What do you dislike about Denver? (Colorado Springs, Aurora: nightlife, beaches, transportation)

[mommabear2]

It's a dirty looking city. Smog, the people, yes, dirty...

[OneMoreMove]

Originally Posted by zenkonami

About the bars...

Scruffy Murphy's (not trendy) does not resemble any of the immediately neighboring bars (by far), The Corner Office is completely different from any of those (possibly more trendy, but definitely different vibe from some of the more club like atmospheres around town), outside of downtown there's places like Jordan's which is part sports bar, part "my God there's books all over the shelves in there", Wynkoop is a pretty typical restaurant/brewpub, The Cheeky Monk serves aioli...AIOLI, for Pete's sake, to go along with it's fries and Belgian (and Belgian influenced) brews...I don't know...Not sure what anyone is looking for out of a bar. I go to drink good beer, chat with friends and occasionally make new ones. Obviously it's nice to have a cool atmosphere, but I'm not sure how much more these places need to distinguish themselves compared to places in NYC, Boston and Chicago...but then again I haven't spent any significant amount of time in any of those cities.

(It's been brought to my attention that the places I've mentioned may more accurately be considered "pubs" than "bars" if that is at all relevant to the discussion...in fairness, bars and clubs other than public houses generally seem the same to me anywhere I go with a few rare exceptions.)

I don't really go to bars/clubs/pubs/whatever much anymore, but I think I understand the spirit of what is being said. The bars in Denver are fine, and they aren't so outrageously identical or lacking in character, etc. But, like most cities they don't compare to the incredibly diverse, vibrant, and eclectic selection of places to hang out in a city like NY or LA.

Having lived in both of those cities, I can see this. Going to a 'trendy new place' in Denver reminds me of what was trendy in LA 20 years ago. Going to an artsy dive bar in Denver reminds me of bars that try to replicate places that you see on the lower E side of Manhattan, and so on. Same with the restaurants, to some extent.

The thing is, Denver doesn't compare to NY or LA in those categories. It never could. Denver is a different kind of place, with its own strong points. And of course, places like NY and LA have their strong points, too, but they don't compare with Denver in many ways.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by OneMoreMove

... The thing is, Denver doesn't compare to NY or LA in those categories. It never could. Denver is a different kind of place, with its own strong points. And of course, places like NY and LA have their strong points, too, but they don't compare with Denver in many ways.

The bolded part leads me to chime in with the old saying that "all comparisons are odious" which gets at the futility of trying to compare apples to oranges; they're different, making comparisons is mostly an academic effort.

If someone dislikes Denver because it isn't NYC or L.A., it really means nothing about Denver, only that someone likes X more than Y.

Let's all have a glass of wine and celebrate our differences ... and that our cities are not the same USSR-style drearly, lifeless, crummy gray apartment block-houses.

[OneMoreMove]

You are right, but then again some comparisons are interesting - you can compare specific categories like dining, cultural things, appearance, government, taxes, etc. but it has to be in context.

Certainly NYC has a stronger restaurant scene then Denver. Certainly Denver has better outdoor and sports offering then NYC.

But hey we are here now so we should have that glass of wine!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by OneMoreMove

You are right, but then again some comparisons are interesting - you can compare specific categories like dining, cultural things, appearance, government, taxes, etc. but it has to be in context.

Certainly NYC has a stronger restaurant scene then Denver. Certainly Denver has better outdoor and sports offering then NYC.

But hey we are here now so we should have that glass of wine!

Exactly, CONTEXT is everything in these matters. Problem is, too many people either get defensive (how DARE you say that about MY city) or get aggressive (YOUR city sucks). Both reactions are erroneous. IMO, all the great cities ARE great, just nicely different.

[FromNewEngland]

Originally Posted by OneMoreMove

I didn't know NH was becoming tropical

Hehe ya it is! A couple hundred more years and who knows? Climate change. That's one reason why I love the sunshine here... If only it weren't so dry as well....

