51�Թ���

I used to think 51�Թ��� ended at the streetcar graveyard.��

Streetcars arrived in 51�Թ��� in 1899, followed by an interurban line from 51�Թ��� to Denver. When the streetcars and trains were abandoned, a field between 51�Թ��� and Eldorado Springs became their final resting place.

One day, I continued south, past the old Matterhorn and Hornbrook restaurants.��

I thought that was the end of 51�Թ���, but then I saw the Rocky Flats Lounge glowing in the darkness — now, I'd surely reached the end of 51�Թ���.��

I once read “The Inn Outside the World,” a science fiction story by Edmond Hamilton. It was about an inn in another dimension where humanity’s greatest minds — Socrates, Voltaire, Einstein — mingled and socialized. When I saw the Rocky Flats Lounge, my first thought was, “Good Lord. I’ve found it.”����

A lone tavern on a wind-swept plain across the street from a nuclear weapons plant. End of 51�Թ���? Hell. It seemed like the bar at the end of the world.��

It was, as one of the owners later described it, a neighborhood tavern without a neighborhood. But it had a clientele. Bomb plant workers, bikers, Green Bay Packers fans — it served ’em all.��

The Lounge burned in 2015. But, phoenix-like, it reopened in July 2019 as the Rocky Flats Bar & Grill. It still featured the Friday-night fish fries.����

And then the Great Pestilence of 2020 struck.��

So a few days before Christmas 2021, I drove south on Hwy. 93 to see if it was still there.��

It was.����

But it was closed.����

The sign on the door said “New owner, reopening soon.”��

In the parking lot was a surprise: a lot full of marvelous wood carvings for sale. Eagles. Bears. Horses. Seahorses. Flamingos. Alligators. Owls. Dragonflies.����

The artist, named Bongo Love, was on site.��

A member of Zimbabwe’s Shona tribe, he came to 51�Թ��� in 2000.

“I use the area as a refuge. It’s not a business; it’s a refuge,” he said. “I’m free here. It’s the most creative space you can have.”����

An excellent sentiment from the end of 51�Թ��� — one that, on a good day, describes 51�Թ��� from beginning to end.

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Photo by Paul Danish