Denver vs Pittsburgh (California: transplants, house, tech jobs)

[jacknotion]

Which city do you like the most with regards to things to do downtown, nightlife, cultural/social/ethnic diversity, restuarants, and type of attitude toward outsiders and their respective sports teams .

[Blackbeauty212]

This probably should be posted in the City vs City....Since you will not a get a fair representation between both city's in just the Pittsburgh forum

[BrianTH]

I like Denver, but I actually think the best parts of the Denver area are in some of the towns around Denver. Boulder, for example, is a really nice college town right up against the mountains.

[AaronPGH]

My partner lives in Denver. We've been dating long distance for 2.5 years (argh!) so I'm out there every two months usually. Denver has more of everything you mentioned, but there are tradeoffs.

Here's how I see it:

Denver - More cutting edge restaurants. Nightlife is better known for it's club scene rather than it's bar scene. Many more latin/asian immigrants in Denver (which for some strange reason seems to have created more of a racist attitude), very strong arts scene. City is much more spread out. If you hate sprawl, this may be a detractor...but if you like modern architecture you'll love it. Denver is just as passionate about it's sports as Pittsburgh is. A tie here, although I feel like Denver gets a little more attitude-ish about it's sports, whereas Pittsburgh you're likely to get a lighthearted jab instead.

Pittsburgh - Terrible club scene, great bar scene. Less immigrants, but seems to be pretty race tolerant. Very strong arts scene. Very dense, old, eastern city. Not a ton of modern architecture. Better city parks. Restaurant scene is really starting to pick up. This year has been great for new/inventive concept openings.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I like Denver, but I actually think the best parts of the Denver area are in some of the towns around Denver. Boulder, for example, is a really nice college town right up against the mountains.

I have generally positive view of Denver, progressive without being sanctimonious, near some fantastic country, and great weather, sunny (but very windy) in winter. Sparse vegetation that might feel a bit barren coming from the East or Far West.

I would offer a counter point on Boulder. It is certainly in one of the most scenic settings of any American city, with hiking in the Flatirons right off downtown, high tech jobs,etc. However, as a destination for the trendy and well-heeled of the US for several decades, it is very expensive and can feel a bit self-righteously left in politics. That could be blessing or a curse, I suppose...In any case, that was my impression commuting from Ft. Collins, CO about 12 years ago. Not sure if things have changed. Ft. Collins is pretty down to earth though, and a fine city in its own right. The whole Front Range has many positives, but sprawl was the thing that I found most offputting. Colorado Springs is very attractive too, but pretty hard right element there. Speaking of a Maglev train, the Cheyenne,WY to Pueblo,CO corridor would be an ideal place for one.

[BrianTH]

I tend not to be terribly sensitive to the exact nature of local politics, but I agree about Boulder having gotten pretty expensive (at least by interior, if not coastal, standards). Of course that is just one example of the smaller towns in the Denver region, although I gather most of them have also gotten a bit more pricey recently (if not as pricey as Boulder).

[Katarina Witt]

Dang! The computer ate my reply when I hit a wrong key. OK, short version:

Denver is more diverse. It is a majority-minority city.

Minorities a majority in Denver - The Denver Post

The burbs are also more diverse than many (most?) Pittsburgh suburbs. My kids' high school, 25 miles from Denver, has 14% minority enrollment. The high school where my parents' old house is located (not where I went as it wasn't built then, lol) about the same distance from Pgh, is 98% white.

About 50% of people in Denver were born in Colorado. This includes children of transplants. It's probably about 30% or so of adults. So you have a feeling that "everyone is from somewhere else", and everyone went to college somewhere else, so people are pretty tolerant of fans of non-local sports teams. H***, when I went to a Steelers/Broncos game a couple years ago, there were at least as many Steelers fans there as Broncos fans. There is a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan club called "Coloradans for Nebraksa". Texans and Californians are sometimes bashed, generally in fun, but not always.

Ethnic diversity is not "celebrated" the way it is in Pittsburgh. There was a large Italian community in NW Denver which has dispersed, in large part to the western suburbs. The town where I live had a large Italian coal mininig community, and many of the old families are still here, though not minng coal any more.