hi. i’m a long time lurker, first time poster.
anywho, three of my best friends and i are moving to boulder, colorado in a couple of weeks, and i was just wondering if you guys could recommend snazzy places to hang out, work, etc.
we’ll be living northeast of the city, by the boulder country club. any and all suggestions are appreciated.
I lived in Boulder 25 years ago, so I’m at a loss for names of places, but there used to be a nifty place on Pearl St., I think. They had barber’s chairs for barstools. Sometimes when you ordered a certain shot, they’d tip the chair back and pour it in your mouth. Not exactly cool, I guess, but a nice novelty.
There was also Tom’s Tavern, which was fun way back when.
I used to go up the mountain to Nederland (where I later moved) and hung out at the Pioneer Inn. Lots o’ laughs and pretty good food.
I left Boulder 2 years ago after living there for 11 years. Hubby lived there for 25.
As far as recomendations, what do you like to do? Boulder offers a bit of everything. Here’s a bit:
hanging out on the Pearl St. Mall. There’s a festival just about every weekend this time of year. Plenty of bars/restaurants/etc to keep you busy. Check out the roof of the West End, Martinis at Jax, Mojitos at Rhumba (those are all next door to each other!).
Hike in Chataqua park
Take a ride on the Peak to Peak highway, from Estes Park to Nederland
Drive out to Longmont and have a beer at the Left Hand Brewery (the BREWERY, the one on Boston Ave, not the brewpub of the same name on Main St.) Go on Saturday and take a tour.
If you give me more of an idea of what you like to do, I’ll give you more suggestions.
You’ll be living in Gunbarrel which is where I live - right by the CC.
You don’t indicate your age range or interests but I can pretty much guarantee that unless you’re planing to join and become active in the Country Club, you won’t find anything remotely snazzy nearby. It’s about 5 miles to town for the good stuff.
Being a university town, Boulder’s night life is very much oriented toward the younger folks. With lots of clubs, etc. catering to that age range.
Local jobs tend to be technical.
Have you looked at the local newspapers?
Where are you moving from?
I can’t tell from your post if you are lookng for generic type “work” or if you are degreed and looking for something in your field. Boulder rode high on the tech boom and as such has been suffering the last few years, but it seems things are picking up again in terms of overall employment. Still, those $60K jobs for new MCSE’s that were so plentiful a few years back are gone.
Still, there are jobs. You’ll be right by the County’s largest privite employer, IBM. There is a huge campus within a couple of miles of where you’ll be. Just north of you (and an easier commute) in Longmont are several tech/engineering companies, and you can easily drive to the US 36 corridor where some large employers are (Sun Microsystems, Level 3 Technologies, Hunter Douglas). A new very large hospital is about to open in Lafayette, 10 miles east. Of course, the University of Colorado employs thousands. Biotech is fairly big in the Boulder area (Amgen, plus a bunch of smaller ones).
Things you probably already know: Boulder is an active, outdoors oriented city. It seems that everyone skis, bikes, runs, climbs, etc. It can be intimidating (annoying?) for those that prefer a more sedentary lifestyle. Politically, it is very liberal, but not in the pro-union, big government kind of way. There is a lot of money in Boulder, and nobody really wants to give theirs away. The rank and file are more small l libertarian liberal than far left liberal. Some might dispute that, but to me its pretty obvious. Its just that the loudest voices are often those of the Socialst fringe. For a small city, there is a very large community of trust-funders, for whom work is an option. Most are very nice and not at all ostentatious, but some are clueless as to what it is like for the majority of working Americans. They just can’t understand why you can’t take Friday off and head up to Vail every other weekend.
Pearl Street Mall is a pedestrian mall in the heart of the city that was once home to an amazing collection of independant shops and restaurants, but in recent years has been seeing more and more national businesses move in. I find that the beat places are at either end and off of the mall part. The mall is also the summer home to a big group of “Rainbow People” who smoke cigarretes and bang on tom-toms and beg for change.
