Baker

Located a mile and a half south of downtown, the wedge-shaped Baker neighborhood houses an eclectic mix of professionals, families, and the young and hip. It’s also mixed-use: along I-25 and in the south, it gives way to graffiti-covered abandoned factories; the residential core sits west of South Broadway, and South Broadway itself is one of Denver’s most popular out-on-the-town destinations.

The cost of owning or renting a home has increased in recent years, but Baker’s historic cheapness and proximity made it appealing to a wide variety of residents. Hispanic and Latino families and young professional couples occupy the single-family homes, and singles buying their first condo or renting apartments often seek out this area. Many of Baker’s homes are historic, dating back to the 1880s.

South Broadway, sometimes referred to as SoBo, is a destination in its own right for people living in the suburbs or other parts of the city. It’s a mishmash of chic and gritty, trendy and old-school. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether that guy walking down the street is a purposefully disheveled hipster, or just… disheveled. Decadent Beatrice and Woodsley, with its aspen-tree-and-chainsaw décor, $10 cocktails, and oxtail soup, is a few doors down from Swift Steak House, an unpretentious hole-in-the-wall with a crackly old radio and chicken-fried steak. Up on 3rd Avenue, the Mayan theater, built in 1930, is true to its name, with the walls inside covered with murals of fierce warriors. The Hi-Dive and some of the other bars make this a good place to go for live music. Bibliophiles will find it easy to lose an entire day in the half-dozen new and used bookstores, many of which are labyrinthine and piled floor to ceiling with paperbacks. Like SoBo, Baker itself seems to offer something for everyone: quiet, family-friendly streets, proximity to downtown, and one of Denver’s most vibrant and bustling dining and entertainment enclaves.