WINDING UP IN DENVER..

After working in Tulsa for a few months, I decided to move on. I bought a bus ticket for Pueblo, Colorado for no particular reason. I simply had never been in Colorado before. This was about 1963. I got off the bus and walked around for a while and got something to eat. It was about 3 in the afternoon so I bought a paper and found a room for rent. I unpacked my little handbag and I was at home. Two days later I found a job at a Feed and Supply store. It wasn’t much but it would keep me going for a while.

There were only two of us and a foreman. The guy I worked with was pretty amiable. His name was Paul. He had been going through a really sad divorce and was pretty depressed about it. She was trying to get everything out of him that she could even though he didn’t have much. I believed him. We got along pretty good and would go out for lunch about every other day. I found out he was living in his pick-up which had a small slide in camper. He was educated enough to get a lot better job but he took this job because the more he made, the more she would get. It was that bitter. We went out a couple nights to a bar. He didn’t drink but would have a soda while I had a beer. He was about as hard to really open up to as I was so we always kept it rather impersonal.

Once in a while at work, if we were visiting, the foreman would come over and ask what we were talking about. We would just say nothing particular. It got to a point that I finally just said ‘it was none of his business. He just exploded and said that we ‘were talking about him’. I guess that was what he had been thinking all along. The more we tried to explain, the more he thought we were lying. I talked with Paul that night and we knew it would not get any better so I decided to quit the next morning. Paul needed the job more than I did and mine was a temporary job anyway. Two days later I bought another bus ticket but this time to Denver. Maybe I could take roots there.

When I arrived in downtown Denver I was beginning to realize that I was getting tired of kicking around and from what I saw walking through the downtown area, I thought I would like it here. I wound up at an ‘All you can eat’ for 1.25 buffet and I did just that. I was on Broadway and 13th. On the northeast corner there was a building with a large sign that said Howard Hotel. It didn’t look like it could be too expensive so I went over with my little handbag and walked in. At the desk was a young guy and I asked him if he had any rooms. He said he did and we settled on a room. There were three floors and I was given one on the second. The guy saw my bag and asked if I had any luggage. I said no, I just got in town off the bus. He asked how long I was going to be there and I said I didn’t know for sure. After some more talking he said that the owner lived upstairs and he has been wanting someone to run the desk at night. I said I was interested as I didn’t have a job yet, obviously. He said that the owner would get hold of me soon.

Turned out that the owner was a pretty nice guy and we hit it off well. The job would be the night shift from about 9 or 10 PM till about 6 in the AM and paid 1.00 an hour and a free room. I jumped at it. It couldn’t have been better. It turned out to be about a six month situation. The guy I first met at the desk was from Iowa and had been there for 4 months. His name was Robert West. We got along pretty good. He was not a big guy and rather plain looking but seemed to be attractive to the girls. I’m a guy so don’t ask me why. He just was. About three doors down there was a ‘go-go’ dance club. He seemed to know a lot of the girls that worked there and about every other afternoon we would go in before the evening traffic hit and unbelievably he could get one of them to buy us a beer. No romancing, dating or anything like that. He just had that way about him.

We would eat at the ‘all you can eat’ as often as we could afford it. Sometimes, when our money was low, we would go up to the grocery store on Colfax and chip in to buy a loaf of bread and lunch meat and go back to our room and eat sandwiches. Only once, did we do anything like, illegal. We were both pretty low on funds and Robert said that maybe we could just go and buy some lunchmeat. When we got to the store Robert told me to just buy a loaf of bread and he would get the lunchmeat. I didn’t question him but I kind of figured it out. He had taken a package of bologna and put it in his boot. We never got caught but we never did that again. Twice, when we were really desperate, we walked up to a place on Colfax and gave blood for 25.00 each.

I saw a lot of different types of people in that hotel in the 6 months I spent there. On the desk at night, many times a couple would come in and rent a room for the night and leave a few hours later. We didn’t rent rooms by the hour but it looked like it. Occasionally, the owner would call me from his room and ask me to go buy a pint of whiskey for him and to knock real quietly. His wife had another room on the same floor and he obviously didn’t want her to know. I was certain she knew but we never discussed it. He would always tip me a couple of dollars for doing this.

During our time at the hotel, Robert met a girl who was staying there also. After about 3 months, they had left for a couple days and when they showed back, he told me that they had gotten married. A few days later, Robert told me that they were leaving and going back to Iowa to live. I found out later that his family were pretty well off but had disowned him for some reason. I guess getting married broke the bad feelings that were there and they wanted him to come home. I never saw him again. I was actually glad for him. This was no life and had no future.

The Employment Office was down the street on 14th street. After a month or so I decided to try and get a job. I had done some welding and worked in steel enough to put it on an application. They had a couple places that I could try out so I did. Had to take the bus all the way out to Sheridan Blvd and then walk five blocks to a welding and iron works shop called ‘ Roy Glazier Iron Works'. I guess I impressed him and he hired me on the spot. I had to scurry and find a room and found one at the ‘Elms Motel’ on west Colfax only four blocks from work. All this in one day, of course, I didn’t have much to move. Just my little hand bag, and I had another home. I started the next day and rather enjoyed being employed again. I was with Roy’s four almost a year. I worked mostly on ornamental iron railings and fencing. Made pretty good money but spent a fair amount it on beer and pizza at the Edgewater Inn. At least I was out of the Hotel on Broadway.

Actually I really enjoyed the time at the hotel. I met a lot of good people and unsavory people and also one in particular stands out in my mind. He was a really young kid who never said much but he carried a rather thick notebook with him everywhere and was constantly writing in it. He was one that you never struck up conversation with as he was like I said, not a talker but he was a nice kid. Some years later, I picked up a book, as I read a lot back then, and I thought for sure his picture was on the back cover as the Writer. I don’t even know the name of the book or his name. I’m really bad for names. But this was just another chapter in my life. That is what Chapters are. Like a fleeting moment, never to be regained.