Places to hang out: Well, out where you will be, not much. I’d suggest in the city center The Mediterranean (The Med), a tapas bar with reasonable prices and home to the young and beautiful. The Rio Grande is across the street and is a nice Mexican place with killer margaritas. Jax Fish House is a great after-work place with great martinis and wondergful seafood. Not a quiet place, though. If money is not a big concern, try The Flagstaff House. Also for top quality food there is the European Cafe, Q’s, and Jax. For the hippie crowd there is Mountain Sun Brewery on the east end of the mall.
Denver is only 45 minutes away, and has great nightlife as well as all four major league sports.
I’m leaving out a million things, but its a start.
You’ll be living in a place that can take your breath away with its natural beauty. There aren’t too many places like that.
Be sure to take a tour of the Celestial Seasonings tea factory! They’re free and pretty much every day of the year.
The mint room is the best part.
This is based on a visit a couple of years ago. I went to college there back in the 80’s:
Dot’s and Rocky Mtn. Joe’s are good for breakfast.
I was sad to learn that Dot’s replaced Mother’s, but I guess the old Mother’s location is better than the old gas station Dot’s was at on Pearl St. Mother’s had some awesome breakfasts.
The public library’s pretty nice. There’s a park/bikepath that runs along Boulder creek.
I don’t know if it’s still there, but Aion used books on the hill was nice. Boulder Books downtown is good, too. The Tattered Cover in Denver is world-class.
There’s always cheap stuff going on on campus. Concerts, movies, etc.
There’s lots of good hiking in the foothills: Green Mt, Bear Peak, South Boulder Peak, and the one at the end of Mapleton. Lots of canyons and rock formations to wander around in. At first you’ll stumble around sucking air and getting beaten down by the heat, but you’ll get used to it.
Work-wise I don’t know what to tell ya. I think it’s always been an emloyer’s market so the more experience you have in something, the better.
The Celestial Seasonings tour is the main reason I was going to respond to this thread. It’ll only kill a couple of hours, but it is well worth it. Anytime you get to tour a manufacturing floor, you should. Plus, you get free samples of every flavor they have as well as taste testing some new ones under development. And, yes, the mint room alone is worth the trip. Especially helpful if you are stuffed up.
I’ll assume you are a fan of the outdoors. Buy yourself a national park pass and be prepared to spend copious amounts of time exploring Rocky Mountain National Park.
That’s is the main thing I miss about no longer living there. Any of the main touristy trails and whatnot are great. Find a good trail book and explore the lesser frequented parts. A decent online guide is here.
Sections I recommend, highly. Really highly.
Lake Haiyaha - You can get to these by starting off on the Bear Lake trailhead. Go on a sunny, clear day and marvel at an essentially undisturbed lake. Just beautiful. The route from Bear Lake to Alberta Falls to Glacier Falls to Lake Haiyaha to Nymph Lake to Bear Lake will take a few hours but is awesome.
Old Fall River Road - This is closed during winter and any bad weather, but it is pretty fun to take a 1 way dirt road with numerous switchbacks and the fear of death due to drop-off as your co-pilot. Still, it gives fantastic views, fewer tourists, and the possibility of getting up close to glaciers and animals. As a bonus, you then end up at the Alpine Visitors Center. Grab a bite and then head back down the paved road which is immeasurably more frightening due to higher speeds, more cars, and no guard rails. Especially interesting when rain or snow has started. This drive really is worth it.
Andrews Glacier - Who wouldn’t love to hang out at a glacier. Pretty hike, great ending, a good way to kill off some energy and expore the deeper parts. You can reach this off of a spur that starts at Glacier Falls (mentioned earlier.)
As always, pack appropriately, observe rules, and keep your eyes open for animals. They are everywhere.
IMHO, the best place in Boulder to be is on CH-119 headed toward Longmont.
If you are hungry, try The Cheesecake Factory – they have a killer Cajun Chicken/Shrimp combo. The portions are so huge that “lunch” lasts me about 3 days.
