Blog

YourHub.com \\ Arvada \\ Patrick Bunn's Blogs

Blog Entry 20 of 20 Arvada: The way it was, the way it is, the way it could be.

I moved to Arvada in 1975, getting to spend my formative years growing up here, watching it change, breaking several municipal codes, and seeing how much trouble I could get in without my parents actually finding out. I moved back to Arvada a year ago, and while my contacts with the local authorites have drastically gone down hill, my fond memories of growing up here havent. My writings will be about the times I spent growing up here, the friends I grew up with, the trouble we got in, the stuff we got away with, and basically anything else that spews forth from my brain. I graduated from Arvada High School in 1985 (Go Redski...oops, go Reds...oops....go Bulldogs, or Wombats, or Tibetan Spitting Lamas, or whatever they are called these days). I spent 10 years on the Comedy circuit, but these days prefer to spend time with my wife, my dog, and whatever poor souls end up on a poker table with me. When I post a story, please feel free to write me back with your memories. I would like to know if I was the only one who remembers seeing Young Frankenstien at the Wadsworth drive in, or tried desperately to lose his virginity on a carpeted mushroom at US on Wheels.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~MrSnugglePants

Regrets, I've Had A Few....

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Patrick Bunn on 5/9/2008

Now that I am firmly entrenched in my 4th decade on this rock, sometimes I find myself taking a look back at my time here, and contemplating what might have been. In our city, state and nation, some things have come and gone and been pretty much removed from our brains, if not our history. I sit and reminisce, wishing that maybe things could have turned out differently.

For starters, no way do I let Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips go out of business. For those of you that dont remember, think green roof, and some kind of fish biproduct deep fried in pancake batter with high grade 10W30 Pennzoil. If you think Long John Silvers is brilliant seafood, you have no idea what you missed with Treachers. The trick was to get the Bag O Fish home before the grease soaked through into the cloth seats of your Plymouth Reliant K Car. (If you dont know what a K car is, your not missing anything). Also, the Hushpuppies from Treachers had a shelf life of about 4 million years. I believe when my parents sold there house in Arvada, 3 of them were still being used as woodfill in a couple of the holes in the wall of my old bedroom.

I regret that the teen night club has gone the way of the horse and carriage. Not because I would be frequenting one. That would be weird. I wish they would come back,because that way, maybe there wouldnt be so many fights, shootings, and stabbings at night clubs now. Basically, we need to bring backtraining wheels for future night club patrons. There was the big one, The Rush at Greystone Castle. Every sunday night, they would violate 14 fire laws and jam 2000 teenagers in there. And every Sunday, there we were. Me, Stu, Jack, Tony, and a couple of others, doing The Bird by Morris Day and the Time. As cool as it was, it wasnt the best. Aravada had its own teen club. The Fizz was the name, and it occupied the space that is now home to the bingo parlor at 64th and Wadsworth. Since they couldnt serve booze, they did the next best thing. Jolt Cola. All the sugar, twice the caffeine. Friday nights, five bucks, all the Jolt you could drink. The fact that we all have ulcers now is okay, because that was fun. Every weekend, walking through there was like walking through a fashion show, as everyone was wearing whatever they bought the previous week at Merry Go Round. Z Cavarrici slacks, black leather pirate boots, the works. Granted, if we wore it now, we would get mugged. But back then, we were styling.

I also regret that I havent been able to help stop a conflict that has been going on way too long. Every year, this war seems to get worse, and no one seems to be doing anything about it. I speak, of course, about the Hatch Chile War. Every street corner, huge signs. HATCH CHILE WAR!!!!Why doesnt anyone step in to help stop this? How many Hatch Chiles have to die before someone does something?

I regret that I didnt spend more time at the old Elitch Gardens. Riding the Splinter log ride...getting splashed by the others in the boat was great. Up until the point my brother Bill told me what the employees did in that water after hours. They should have renamed it the "Hepatitis C Log Ride of Purgatory". The old Elitches was so much cooler than the new one. They had a putt-putt course. The last hole, you had to hit the ball up a ramp at a target, kind of like ski ball. My friend Jack was about 30 over par one day, got that hole, then decided to unleash a Tiger Woods 2 iron. The ball hit the ramp, and then proceeded into orbit. We never found the ball, but hopefully, no one was on the receving end of that shot, because we were laughing to hard to care. I always wondered why, whenever I rode a roller coaster, that some guy in front of me seemed to always have a story about some poor slob getting decapitated on that very roller coaster. Didnt matter if it was Elitches, Lakeside, Santas Workshop, wherever. There would always be that guy with the mullet, Scorpions concert shirt, and an industrial strength chain attaching his wallet to his waaaaaaaay to tight Levis. Invariably, the first thing out of his mouth would about how his cousins buddies girlfriends little brothers head ended up in the lake. You would think that the coaster would have been shut down, seeing as how this happened 713 times, supposedly.

I sometimes regret that I didnt get to more Business Man Specials with the Denver Bears. I realize that the term Business Man Special can be massively misconstrued, but I am talking baseball here. Wednesday afternoons, Mile High Stadium. Five dollars would get you a seat, a hot dog, and a Coke. 80,000 seat stadium, 700 people in the stands. Everyone got a foul ball. It was cool. One time, Joey Meyer hit a hanging curveball into the upper deck of the east stands. I dont care if we are a mile high or not, that was a prodigous shot.

Thanks for the therapy. As always, wear something bright, and stay low.

< Previous: 'Passing of a friend...' | Next

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above blog

Current Rating

Based on 3 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the blog

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

Submitted By: Gladys Mercier

posted on 5/13/2008 @ 4:42:54 PM

Rated Blog Entry

Although I am older than you, I also miss Elitches and Bears stadium where I saw the Yankees play an exhibition game when I was young. It was so exciting.

[Report as objectionable]

Submitted By: Michael Rule

posted on 5/12/2008 @ 8:31:08 PM

Rated Blog Entry

I only regret I didn't spend a winter as a ski bum. That's it.

[Report as objectionable]

Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Patrick Bunn

Arvada , CO

Patrick Bunn has posted 20 blog entries and 34 comments since joining on 4/17/2007. Patrick Bunn's average blog rating is 4.98.

view profile »

SAVE AND SHARE THIS BLOG ENTRY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	Newsvine

What is this?

CONTENT RSS FEEDS

All blog entries

All blog entries in Arvada

All blog entries by Patrick Bunn

BLOG LIST

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyonewhat events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad