Parking lot popcorn stand got the boot as Casa Bonita’s reopening drew near

In the weeks leading up to Casa Bonita’s much-vaunted reopening in June, Don Thwaites was told to pack up the kettle corn and Sno-Kones he sold out of a converted shipping container stationed in the parking lot of the iconic Mexican eatery and leave.

The sudden and unceremonious end to the carnival treat business he had operated for nearly two years in the shadow of the restaurant’s famous pink tower came as a shock to the 66-year-old Lakewood resident. Not even three months prior, the owner of the shopping center in which Casa Bonita is located had asked Thwaites if he wanted to extend his stay there.

“And then it just went downhill,” he said. “I lost my income, I lost my business.”

While he’s not sure why his relationship with shopping center owner Broad Street Realty soured so quickly, Thwaites has his suspicions: A Colorado dining destination that mark...