Evan

has written 1 SperlingViews. Currently, Evan is living in Wheat Ridge, CO and has a little something to say:

Best City in the US Posted On: 4/15/2011 7:42:12 PM

Okay, that title may be a bit hyperbolic, but Denver is and will always be my city. I was born here and have experienced almost everything the city has to offer. Denver has as much to offer as any larger city in the US. Downtown is vibrant and active, if you know where to look: Larimer Square and LoDo have an abundance of upscale bars and night clubs, 16th Street Mall and Cherry Creek are huge retail meccas, Five Points and Colfax are huge for concert venues and bars, Santa Fe and Tennyson are where the art galleries are at (art walks on the first Friday of every month!), Highlands has some of the best restaurants... in case you haven't gotten the point, Denver is a city of neighborhoods, and I haven't even mentioned Pearl St., Riverfront, the University, or others. If you don't like one, try another. You will need a car here. RTD runs a great bus system, but the light rail is not as useful-- Denver is so expansive, it does not reach most of the best neighborhoods. The city has an awesome central library, a funky new art museum building, a huge zoo, and a great museum of nature and science, and a ton of beautiful parks. Denver has the second largest performing arts complex in the country behind NYC's Lincoln Center and a ton of independent performance and film theaters. Denver is a huge sports town, the smallest in the country to have professional teams in all 4 (5, including MLS) major sports (go Nuggets!).
The climate is incredibly dry, especially in the winter. Other comments have suggested that Denver does not have 4 seasons- it does, but winter is a little longer here than in other parts of the country, usually hanging on through March or longer. Some of the biggest snows we have gotten have come in April. It is a high country town, after all. The sunshine is no joke, though. Springs are usually really windy, and you have to be wary about hail in the late summer.
I live in the western suburb of Wheat Ridge, in-between downtown Denver and downtown Golden. Denver is a liberal city, but the suburbs are more of a mix. Whether you are liberal or conservative, you can probably find a place in the suburbs around like-minded people. If a super-conservative atmosphere is a big deal for you, check out Colorado Springs, which is beautiful, about an hour and a half south of Denver on I-25. Likewise, if you are ultra-liberal, check out Boulder, half an hour north of Denver.
Denver is mostly white, but it is by no means monochromatic. There is a huge Latino population, and excellent Mexican food. Five Points is the center of the African-American population in Denver, and there is a large Vietamese district at Federal and Alameda, south of the city.
Other reviews have mentioned Denverites' aloofness, and it's true: we are extremely nice people, but we are hesitant to connect with strangers. Here's my theory: Denver is too large. Urban sprawl is a huge problem here that threatens to make traffic even worse, increase pollution, and eat up our wildlife. We are proud of our city, but are worried that too many people will turn it into even more of a Southern California-esque sprawling urban wasteland, so we are hesitant to promote it and ourselves to outsiders. That's just my opinion, of course, but I like it :). Stick around for a while, we'll open up.