What is there to do besides outdoor activities? (Denver, Arvada: sales, low crime)

[sweettearose]

I've recently been approached by my company for a position there and I know nothing about it. I've heard great things about it. If you are not an outdoors person is there anything to do there? Forgive me, but the downtown seems rather small and there doesn't seem to have much diversity or any urban feel to the city at all. What is the political climate like there. Are there any liberal non-conservative people there? Is the snow as bad as they say?

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by sweettearose

I've recently been approached by my company for a position there and I know nothing about it. I've heard great things about it. If you are not an outdoors person is there anything to do there?

Yes. What is it that you do like to do? Arts? Education? Etc?
Forgive me, but the downtown seems rather small and there doesn't seem to have much diversity or any urban feel to the city at all. What is the political climate like there.

Garden variety big city liberal.

Are there any liberal non-conservative people there?

See above. The mayor is a Democrat, as have been the last several mayors. Denver's congressional rep is a Democrat, and it has been represented by a Democrat for years. Perhaps you are too young to have heard of Pat Schroeder.


Is the snow as bad as they say?

No, it is not.

[mol666]

I've been here 7 years and never thought much of downtown/LoDo.

Plenty of artsy culture in the Baker neighborhood, Colfax/Cap Hill, Santa Fe Drive. The arts scene here isn't as in-your-face as in bigger cities, but it's decent.

The town's full of liberals: check out http://www.squarestate.net for starters. There's also an active Denver chapter of Drinking Liberally: http://www.drinkingliberally.org.

Just wander around the neighborhoods that look interesting and you'll find kindred souls. It's a small town, so once you meet a few people, it's easy to get introduced to others.

hope this helps!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by sweettearose

I've recently been approached by my company for a position there and I know nothing about it. I've heard great things about it. If you are not an outdoors person is there anything to do there? Forgive me, but the downtown seems rather small and there doesn't seem to have much diversity or any urban feel to the city at all. What is the political climate like there. Are there any liberal non-conservative people there? Is the snow as bad as they say?

Tell us what it is you do and where you think you'd be working.

Denver is a fairly vibrant city, look at the pix posted by DenverAztec, MobyLL, Averie-Jay and others. Lots to do here.

I see elsewhere that you have asthma. Most people who come here with it do better, some do worse. We've discussed that here before, so use the Search This Forum tool with keywords asthma and/or allergies to find the thread(s).

s/Mike

[steveco.]

Downtown Denver is actually rather large compared to other midsized cities. Architecture is going to reflect the post modern times of the 60s, 70s and 80s since the majority of the most historic buildings downtown were actually razed in mass quantities and thus created the downtown we have. Only recently have investments been made to really make it nice down there. It really depends on what you are in to as well.

[formercalifornian]

I see from another of your posts that you have kids, so you might be interested in some of the following family-friendly activities:
the Denver Zoo,
the Aquarium,
the Children's Museum,
the Museum of Nature & Science,
the Railroad Museum,
the Wildlife Experience,
the Botanic Gardens, and
the Arvada Center, which has an wonderful children's theater.
Denver also has great libraries (broken link) & rec centers.

[DenverAztec]

Originally Posted by sweettearose

I've recently been approached by my company for a position there and I know nothing about it. I've heard great things about it. If you are not an outdoors person is there anything to do there? Forgive me, but the downtown seems rather small and there doesn't seem to have much diversity or any urban feel to the city at all. What is the political climate like there. Are there any liberal non-conservative people there? Is the snow as bad as they say?

Downtown Denver is the 10th largest downtown in the country. Denver proper is not large but is is surrounded on all its boarders by large suburbs, making the Denver Metro area close to 3 million people. So no, it is not small. If you have not been to Denver before, you will enjoy it! It is easy to get around downtown and a significant number of places that are all within walking distance. Denver was just voted 4th most walkable city in the country. In downtown alone, you can see these 'indoor' places:

• Brown Palace
• Union Station
• State Capitol (enter on the north side of the building on the ground entry door - airport security screening)
• Denver Art Museum, the new and old section, new is Daniel Libeskind's first American structure. He is currently the architect on the WTC rebuild.
• Cathedral Basillica
• Saint John's cathedral
• Denver Mint
• 16th Street Mall, outdoor pedestrian mall with indoor shopping and many restaurants.
• Equittable Building on 17th, the tiffany glass windows inside are worth more then the entire building. 6 million hand placed tiles in the flying buttress ceiling. Built after the one in NYC.
• Museum of Contemporary Art, just opened in October
• Larimer Square
• Pavillions has a Gap, Hard Rock Cafe, United Artist Theater - 14 theaters with stadium seating, Banana Republic, Nike Town, etc, if you forget something or just want to hang out and rest while people watching.
• Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Paramount have concerts and shows continuously. Ticket sales are second only to NYC.
• Pepsi Center/Invesco Field and Coors fields are all easily reachable by foot/mall shuttle or light rail.
• use the free mall shuttle for downtown

The more details you provide the better our answers to you will be, tell us what you like to do. I like to read and can spend all day in the Tattered Cover book store, it is one of the best in the country. I love roaming museums and the Museum of Natural History in City Park is great as is the Denver Art Museum downtown.

What specifically are you looking for with diversity? Denver is not as racially mixed as coastal cities, but is there something here like 'food' or 'events' that you are looking for?

Denver is very liberal, hence the Democratic National Convention here next year. PittNurse summed that up very well. This history goes back to the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown'. Yes, she was know for helping to calm down the women and children on the Titanic but locally she fought for Women's Rights and for the rights of Coal Miners and Migrant Workers. She ran for local governmental offices every year, even though women were not even allowed to vote. She traveled the world to learn what was working it large cities and shared that with our local government. She funded girls schools and help directly with the one that still stands next to her home here in Capitol Hill. Denver is rich with it's history and much of it is intact with the homes and structures. Here are a few pics I shot:

Denver Art Museum



Central Library



State Capitol



16th Street Mall



Larimer Square



Bascillica



Museum of Contemporary Art

[greyhead]

Downtown Denver may be the tenth largest in the country, but it is not a compact downtown. The streets like 15, 16th street mall, and 17th have sort of a big city feel. The rest of downtown denver isn't nearly as compact as east coast or west coast cities.

Denver's "urban feel" feels weird when you move there from a city like Philly, N.Y., or Chicago. It gets better though, and it is a nice place. You are right though, I feel Denver does not have a real urban feel as other cities.

[DenverAztec]

I like the fact that it is not as dense as N.Y.C. or Chicago, ever try owning a car or finding a parking spot in those cities, let alone drive in the traffic of those places. Sadly, Denver may end up being like those places one day as it is an incredibly popular place to live at the moment. However, in the meantime I will enjoy less stress in a city that is easy to manuver around in, low crime rate compared to larger cities, over 300 days of sunshine per year and nice people!

[Mike from back east]

DenverAztec: Awesome post with pix, thanks a ton, hope you get lots of positive rep for your efforts.