When Keith Schuett pulled down the mansard-style shingled facade and awning from the west side of the Northern Colorado Karate building in downtown Loveland a few weeks ago, he uncovered pink and white paint, stenciled flowers, some shadow letters and a bit of a mystery.

“I know it was quite a surprise when Keith took that awning down,” said his sister, Loveland resident Jan Kleckler.

Schuett and his wife, Kim, moved their karate school into the building at the southeast corner of Lincoln Avenue and Fifth Street in December 1999. They bought the building in 2003 and still own it, although their son Kendrick Schuett and his wife, Nancy, now run the school.

Just as the Schuetts were buying the building, the coffee shop on the western side of the building, the Corner Cup, closed up, Keith Schuett said, and Northern Colorado Karate took over the whole building.

In late January, the Schuetts had the roof replaced, and Keith Schuett, his brother-in-law Rand Kleckler and Kendrick Schuett pulled off the red-brown shingled facade and blue awning in preparation to repair and repaint the building.

Keith Schuett said he’s curious about the business that left its mark on his building.

FA_HION _REND

“I saw the letters, but at the time it was starting to rain, so I really didn’t have time to look at it.” he said.

The letters, ghosts left behind by large capital letters that had been affixed to the building, are faintly visible from across the street. They seem to spell out “FA_HION _REND.”

Some old city directories in the Reporter-Herald office revealed that a business named Fashion Trend occupied 444 N. Lincoln Ave. during the early to mid-1970s.

The shop was described in directories from 1973 to 1976 as carrying wigs, gifts, cosmetics and specialty apparel. Its proprietors were listed as Opal Fogle and Herbeta Van DeGrift, and later Herbeta Alexander.

Frieda Probasco, whose family has owned Probasco’s Bible and wig store a block south on Lincoln Avenue since 1968, said she never visited Fashion Trend, but she remembered Opal Fogle and knew that her husband owned the GMC dealership on South Lincoln Avenue.

Fogle family history

John Fogle, a Loveland businessman, former car dealer and current City Council member, confirmed that the shop was owned by his stepmother and his stepsister, although he said the city directory got his stepsister’s name wrong; it was Herberta.

Fogle said after his mother died, his father, the late Ken Fogle, married Opal, who also was widowed, in New Mexico. The blended family moved to Loveland in 1970, when John Fogle was in the ninth grade.

“Sometime, probably ’71 or ’72, Opal wanted to have her own business, so she had a dress shop, a wig shop,” Fogle said. “They sold dresses, costume jewelry, wigs — all this stuff for women.”

Fogle remembers going with his stepbrother to help out around the shop — and to mess around.

“We’d put on wigs and act like Elvis. I’m sure I looked very good,” he said. He also remembers how the building looked.

“She had it painted up really girly foo-foo,” he said with a laugh. “Really trendy looking.”

Freckled with flowers

A Larimer County Assessor’s Office photo from 1975, stored in the collections of the Loveland Museum, reveals that indeed, the front and side of the store were literally covered with the flower-power stencils that the Schuetts’ remodeling revealed.

Fogle said he lost touch with Opal and Herberta, who now goes by Brianna, after Opal and his father divorced in the late ’70s or early ’80s, but he has reconnected with them. They were not available to interview for this article.

Keith Schuett, who now lives in Del Norte, said he has heard that at least some of the buildings on that corner used to be two stories high but burned down in the 1950s. The Larimer County website says his building was built in 1920, but the adjacent one-story office building to the east was constructed in 1960.

Schuett believes there are still people in the Loveland area who have more stories to tell about the history of the corner.

But pretty soon, he’s going to paint over the vestiges of Fashion Trend, he said.

“It will definitely change the looks of it. We’re going to put a new awning up, too,” he said.

Kim Schuett joked: “We’re going to leave one or two of those special flowers.”

Craig Young: 970-635-3634, cyoung@reporter-herald.com, www.twitter.com/CraigYoungRH.