Denver, Colorado!

Before we jump into this, there is a bit of prologue I want to give. While Denver is definitely a very cool place, both by its own merits and because of its proximity to the mountains, I’d be lying if I told you it was my favorite city in America. HOWEVER, based on this trip, I think this city might be home to my favorite people in America. Because everybody I crossed paths with—even starting in line to board my flight there—was SO SO incredibly cool and kind. And I’m not talking “kind” in the sense of the often-disingenuous Southern Hospitality. And I’m also not talking about some random person holding the door open for me. This felt very different. Everywhere I went, in all of my random interactions with strangers, people spoke to me like we already knew each other; like a friend. And I’d be lying if I told you that, deep down, I am a super open person right now. But I walked away from these interactions wanting to be their friend too. It was a nice alternate reality.

Maybe I just got lucky, but my sample size is big enough that I think this has some statistical significance. So I look forward to the next time life brings me to Denver. Seems like these might be my people.

Huge shout-out to Liz for hosting me on this trip!

Denver, Colorado: An Introduction

Denver is famous as America’s “mile-high” city. This is because its geographical position as the gateway to the Rocky Mountains places its elevation roughly a mile above sea level. Indeed, its reputation is inextricably tied to the Rocky Mountains, but I actually think that this is a bit misleading. Denver is a decidedly flat city. It is the last city in the Great Plains before the beginning of the Continental Divide. You’ll see this illustrated on the map below. Denver’s urban sprawl pushes right up the edge of the mountains!

Today Denver metro area is home to more than 3.5 million people, which makes it far and away the largest population center on Mountain Time. However, much of that is urban sprawl, as the population of Denver proper is 715,522. So even though it’s more than substantial, you’ll hear people talk about it being a small city. Honestly, it feels pretty big to me, but whatever the case, the Denver of today is a far cry from its origins just ~150 years ago. Denver began as a prospecting town during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1859. This was essentially part of the “Wild West” until it scaled up to become a regional hub. The picture shown here is a rendering of Denver in 1898.

Having been born and raised on EST, the history of the “Wild West” feels very foreign to me. I struggle to wrap my head around how these little prospecting towns ever made the jump to be as multi-faceted and dynamic as they seem to be today. The colorful murals painted all over Denver certainly paint quite a diverse picture of this place, and as I took all of them in, I found myself wondering how this place’s population had increased so rapidly. 150 years ago, the population of this place was less than 10,000! And now it’s one of America’s hottest real estate markets. In fact, the population of Denver increased by almost 20% between 2010 and 2020. Guess everybody wants to be close to dem mountains.

Union Station

The first place that everybody tells you to go in Denver is Union Station. This is Denver’s train station, which is still active today. When it first opened its doors in 1881, it was the biggest building in the West! When a fire destroyed large parts of this building in 1894, the city quickly rebuilt it to be 40 feet taller! Which probably felt like a great investment until the city decided to up-scale again in 1914, demolishing this structure and re-building it from the ground up to make way for a Beaux-Arts and Renaissance Revival-style building that still stands today. Inside the station feels quite reminiscent of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Inside there’s lots of restaurants and shopping, and the building is also attached to the iconic Crawford Hotel. It’s a very cool spot, and totally free to walk through. So I think it’s a no-brainer addition to any tourist itinerary in Denver

Here are some pictures from my walk through (and around) this place. It sits right in the middle of Downtown, which makes it a very cool place for a walk.

One interesting historical tid-bit that occurred just a few blocks from this place is the story of the 1880 race riots. Seeing as Chinese immigrants build America’s railroads (re: Union Station), it’s curious that their descendants are notably absent from modern Denver.

Apparently, on Halloween of 1880, there was an awful race riot in what was formerly Denver’s Chinatown that caused the equivalent of $1.3 million (in today’s dollars) in damages and basically ran the city’s Chinese population out of town. One of the few remnants of Denver’s once-bustling Chinatown are the curious street names—like Wazee Street and Wewatta Street—which are bastardizations of Cantonese words, transcribed through American ears. This would be an interesting blog post to write, except that there is almost zero remaining evidence that Denver ever had a Chinatown, save for a few plaques. So I’m including it here. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Confluence Park + REI HQ

If you’re coming in from out of town, I think Confluence Park is what you hope Denver will be. It’s an area just West of Downtown where South Platte River flows past the city. Except that “flow” feels like far too mild a term. There are some bonafide whitewater rapids here in this park. The city built a park around them, and now you can throw your swim trunks on and go tubing through them. It’s a really fun little nook! In the August heat, people were out in force, taking a dip below the Denver high-rises, just a few hundred feet away.

And on the other side of the river, there’s a notable warehouse that I also want to tell you about, But first, pictures…

Ok—so that big brick warehouse you saw above, across the river—that is the REI flagship store. I’m not particularly outdoorsy, so every time somebody rattled off a list of places that I might visit during my time in Denver, I was always adamant that I wasn’t going to waste my time on a retail store. But then, when I saw this place from across the river, I just had to go in. And I am so glad I did! I didn’t buy anything, but it is a gorgeous space. And the 47-foot rock-climbing wall situated under the skylight is extremely photogenic. Even for all you house-cats out there, this place is definitely worth a visit.

Denver Art Museum (DAM)

The Denver Art Museum (a.k.a. the DAM) is the largest institution of its kind between Chicago and the West Coast. And it’s nothing if not recognizable. The Museum’s iconic Martin Building was designed by notable Italian architect Gio Ponti in 1971 and it is now a defining piece of the Capital Hill cityscape. You can see from the pictures below, it’s quite distinct. Inside the museum itself unfolds like a piece of modern art. But that’s not all there is to see.

