{"id":1318642,"date":"2020-03-09T17:46:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T23:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994300"},"modified":"2020-03-10T08:07:53","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:07:53","slug":"youtube-video-of-glenwood-springs-in-1990-shows-what-a-difference-30-years-can-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/youtube-video-of-glenwood-springs-in-1990-shows-what-a-difference-30-years-can-make\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube video of Glenwood Springs in 1990 shows what a difference 30 years can make"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A customer orders from the drive-thru at Charcoal Burger in west Glenwood.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

When Bart Victor purchased the Charcoalburger Drive-In in the early 2000s, he wanted to make a few minor changes to the historic eatery\u2019s menu. <\/p>\n

One change involved swapping out the drive-in\u2019s golden brown crinkle fries with curly ones.  <\/p>\n

\u201cI had people threaten me,\u201d Victor said. \u201cI thought I was doing a cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime customers, however, filled Victor in on the benefit of dipping crinkle fries, as opposed to curly ones, in a milkshake.  <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ridges on your crinkle fry kept the ice cream on,\u201d Victor said. <\/p>\n

While the ridges on the French fries stayed, the red, white and blue Pepsi globe above the Charcoalburger\u2019s sign off of U.S. Highway 6 had to go. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt immediately became a Coca-Cola sign,\u201d said Victor. \u201cI\u2019m not a Pepsi fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor also tacked on his nickname \u2013 Vicco \u2013 to the Charcoalburger Drive-In\u2019s name, but left everything else pretty much the same. <\/p>\n

Signs of the Times<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Every so often, a YouTube video of a couple driving through Glenwood Springs in 1990<\/a> makes the rounds on social media. In the video, the now-removed Pepsi sign stuck out to Victor \u2014 as did a number of others to Glenwood Historical Society Executive Director Bill Kight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s Center Drugs,\u201d Kight said of the space Walgreens occupies today along Grand Avenue. \u201cThe funny thing about that was, the sign on the window was \u2026 \u2018guns and drugs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1990, the city has updated its own way-finding signage, too.<\/p>\n

The bright yellow triangle kiosks in Centennial Park and on Sixth Street no longer exist, but the over-a-century-old attractions they once pointed to remain intact.<\/p>\n

While Hotel Colorado and the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool have provided plenty of memories to residents and visitors alike, it was the old Grand Avenue Bridge that brought back fondness for Kight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI taught my girls to drive on that bridge when they were teenagers,\u201d Kight said.<\/p>\n

According to Kight, the slight jog in the street leading up to the Grand Avenue Bridge always made his daughters Amber and Shandra uneasy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a terror to them,\u201d Kight said. \u201cIf this person over here was not paying attention you could easily crash into one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty years ago, adjacent to where the old Grand Avenue Bridge touched down at Pine and Sixth Street were Volkswagen and Mazda car dealerships.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the price of gas on the marquee outside Gilcomart read $1.18 a gallon. <\/p>\n

Another noticeable difference between today and Glenwood Springs in 1990 was the nonexistent Glenwood Meadows Mall. The land now occupied by the likes of Target, Chili\u2019s and Lowe\u2019s actually looked like a meadow three decades ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a nice little Italian restaurant right there,\u201d Kight said, observing the video as the couple passed Andre\u2019s illuminated fleur-de-lis sign in West Glenwood.<\/p>\n

Much like the price of gas, the cost of a room in the city was also considerably cheaper. Next door to Andre\u2019s Restaurant, the Ponderosa Motel 5 advertised rooms for just $22.50 a night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of changes that occur over time that we forget about,\u201d Kight said. \u201cNostalgia is an interesting thing. It can freeze you in time where you\u2019re not really accepting changes and change is life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Bill Kight, at the Frontier Historical Museum, watches a YouTube video of a couple driving through Glenwood Springs in 1990. Matthew Bennett\/Post Independent<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Still Cruisin\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While Bowl Lounge, and the Glenwood bowling alley itself, Taco Johns and Los Desperados have all left Glenwood Springs, the Charcoalburger Drive-In \u2014 despite having five different owners since opening in 1953 \u2014 has remained largely unchanged. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo me it\u2019s still so reminiscent \u2026 the smoke coming out of our draw fan, the great smell of a burger,\u201d Victor said. \u201cIt was worth more to me to keep it like it is and let people still recognize it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victor, unquestionably, has witnessed several changes to the city at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado rivers over the last 30 years.<\/p>\n

However, in addition to keeping the Charcoalburger Drive-In alive and well, the small business owner has continued the \u2018Hot Summer Nights Cruise Series,\u2019 too.<\/p>\n

Every year beginning in May and running through early September, Victor and fellow car enthusiasts enjoy a charcoalburger together before cruising through town.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here long enough to know when the wind is going to blow at a certain time in the afternoon,\u201d Victor said. \u201cThat hasn\u2019t changed and it\u2019s still a beautiful place.\u201d<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A customer orders from the drive-thru at Charcoal Burger in west Glenwood.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent When Bart Victor purchased the Charcoalburger Drive-In in the early 2000s, he wanted to make a few minor changes to the historic eatery\u2019s menu.  One change involved swapping out the drive-in\u2019s golden brown crinkle fries with curly ones.   \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-29 22:57:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318649,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318642\/revisions\/1318649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}