City Park

I've been going to City Park for years now. When I was younger we would always go to the zoo, and it's amazing to me that it has been opened since 1896. As I got older, I had a friend who lived just off of 17th and I loved visiting her there. Being across from the park always seemed so calm and serene. As long as you stay away from Colfax, the traffic isn't bad either. Nowadays I go there mostly to take my kids to the zoo and Denver Museum of Nature and Science. There is also a planetarium although I haven't been there since high school.

The park itself is huge and offers tons of space for taking a jog, enjoying a picnic, or even riding the paddle boats in Ferril Lake. There is a great view of this lake and of the Denver skyline from the balcony in the museum. For the most part, when you're here it's a laid back atmosphere, much different than the city which is so close.

There are numerous businesses, restaurants and bars up and down Colfax. It's a quick drive to downtown so this would be a great place for people who work downtown to live. East High School, which has had some problems in the past has now really turned around and a much younger friend of mine graduated there just several years ago. She said she really enjoyed going to school there and thought the teachers were really good.

The median household income in City Park was $52,165 in 2010, while the rest of Denver averaged $45,526. I don't know how accurate this is as some maps show City Park as going as far south as Colfax, while others show it ending at 17th Avenue. The average detached home price was a very high $666,193 compared to the rest of Denver at $329,547. While the housing prices are high, it may be worth looking into this neighborhood if you're a professional working downtown or at one of the nearby hospitals.

This neighborhood has played a big role in my life growing up, and it still does. I grew up in an adjacent neighborhood, so City Park was a frequent destination for family outings. We went for picnics, visits to the zoo, and trips to the museum and planetarium. I went to East High School. This is a beautiful old building (dating from 1909, if I recall the cornerstone inscription correctly). Tourists used to walk by and ask whether it was a school or a museum.
Today, I still live near the park, and love spending time there. I usually go to photograph the classic view of the lake and pavillion, with the city skyline and mountains providing the backdrop. I also go to join the many other runners who take advantage of the miles of jogging paths that wind through the park and around Ferril Lake.
My mom took an apartment in the southern strip of this neighborhood after her retirement. She may decide to move again, because rents there, while never cheap, are rising precipitously each year. This neighborhood has been revitalized, and there are many restored homes and new condos that have gone up. It is a beautiful Denver neighborhood, handy to all of the dining, shopping, and other activity of the east central neighborhoods and downtown have to offer.

Most of the City Park neighborhood is green space. The park itself is Denver’s largest, one of its oldest, and arguably its most impressive. If the view west from near the Nature and Science Museum looks familiar, it’s because that’s where they take the postcard photos of the city skyline with the Rockies as its backdrop. The park offers free open-air jazz concerts in the summer, as well as swan-shaped paddleboats visitors can rent at the small lake.

The residential area of the City Park neighborhood is all on the south side, between 17th and Colfax (15th) Avenues. The area intermixes classic older homes with apartment/condo buildings and some trendy new towers. Ownership and rental costs are both high.

What residents get for the price is one of Denver’s best parks for their backyard and a thriving, revitalized stretch of Colfax Avenue for their front porch. This area, between York and Colorado, is a destination in its own right that even draws people from Denver’s other super-trendy neighborhoods for a night out on the town. There’s good food here, everything from biscuits for breakfast to cupcakes for dessert, and good drinking at a fun and friendly chain of bars that run the gamut from good tequila to cheap PBR.

Near York and Colfax, there’s a large, elegant building in a style reminiscent of early colonial, with a soaring clock tower. This is East High, which predates the current architectural trend of designing high schools to resemble prisons. Across the street is the flagship Tattered Cover bookstore. The Tattered Cover provides a rare and happy tale of a brick-and-mortar bookstore that’s not only remained in business, but flourished over the last few years: locally grown and well-supported by residents, it has a large selection good for hours, if not days, of browsing. The Starz Film Center, one of the best places to catch an independent movie, is housed in the same complex. Residents of City Park will find themselves with plenty to do – and that’s without even mentioning the zoo, the science museum, or everything that’s going on in downtown, a short drive, bike, or bus ride away.