As a kid I liked Michaelis' burgers, “Burger in a Basket.” I have talked about that restaurant here before. Today I'd like to talk about a few others, such as Cy's, which is now at Uintah and 19th streets. I remember it from the
late '50s and '60s, when it was in the 2700 block of Colorado Avenue, just west of the Clark's service station. On the other side of Clark's, on the corner, was the Jones building, which was an A&W for many years. Cy's original location has been a gas office
for a long time. I remember it as a soft ice cream place after Cy's closed at that location in 1968. Before it was Cy's, it had even been a used car lot!
As to the Cy's location on Uintah, it opened there in 1970, around the time the deep cut into the mesa was dug, allowing Uintah to finally be extended between Cooper and 19th streets.
Uintah did not even exist in the '50s; it was Manitou Boulevard. Mesa Road started near Cache la Poudre and Walnut streets and continued up to the top of the mesa. There was a steep street off Mesa Road that cut over to 17th Street where it met Manitou Boulevard. Manitou Boulevard started at Chestnut and Boulder streets, between Washington School and Bristol School.
Many local residents disliked the extension of Uintah, and the change to Uintah from Manitou Boulevard as it passed 17th Street. For residents in that once-quiet neighborhood, the amount of traffic is still a commonly discussed subject.
As the Uintah Gardens area was developed, there was extensive leveling of the land north of Uintah. Along the south side you can still see how low the area was, before this filling. Before Cy's moved there, the little spot at 19th and Uintah was home to another burger place, called Shelley's Shack.
On the west side of 19th, Chambon's, then owners of Surplus City, had a storage lot. I remember when there was a huge chunk of a B-29 bomber where the line of shops is now located. I also remember a house that sat up above Uintah, just east of 17th, probably in the late 1950s. The Uintah Gardens apartments were built around the property, but eventually the house was removed.
And all that came from thinking about a burger at Cy's!