So after a lovely 8 day road trip through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, I’ve moved into my new apartment in Denver. Anyone have any tips they can give me on job hunting/meeting people/good places to eat/hang out/people watch? I’m in the Capitol Hill district, so in walking distance to a lot of big stuff. But I’m more interested in the stuff that not everyone knows about.
Who can give me the Straight Dope on living in Denver? Any dopers want to meet a new Denver Doper?
thanks heaps,
mle
Ahh Capital Hill, good place, probably the best place to get aquainted to Denver very open minded. Gov’ners Park, and Charlie Browns are good hangout bars. The Park is a decent pick-up bar. The Lancer and Baracuda are good divey bars in the Area.(Capital hill is also a largely Gay area of town, but I have no idea what the hot gay bars are if that’s what your looking for, sorry) After Bar close you gotta hit Pete’s kitchen at least once, it has the most diverse crowd for people watching within 1000 miles,
For everday people watching 16th street downtown is the the only choice. There are some good real restauraunts on 16th street, and for cheaper lunching get used to Chipotle.
One of the main reasons people who live in Denver love it so much is cause of the mountains. I’m assuming that is part of the reason you moved here. But one suggestion is that you mke it part of your life as quickly as possible. I know a lot of people who move here for the mountains, then don’t get around to it in the first 6 months, and it just never makes it into their lifestyle. Go skiing at least once soon, or wait till spring and go camp, fish, or at least hike, but do it soon. Denver is a very dog-oriented town.
I can answer more specific questions with more detail on what exactly your looking for.
Good advice, Wolfman, thanks for your response. I was mostly just looking for general information about the area from people who live/ have lived here. I only know one person who lives in Denver. I moved here mostly because I needed a change from the Bay Area, and also because my bf and I were tired of living 1000 miles apart. He lives in Greeley, and I kind of like the idea of forcing myself into a new place by myself.
Where’s a good place to go to meet people?
Where to meet people, hmmm. I’m not entirely sure I can help you there. To be honest I’ve been here so long it feels like I have to search to find a place where I don’t know anybody for when I want to be alone.
First of all usually in Capital Hill you will have a fair number of cool same-age people as neighbors. Start there by being friendly to the people around your place. You will most likely be invited over to smoke pot, or go to a party or something fairly soon. One of the things I love most about Denver is that it is far less cliqueish than most cities I have been to, and people are happy to let new people into their circle. So once you meet one group of people, you will quickly meet their freinds, and their friends and so on. Most people seem to end up with a fair network within 6 months.
And again since you are new in town, and don’t have a lot of commitments, I would take advantage of that. Like if you have always wanted to try mountian climbing or something, go sign up for a class(money situation allowing of course) and meet people there while you learn.
P.S. By the way, I saw a thread jumping around about a Colorado Springs dopefest. You might wanna check that out there cause it’s only about 50 miles away.
Also as far as the job situation, don’t wait to long. The Job market in Denver is really crap right now. Denver was a heavily Tech town, and when that crashed, and put a whole bunch of techies out of work, the downward spiral began. There was a story in the news a couple weeks ago about a restauraunt puting out an add for a waiter, and getting 650+ applications in a couple days.
Sure enough, we are trying to gather here in Colorado Springs:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=157025 From your area, it will take about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive to downtown Colorado Springs, give or take a few, depending on traffic.
I lived in the south end of Denver (Littleton but not Littleton proper.) As for jobs, you might check out some of the temp agencies until you find a job that suits your needs. That’s what I did, worked for a great mortgage company who wanted to hire me full time, but I was going into IT management. Now I am just a slacker.
There are a ton of good restaurants and bars. You find the more “trendy” in LoDo, near Coors Field.
The Capitol Hill area is pretty cool. I used to sell a lot of tile to people in that area but don’t know much about it.
Pick up a copy of WestWord for things happening around town.
Another okay link is: Digital City Denver.
I haven’t lived there since Aug of 1998 so I can’t be very helpful.
Scholastic Book fairs in Aurora (near denver but not in) rarely has enough workers. I cant promise you anything but its a good time to apply…good bennies… pay could be better…its a job.