by John Graham

Created on: August 12, 2008

Denver is one of those rare cities in which the Downtown lives.

There are plenty of upscale apartments in the downtown area all within a few blocks of major attractions. This is a rare opportunity for singles to avoid the sterile suburbs.

Furthermore all the attractions and opportunities to meet people lie within one square mile.

At one side, Lo Do is a revitalized old Denver full of upscale restaurants and shops edging on the ballpark. If you simply like hanging out in bars and eating then Lo Do is the place to be. The restaurants range from Italian, to Chinese, from elegant new-style American to specializing eating-houses for fish, for fondue, for steak, for casual and for formal dining.

About five blocks west of Lo Do the new Pepsi Center offers ice hockey (the Avalanche) games as well as special attractions and concerts for visiting celebrities.

If you are a theatergoer downtown Denver has a complex of nine fine theaters offering everything from experimental theater to Shakespeare, from opera to comedy along with the Colorado Symphony. Walking distance from the ballpark to the opera is about eight blocks and your apartment may lie between the two.

If you are a skier there is a direct train from Denver (the station is in Lo Do) to Winter Park Ski Resort. You can walk directly from your downtown apartment a couple of blocks to the station in the morning and be deposited onto the slopes with plenty of time for a full day's skiing. The rail journey itself through the foothills of the Rockies is worth the trip on its own but coupled with a fine breakfast one way and a wine dinner coming back, there are plenty of opportunities to meet people.

Just a few more blocks away, up the pedestrian 16th avenue, you find the Denver Art Museum, which has just completed its newest building. This wonderful addition could not have been built without the capabilities of satellite positioning. Not one beam is vertical or horizontal. The building alone is worth visiting even without the fine exhibitions. The Palettes restaurant is worth visiting as well.

If you live downtown, there is no need to visit suburban shopping malls. Downtown itself has fine shops well worth a stroll. Up scale women's dress shops, art galleries, and specialty shops are all there.

Furthermore, if you need to work (!) just on the eastern edge of what I have described is the business center of Denver with a horde of engineering firms, law firms and institutional employers of the Denver State and City governments. Walking to work would relief you of all the harassment of parking and traffic jams.

If you are single, consider living in downtown Denver.

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