Reviews & Comments
Denver, CO
Re: Ridiculous comments -
1/10/2007No, Denver is not inherently a bad place. It is very middle American in many ways. It is very close to the mountains. It is rather caucasian. You will probably have an easier time here if you are a "pretty person" in a rather conventional/suburbanite way than you might in many other places. Relative to Manhattan or Atlanta? Maybe not. But probably relative to most other places. Manhattan has a lot more exposure to international tastes, for example. If you drive out of downtown Denver, prepare to be impressed with how relatively suburban it is. It just seems to me that Denver and places like it might want to be careful with their orientation to growth while on the way to being a world class place, or another sprawling homogeneous consumptive machine that the rest of the world finds disgusting "but near the mountains", but bankers with the means to get the heck out and into the mountains with buddies much like them like.
Denver, CO
Re: Friendly, not rude,even to Californians -
1/3/2007I would agree that a smile and courtesy almost always help. Even when someone shares an opinion or "seems different". In some places, the tendency in the population can be to shut someone down or ignore and isolate them if they share opinions, disagree, or are otherwise"different", and over time, that "cold shoulder", too, can be considered "rude". That cold shoulder can often arise in Denver, and seemingly as a cultural phenomenon. Whether or not that "cold shoulder" is a bad thing, or whether vast expanses of suburban sprawl are bad things, or whether a tendency toward homogeneity and perhaps even materialism/consumerism are bad things, seem to be the questions through many of these posts.
Denver, CO
Denver quality of life -
1/3/2007Folks.
Of course everyone is going to have their opinion and some will love Denver, some will hate it. If you're a high-brow Parisean used to rich history and quality versus quantity as the rule more than the exception, you will likely run from Denver before you even start coming here. If you're from a little town in middle America looking to get out to "the big city" but New York, Chicago, or - forbid - some city in another country are too scary, raw, or "weird" and "foreign" feeling for you, Denver will probably seem to you like you're pretty top dog, especially if you find yourself making a few bucks to afford hanging out with others (quite likely very) much like yourself at LoDo bars or to afford buying a big SUV and $1500 worth of ski gear to load up with your hip n happenin' friends for a weekend of recreating and condo crashing in another suburban-seeming, strip-malled or Disney-fied town in the mountains.
Denver, CO
Re: Take it from a flight attendant -
1/3/2007I agree with much of what this article says. But, it is often a matter of opinion. If your opinion is rude=direct/open-with-opinions, then maybe Northeasterners could be considered rude. If friendly=direct/open-with-opinions, then Denverites might be considered rude. Conversation with Denverites can often be nice, especially if you say nice things about the Broncos or about the weather. If you share an opinion about art or current affairs, it can quite quickly shut down the conversation with Denverites. I suspect this is probably true with many midwesterners, as well. Culturally, I suspect that in the mid or mountain west, it can be considered rude to disagree or be "too direct" or "too open", whereas, in many places in Europe, the Northwestern US, or the Northeastern US, e.g., this can result in some exchange of ideas that is cherished and a bonding point. As for culture, yes there are some cultural opportunities in Denver. Chances are, people you meet here will not have taken advantage of them. There are some places where the arts or intellectualism pervades the mentality of the place, whereas in Denver, the direct accessability of the condo in the mountains or the shopping at the outlets via the SUV and the interstate (driving to the mountains via I70 is often bumper to bumber on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon - if you like that, not such a bad thing) may carry more weight with people. Emissions from all those SUVs on the roads results in something akin to LA smog - the Denver "brown cloud" - that can be both quite a sight, and quite a burn to the nose and lungs (literally). But while many Denverites might be relatively "progressive" (prochoice, maybe), most of those same people would grimace and look the other way at the suggestion that their propensity to drive that SUV all over the mountain west is what is causing things like that brown cloud, for example.
Denver, CO
Re: Don't care what ya'll say; I'm coming to Denve -
1/3/2007Yes, Denver can be a nice place. Probably often a very nice place to visit. Probably a nice place to live if: you are very about mountain recreation, rather midwestern cities, sunshine, a somewhat educated populace that is not an intellectual populace. Probably not a nice place if: you are very about diversity or cosmopolitan places, don't like suburbanism to the Nth degree, tend to be more intellectual than materialistic or "sporty".
Denver, CO
Re" DENVER IS WAY OVERRATED and Re: Relocation -
1/3/2007From the post "DENVER IS WAY...": "I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to communicate with locals only to be met with an open-nouthed vacant stare" - I would second this. And I have spoken with many other people that have visited or moved here that would third this. It is a bit of a strange phenomenon here in Denver that might have something to do with the general culture here - even people from elsewhere can take on this kind of mentality that might be considered "shallow". But the weather sure is nice... (if you like sunny days, most every day) As for Denver drivers, it is a very mixed bag, as there are many people from small midwestern and mountain western places here...yet, there is the occasional Californian or New Yorker, for example (that is used to a more synergistic and "seasoned" traffic situation), that gets frustrated with some of the general driving habits here (which can be a blend of fearfulness and "friendliness" to the point of "utter inefficiency"), thus rubbing others not accustomed to assertion the wrong way.
Denver, CO
denver people -
1/3/2007Denverites can be materialistic in a sort of suburban-American kind of way. And, while there is a relatively high number of college graduates here, I would not say there is a high number of "well educated" people here. I do not believe that attending a college for four years of partying/tailgating translates to "well educated".
Denver, CO
more on denver -
1/3/2007I've lived in several cities from the east coast to the west coast to Denver. I would suggest that the people in Denver are the most homogeneous and least cosmopolitan of any of the cities I've lived in. I would also say it is the most suburb-oriented (loosely - even those dwelling in downtown can seem like suburbanites of other cities) of anywhere I've lived. It's a very nice place if, for example: sunshine all the time is your motivation; recreation in the mountains - after a 20 minute to a 3 hour bumper-to-bumper drive to get there - is your motivation; watching pro sports like the Broncos or the Nuggets is your motivation. It's not a nice place if, for example: you thrive on diversity (you may not see many of the few black, asian, or foreign people here, or even the many latino people here, as it's relatively segregated here); you thrive on random intellectual conversations and free exchange of opinions and ideas; you like large bodies of water like lakes or oceans near by; you don't like suburban sprawl (tract housing and big-box stores) for as far as the eye can see...extending right to the mountains.
Denver, CO
denver rude -
1/3/2007Do you think that a place like Denver can embody some of the "American pride" xenophobia, "privelege" (relative to what some of the latino population in Denver - that tends to be somewhat segregated from what many Denverites ever see - might be more familiar with, e.g.), or immediate-gratification driven mentalities in human nature that might translate to the "rudeness" (or self absorption) that some people perceive in people in the Denver area? Perhaps Denver draws a population that is especially tainted by or susceptible to such a mentality? I wonder about what tends to draw people here or keep people here. I wonder about where people tend to move here from - what demographic is the vast majority, for example, and how might that affect other people's opinions of the place upon visiting or upon considering Denver as a place to move to. I remember a comment of a foreign friend that visited and said "my god, there is no culture here" or another friend from Montana (via New York and Oregon) that said "it feels like Coloradans have no interest in anyone but themselves - they don't seem to have any curiosity in you or things out side of themselves when you talk with them". I would be interested in others' comments on this.