Yeah, everyone sees the wagon...ya can't miss it! There are a couple interesting cars in this one, as I see three VW Bugs--one in front of the wagon and two on the opposite side of the street, parked. The car next to the bus appears to be a very late Fifties Chrysler product, maybe towing a trailer? I'll let a few others get guessed at by other members.
I see four? One in front of the wagon (and another dark colored wagon in ahead of that and a white one further up in the right lane), two parked on the street on the left hand side of the road, and one way up ahead in the right lane right under the traffic light. You can only see the roof, but it has to be.
You're right. I didn't see it for the line of cars behind. So earlier today, Joe (Leadslead) and I were trying to fix a location for the photo. One thing is for sure, A LOT has been changed since '72, a lot of buildings and businesses have been torn down and new ones up, but I think the photo was taken at around N. Emerson on E. Colfax. I tried to zero in on a slight 1-block downhill that basically matches the photo, but Google was tiring out and was giving me fits. If anyone wants to zero in on it, be my guest.
That church steeple on the right has to be this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Basilica_of_the_Immaculate_Conception_(Denver)
Probably where I got it! The dome on the left is the Colorado state capitol building. I'm not an expert on photography, so I don't know what the correct terms are, but the photo was taken with some kind of lens that compressed the background and foreground. That's what gives it the crowded feeling and makes the mountains in the background look so close. The Sinclair and Conoco gas stations on the right side look like they're right on top of each other, but they were undoubtedly at least a block apart. A google street view that shows the capitol building at about the same size shows the mountains much farther away.
Just to give some idea of how much the 1972 photo is compressed, that Mountain States bank on the right was at 1435 East Colfax. The church that Kevin Varnes points out is at 401 East Colfax. That's 10 blocks of street compressed and made to look as though they were considerably closer together.
It's the type of lens, the aperture and the focal length that determine what kind of a picture you get. I originally thought that this was done with a wide-angle, but I'm in error; it's a narrower-angle lens, possibly a basic zoom lens, in order to get that compression, and bring background items closer.
