Akebono Restaurant (orignal location - also known as "Fred's Place"

A 1969 view of New Mexico Inn at 1949 and Akebono Restaurant at 1953 Larimer street in downtown Denver, Colorado. Signs on the buildings read: Sukiyaki TEmpure Akebono," "Coors," "American Mexican Food," "2 Jumbo Beers 25," "1 Small Beer 10."

Fred Aoki, owner of Akebono, was born in California and was one of the first people to lease space following their 1953 loctaion on Larimer Street, in Sakura Square when it was built in 1960. Back before WWII, Aoki's parents sent him to Japan as a teenager to learn the difficult art of turkey sexing, a skill that later kept him out of Japanese internment camps: He was the only turkey sexer Denver had at the time. Aoki made good money as a turkey sexer, and he used it to open Fred's Place, which he later turned into Akebono.