Comment Thread on Denver - Harvey Park - Photo Tour (Lakewood: real estate, travel)

[livecontent]

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Originally Posted by TropicanaRose

This is a fabulous thread, and I'm having fun seeing people's take on two of my favorite neighborhoods- AAcres and Harvey Park. If you love mid century mod and have the money, Arapahoe Acres is just amazing. There are some gorgeous bargain MCMs here and there in Harvey Park, too.

My grandparents were the original owners and longtime residents of a nice ranch near the lake in Harvey Park. They also helped to found and build Harvey Park Baptist Church. When I was growing up, the neighborhood was absolutely immaculate- I have never seen any neighborhood that was more well kept. People had perfect lawns, and many had beautiful gardens in the spacious back yards. My grandfather was "known" for his roses. Most of the neighbors were GIs like my grandfather, and most of the women were SAHMs. There weren't many young families, but the few that lived there were really fussed over by the older folks. There were tons of back yard BBQs, and everyone seemed to know everyone else within a couple of blocks.

The neighborhood went pretty down-at-heels, I think towards the end of the 80s, early 90s. It was never a cesspool, or dangerous that I know of, but, as more and more of the old owners were less able to care for their yards, and eventually died or left, it just wasn't kept up in the same way. It also, I am sorry to say, became less friendly. A larger number of the older generation than we would like to think were very bigoted. I don't remember open hostility, but there were a lot of whispers about "the Spanish." By the time my grandfather left, around the mid 90s, it had become kind of depressing.

Now, it is looking very nice again. We always go by the old house and church when we are anywhere nearby, and it has made me happy to see the neighborhood bouncing back. It seems like a neighborhood that is as happy in its new diversity as it was in its old homogeneity. I don't know anyone who lives there now, so I have no idea what the vibe of the neighborhood is as far as knowing everybody, but it is once again a pleasant looking and feeling place. Many people waved to us the last few times we've been through.

My husband and I considered it when we were thinking of moving to Denver- especially when we saw a great MCM place. However, the lack of a nice shopping area very close by, and the schools were big turnoffs for us. I suspect it is the same for many young families. You can always choose a private school, but it's nice when you feel good about the neighborhood school.

Incidentally, there is a realtor who specializes in Modern in the Denver area. He has a website with lots of great pictures and history. I don't know him well, but he was very responsive to us when we were looking. I'm not sure that we're supposed to link to commercial sites, but if you google "Modern Denver real estate" it is the first result. Lots of great info for those that love Modern design.

It is great to hear the history of this area. The Park is one of my favorites with the lake and I would stop there to lay on the grass.

This is a picture of a home currently on sale in Harvey Park

$269,900



Notice the great foliage, large yards and brick homes.

I think there is nice little shopping on the Southern edge of Harvey Park--it was the old Bear Valley Mall--and now has a King Soopers. I like this area off of Dartmouth, it has a branch of The Denver Public Library. Bear Valley Park is extremely nice going all the way west to Lakewood. There is a Target on South Sheridan in this area, surrounded by some shopping, just west of Harvey Park.

Livecontent

[livecontent]

MobyLL, I cannot keep up with you. Where do you find the time with small children??

Great look at this area. You even caught some of the homes on that private lake in the near Harvey Park Lake. I like these small homes because they are good for singles, small families, less energy to maintain, less furniture to buy, and there is that beauty in simplicity.

Thank You,

Livecontent

[MobyLL]

Originally Posted by livecontent

MobyLL, I cannot keep up with you. Where do you find the time with small children??

Haha, that is a good question. And actually this will probably be the last one for awhile. We are going to start going to the mountains more on the weekends and have the kids start learning to ski/snowboard. Also, I work with computers from home but the company I work for has some major projects starting in Florida next month so I will have to do more travelling than I have had to the last few months.

It doesn't take long to shoot these shots and upload them though. Maybe 3 hours total, since i just have a point and click camera and do minimal editing (a little cropping usually) of the photos. So I spend about 2 hours walking around taking pictures and then about an hour editing/uploading.

What DenverAztec does though is a lot more work, but of course that shows up in the quality of his photos.

[Daniel_T]

Wonderful photos. Looks like a nice neighborhood to live in.

[kevin_in_Denver]

In doing a little research, it seems Harvey Park is getting quite a few cheap repos on the market.

This seems to be pretty rare for such a nice neighborhood, I hope it doesn't spread.