There are some sources that suggest Walt Disney Company used the business as a training facility for its employees prior to deployment to Disney World.[3]
Walt Disney and the original investors built the Celebrity's complex at a cost of $6 million.[2] The bowling lanes opened first in 1960 and the rest of the center opened in 1961.[2]
In 1979, a group of private investors led by Bob Leavitt and Neil Griffin purchased Celebrity's for $1.9 million.[2][4] The three signature water slides that were visible from outside of the building were added after Leavitt/Griffin purchase.
In the early 1990s, Celebrity's was losing money and apparently in need of significant maintenance.[1] In 1994, the complex was sold to Acquisition Corporation of the Rockies for $10.8 million, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company.[2][5] The new owner demolished Celebrity's by March 1995.[1] Today the 7.1-acre (29,000m2) site is a Home Depot store and retail space.
Features
Celebrity's was home to 80 bowling lanes, more than 300 video games and pinball machines spread across three arcades, a 50-meter pool with three water slides, a billiard room, a full-service restaurant, the "Hofbräu" bar, bumper-car rides and a shooting gallery which were located in the "Fun Center" game room downstairs, the largest of the 3 arcade rooms, where there were ticketed games such as Skee ball or Boom ball to play for prizes . There were also 3 complete slot car tracks in the basement.[2]
Bowling
In the spring of 1991, the Celebrity Sports Center played host to the $125,000 Celebrity Denver Open for the Professional Bowlers Association Tour from May 21 to May 25. The final round of the tournament was televised live on ESPN. Left-hander John Mazza would go into the TV Finals with a 299-pin lead over the second-place qualifier Parker Bohn III. Curtis Odom qualified 3rd, Bryan Goebel 4th, and Mike Shady would take the 5th and final seed. The opening match saw Shady squeak out a narrow victory over fourth-seed Goebel with a score of 184-173. He followed up that victory with a 212-199 win over Odom, but he would fall to Bohn III in the third match of the show, 226-204. In the championship match, Bohn III was simply unable to find a consistent line to the pocket to score. As a result, he was defeated easily by the number-one seed Mazza, who threw 10 out of 12 possible strikes in a lopsided 269-190 victory to win the first-place prize of $18,000.[6]
Legacy
CSC still evokes fond memories from many metropolitan Denver natives. The Denver Post called Celebrity Sports Center a "huge indoor funland," a landmark "uniquely Denver," and noted its demolition left a "void...that cannot be filled."[1][7] Some tributes to CSC can still be found online.[8] One such tribute even notes that CSC souvenirs and paraphernalia continue to appear on auction websites from time to time, and seem to sell for high prices.[citation needed]
Patrons often remember the iconic sign that stood outside Celebrity's. At least one of the 14-point stars from the sign has been preserved. Today it is used as a winter holiday decoration at the Lumber Baron Inn & Gardens in Denver.[9]
Additionally, the old bowling lanes at Celebrity's were preserved. Those lanes were reused during the restoration of the 19th-century Oxford Hotel in downtown Denver and now serve as the hotel's ballroom floor.[10]
Early plans for the redevelopment of the site included a brass plaque to be "mounted somewhere on the new site to commemorate Celebrity's existence as the entertainment mecca that it was."[11] The fate of this proposed plaque is unclear.
(Pre-Home Depot the building housed a Builders Square location, which had an encased bowling pin from the CSC and a plaque underneath it by the far left exit door.[citation needed] These mementos no longer exist at the Home Depot; the fate of the pin and the plaque are unknown.)
Hutchinson, Paul (December 31, 1995), "1995 The Year in DENVER, A look back at the top stories and pictures of 1995: City gets a facelift", Denver Post, pp.DENVER & THE WEST, Pg. B–01