City Park and the neighborhoods around it are great places to live or spend time in Denver. These areas feel a little less hipster to me than other neighborhoods like LOHI, LODO, or RINO. There seem to be more families, and people from different walks of life.
City Park has been a fixture in Denver since the late 19th century. It features lots of trees, winding paths, lakes and ponds, the Natural History Museum, and the Zoo. In the summer, there’s a Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings and Jazz on Sunday evenings. And as if City Park itself wasn’t enough, you also have Cheesman Park, Congress Park, and the Botanical Gardens nearby.
I love the tree-lined streets and great old homes and other buildings in this area. People here seem to keep and renovate original homes more than put up more modern ones as they do in other popular parts of the city. There are lots of options for eating and drinking on Colfax and in Hale, as well as a couple of spots tucked along 12th street. There are parts of Colfax I would stay away from, but I always felt comfortable in the section south of the park.
Walkability
This is a fairly walkable area. From my Airbnb about a block south of the Bluebird, I could walk to multiple parks, grocery stores, and coffee shops in 15 minutes or less. Sprouts is conveniently located on Colfax and there’s a Trader Joe’s further south on Colorado. There are also plenty of electric scooters and bikes in this area, either through Lime or Lyft.
Coffee
Downpours Coffee is a little off the beaten path on 12th and Clayton, so it’s usually wasn’t super busy when I was there. There’s plenty of seating both in and outside, good coffee, and friendly staff. They were only open until 1 pm as of this writing though.
A stylish spot in Park Hill is Honey Hill Cafe. It has a beautiful large interior and a nice patio when the weather is nice.
Kochi Cafe is a comfortable place to hang out in Hale, and laptops are first-class citizens, with wifi connection info printed on cards on the tables, plenty of power strips, etc.
Some other spots to check out are Hooked on Colfax, Frank & Roze, and Lula Rose.
Ice Cream
My guilty here pleasure is Sweet Cooie’s Ice Cream at 12th and Madison, which has a fun retro interior, tables outside, and Little Man ice cream.
Outdoor Gyms
The Eastern Playground at the east end of Ferril Lake in City Park has angled monkey bars that work ok for pullups. It’s usually pretty quiet on weekday mornings, but gets busy early on the weekend, Saturday especially. It’s a beautiful setting though.
At Lindsley Park near Rose Medical Center, there’s a physical fitness course with some pull-up bars. I mostly come here on weekends, and it’s not very busy.
