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Colfax Avenue in Aurora, Colorado, about 1971. We lived there briefly while my dad was serving in the Air Force at Lowry AFB in Denver. I wish the image was a bit crisper, however, this is remarkable to me mainly for how starkly different it looks today, and how chaotic it looked back in the day. View full size.
I live near this neighborhood now. We moved here in 1996. I'm glad I didn't live here in '71! I think the influence of the military base is evident in the older shot.
As incredible as this looks in the daytime, imagine how it would have looked at night when all of this brilliant neon was illuminated. Unfortunately, the Arab oil embargo and the anti-"eye pollution" squads ushered in an era where this type of sign proliferation was zoned out of existence. I for one would loved to have been in the sign business back then, but I was only 6 years old.
Here's the street view from Google Maps. You can see the marquee for the Fox Theater beyond the intersection (which I believe is Florence St.)
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