During my visit, there were 3 exhibits open. The first was a series of classical fine art, which actually featured a ton of Monets. This was my first time seeing any of his work in person! There was also an exhibit from contemporary artist Simphiwe Ndzube called “Simphiwe Ndzube” and another from artists Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger called “Each/Other”. Those links will take you the DAM website to show you a bit more. But there are also pictures below.

Notable Denver Neighborhoods

Although I am no expert on the many neighborhoods of Denver, I am an enthusiast of neighborhoods at large. Honestly, I would much rather visit a random local bakery, tucked away in a neighborhood somewhere than visit whatever occupies the “Top 10 Things To Do In _______” lists.

RiNo (River North Arts District)

Without a doubt, the most heavily concentrated cluster of street art is in a neighborhood called the River North Arts District, or “RiNo” for short. (Side-note: the usage of this nickname is completely ubiquitous among locals. My phone even autocorrected “rino” to “RiNo” when I had to text it to people.) Anyway, this neighborhood’s story is a somewhat familiar one. As the 20th century came to a close, many of the warehouses and industrial structures in this Downtown-adjacent neighborhood fell vacant, largely descending into disrepair, when a collection of artists saw an opportunity. Fast-forward twenty years and those industrious, creative souls have breathed new life into this neighborhood, re-purposing old structures, planting gardens, painting murals, attracting small businesses… the place is BOOMING! It is one of the first places people will tell you to go in Denver because it is just so gobsmackingly cool.

Today, it seems that RiNo is enough years past its point if “critical mass” that “The Man” has taken notice, and is moving in fast. Next to the weathered warehouses, visible over the paint-covered brick, there are now rows of sparkling, new apartment complexes, each of them a hive of rich, young white folks. I can’t complain about that too much because I pretty much am one of those, but I do think it needs to be acknowledged. It’s been a long time since this area was anything close to edgy, but it’s still cool and fun AF.

Oh, and those artists who keep this place beautiful are still around. Here’s a lil blurb from their website:

Today, RiNo is comprised of four organizations, the RiNo Art District (the 501(c)(6) nonprofit arm, registered neighborhood organization, and state certified creative district), the RiNo BID (Business Improvement District), the RiNo GID (General Improvement District), and Keep RiNo Wild (the new 501(c)(3) nonprofit fundraising arm). Together, these organizations fund and support the area through advocacy, infrastructure improvements, artist support, community programming, business support, and events.

You can read more here. Or you can scroll and see a few snaps of this place. I spent a lot of time here hunting for murals and I have a WHALE of a street art post coming your way… but we’re not there yet.

Five Points

Historically, this was Denver’s Black neighborhood. In fact, it was called the “Harlem of the West.” This nickname came as much from the demographic makeup of the area as it did from the fact that it was a frequent stop for some of the jazz greats, such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. They would stop through Denver to play at some of Five Points’ jazz clubs, like the Rossonian and the Rainbow Room. The former is included below, at the top-right slot of the gallery. Five Points was actually also mentioned repeatedly in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." So there is definitely some mythology to this place.

Although the neighborhood is clearly in some phase of gentrification, this identity is clearly still alive and well, as it hosts yearly Juneteenth parades and Jazz Festivals, which are huge events in Denver. It’s also covered in historically-inspired street art, and is home to great local Denver businesses, many of which have deep history here. I’d definitely recommend that you swing through here if you ever get the chance.

Other: Colfax + Cole + Capital Hill + South Wash + etc.

Denver has a ton of other cool areas as well—way too many for me to cover here. They all have cool quirks and personality traits, but they also are all unified by the fact that they really feel like neighborhoods. Denver is quite a suburban city, but these suburbs all have some je ne sais quoi to them. Many of the houses are old and made of brick, which is a cool vibe. With the exception of RiNo, which is almost completely barren, the rest of Denver’s neighborhoods are quite leafy, which makes for pleasant walking. And even though they all have their own identities, they all seem to put off nice vibes!

During my time here, I was lucky to (at one point or another) swing through Colfax, Cole, Capital Hill, South Washington, and probably even more that I was not even aware of. So I think I got a feel for the place. I’m not an expert, but I am an appreciator. Here are some pictures I took. The bookstore shown here is the Tattered Cover in Colfax.

I’ve got a couple more articles from the Denver area in the queue next, but before we get there, I do want to mention one other piece of my Denver experience that was less positive: the smoke. The air quality when I arrived in Denver was BAD. And although Colorado does get its share of wildfires, the smoke in the air when I arrived had apparently blown in from the California wildfires. Honestly—and I guess I should count myself lucky—this was my first time experiencing fire-related air quality issues. And it was not fun.

On my first morning in Denver I had some time to kill on my own, so—bright-eyed and bushy-tailed—I excitedly headed over to RiNo to hunt for murals. By the time 11 o’clock rolled around, I was struggling. The Denver sun was intense in this treeless area, but the smoke really started to take a toll on me. Similar to my time in Hanoi, when I inhaled too much exhaust riding my motorbike around, I suddenly had a runny nose. But my eyes were also watering like crazy. Combine that with the punishing high-altitude sun and the intense heat out there on the pavement… I was feeling pretty nauseous by the time I stopped for lunch.

After that, I went home and slept until evening. Not a strong start to my trip, but the experience was thought-provoking. This is our future. Savor this planet while it lasts people. I am optimistic that we’ll figure out a solution to this climate change thing, but a lot of bad stuff is going to happen between now and then. So let me drop my diplomatic facade and end by saying that if you’re one of those people who thinks the jury is still out on whether or not humans are causing climate change, and you’re just going to wait and see, and continue to cast your votes against mass transit proposals and for candidates who want to bring coal back from the dead… you’re a fucking moron.

And we’re gonna find a way to save this planet in spite of you. ✌️