West Washington Park, Denver – 3 things I love
The guy singing as he was riding his bike made me smile tonight as I left my house to go for a walk and it made me think, I haven’t shared my thoughts in a little while.
1. My neighborhood, West Washington Park is just removed from the intensity of Washington Park.
When I first moved here I showed a friend on Google Maps how close I was to the park and she said, ”Oh, too far to walk.” She is a suburban gal. It might have been too far for me to walk the first month but after jumping on my bike and riding it regularly, I decided it is a perfect walk. If I were a runner, I think it would be awesome and might even do it twice. I like being removed for now; I use it as a destination. Being removed means we don’t have the cars from the visitors on the evenings or weekends. If you haven’t ever been, the park is full of people. Walkers, bike riders, runners, rollerbladers, dogs, Frisbees, volleyball, soccer, basketball tennis, paddle boats, if you can think of it, they probably do it in the park.
2. I love how friendly the neighborhood is.
As I am writing this post, Etta stopped to say hi. She wasn’t as interested in me as she was last year, but, I think she smelled my dinner on the porch so she dragged her mom over. Last summer I would have to shoo her away because she just wanted to sit and talk – not what her mom had in mind. Most everyone who walks by nods, smiles and waves. The mailman and food delivery guy stop to chat. I met a few neighbors at an open house last summer and run into them all the time while on a walk or at a restaurant or the grocery store. Last summer I would say “hi” to people who looked familiar and they would say call me “that realtor” until they remembered my name.
3. I can walk to 40 plus restaurants and shops within a mile.
When I first moved here, I found a fabulous patio (it has a restaurant and bar attached) so I’d hang out there at least once a week. I met a gal who has turned out to be one of my best buddies and even though she has moved to the other side of the park we still text and meet with a small group of friends who all met at other fun restaurants on Broadway and in the neighborhood. We now have a group of about 8 of us who text and catch up randomly at different restaurants and homes. There are numerous yoga studios, locally owned clothing shops, several grocery stores, furniture shops; it feels like a little town in our city.
West Washington Park is only about 3 miles south of Union Station. We are about a mile from the highway, 30 minutes to DIA and to DTC. I used the parameters set by the West Washington Park Neighborhood Association which uses the boundaries between Broadway and Downing and Speer and I-25.
Come be my neighbor!
Available homes in West Washington Park: