A well-known Denver hot dog hangout is closing up on Colfax Avenue, leaving bittersweet memories for a generation of hot dog hounds. Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs will close its location near Colfax and Monroe Street on Oct. 19. It was an anchor in efforts to re-ignite Colfax in the mid-2000s.

“I’ve had so many people coming in. I’ve had a couple people cry and I’m like ‘God, you’re going to make me feel real bad,’” said Steve Ballas, who owns the restaurant with his wife. Ballas survived Stage III kidney cancer and emerged a changed man seven years ago. He’s tired and now tangling with prostate cancer. But the main reason, says Ballas, is that his wife Linda has had a setback in her own cancer.

“Her cancer’s back. She’s been in and out of the hospital for the past year.”

While Linda is home and doing well Steve reports, he wants to spend more time with her. 

The restaurant has been operating since 2006, when Ballas spotted potential in a long empty gas station. With help of city grants and a Small Business Administration loan, he was able to buy and fix up the place. It had been a place where people slept and went to the bathroom under the old canopy and took significant work to re-open. There wasn’t much going on along Colfax in the area at the time. Crime was a worry.

“It was scary because nobody was walking around and we used to make balloons for the kids and when they would pop people used to duck. They would duck, thinking there was somebody shooting at them,” he said.

But slowly things improved.

“It’s not the police department that made it safe, it’s the traffic and the more and more businesses,” said Ballas, who was a police officer in Connecticut before moving to Colorado. 

Now the menu takes up most of the wall over the counter. Workers dish out hot dogs that are a mixture of pork and beef in natural casings. The authenticity has drawn a cult following. The walls are also covered with photos of kids and families who have been in. It’s a place of memories for customers and for the owners.

“In the beginning, people thought I was a dog grooming place. Because my sign said Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs and they would call up saying, my dogs aren’t mean, will you be able to take care of my dogs?” said Ballas. “No here we eat dogs,” he said he would explain, only to get puzzled replies.

Part of the draw was their association with longtime Denver TV staple Blinky the Clown. Blinky, aka Russell Scott was the father of Linda Ballas. There is a large picture on the wall.

“If you’re 40 years old, or older and you lived here. You grew up with Blinky. You went to school you watched him, you came home you watched him. He told you not to walk across the street. He told you to clean up your room,” said Steve Ballas.

“But the older you get, it gets harder and harder. And I’m tired. And I want to spend time with my wife.”

They have sold the restaurant to a couple who plan to open a barbeque place, where they will still sell Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs and signature beer. There will also still be a small Steve’s shop on Concourse B at Denver International Airport.

Ballas credited his staff and the customers for their success.

“We’ve made a lot of people happy. I’m happy. What more is there to life?” said Ballas.