While driving around Fort Collins, you are bound to shout out, 'Hey that place used to be...' a lot, especially when you've lived in the area for decades. This is one of those times.

Recently, I was driving around midtown Fort Collins near Chipper's Horsetooth Center, when I saw something that I wanted to check out. It was a red, artfully painted building on the north side of Horsetooth at Mason that caught my eye.

Turns out, the building was Jerry's Artarama.

Jerry's Artarama - Fort Collins
TSM/Dave Jensen
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You could have knocked me over with a small paint brush. I guess I always (mistakenly) thought that Jerry's had closed down back in 2014, not moved from its spot on College. I used to stop into Jerry's once a year to prepare our state broadcast award entries.

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The thing is, this building used to be the home of one of the best bars on this side of Fort Collins: 'Archer's.'

I get misty-eyed just now thinking about the place. It was a great pool hall that had a lot of seating and a great bar, plus, they'd bring in bands on the weekends. I mostly remember Archer's as the place my work friends and I would go after we got off work at NCR/Symbios Logic. We'd work 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday, and then meet over at Archer's to have fun.

We'd also show up early for brunch and Bloody Marys the next day. It was a great place to just relax, play a few games of pool, have a couple of beers and have some fun.

I spoke with Steve Williams over at Jerry's Artarama, and he reminded me that there was a karate place in the building after Archer's closed, and then Jerry's came in over Labor Day Weekend of 2014 after being on North College and Mulberry since 1997.

I can't find any information on the actual timespan that Archer's was around. It seems it closed in 2010, and I was in there in the mid-90's. I'll have to raise one up for the old place next chance I get.

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