Upper Larimer Street was busy Saturday morning -- as it is almost every Saturday these days. That wasn't the case twenty years ago; even as LoDo was starting to boom, this stretch was known as NoDough, and filled with pawn shops, empty storefronts, dive bars and hole-in-the-wall eateries. But today it's one of the hottest restaurant areas in town -- which means any remaining hole-in-the-wall eateries are on the endangered list. And Chelo's, at 2012 Larimer, is now gone for good.

For years Chelo's and Johnnie's Market next door made the 2000 block of Larimer a must-stop destination for fans of real Mexican fare. But now Chelo's has closed, and a sign on the window advises fans of its tamales to head a block away, where La Popular is still in business.

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