I have been doing a lot of biking lately, despite the heat, usually first heading to downtown Denver and then to Sloan's Lake and back. This past Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised to find the temperature was in the mid 80s, much cooler than usual, and perfect for biking. I took the self portrait on the left from the top of the Millenium Bridge, which leads to Commons Park and the Lower Highlands neighborhood, one of the city's trendiest. Back when I first moved to Denver, the Commons Park area was nothing but freight yards. Now it is a park surrounded by pricey apartment buildings and condos. Definitely beats railroad tracks.
On the way back home, I walked through Larimer Square and took the photograph on the right. The street is still closed to traffic to allow restaurants more patio space. Businesses seem to be doing very well, especially on the weekends, and will remain pedestrian only through at least November, when it might be prudent to bring a jacket along, if you are dining al fresco. Larimer Square, by the way, was saved from the wrecking ball by local preservationist Dana Crawford. Back during the height of urban renewal in the mid 1960s, Larimer Street was Denver's skid row, and the city thought that if they tore down every building on the street - many of which were architectural gems, such as the Tabor Opera House - the homeless would also disappear. Only this one block was saved from destruction, thanks to Crawford, forever giving Denverites an idea of what life back in the 1870s was like here. And was the city successful in eliminating the homeless? What do you think?
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