What are the best arts driven, mom and pop buisnesses, little kid cool *and* affordable neighborhoods in Denver? (Aurora: rent)

[thebadblonde]

I live in Dallas,Texas and my family and I are moving to Denver next summer.

I'm looking for an area/community that is art's/humanities/nature influenced and very individual-and very homey too... with lots of mom and pop shops/coffee shops and nature opp's...all within a median working class price range.

We care about the school's too...our child is soon to be six. And we personally have a philsophy that if you if love your neighborhood naything is possible, within reason.

I seen a few homes I have fallen in love with in Mountain View, Green Valley Ranch, and Lakewood. I have heard Baker's is awesome too...

Any tips or feedback or maybe neighborhoods I should look into?

Thanks so much!!!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

You're asking for quite a lot. Especially since any good neighborhoods that have all of those things you are looking for are not cheap.

I would recommend looking around the South Pearl Street and South Gaylord Street shopping areas. However, housing prices may be out of your range.

Check the schools carefully. Denver public schools range from the very good to the very bad.

It's a buyer's market right now, so you may luck out.

[livecontent]

If you are looking into Mom and Pop grocery shops, There are few independent grocery markets in Denver and certainly even less Mom and Pop. But let us define the term:

Mom and Pop means a small store that is owned and staffed by a family. In some cases, they live in back or upstairs for economy. They provide basic commerce to a neighbor. In the case of food, that would be the butcher, the baker, grocer, delicatessen and in some areas a green grocer for produce. This is what I remember as a child, in New York. Even at that time they were disappearing.

I do not define Mom and Pop stores as expensive overpriced stores that cater to a richer clientele--that would be expensive gourmet markets, organic food stores, expensive delis and pseudo ethnic markets--they may be family owned but the clientele and the price of the commodities moves them out of the economical markets that I am defining.

So, you will find these markets, mostly, in lower or middle class neighborhoods, especially those where new immigrants live. That would not be high class developments where the price of rent would be prohibitive. This would include Belmar in Lakewood, some developments in Cherry Creek and the wealthy cities in the South Metro.

So where are they?? They have to be in lower price rent districts and do not be fooled, many of these smart immigrants have bought the building. I have noticed that there are small grocery stores located in Lakewood, Aurora, Arvada, and Westminster and areas of Denver.

Examples would be areas along West 38th in Denver/Wheatridge have small stores and a few small groceries in Denver area, and there are many Hispanic mom and pop stores in North Denver, including many bakeries and meat markets. I have been to many of these. There are many small shops along south federal, near Alameda--our "China Town" but mostly Laotian and Vietnamese and these are a real treat of flavors and odors.

Lakewood would see some such stores along West Colfax. In Arvada , there are small mom and pop grocery stores that I have visited and bought product --they are owned by Russian Families.

I have bought at small groceries in Westminster, owned by Vietnamese. Aurora is not my stomping grounds but you will see many stores, of many ethnic groups in Aurora in the Older Northern Area.

So you get the picture, almost all Mom and Pop grocery stores are run by new immigrants in older neighborhoods. This is because this is an entry industry for hard working people. Just as Sicilians, Germans, Jews, Polish operated their small grocery shops when then immigrated to the east coast.When I got to Denver, almost 30 years ago, there were many European Mom and Pop Stores run by families but very few today. There are some small Italian Markets in the Western Suburbs of Denver.

So, if you are looking for yesterday's types of markets--they are in the "new" ethnic neighborhoods of Asian immigrants.

If your definition of Mom and Pop are the higher priced gourmet markets then then they are easy to find---follow the wealth and suffer in the pocketbook.

But give me the real odors, smells, and prices of authentic markets--so I follow the less affluent immigrants, they know where real products are sold at good prices. As a bonus, I have learned to enjoy different foods and different people.

[livecontent]

My previous post was very verbose and I really did not answer your op. So, I would stay away from Green Valley Ranch--it does not have what you are looking for in ambience.

Mountain View?? that makes me laugh. I doubt if anyone but an old Colorado Resident would even know where it is located and I have not thought about it in years. I do not live too far from there and it is a very small enclave of homes- between Sheridan and I Think Fenton, south of 44th to about 40th, not bad homes, most people would consider it a part Wheat Ridge, not even knowing that it is very, very, tiny, separate municipality.

I would suggest Lakewood, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, and Westminster---that is the older areas on the West side. Good middle class and house values, access to arts and Denver. Arvada has the largest center for Performing Arts and Humanities outside of Denver. There are many classes for adults and children and great wonderful performances. Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities:.

There are other fine areas including Lousville, Broomfield, Littleton these have good neighborhoods and reasonable prices.

In the city, there are great urban neigborhoods, as mentioned on other post, South Pearl (Close to Denver University), South Gaylord. But where ever you live, know that Denver has one the largest performing arts complex in the country. The Denver Center For Performing Arts : Home

[Katarina Witt]

When I was a visiting nurse for Lutheran Hospital, I saw pts in Mountain View. Agree with livecontent.

Boulder is considered "artsy", but expensive. The outlying communities are cheaper but still have the access to Boulder. Lafayette may have what you are looking for in moderately priced older homes. Also Broomfield. Louisville has a few, but is mostly newer homes, though some of the new stuff is approaching 30.

There is an arts district on Santa Fe drive in Denver. I don't know much about the immediate surrounding neighborhoods, but nothing in the city is very far from anything else in the city. There are lots of city neighborhoods to choose from. The "in" ones at the moment are Highlands, Cheeseman Park, Washington Park and some others. You will see the names on a lot of these threads.

[tfox]

There's a wide variety of good neighborhoods and I agree with most of the advice given so far.

If you do decide to live in Denver however (or anywhere else, for that matter), pay very careful attention to what school your kid goes to. Denver Public Schools has some excellent schools (Bromwell Elementary is an example), but some not-so-good ones as well. Surprisingly, sometimes you can have a very trendy and expensive neighborhood with iffy schools (East Highland is an example, but there are others). With School of Choice, there are still lots of options even if you don't like your local school, as well as charters, magnets, etc.

Moving to the suburbs will not automatically guarantee you have better schools. Jeffco, for example, is a good district, but there are some Jefferson County schools that would by most standards be inferior to many schools in Denver. That being said, however, it is true that generally speaking the quality in suburban district like Jeffco is going to be more uniform than DPS -- largely the schools in that district are likely to be decent.