My views of Denver after 6 months. (Golden: rent, lofts, neighborhoods)

[Brianmedia]

I posted before that i've lived all over the place (San Antonio, Austin, Chicago, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Honolulu, Sacramento/Bay) and recently moved here from Sacramento.

I've always preferred to live in the "downtown" or denser parts of the city, and have been in high-rises/lofts for the past 10yrs. I was shocked at how many luxury mid/high-rises are in the Denver area. There's a ton of choice, and based on my previous COL'ings, the rent is not that bad for what you get. Amenities galore here.

We chose to move into LoDo area behind union station since we didn't get to look at a tons of places before we moved (i've been looking at tons now that we live here, and already know our next destination) based on proximity to work. My wife and I both work in the tech space, and can both walk to work in less than 10 min.

The plethora of restaurants and bars and shops within walking distance is great, and something i didn't see coming. Before knowing we were moving to Denver I really didn't have that much of an idea how dense it was downtown.

Most of the people we meet/talk to in restaurants and bars around LoDo seem really nice (as opposed to a notion i've heard that there are lots of snobs in LoDo). I grew up in Texas so i tend to be super friendly from the get go. Obviously there are some people around (and that live in my building) that aren't up for a casual chat or a friendly hello, but generally people seem very friendly here.

we've noticed the happy hours are WAY better than what we had in Sacramento. several of the spots we like now have drinks that are normally $10-12 for $4-5 on HH. the further we venture out of Lodo the better they seem too (duh). I've also noticed a handful of places in Lodo have made their HH's worse, increasing prices and shortening the hours. Lame!

Traffic - Can't comment on it all that much since we rarely drive during the week, but the times i have been around (even during "rush hours") I don't consider it that bad, compared to downtown chicago, bay area, honolulu<->ewa beach, etc. I have noticed that the drivers are pretty bad in general though. I'm sure it's because of the melting pot of drivers from around the country. I'd say the worst top 3 for me are ABQ, Sacramento, Denver. In ABQ i NEVER saw so many people run red lights, like not trying to get thru a ending yellow, but completely turned red and still 2-3 cars going thru. It was the one place where when the light turned green you consciously had to wait and check before you went. They do that here too but no where near as bad as ABQ.

General Vibe - I love all the little areas of Denver. It seems they each have their own little charm and walkable areas. Like Uptown, Cap Hill, Cherry Creek, Wash Park, Baker, Golden Triangle, Highlands, LoHi, Tennyson, Rino, Five Points. I like that each of those areas has some charm and uniqueness, and arent' just cookie cutter, big box, chain stores, etc.

I don't know how to really describe it, but I hear people say Denver is not a major player and can't compete with other bigs like SF, Chicago, etc. but i somewhat disagree. There is something here that feels electric and part of a big city. All the parks, the museums, the neighborhoods, I just generally get a great feeling about living in Denver and wanting to be here. For instance, SF is an amazing city, but i have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the idea of going there and doing things, but once i'm there, there's so many things that are extremely frustrating. From traffic, to being extremely dirty, the out of control homeless epidemic (way worse than denver), the parking, the lines, the... all that just gets overwhelming. And i could never live there or the bay area again.

Overall Denver is in my top 3 places I've lived, with enough to want to make it our permanent home. (Honolulu #1, but WAY too expensive, Denver #2, Chicago #3) I feel too many of the threads here ending sounding negative about Denver, so I wanted to share my positive story.

[daprara]

glad you are liking Denver but been my opinion people bring a lot of their issues with them no matter where they move

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by daprara

glad you are liking Denver but been my opinion people bring a lot of their issues with them no matter where they move

Personal issues? Money issues?

[SkyDog77]

Thanks for the post. I’m a big fan of the ‘New to Denver, here’s my impression’ threads. Good perspective.

[Brianmedia]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Thanks for the post. I’m a big fan of the ‘New to Denver, here’s my impression’ threads. Good perspective.

Thanks! actually moving to Wash Park next...

[Brianmedia]

Originally Posted by daprara

glad you are liking Denver but been my opinion people bring a lot of their issues with them no matter where they move

that is very true. was a big issue I saw in Hawaii. Too many people moved there and didn't respect the local culture, which is different and then complained about Hawaii, then left...

[bluescreen73]

Welcome! Glad you're enjoying here, and thanks for your insight.

[sacite]

I visited Denver (and live in Sac now) and really liked it. Mountains, the skyline mixed among the high planes, old west architecture was great. That said, I didn’t see any of what you are talking about in tems of restaursnts and nightlife. Downtown had one street, 16th I believe, and a tiny restaurant district just up from Coors Field. Great town, and I’d have to live there to really see what it has to offer, but I honestly think Sac has as much going as Denver in terms of the thngs you named. In fact, I think Sac’s restaurant scene is quite a but better.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Brianmedia

Thanks! actually moving to Wash Park next...

Nice! Lots more families in the neighborhood than when I bought here in 2004. We all decided to stay and have kids I guess Still love it here.

Originally Posted by sacite

I visited Denver (and live in Sac now) and really liked it. Mountains, the skyline mixed among the high planes, old west architecture was great. That said, I didn’t see any of what you are talking about in tems of restaursnts and nightlife. Downtown had one street, 16th I believe, and a tiny restaurant district just up from Coors Field. Great town, and I’d have to live there to really see what it has to offer, but I honestly think Sac has as much going as Denver in terms of the thngs you named. In fact, I think Sac’s restaurant scene is quite a but better.

Sounds like you missed a lot in Denver if that’s all you saw, but I’ve never been to Sacramento. Would love to hear the OPs take since they’ve lived both places.

[sacite]

Skydog I just Youtubed it and the skyline is monstrous. It’s even bigger than when visited about 5 yrs ago. I am sure there is a lot more there than Sac, but I did not see it. At least in the downtown. With all of the old buildings I imagine it is like Sac in that you have to live there to know it. There are probably small businneses tucked away in many of those buildings and a tourist would not see them.