Art Becomes Life Becomes Art

Returning to a familiar place after being away for a long time is a bit like an out of body experience. There's a feeling of deja vu, that everything you are seeing seems right, feels right and more or less fits that map of the world you've made in your head, but there are holes in your memory that you struggle to fill in - you've forgotten this place or the name of that street, and some things you expect to be there are not.  

I've been away for awhile, and as I've been attempting to fill in the gaps and give the City of Dives landscape a fresh coat of paint in my mind, it has become clear that as time has passed the landscape has changed. This is true in the world of Dives, despite the fact that sometimes it seems to be a place where time can be trusted to stand still. 

Charlie's Silver Fox, an absolute anchor of that bit of gray area of town north of the interstate near Commerce City, is no more. Where locals will go for a beer and burrito (one of Denver's finest burritos at that) at 9 in the morning is unknown. 

Feeling Blue

The Mozart Lounge has gone the way of it's namesake and died too early a death, only to be replaced by the thoroughly unremarkable Aqua Lounge. With what shall we remember Mozart now? I hope the ancient DJ spun the Requiem before closing the place down.

Similarly, Denver Dives has not successfully navigated the sands of time, and has itself begun to emulate its very subject matter, becoming a rundown remnant of a once semi-respectable blog. Upon checking in recently, I noticed that some of the pictures on the blog were no longer showing up. The remnants of what were once pictures are there, however the pictures themselves are not. Instead there are empty frames, like broken windows. Apparently Google had taken it upon itself to delete them for unknown reasons, maybe just to see if anyone was paying attention (it's not likely anyone was). Google can do that, because they run the internet. 

Character

Further proof that Denver Dives has found itself located on the shadowy fringes of Blog-land is the simple fact that it has not been updated since 2012. Like the bathroom in the Hangar Bar or the wall-to-wall vinyl at the Club 404 Lounge, clearly Denver Dives has fallen into disrepair. I'd like to think that all the artfully broken windows and dusty old 'vintage' content give the place some character, however we all know that the letting things fall into disrepair = character rationalisation doesn't hold much water, but like many a disreputable dive bar owner before me, I don't care. You want real pictures and fancy up-to-date information, head on down the street to Zomato!

Love them while you can, friends, because they won't be here forever. Until next time...