Friday, May 1, 2009

View From The 20th Street Viaduct2

From the 20th St. Viaduct, looking S.W. on Wynkoop Street.   1987
The Union Pacific Headhouse  is right.  Rocky Mountain Warehouse
is left, and the Icehouse  is center.  

The viaduct, 30 feet above the ground, offered a great perspective to survey the area. The view of vacant land, randomly filled warehouses and distant viaducts looked bleak and very tired.  The buildings were strong, with beautiful brick, and ready to greet a new era. 

Because we can, let's jump over a large steel railing of the viaduct, and down to the dirt.  We are now standing in the area adjacent to the now Fado's Pub and the Sing Sing Bar, and almost in the exact spot of the wonderful sculpture "Evolution of the Ball" by Lonnie Hanzon.

We walk left on the dirt and through sparse low weeds across the field to the Rocky Mountain Warehouse, then occupied by the Avenrich Furniture Company at Wazee Street and 19th Street.  The Westword Newspaper offices were next door, and across the street, the huge front face of the Icehouse building.

Once walking into the building to view the partial interior demo, I ran into the owner of O.K Enterprises, Jerry Orbin, an old friend, that was doing the demo.

So we are very fortunate that all of these buildings have been renovated and add to our experience of creating a city proud of it's architectural heritage.

BuckFifty.org - Denver's Celebration of 150 Years

I would like to encourage the community to visit buckfifty.org to view an interesting presentation of facts, fun, and art to celebrate Denver's 150 years as a city.

This eclectic site is just great.  It is filled with the love for Denver and it shows.  I do not think a site like this happens very often.  It simply is real - a reflection of us, and we are looking fine.

Do you want to read great stories on Lakeside Amusement Park and Mt Evans?  See the incredible 1965 flood of Denver -amazing! A great feature on May D and F and Zackendorf Plaza downtown.  Visit the old Forney Train Museum, or how
about learning a little more about Riverside Cemetery?  Peek into history and read the Chronicles of Muddy's Coffeehouse and Denver's Great Telescopes!  Want creative comics?   BuckFifty.org has them too.  Where else can you get these gems? You gotta check it out!

Buckfifty.org graciously invited me to contribute to
their site. I have 3 posts, "Under the Viaducts", "Truckers Implosion"  and "Photographing Denver 1984- 1992".  Also contributed  brochure for posts on the Rainbow Music Hall and
post card of Eddie Bohn's Pig and Whistle motel and restaurant.

Do you have a story on Denver? You can send it to buckfifty.org.

The people responsible for buckfifty.org are Hugh Graham, Jill Hadley Hooper and Kenny Be, Julie Byerlein, Patricia Calhoun, Chris Loffelmacher.

- Kim Allen

The intention of the Denver Photo Archives blog is to share my photos and experiences, and write about my thoughts on Denver.

These images and articles will hopefully create some thoughts and some healthy dialogue on the content.

I welcome correspondence and encourage your communication.  I will respectfully reply to all comments.

Most images on this blog are for sale.  Please refer to the Pricing Page.

Kim Allen

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