Anyone lived in Denver, CO?

[Kazilan]

I'm planning to move to Denver at the end of this month and was wondering what advice you all have. I don't know much about the city - what areas are good places to live, is there a good hostel to live in while apartment hunting, where are good places to eat, etc. Also, I won't have a car - what's the public transport like there?

Thanks in advance.

[Winter Wolf]

Sadly I don't have any personal experience living there, but I can say that probably for the first month or three you'll feel short of breath. On the other hand, once you acclimate, any time you go back to the lower elevations, you will have the stamina of a god. I have a friend that did college in Denver and when he moved home, despite the massive gut and general unathletic look of him, he never ran out of breath or got tired doing anything. So you've got that to look forward to.

[Felix The Assassin]

Denver has become a metropolis. Over a half million folk currently inhabit the area. Denver itself is still quite small, however it's all of the sub communities that have grown it together. I can only speak of the Denver proper, Lakewood, Aurora, Sheridan, Engelwood and Arvada areas. That leaves you with about a two dozen more areas to learn about. It rates pretty high on the high end of cost of living.
You can review here for Per-Diem:
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/con...Colorado&noc=T

Public transport is good-to medling-to poor, again area dependent.
Eateries? This forum is no where near big enough. Italian, French, German, Greek, Western, Home-Style, corner Bistro, Oriental, Seven-Seas, Mongolian, just to name a few. Downtown arena area, any. The Old spaghetti factory for a platter that won't cost two days pay.

Are you going to be a student or job searching?

There are some lower rent places and your eyes and ears will allow you this information, if not, your nose will not miss. Don't expect a downtown retro-fitted warehouse apartment for under 350K, and the better ones are pushing half a mill. Old town, near the "Rockies" baseball stadium is a middle of the road district that has nice shops, excellent eateries, and decent apartments. I would not try to live in Aurora, but working there is fine. Lakewood by day!

I don't want to discourage you too much, but the military departed that area for monetary reasons, and I save an extra grand for spending money when I go back to visit. Denver, like San Fran, is NOT a place to be on a tight budget.

Provide more detail, and I'll attempt to provide more information.

Get yourself an ice cream at E. Exposition and University Blvd, and walk down to Washington Park, and relax.

[ 01-03-2007, 11:56 PM: Message edited by: Felix The Assassin ]

[Kazilan]

Thanks for the all the info, this is a great start, I really don't know anything about the different sub communities.

I'll be job searching as soon as I arrive, but not for anything specific. I still live very much like a student to keep costs low. I'm moving from Boston, so I'm used to a high cost of living. I'm glad to hear that they have such a diverse food scene, as thats the one thing that I will occasionally spend money on.

One of the main reasons I chose Denver is location - so close to so many outdoors activities, and from what I hear the city is fairly laid back. I confess I don't know a lot about the region of the country as a whole, but from talking to people who have visited it sounds like a good place to live for a while in order to see that part of the country.

[Mack_Attack]

I work for suncor pipeline. We ship our oil into Denver. Anyone I ever talk to there are nice people. I have not made it there yet. But one day I hope to get a tour of the area and pipeline. Make sure you pack the snow shovel.

[Felix The Assassin]

Ah, coming from Boston then. Yes, of course, Denver would be considered laid back. However, it is the utmost busiest, and bustlingiest Western town/city. If you want laid back, visit Boise, ID, Meridian, WY, Buffalo Gap, ND, Butte, MT then your talking laid back.

I could not begin to list the sub communities of Denver. I would suggest either Yahoo maps, or something similar and pick a view where you can see the names of the streets, and the areas should highlight as well. Denver rolls into Lakewood, Glendale, Aurora, Arvada, Westminster, all in a matter of minutes, yet it's still mapped as "Denver".

Jobs are in demand, and the higher the education the better. Alas, the higher the education, the better.

Weather: cold, but not bone chilling humid cold, a dry, but will freeze your lungs kinda cold. Sis sent me a picture from the front door as her still at home youngest was shoveling a pathway in 3+ feet of snow. And that's Glendale, not the upper elevations.

Outdoors? Did you say outdoors? Most assuredly. During the summer you must get up to "red rocks"! Spirit mentioned it earlier, the air be mighty thin up that thar mountain, and it's only a mile at the top step to the capitol building, there be another 27K in mountains further on! Coming back down that hill can be quite a ride, especially if Kansas is iced over as well.

[J.J.]

Well, I been here 2 weeks, but have family all over. e me back if u want.

[Bungleau]

Thread necromancy....

[Lord of Alcohol]

I suggest West Colfax avenue area!

[Kazilan]

Hmm, since the thread came back to life, I'll post an update.
I'm living and working in boulder and generally just hanging out. I look forward to hiking season coming up, and I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't been skiing despite living here all winter.

Anyone know a good chinese or italian restaurant in Boulder? And I mean GOOD... so far the chinese has generally been bad. I've been too scared to try the local Italian food, which I'm really picky about.

Reviewing Felix's older posts, I just noticed a place called the Old Spaghetti Factory mentioned, that sounds like something I'll have to try out. Is it in downtown Denver?