Platt Park / S Broadway / S Pearl Photos (HIGH SPEED INTERNET ONLY ~ 175 pics) (Denver: 2009)

[MobyLL]

Hey there CityData folks, I haven't been around this area of cyberspace much recently, but I recently took a trip and dug out the camera, and when we got back to Denver I ran across this info ( http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/most-walkable-cities.php ):


and this map:

and so I decided to do a more comprehensive photo tour of the Platt Park / South Broadway / South Pearl Street area where I live. The red outline is the neighborhood boundary, not the route I walked. Green indicates a better area for "walkability", red less so. Denver is no NYC or Chicago, but several neighborhoods have a fairly good amount of commercial and business life within walking distance of residential areas. There are flaws with all of these walkability rankings, but this one struck me as better than most, though I personally would have the Washington Park area more green and the Colorado Blvd. corridor more red. Anyway, I posted some photos of Platt Park a couple years ago, but this thread is more comprehensive. All of the areas pictured are within a 10 minute walk (at most) of my humble abode, with the exception of the Washington Park area, which is about a 15 minute walk away and the area of the couple of skyline shots at the end which are not within walking distance.

Almost all the photos were taken during the month of Feburary 2009.

Optional Soundtrack

YouTube - Tribe - Here At The Home

First, let's start off with the basic necessities of life at the corner of Broadway & Louisiana--

Pizza


and Beer and Donuts




These next few shots are from a couple blocks north near the intersection of Broadway and Mississippi








K WH T S UR N MB R?


This is the old Gates Rubber plant, it was supposed to be torn down and a huge mixed use development built (of which the condos in the preceding photos are a part). With the economy it may be awhile before much more is built. I guess the old rubber plant is too contaminated or too far gone structurally, but it would have made for some nice lofts.






North Side of Gates from Broadway Light Rail Station







OK, back toward Broadway / Louisiana for some more pics




This is a bus stop, yes believe it... you will see


The Spicy Pickle is a local Denver chain




Watch out for the fine print


I ate here once, but it annoyed me that they used fake newspaper to wrap up their fish and chips... I guess I'm easily annoyed... prob more sanitary than using the London Guardian or something but that was what I was expecting. The food was... OK; it's pretty popular for lunch.




This place is supposed to be very good... I'll be checking it out soon






The economy is tough everywhere




See I told you it was a real bus stop










Let's head a block west to Acoma Street, which is adjacent to both the freight and light rail tracks. There are some remaining homes but it is mostly light industrial and commercial.
There is no real reason retailwise to go over here... I just like the mixture of the residential and commercial buildings.
You can always count on Denver Public Works to provide for the safety of the citizens




These houses...


have this for their view








Looking east from Acoma along Arkansas toward Broadway


These photos are back on Acoma Street








I ran across this little chapel on my little journey. Seems like it would fit nicely in a mountain village in South America or somewhere










Now we make our way back to Broadway
On the left is Herman's Hideaway which I understand to be a good place for live music... 10 years ago I would have been there frequently


There are a lot of antique shops along this stretch of Broadway. I like the ragged nature of the street, reminds me of a smaller scale Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn circa 1999, but there are plans for streetscape improvements along Broadway (planted median, pedestrian bumpouts at intersections, lighting, etc.)


Back off man, it's art


















Sorry bad lighting










I missed out on the best photo opportunity for this place. They used to have a life-sized wooden Elvis during his fat period with the white suit and tassles out on the sidewalk every day. I guess somebody bought it.













Now we will make our way over toward Pearl Street, which is smaller but more upscale than Broadway. Along the way we will take a look at some of the housing for the neighborhood.
This is an "alley house", built in the back of the main house and typically rented out for extra income -- this one must be a converted garage. Almost every block in central Denver has an alley, similar to Chicago in that regard I guess.






Ran into Tom, who is the editor of the newsletter for the Platt Park People's Association ( http://www.3pa.org/ )







Typical of the newer construction scattered throughout the neighborhood


The new house is across the street from this alley house


Gate for the alley house


Some Modern stuff




Another alley house




Ok, we now arrive on Pearl Street. I posted some photos of Pearl a couple of years ago, but these photos are more comprehensive. We head north on Pearl.






Stan the UPS man is a popular guy


Maybe 30 seconds after taking the previous photo, Stan the man arrives

















At Pearl & Iowa we start getting into the main commercial area of Pearl






























Sushi Den is the first building on the left... a very well known Denver restaurant




Stella's -- a very popular coffeeshop




















In sort of the mid-left portion of the photo -- the glass structure with the white X's is the elevator shaft that goes down to the light-rail station


You know the grandma types in NYC, Philly, Boston etc. that sit at a 2nd or 3rd floor window and keep an eye on the street instead of watching tv or web surfing. There is a lady in the garage between the bicyclist and dog walker that does the Denver equivalent... keeping the 7/11 under control.


Unfortunately the lighting was bad, but it looks like she is sleeping a bit on the job today


Leaving Pearl Street now




My neighbor Mansy, great guy... helps shovel out the sidewalks for some of our elderly neighbors


McKinley-Thatcher Elementary at Louisiana & Logan


Another alley house


The main entrance side to McKinley


It was about 70 degrees when this photo of the plants was taken (Feb. 24), we'll see if they survive March.




Mt. Evans From the school playground


Look -- chainlink nets for bball. If that doesn't convince you Denver is hardcore, nothing will


On the way to Platt Park (the actual park) at Logan & Florida


Some shots around Platt Park
Not sure what this building is used for... never see people going in or out, but it is part of the park not a private residence


Decker Library










Grant Middle School at Washington & Mexico


Must be some kind of Middle School Walk Of Fame


House across from Grant Middle School


Train station on Louisana about a block east of Pearl (though it is named the Louisiana/Pearl station)






A block North of the train station is a Whole Foods


And about 3 blocks East of the train station is the southern boundary of Washington Park (I only took shot from the southern area of the park... it's about a mile in length and a quarter mile in width). I took these in mid February when the temps were in the 50's.




I don't know what they were playing (Bocce ball maybe), but they took it pretty seriously






From SW corner of Washington Park looking west along Louisiana


And we finish up with a few skyline shots... these are not from Platt Park -- this is from what I think is called the Athmar Park neighborhood (SW Denver)


And these next two are from the Science Museum in City Park east of downtown