As I have frequently mentioned, I walk from work to the light rail station at Union Station in Lower Downtown Denver as often as I can. It is good exercise, but even better people-watching. I alternate the route I take, walking down Colfax Avenue (15th street) one day and 17th Street the next. These streets, running parallel to each other and only two blocks apart, couldn't be any different. Although the businesses are becoming more upscale, Colfax is still a street of homeless people, the poor, the desperate. It is still pretty seedy in a lot of spots, despite areas that have been gentrified, like the block where the bookstore where I work is located. In the photograph on the left is the famous (or infamous) Satire Lounge, a dive bar that has been there for almost 50 years or so. And still seedy after all these years.
Just two blocks away is 17th Street, and the entire 2 mile stretch I walk is filled with trendy restaurants and bars, boutiques, refurbished Victorian homes, and brand new apartment complexes for the young, hip population that frequents the area. The street is always filled with people bar hopping, walking their dogs, and just hanging out. Amazingly enough, very few homeless people are in evidence. They are evidently more comfortable on Colfax, in their element. There can be no greater symbol of the haves and have-nots than walking these two streets. And will this dichotomy get better or worse in the future? I know how I'm betting.
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