(COLORADO SPRINGS) — An iconic Colorado Springs restaurant is set to reopen under new ownership after nearly six years closed.
Navajo Hogan, previously Johnny’s Navajo Hogan, closed in May of 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic and several damaging fires on the property. The iconic restaurant, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, has remained closed ever since.
MAY 2021: Fire at Johnny’s Navajo Hogan in Colorado Springs
Navajo Hogan was built in 1935, and originally opened as a roadhouse. According to the National Archives, the building was designed to resemble a hogan–a traditional Navajo dwelling–and was registered as a historic place thanks to its “novelty architecture.”
The National Archive states that the logs used to construct the roof were brought from the forest directly to the site, where the bark was hand-stripped. After air-curing, the massive logs were assembled one at a time and individually hand-hewn to fit together in a distinctive arrangement that resembled the corbeled log roofs of traditional hogans.
A fire in 1981 damaged the interior of the building, and it remained vacant until 1989 when it was carefully restored and rehabilitated, with the aid of historic photographs and documentation. The iconic 17-foot Navajo neon was also restored in 1989, and has remained a beacon along North Nevada Avenue, even as the restaurant sat vacant the last six years…