"N: is for Nostalgia

I found this pretty pink skyline view of my city, Denver, Colorado on pinterest. Although I grew up in Pueblo, 120 miles South of Denver, I have lived here since 1983. Because I am joining Ms. Jenny
and the treasured folks at Alphabe Thursday I thought I would choose "nostalgia" for my word. We are celebrating the letter N. You may  stop by and visit Beverly and some Pinkies too.

I learned to travel across Denver via Colfax Avenue. Playboy magazine once called Colfax Avenue, the longest, wickedest street in America. Ah, times they are changing! At least, the police will tell you that! The governor will vouch for them and even the Mayor of Denver agrees, Colfax is cleaning up it's act! Occasionally, you may see a "lady of the night" or even her more colorful pimp still wandering near the main road. Colfax runs East and West and ends at the most West side at Heritage Road in Golden, Colorado and on the farthest East side at Headlight Road in Strasburg, Colorado. Now I have seen some interesting things on this 53.3 mile (85.8 km) street. It helped me get around the streets and travel great distances without using the major highway system.

Here is a shot of Colfax from 1972. I graduated high school in Pueblo that year. I was always excited about visiting Denver because my older brother Ed has lived up here a lot longer than I have. You can see our beautiful mountain range in the background of this photo and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. My honey works just North of the state capital building, which you can see in this photo also.

This is 1490 Lafayette Street in Denver.  This is one of those old buildings  used as apartments in the day.I lived with my girlfriend Lynn for a brief month in  the 1300 block of Lafayette, we were two blocks from Colfax . She was a different sort of gal, and although she stood up for me at my wedding, I lost touch with her, she was a real loner and anyone who knows me will admit Chatty Cathy ain't got nuthin on me! I am a people person, I doubt I will change now!

This is 833 Dexter Street. It was quite a colorful condo complex , as they called it. My friend Bea lived in  the next building on the left of this one and I lived at 830 Dexter on the right side. Senator Gary Hart  had a place here and one day, Bea and I were nearly late to work because he ran in a failed attempt at the presidency and she and I were surrounded by Secret Service people trying to get to our job a few blocks away! Apparently, he was in town campaigning and upsetting our daily routine!

I lived in the far right apartment at 830 Dexter. Ah, memories, such nostalgia! My honey proposed to me in that apartment. We wanted to be married and decided we would do it quickly as my father was ill and I wanted him to see that I was happy and his granddaughter, my first daughter, Noelle was happy too. The rest, as they say, is history!

Not too far from my apartment was, and still is, this terrific ice cream store. It was called Lickety Split and someone sued, they had the patent and so the name had to be changed. They have been churning out some of  the best ice cream since 1976 and they have conjured up over 300 different flavors. The menu will often change and you can sit in the shop or enjoy the treat outdoors. We have ordered many a birthday cake from this delightful ice cream store as well. Liks is located at 13th and Vine in the Capital Hill area and you should check it out if you are in the Denver metro area.

Bea and I worked together at the Department of Microbiology/Immunology at the UCHSC and it shared the corner of 9th Avenue and Colorado Blvd. with the University Hospital. Nowadays lots of new condos are going up there and the hospital and health sciences center moved to their new campus near Denver on Colfax! It is a wonderful little neighborhood and there are lots of great things to do. I miss it but in order to live in the area these days you need a lot of money!

This deep fried sandwich was called "Fool's Gold Loaf". The story goes that it was nicknamed "the Elvis" because Mr.  Presley  was hanging out with some friends one night at Graceland back in February, 1976 and someone mentioned eating this creation while they were in Denver. Elvis was so tempted by this decadent sandwich that he had his private jet fly from Memphis to Denver in the middle of the night.  The sandwich which consisted of peanut butter, bananas  and bacon  inside a hollowed out loaf of french bread and deep fried golden brown was not a disappointment to the "King of Rock n Roll" and the story goes that he bought the recipe from the owner and passed it on to his personal cook so it would always be available to him. The restaurant that served up this decadent calorie loaded prize was the Colorado Mining Co. It was a wonderful place and of course, it was filled with many mining memorabilia and was designed to look like a mine shaft! When we were newly married we had dinner there once. Sad to say, it is only  a memory and no longer there in Glendale which was a few miles from my apartment.

I am going to continue my nostalgia post tomorrow and share more memories of days gone by. I am linking with Ms. Jenny and hope you will join us too.

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect! ~Owens Lee Pomeroy