There used to be a couple of McDonalds on this, the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall. The Mall runs perhaps 15 or 20 blocks (at one time in the past 3 decades it was extended), from the center of downtown Denver at the state Capitol, today all the way northwest to Denver's big deal downtown transit hub where all rail lines converge. The Mall, as all downtown streets, are at a 45-degree-angle to the surrounding streets which run straight along the north, south, east, west grid. The other McDonalds closed I don't know how long ago. It was located somewhere along the middle of the Mall. The other mentioned below was closed for a spell during a remodel, as all McDonalds were. I've mostly written about a McDonalds just up my boulevard, which I ended up frequenting at one point during the mornings. A place with its own collection of homeless. That was during a period after I stopped riding my bike, around 2008, and before I returned to the bike in October of 2015. And it was shortly after I moved a city block west and a bit south of downtown, from a couple of city blocks east and a bit south of downtown. Those mornings were shortly before 5 am, when I would catch the first of three buses to work. Was there a short train ride just to the next station in there? There had to be. I last did that some eight or nine years ago. When the schedule for the second connecting bus changed for the first time is years. And I had to take the first bus, and take it earlier, to another train station, to transfer lines to the same train to the same 3rd connecting bus. Which then became the 2nd bus. And before I transferred trains, that station had yet another McDonalds across a highway, which I would attempt to run to and back from. These are facts which lead to stories in other directions. away from weekend afternoons downtown.
I don't recall going downtown much before I moved across town in the spring of 2007. You can always tell what part of which month of the summer it is in downtown Denver according to which outdoor festival is being held in Civic Center Park. This is the big park between the capitol and the state house. Not to be confused with City Park, which you would think would be the name of this park, but is actually straight east of downtown, on the side of town where I used to live. Once I moved, it just felt as if I was much closer to downtown. It's just a short bike ride now, instead of what used to feel more as a longer bus ride and long walks anywhere there. There's always plenty of food at the festivals, but you need to pay cash for tickets to get any. I would always simply stop before or after at this McDonalds, which was right next to the park. As my memory of three decades fades, I recall that it always hosted a contingent of homeless patrons. I don't recall at what point the homeless practically took over the place. It was fun to watch families and executives waiting in line and sitting with characters who appeared to have stepped out of some kind of post-apocalyptic circus. Some would loiter outside. I remember a section outside, perhaps originally for patio tables, which was taken over by homeless sitting or sleeping. At one time, the place hired a homeless guy to do security, rousting particular homeless who had been there too long or fell asleep in the men's room. The Westword did a story about him some time ago.
During the Democratic National Convention in 2008, it was convention types and homeless together in here. I don't recall either Obama or Clinton dropping by here. I was there with my homemade Pat Paulsen shirt. There was a local organization which called itself Recreate 1968. 1968 was the year that comedian Pat Paulsen first ran for president. During the Pride Fest, it was LGBTQ folk and homeless sharing the dining room. There was the occasional homeless customer who tried to talk their way into getting food with no money at all, while a line of paying stretched out behind them. I worked for a company for almost a decade which was then taken over by a crazy man, for whom I worked another two and a half years. When he shut the company down, I worked for him another year and a half, way up in North Denver. Two buses and a bike ride there and back. Craziest thing I ever did. During the couple of years with him in Denver, he fired the mechanic we had, hired another before firing him, and then instead hired a couple of homeless guys, one after the other. The first homeless moved into one of our stores for a while. The last one claimed he had studied HVAC. At the time, my schedule was such as it was the previous decade. I worked five days a week with a day off during the week. One Tuesday, I had the day off and I came down here for lunch. There was our HVAC guy. He was sitting at a table reading the newspaper, having ordered no food or anything to drink. I wondered what the hell he was doing here instead of being at work?
Once the remodel happened, it appeared that the place just didn't have the business that it used to. It wasn't as inviting as it used to be, less of a place to spend any time in. I understand that the entire mall is shutting down for a remodel, due to reopen sometime next year. The city, true to form, has hired some big deal out-of-town project manager superstar to whip up a better pedestrian mall. The Westword has written about her as well. Will there be a new McDonalds? And will the homeless hold court there?
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