[TomHavard]

Many of the bars and clubs have seemed to me to be just disgustingly trendy and/or mind-numbingly similar. Sure, you get some of that just about everywhere, but within Denver it had seemed as though I couldn't escape from it, wherever I went. Honestly, after visiting Boston, NYC, Chicago and others, Denver just came across to me as looking small, dirty, and old--but, that's just my opinion. :-)

You say you don't live downtown and Christian whatever obviously does not. It is hard to get a feel for the various watering holes unless you do and in my opinion invalid to make comments about them along with that.

People from the county visit the city and go to one of a few places, among them that horrible piano bar near the stadium and yeah I can see why they would think everything is the same. However, in the real world the city is dotted with hundreds of places that are very unique.

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by FromNewEngland

Hey all, I am a 23 year old male from New Hampshire, moved to the Denver area about a year ago now and thought I'd offer some of my perspectives, directed particularly toward people moving from New England to Colorado, seeing as I have grown up on the east coast and am very familiar with it; and, seeing as how this is as a thread about what you DISLIKE, I'll concentrate on that.

I live in Westminster which is a NW suburb of Denver and I've also explored a fair portion of Colorado, from the plains to some of the mountain regions. I don't live near downtown Denver so I can't speak with much authority about that, although I do visit fairly often.

To start with the climate, I think it's important for most newcomers to understand that the Denver area more closely resembles a desert than a mountain environment, and they should prepare for it. That means bring sunglasses, sunblock, and tons of moisturizer. I know for myself, coming from a very wet, moist environment, bursting with vegetation, physically it was quite a shock. I love the near-constant sunshine in Colorado, especially compared to New Hampshire, where the climate is gradually turning tropical with relentless overcast and rain--but when I first came here I ran out of moisturizer for just three days, and was amazed to find that I had developed eczema. On top of that, the extremely dry, arid air has just wrecked my sinuses, making sleep difficult, and I now sleep with humidifiers on both sides of the bed, with only moderate results.

Bleh, right? However all-in-all the sunshine and the weather here is great, you just need to prepare for it, every day. If you're from New England, the so-called "unpredictability of the weather" here is really nothing by comparison (constant sun and if it switches to rain within a 24-hour period I guess that is considered unpredictable? What?), and the winters, at least in the Denver area, are really very mild, and any snow that does accumulate will NOT stick around for long with all this sun. However, obviously it is worse up in the mountains.

I'm sorry, I definitely have to disagree. I just moved to Colorado from southern Nevada. There is NOTHING about Denver, or the Front Range, that resembles a desert climate AT ALL. Desert climates don't get pounded by hail storms multiple times a week or have severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued along with those hail storms. I am still trying to understand why people say it's dry here. There hasn't been one day that I haven't noticed how high the humidity is here. There is greenery everywhere and even where there is no irrigation there is still grass and trees. That doesn't scream desert to me.

Also, the weather here is variable. Just this week roads in the mountains were closed due to sleet and snow. Tomorrow we have an expected high in the mid-90s. If that's not variability, I don't know what is.

Originally Posted by FromNewEngland

Also, if you're looking for a populous area in Colorado outside of Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs... Good luck. From Westminster straight north to Fort Collins it's just empty, desolate plains...

Disagree, again. Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley has a combined population of over 300,000. Greeley is out on the plains, but Fort Collins and Loveland are directly adjacent to the foothills with the snow-capped peaks in the background. Loveland and Fort Collins are full of trees too, so I don't know how they would be considered "desolate" by any means.

[OneMoreMove]

Originally Posted by FromNewEngland

Hehe ya it is! A couple hundred more years and who knows? Climate change. That's one reason why I love the sunshine here... If only it weren't so dry as well....

????

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by new2colo

I'm sorry, I definitely have to disagree. I just moved to Colorado from southern Nevada. There is NOTHING about Denver, or the Front Range, that resembles a desert climate AT ALL. Desert climates don't get pounded by hail storms multiple times a week or have severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued along with those hail storms. I am still trying to understand why people say it's dry here. There hasn't been one day that I haven't noticed how high the humidity is here. There is greenery everywhere and even where there is no irrigation there is still grass and trees. That doesn't scream desert to me.

Denver may not be an arid as southern Nevada, but it is still pretty dry. Go to Houston, Chicago, or St. Louis and tell me Denver is a humid climate.