Yeah, come to Boulder to eat at the Cheesecake Factory in Longmont.
Then you should go to San Francisco and try the Olive Garden in Oakland.
Oakland’s too hip.
Go to the Olive Garden in Fremont.
I was a poor, starving College Student in Boulder some 20 years ago.
I spent most of my free time hiking and climbing in the Mountain Parks… especially Flagstaff Mountain and the Flatirons/Green Mountain. Join a hiking club and sign up for rockclimbing/mountainclimbing classes; it’s great exercise and huge fun.
The rest of my leisure time I spent on drinking, drugs and debauchery, and Boulder’s a great place for all of those. So… good luck!
I lived in Boulder from 1975-1981. The last few years I lived down the block from Tom’s, so I suppose we might have sometimes been on adjacent barstools.
Sounds like most of my students when I was a grad student there, so I might have been one of your TAs. 
Welcome in advance to Colorado, Skeleton Key. 
I am most definitely biased, but I think this is the best place in the whole world to live. You just can’t beat it for the scenery, the lifestyle, and the friendly people.
I am up in Fort Collins (a.k.a. “Fort Fun”), which is about 40 minutes northeast of you. Also a very fun town, if you all feel the urge to explore.
You didn’t say what kinds of things you all like to do, but I will mention two I haven’t seen posted yet:
If you like blues, beer, and food then Oskar Blues in Lyons (between Estes Park and Boulder) is a lot of fun.
If you like/need to shop, there is a huge mall (Flatirons Crossing) along the I-36 corridor between Denver and Boulder. TONS of stores there, in and around the mall.
Finally, I have a suggestion that might help you all get around: go to Office Depot or something like it, and purchase a Denver (and surrounding area) key map. They are around $40, but I have one I bought about 5 years ago that still lives in my car today. Saved my heiney a few times when Mapquest misdirected me.
BTW…what kind of work are you looking for?
Oh…and I almost forgot…
Please learn and repeat the phrase “Right on” (pronounced with the emphasis and a slightly higher inflection on “right”). Like the Hawaiian “aloha”, it has many meanings…“thank you”, “ok”, “that’s cool”, “oh, I see”, “great!”, “there’s a rabid weasel loose in my pants”, etc.
Again, please learn this phrase…you will not be admitted to Boulder (or Fort Collins, for that matter) without it
Geez, Cherry give away all the secrets, why dontcha?
Don’t worry, Skeleton Key, the Birkenstocks and the sweater vest are issued to you at the border checkpoint.
A few points from someone that lived there for 21 years, and moved away two years ago because I couldn’t stomach what the place had become…
The best beer places are the Sun Mountain Brewery on Pearl, and the Lefthand/Tabernash Brewery (the actual brewery on Boston Ave.) in Longmont. The rest are generally second-rate.
There is no goddamn Cheesecake Factory in Longmont - it’s in Boulder, and it’s an abomination. That place is a nice example of what happened to Boulder over the last 15 years. If you’re gonna do anything relative to the Cheesecake Factory, go take a shit on their doorstep.
I’ve just lost interest in even talking about Bouldaire anymore. Now it just makes me sick. Except for the Lefthand Brewery, and that’s in Longmont. Boulder’s one goofy town. I do miss Chey Thuy (sp?) on 28th, and running on the Mesa Trail. Check out Tim’s Thai in Longmont. I’m going to bed.
Hapa for sushi, too.
I just went for lunch. Too good.
Walked right by the Cheesecake Factory on the way up the Mall, but was somehow able to resist it.
Get Pierson’s Denver Metro Street Atlas. It’s about 1 inch thick and has every street in the metro area in it, including Boulder and Longmont. The ambulance company I work for has one in every rig, and they can get you anywhere. I got one for $25 at Sam’s Club.
My teammate from Boulder (who is currently scouring ink off her knee with a wad of paper) says that the place is a suburban elitist club – a country club, mind you, so be prepared. She suggests actively going out and finding people, being very aggressive in making friends and getting involved in events.