Denver, Colorado (April 27, 2013)

Written by ceddammit

If you’ve enjoyed the photographs thus far on ThrowBack Thursdays (TBT), then you’re gonna love what I’ve got in store for you now! So far, all my TBT posts have featured photos taken with my Old Cheap-n-Crappy(TM) camera. But last week’s post finally got me through my backlog of photos from that camera. So now, finally, I can move on to the backlog of pics from my Good Camera.

When I bought the Good Camera, I decided to get to know it by taking it for a stroll, before taking it on any trips. At the time, I lived in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. So I hopped onto the West Colfax bus and took a ride downtown to just play with the new camera. Of course, this involved a lot of “experimental” shots that didn’t turn out well – I am not including those shots.

I started at Civic Center Park, which lies between the Colorado state capitol building and the Denver City & County Building. Many Coloradans don’t know it, but during the late 19th century, the land now occupied by this park was actually crammed with decrepit tenement housing. When the state capitol was being built, it was decided that the view from the capitol steps should not be a view of a slum. Thus, the slum was torn down and replaced with this elegant park…

Looking north across Civic Center Park. The big skyscraper is Republic Plaza.
Greek Amphitheatre
According to Google Maps, this structure (or maybe just the fountain, which has been drained in this picture) is Voorhies Memorial.

From Civic Center Park, I walked across downtown to the Highland pedestrian bridge over Interstate Highway 25. I snapped these few pics along the way…

Looking northeast along Cleveland Place, from 15th Street
An old commercial building in Lower Downtown (LoDo) Denver, Colorado

Interstate 25 serves as the unofficial western boundary of downtown Denver. Once you’ve crossed over it, you find yourself in a historical yet happ’nin’ neighborhood. There’s a nice variety of restaurants; shopping; and historical homes, commercial buildings, and churches…

The concept of “cookie cutter” homes is apparently not a new one.
A little closer, so you can see more detail of the old cookie cutter homes.
Bicycles made of bamboo? One word: Splinter
Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church (30th Avenue & Vallejo Street)
Wheeler Block
Looking down 15th into downtown
Some houses in this neighborhood have been beautifully preserved or restored. Others…meh.

Now for my very favorite part of this neighborhood – or any neighborhood in Denver – the old red sandstone houses…

OK, I’m tired now. Time to head back downtown…

Heading back into downtown; note the big white pedestrian bridge at center.
Detail of the aforementioned pedestrian bridge
Looking southeast along 16th Street
Daniels & Fisher Tower, once the tallest building west of the Mississippi
Detail on the Daniels & Fisher Tower
Daniels & Fisher Tower and its neighbors
I just think this building looks cool.

That’s it for my initial play date with the Good Camera. The very next day, I took it to Reds Rocks. You will get to see that next week!

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