The USA's Coolest Neighborhoods?

I took a walk through Denver's River North (RiNo) neighborhood on a brisk weekday afternoon last week, and it made me think once again about the article I read on the internet that featured the USA's Coolest neighborhoods. I don't know if they were listed in any particular order, but the first one mentioned was San Francisco's Mission District, the second the Marigny neighborhood next to the French Quarter in New Orleans, and after that none other than the River North Neighborhood. RiNo is divided by railroad tracks into 2 distinct areas - one close to the Platte River, which features many high-rise apartment buildings along Brighton Boulevard, and another that centers around North Larimer Street, which has a lot of Victorian era buildings mixed in with newer construction. On the left is a photo of an upscale clothing store decorated with a colorful facade.

The article, written by Florence Jones for a web site called Love Exploring, cited RiNo's "edgy creatively driven history," its restored warehouses and factories - now home to brewpubs, art studios, and music clubs, as well as all the street art and food halls, especially Denver Central Market - for being the reason for its inclusion. Those are all positives, but in my opinion, there are far too many old warehouses and factories around, many still in use, not to mention all those fenced-in vacant lots waiting to be developed. In short, there are a lot of ugly parts to the area, which I never noticed in the Mission District when I was there and which I assume are not to be seen in the Marigny neighborhood. North Larimer Street does have its plus side, however, including Ratio Beerworks, the outdoor patio of which can be seen in the photograph on the right.

Other neighborhoods on the list (there are 30 total) include Wicker Park in Chicago (I agree with this choice), the River Arts District in Asheville, North Carolina (not so much), the Pearl District in Portland (which is where Powell's City of Books is located, which is its major highlight), and Downtown Santa Fe. Santa Fe, of course, is wonderful, and I just love visiting the place, 6 hours due south of Denver. Also mentioned were the Pearl District of San Antonio, which was gentrified after I visited the area, and so I can't offer an opinion about it. Nor can I make any judgements about the other places I have yet to visit. I do want to check out the Wynwood neighborhood in Miami and Ybor City in Tampa the next time I am in Florida, and hope one day to walk around the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Silver Lake in L.A, and maybe even Downtown 8th Street in Boise. However, I do not intend to go out of my way to check out the neighborhoods on the list located in Pittsburg, Richmond or Indianapolis. I will take Florence's word that they are as great as she says.