Comparing Denver's areas/cities to LA's areas/cities (Aurora, Lakewood: power lines, safe area)

[ninetyweight]

Hello

My family is considering relocating from Los Angeles to Denver area. Sorry, I'm sure that drives more than a few Denver residents nuts, you're probably tired of the influx from CA. But, we're good people and would make great residents.

I'd like to know if anyone can compare greater LA to greater Denver, such as, what's the equivalent of West LA in the larger Denver area? Or, what's the equivalent of South Central, Torrance, East, South Bay, Riverside, etc. By compare I mean people's lifestyles, safety, housing, hip or dorky, old or young, liberal or conservative, good or bad... all the typical stuff.

I'd be immensely appreciative and would expect others would be as well.

[Mike from back east]

There is a forum where people compare cities, head to head. Here's one of the Denver - Los Angeles comparisons.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-...s-angeles.html

IMO, Denver has far less unsafe areas than L.A.

[WilliamPacker]

Generalizing here but:

Liberal: most of Denver & parts of Aurora
Conservative: most of the suburbs and some of the very rich areas of Denver

Crime: Probably not anything close to you're used to. West & NE Denver, N Aurora and parts of Lakewood and pockets in the northern suburbs. Not too many places to all out avoid though.

Denver has plenty of cool areas. There are also some cool areas in the suburbs. Suburbs are mostly family areas, there are also some good family oriented neighborhoods in Denver. Highlands Ranch probably has the rep as being dorky but it is really just another suburb.

Housing is a lot cheaper here. Check out realtor.com & realasave.com and you'll get an idea on housing prices & styles. The housing stock in the city is probably closer to what you would see in the east and midwest than in L.A. Some would say a lot of the suburbs have an suburban L.A. feel to them.

I don't know a lot about L.A. but there seems to be a lot of people from Cali that love it here. Just please learn how to drive in the snow on the streets before you slow down traffic on the interstate

[iknowftbll]

You may find the personalities in Jefferson County and Douglas County to be fairly similar to Orange County.
Downtown Denver blows away Downtown Los Angeles. Are you a Dodgers fan? You can count on seeing them in person every year when they come to town to play the Rockies. After the Rox beat them, you can drown your sorrows in one of the many great bars/restaurants in the LoDo area!
Confluence Park near downtown is a great place to be outdoors, and enjoy the city. There's nothing that parallels it in L.A.
Just some thoughts.

[steveindenver]

Simi Valley -- Parker (but without the cops)

Compton -- Montbellow

Beverly Hills -- Cherry Hills and Country Club

Orange County -- Highlands Ranch, south and west

West Hollywood -- Capitol Hill into Cheeseman

Downtown -- Lodo and a bit of uptown

Santa Monica -- hard really, maybe Mayfair and Bonnie Brae

[vegaspilgrim]

I don't think you can really compare specific places in LA with specific places in Denver. The two cities and greater metro areas are very different culturally (despite the nonsense haters spout about how the Front Range has been "Californicated.") and have very different urban geographies. LA has so many different types of places that for better or worse don't have an equivalent in Denver. And some of the places that in Denver pass as super-cool, urban, or hip, or whatever to the locals would be considered nothing to brag about in LA. Instead of trying to come up with false comparisons and making us guess what you're after, why don't you just describe to us what kind of an area YOU are looking for.

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by ninetyweight

South Central, Torrance, East, South Bay, Riverside, etc. By compare I mean people's lifestyles, safety, housing, hip or dorky, old or young, liberal or conservative, good or bad... all the typical stuff.

I'd be immensely appreciative and would expect others would be as well.

South Central = Montbello, and that is a huge stretch. Montbello is Mayberry compared to South Central.

Torrance. Ugh. I don't like Torrance, so I'll pass, but Aurora probably comes closest.

East Los = West Denver

South Bay = We don't have beach cities here.

Riverside = My hometown. La Sierra '01. Riverside would probably be a Thornton-Aurora-Denver hybrid.


Anywhere in Denver metro that wouldn't make you feel uncomfortable will surely be safe for you.

Housing is newer as you expand outward from the core, along with some scrapes in the currently "hip" neighborhoods.

The hip places are mostly in Denver proper.

Dorky?!? LOL, I don't even know how to respond to that.

Old and young can be found all over, though some young folks cluster together in the hip neighborhoods.

Denver proper is technically liberal, its regular suburbs are moderate, and the exurbs are typically conservative. Pretty much the same story everywhere.

Denver has far more good areas than bad areas. You'd pretty much need to seek out the bad areas in order to find them.

[vegaspilgrim]

Okay... if we absolutely have to play this game, about the only comparison I can think of is Santa Monica (without a majority university) = Boulder (with no beach, obviously). 3rd St promenade = Pearl St Mall. Both have pretty similar politics, pretty similar levels of urban development, similar homeless populations, similar outdoorsy cultures (though totally different activities).

David, I have no clue what your beef is against Torrance? I have some friends who live down there so I'm there almost every weekend. It seems like a nice, humble place, reminds me a lot of Aurora actually.

[cowboyxjon]

cherry creek north = downtown manhattan beach
no ocean, but the retail is similar, kind of an upscale area, etc.

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

David, I have no clue what your beef is against Torrance? I have some friends who live down there so I'm there almost every weekend. It seems like a nice, humble place, reminds me a lot of Aurora actually.

Okay, I'll confess. I haven't spent a whole lot of time down in the South Bay, but with what little time I've spent down that way, I haven't been impressed. I have a special affinity for Long Beach (I was born there), but the rest of it I find to be comparatively run-down (I'm not talking about the beach cities and Rolling Hills/Palos Verdes here) and insanely expensive (but here I am). The area (outside the hills/beaches) makes me think of flatness, power lines, bars on windows, and smog.

No offense to the folks that live down there of course, I'm sure they are great, but, the mention of Torrance (and the South Bay in general) just makes me shrug and want to say, "Ugh.".

Next time (if there is a next time) I go back to CA, I promise to spend an entire day in Torrance, so the city and I can get better acquainted, share a Coke, and possibly find some common ground.