2000 (for a baseball card show), and the other in May, 2001, when I took these pictures. Since there was no emotional attachment on my behalf toward the place, I know next to nothing about it. There are a few good sites with real information and more pictures of Villa Italia. Both in it's heyday and in it's depressed run down state. I consulted these for this story. Deadmalls has a basic biography, that is a good starting point.  A link appears at the bottom of the page that takes you to another site with a nice selection of Villa Italia photos. Or you can just click here... So let me add my piece to that total! In May 2001, my mom was in town from Minnesota. She was in Denver visiting my sister (who lived in Lakewood)...
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Abandoned Retail - Target - Coon Rapids, MN

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Target T-42. The 42nd Target store in the world, was located in Coon Rapids, MN. Until it was replaced by Target T-1144, a mile or so to the north, 26 years later. Coon Rapids Target opened October 19, 1972, and closed October 6, 1998. Living on the north side of town in the 1970’s and 1980’s, big box retailers like Zayre and Kmart were more frequently visited, since they were closer to our house. Target was patronized less often, and usually paired with grocery shopping at Red Owl. Complete with video games while my mom shopped for food. And copies of Mad magazine slipped into the cart when no one was looking. Downtown Center, anchored by Festival Foods, opened in 1987. Sitting at the corner of Round Lake and Bunker Lake, in Andover, that shopping center was now more convenient for weekly groceries. Subsequently, Red Owl's visits started declining, just due to Festival. Riverdale WalMart opened November 14, 1990. For better or worse, that siphoned an even more significant chunk of...
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2024 Baseball Whatever act 3 - That One Card Show

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The 2024 Baseball Whatever was planned as three acts. But then ... A sudden event appeared that necessitated it's own act in the Whatever...  Entering November of this year, I had yet to attend a card show. My mom sent me a text, asking if I knew about the card show in Golden Valley that weekend. She saw a post about it on Facebook. After thinking that I should, just for story's sake, I texted her back saying I wanted to go.  Life had been very hectic and I wanted to spend an hour or so, looking for some cheap Twins singles I didn't have. Hoping to snag a few things I'd never considered before finding them at the show. Zero interest in new unopened product. This was about walking in with $150, and walking out feeling excited about how it was spent. In that sense, the King of Grace Lutheran Church Sports Card Show, in Golden Valley, MN, on Saturday, November 16, 2024, was a massive success. They did a great job with this show, I was really impressed. It filled the (small...
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Columbine Square Shopping Center - Littleton, CO - Part Two

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If you read part one of my Columbine Square Shopping Center story, you're familiar with its condition after the property owners closed the place down, in 2013. (And if you haven't read part one yet, go do it now!) Well, get ready for it to be all sorts of 2015 again, as it's time for part two! Very 1970's style Columbine Square sign, at the south (Federal Blvd.) shopping center entrance. Photo taken April 8, 2018, after I finished taking pictures of the Littleton Prep (Safeway) demolition. (Oh, sorry... SPOILER ALERT! ) I still really miss seeing the Rocky Mountains every day.  Going back a bit further is where part two starts.  The shopping center was already looking pretty rough, less than 2 years after all the tenants were kicked out. It had been a while since I walked around the property for pictures. Now I had a big writing project coming due. Which I needed additional Columbine Square material to complete. The day I chose for this was... Sunday, June 7, 2015.  P...
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Abandoned Retail - Brookdale Mall, Sears & Perkins!

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Visiting Minnesota in September 2011, my dad told me that Brookdale Shopping Mall was being demolished, and we should check it out. Brookdale opened in 1962, as one of the "Dales." A series of suburban metro area shopping malls designed to syphon retail dollars away from the traditional downtowns of major cities. In the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, Brookdale was in Brooklyn Center, Rosedale was in Roseville, Ridgedale in Minnetonka and Southdale in Edina. Back in the day, needed housewares, "important" clothes for school and other reasons, and whatever other supplies the family had to buy, usually came from the mall. Brookdale was a constant. Rosedale as well, but that mall is currently thriving today, and thus far off my radar. Northtown mall was the closest to us, but it was a second tier mall without the top drawing anchors. Northtown has seen a little hint of a resurgence after losing it's long string of anchors and a series of renovati...
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Demolishing the NE Business Center and Zayre - Columbia Heights, MN

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Not too often I get to watch a multi-story building being demolished. So I was happy to see this one... Thanks to a tip, I made the drive down to the disappearing Northeast Business Center site on September 12, 2020. It was a nice cloudy day, perfect for some outdoor Urban Decay photos! Photo of the open and intact Northeast Business Center. According to the fine commercial real estate folks at LoopNet, it looked like this in 2016. While I'm sure I'd driven by it in the past, or was a passenger in my parents car when they drove past, it was fairly rare that Central Avenue, was used in the route. Especially since I didn't live in Minnesota from 1996-2018. Virtually none of Columbia Heights appeared on my radar before 2018. It was always a part of town that you drove through, on your way to another part of town.  On June 30, 2018, Laura and I were driving around aimlessly on a Saturday night, and ended up driving on Central Ave, through Columbia Heights. We had just left the ...
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1981 Donruss Top Whatever...

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A few weeks ago, I debut the "Top Whatever" countdown. Where I would rank what I had of a given set, housed in my three ring binders. The number of cards in each countdown would depend on however many I kept in my collection. My first countdown was the Top 115 1981 Fleer cards . Those cards came from a sealed Wax Box I bought online in June, 2011. The same day I purchased the box of 1981 Fleer, I also purchased a box of 1981 Donruss. Which means the second edition of the Top Whatever Countdown will cover that box of 1981 Donruss. I plan on continuing the Top Whatever Countdown in future posts, highlight personal favorite and/or notable sets in my collection. But back to 1981 Donruss for today... I broke both of those boxes on the afternoon they arrived in the mail. Previous to those boxes, I owned very little from either of the 1981 Fleer and Donruss sets. I bought them specifically because 1981 was a baseball year not very well covered in my collection. Both F...
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