Mea culpa, I called my ex. The night before everything shut down in March of 2020 I was feeling sentimental. I wasn’t trying to get back with him in some attempt to acquire a lockdown boo (I swear!), I just wanted to have a few poignant tacos (actual tacos not a sexual innuendo you guys!) with someone I cared about in the bizarre and auspicious moment before all the restaurants in the city shut down for five weeks/indefinitely.
I was like I know his ass is just sitting alone in his apartment watching YouTube videos about bass guitar and tactics for psychologically manipulating people. Let’s connect, let’s make a memory. We don’t know how long this is going to last or what it’s going to be like.
No dice. I left a voicemail that’s probably pretty embarrassing and never heard back.
Still, I had to go out and do something. Before you judge me just know that I was a lockdown champion of the highest order. I was one of those introverts that was like, I have truly been waiting my entire life for this moment. I holed up in my bedroom reading, writing, reporting my stories virtually, and just basking in the lack of FOMO - when I wasn’t out delivering food to degenerates collecting paychecks and unemployment for doing nothing. (JK…………………………………………………………………mostly.)
A lot of journalists have the experience where in life you’re the one running to the danger or whatever the situation is rather than towards safety - of course there’s varying degrees of it but I think most of us who do that job live that lifestyle have had that impulse make its way into our bloodstream. I hate feeling useless and out of the loop when important things are going on and journalism gives you a way to contribute and feel like you have some purpose, so that’s one of the reasons I will always love it even though I don’t do it much anymore because…..reasons.
I don’t know the experience of being rendered unnecessary and impotent overnight, and I’m sure that suuuuuuuucked. I wasn’t gonna let it happen to me.
I decided to set out on foot and document the last night before lockdown with my camera, lone-wolf style. I started by walking to River North and seeing what was up at Denver Central Market, a big commercial space full of different food vendors that is always packed with people. It was a ghost town inside, and the ice cream shop had transitioned to a walk-up window - the first shop I saw doing this, though it became a super common practice throughout covid. Was it happening a lot in your city too?
I had a Canon PowerShot G7 point-and-shoot I’d gotten off craigslist for $160. In the next photo you can see how adorable it was. I’d been camera-less for a few months but got this to take some pictures for a story for Denver’s city magazine, 5280. If you can believe it we were considering doing a series of man-on-the-street interviews with different Denverites asking them what they thought about “the novel coronavirus” (as we were like, required to call it in the media at the start). We did run a version of that story but we downgraded the whole “portrait gallery” concept once we realized that was….the exact opposite behavior of what we were all supposed to be doing at that time.
Ever since my J-school days I owned a Nikon D-70 and then at one point upgraded to a D-90. These are great cameras IMO; modest DSLR’s but professional quality. Kinda clunky and conspicuous, but that’s the trade-off for quality. I had an ultra wide angle 18mm lens which was dope. Love a wide angle. I am pretty sure that camera got stolen out of my car when I had it towed to the auto shop that winter. I don’t know for sure, but I know it had been in the car (it tended to live there) and the car was a complete mess at the time. I wasn’t shooting that winter and it took me several weeks to even go looking for it. Either way it’s gone.
I know I know I know I know I know I know. I didn’t even deserve the camera if I was gonna be leaving it in my car in the freezing Denver winter, I know. Believe me I feel bad. I hope it’s a cowboy’s camera now, happily horsebacking through the desert heat, feeling at ease. Snapping gargantuan green cacti and stars the likes of me doesn’t deserve to see.
So it shall be!
Some places were having fun with it. Seeing that “end is nigh” sign gave me a familiar stab in the tender part of my heart I get at times when I’m feeling lonely and see other people out with their friends. Reminds me of first grade when I spent recess kicking rocks on the blacktop by myself. I wonder why I chose a career where you’re always on the outside of things?
Anyway, woo hoo! Let’s go downtown!
This scene would make sense if it was 3am but it was Normal Evening Hours, Mountain Standard. This is the 16th Street Mall, another place that’s typically crawling with people. It was spooky and weirdly exhilarating at the same time to see it deserted. Nobody left but a single security guard in this image.
Harry’s restaurant was closed already but there was a small group in there hanging out that I guessed were employees. I captured two of them, maybe discussing how and whether they’d be able to keep the restaurant’s heart beating during the lockdown. I’m sure it was a strange, emotional, and unforgettable night for restaurant workers everywhere.
I just looked online and Harry’s is still open. :)
Still roaming 16th Street I found a Cheesecake Factory kitchen worker taking a smoke break and a group of friends getting some Taco Bell together. That’s all I was trying to do with my ex I swear!!!
Popped into Walgreens for a cold drink and saw this. I know we’ve all already seen this type of image both in media and in person a whole bunch but JFC….remember this shit?!?!? LOL.
Around 10pm I was making my way home via Colfax Ave. (y’all know I couldn’t skip Colfax!) and became enamored of this scene. No more customers, just a server having what looks like a quiet, reflective moment before they’re out of a job - at the infamous Tom’s Diner.
I don’t know Denver super deep, but my impression is Tom’s Diner was basically the spot for after-the-party sustenance. It was open 24 hours and it’s close to Cap Hill which is one of the most popular neighborhoods for young people in Denver.
I’d been to Tom’s just one month before this. One of my dear friends was visiting from the Bay and on her last night we ran around getting toasted and rambunctious. We heckled this baby-size snow plow struggling to maneuver on an icy road, and she summited a humongous pile of dirty parking lot snow - something she hadn’t seen in years. We popped into Star Bar and someone was doing karaoke to the anthem of her last breakup. Incredible synchronicity. We ordered beers but then 30 seconds later they announced they were closing! Fuuuuuuck THAT! We tried to sneak our cans out but the bouncer swatted my friend’s out of her mittened paw before she could get away down the block. I always laughed so hard about that when during lockdown to-go drinks became not only allowed but NBD. We ended the night with cheese fries at Tom’s.
This was my last photo of the night. When I submitted all these to my editor at 5280 unsolicited the next morning in my mad grab for purpose, this was the only one he wanted. But hey, one photo isn’t zero photos and the fact that this was useful means I had a reason for existing that night. So hell ya. I slept well too having walked around so much.
Tom’s sadly didn’t survive Covid and has been boarded up for the last two years. But I just read it’s re-opening as a cocktail lounge with a “Palm Springs 70s” theme. Dig!