Living in the Material World: Part 1

The other day my family and I drove to another Denver neighborhood to walk around and take in new sights.

The neighborhood we ended up in was the Highlands neighborhood which is just west of downtown Denver. The name comes from the fact that it is on a ridge overlooking the Platte river (the river is still there but it’s entirely blotted out by the modern river that is I-25).

Millionaires and rich merchants once built red limestone mansions in Highlands. Then the neighborhood went into a decline and small, decrepit homes stretch to the north along with hideous mid-60’s and 70’s government offices.

The money is back and expensive new homes are going up along with expensive condominium developments.

Highlands is a western expansion of “Confluence Park” which is the neighborhood immediately to the east of I-25 and the Platte river. When we first moved to Denver in 1999, this area was gritty and run down. It was way too urban for most people.

Then an REI store moved into an old manufacturing building and several buildings were scraped out and rehabbed. Then the rush was on and condominiums and dot.com offices spaces sprouted up like mad.

When we walked around confluence park it was like a magazine spread for the “young, urban, lifestyle.” 20-somethings playing frisbee and wearing hip active gear. Golden Retrievers and Black Labs frolicking through the park. Moms with jogging strollers decked out like armored tanks speed walking and talking on cell phones.

It was depressing as hell.

My husband commented that there’s something weird about these pre-fabbed neighborhoods which certainly describes Confluence Park. They’re nice enough looking but at the same time there’s something calculated and sterile about them. Highlands is slightly better because there was an actual neighborhood (even though at the time millionaires built those red stone mansions it was probably pretty sterile and desolate looking as well).

Will the place look for organic and natural 25 years from now? It’s hard to predict how the neighborhood will evolve. Right now, I’d rather go somewhere else.