Cafe Caravan, Grand Junction, Colorado 1954 1985 1st and Main Streets Grand Junction Mesa 81501 USA A restaurant located at the intersection 1st and Main Streets. According to oral history interviewee John Goulet, it was a destination for people on Saturday nights. Goulet also recalls meeting John F. Kennedy there during his campaign for president in 1959. According to local historian Bob Silbernagel, it was a primary social destination for many individuals and groups until it closed in 1985, during the local economic downturn caused by the oil shale bust. The business was begun by Marian and John Vogel in 1954. Thelma Hayes, a waitress there beginning in 1957, became a part owner of the establishment and eventually the manager. According to Silbernagel: “Café Caravan was noted for the bright neon giraffe and lion signs that marked the outside of the building at First and Main streets, and for live monkeys in cages at the back of the Jungle Bar.” *Some information for this article comes from, “For 32 Years, Café Caravan was Grand Junction’s Meeting Place,” Bob Silbernagel, Daily Sentinel, December 18, 2017. **The above image is from the 1956 Grand Junction City Directory. yes yes