Denver in the 1960s and 1970s (Memory Lane) (Lakewood, Arvada: tenants, elementary school)

[libequafrat]

My brother in law was the drummer for Sugarloaf. I got to go to several of their shows. Just a tag along teenager from Goat Hill. Good times though. Hey, did you ever wonder "Where are they now"? Well, he's in yard maintenance. Makes a happy buck. Went to one show by Brother Sun, the group my brother in law and one of Sugarloaf's guitarists, (Bob Yeazel), formed when they broke from Sugarloaf. They played the day's covers and original songs. They were much better than Sugarloaf but some of the new members were young and temperamental so it was short lived. They had a flute/soprano sax player who was incredible. He went on to play in a philharmonic orchestra back east, I think. One of the songs they played at an outdoor debutante party, (the one I saw), at a ranch south of Denver near Sedalia, was called Magic Man and featured a drum solo that I have rarely seen rivaled by anyone. I have seen more than a few bands mostly at the Coliseum in the early seventies. I went to Ranum. Thought I got a pretty good ejamacashun but see that now Ranum is ranked very low on the Colorado schools list. All the hippy teachers must be retired.

[libequafrat]

The Rugged Room, The Family Dog.

[libequafrat]

Did anyone see The Outlaws at Ebbets Field in the basement of Brooks Tower? The year was 1974 or 1975. They were the warm up group for Bob Seger when Bob's big hit was Nut Bush City Limits.

[SoCalCpl2]

My wife and I lived in Aurora for most of our lives and moved to SoCal in 1995..

I remember almost all of the places people have mentioned..

I worked at the Denver Drumstick (my first job) on East Colfax at Locust. Worked there until it burned down....

The name of the 3.2 strip club on north Federal was called Puss N Boots..I dated one of the girls from there for a while....

I also used to be a bouncer at the PUB the 3.2 place in the Montview area that was downstairs.. I remember the night this guy grabbed another's GF on the dance floor and her BF went to his car and brought back his gun to take care of things... An eventful evening to say the least...

I used to do the legal and illegal street races both in Aurora and at the Scotsman..Even had a pic of one of my cars up on the wall at the Scotsman...

Took my wife on our first date to a restaurant called the Potpourri somewhere in southeast Denver near Glendale if I remember....

Went to all the racetracks and even raced a few times at Bandimere...

Loved the North Woods Inn...as well as Wolf's Retaurant out on East Colfax..Best Rocky Mountain Oysters Anywhere!!!!! Chicken Fried Staek also.....

I had heart surgery at Fitzimons Army Hospital in 1963, was on the Fred and Fay show, met Blinky the Clown (he ran an antiques store and collected 1930's little cars), Had my picture taken with a star from one of the western TV shows (not sure which one) at East Tin Cup.. Saw the Runaways at Ebbett's Filed and Suzi Quatro at the rainbow....

Went to a lot of SUN day concerts..and saw the Doobies last show at Redrocks...

Went to a Stones concert in boulder and then Mr Lucky's and the Stone's showed up shortly after.. Along with Lover Boy And both got on stage to do an impromptu concert...

Later on in the late 70's I worked for a shop and I worked on the Rolls Royce and Pantera of the guy who owned the After the Gold Rush...

Loved the Cooper Cinerama and stood in line for the first 2 Star Wars movies and the 3rd one My wife and I were VIP's so we didn't have to stand in any line....And this was the same theater I got thrown out of by standing up on my seat in the first row and yelling - "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore when the movie Network was playing there.. AND I remember when the theater at the corner of Alameda and Colorado Blvd decided to show Debbie does Dallas but inked out the dirty parts....

And let's not forget the Rocky horor Picture Show..I had my own seat there... What a Blast!!!!!!!

Th@nx to all for this bit of reminicsing.....Great memories....

[SoCalCpl2]

Originally Posted by GwinnettCoach

OH MY GOSH!!!! I was at the Pub every Thurs, Fri and Saturday night for probably 2 years!! I met my husband at the Pub and we've been married 27 years. It was fun remembering some of the places that you mentioned. I grew up in Littleton - Daniel Park was lots of fun and I remember going to the South Door on S. Broadway. We used to do Chinese Fire Drills on 16th while the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever was blasting...

I miss the OLD Denver - the way it used to be ... or maybe I just miss the 70's and 80's. I DO NOT miss the snow in any way, shape, form or fashion. I wouldn't mind skiing again on some REAL snow .

Thanks for the memories!!

I probably saw you there every night you were there.. What a place.. Colored plexiglass dance florr with the lights underneath....Foosball Tables....Real GLASS pitchers of beer....Gamesroom upstairs..Although no one hardly ever used it...

[CliffyB]

I spent the last hour pouring over all these posts, sure reminds me of a lot as I've lived in the Denver area all my life! Grew up shopping at May D&F and Woolworths downtown at Christmas, spent lots of summers all day at Celebrity Sports Center using their "Passport to Summer Fun". or whatever it was that let you bowl all day, use the swimming pool, have a hot dog, and play a couple of games in their arcade. That included playing what I remember as one of the first hi-tech "video" games, in a curvy, metal-flake maroon console that had a black and white monitor, and had you piloting a line-drawn space ship around, shooting flying saucers. I remember eating at the Yum Yum Tree, which seemed other-wordly at the time, as you could get Italian, Chinese, Burgers, all different kinds of food in one place...though today we just call it a "food court"! I went to lots of movies at the Cooper Cinerama, the Continential, and the old downtown theaters like the Paramount, the Center, the Alladin, etc. I remember cruising Colfax a couple of times in my beat up 1973 Plymouth Duster, and sometimes stopping at the Scotchman drive in at I-70 and Federal, to eat a Mr. Horrible Burger and a Choking Coke. I worked the fountain and kitchen areas at the Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour in the Northglenn Shopping Center. And remember most everything everyone has posted here...

Since I turned 18 in 1975, I also spent time at some of the "discos" around the area. I remember going to the Gold Rush on 6th Avenue, a place in Thornton on 88th Avenue that was called (I think!) the "Disconnection", though I believe it had a name prior to that. And I remember going to whatever the dance club was at the time at the Graystone Castle at the hotel at 120th and I-25. But there was also a club in Arvada I think, on Wadsworth around 64th, something like that. Anyone know what the name of that place was?? As I recall, every night's dancing started by them turning on fog machines, and blasting some song on their monstrous Klipsch loudspeakers that really wasn't any good for disco dancing, but because of a big drum riff in it, showed off their speaker system to begin the night! I'd love to know what the name of that place was...as well as the name of that song they always played!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for taking me back to what were some wonderful times in life!

[Mike from back east]

The old Saddlery Building in LoDo which has been vacant a while is now slated for restoration into retail, office and living space. Many of these old buildings are real gems; I love going through them every chance I get.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

The old Saddlery Building in LoDo which has been vacant a while is now slated for restoration into retail, office and living space. Many of these old buildings are real gems; I love going through them every chance I get.

Thanks for updating the thread Mike! Yea, those are some some nice old buildings there!

[DOUBLE H]

CliffyB! The name of that club before it was called "The Disconnection" was called "The Draught House". From 1968 to 1972 (I think '72) that was Denver's premier 3.2 club. Some great local bands played there, including one that hit the top of the charts in the summer of 1970- Sugarloaf. That was one great concert, cover charge was $2.50, I believe. Their big hit at that time was "Green Eyed Lady."

[rbk]

The Arvada Disco was "The Score Minus Two".