Capitol Hill, Denver, Colorado - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Located in the City and County of Denver, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, the Capitol Hill neighborhood is bounded by Broadway, Downing Street, Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local street system, it lies 15 blocks north of the zero...

, and Seventh Avenue, which carry large volumes of traffic around the neighborhood. It is technically located in East Denver which begins immediately east of Broadway, the neighborhood's western boundary. Many consider the Cheesman Park

Cheesman Park, Denver

Cheesman Park is an urban park and neighborhood located in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States.-Geography:Cheesman Park is located in central Denver, southeast of downtown...

neighborhood to be a part of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but as defined by the city http://www.denvergov.org/, Cheesman Park is a separate neighborhood. Denver also recognizes a statistical neighborhood called North Capitol Hill

North Capitol Hill, Denver

North Capitol Hill, often referred to as Uptown, is a center city neighborhood near downtown Denver. the neighborhood is located in the area known as East Denver, or the "East Side". However, the neighborhood has a diverse population, similar to surrounding neighborhoods of Five Points and Capitol...

, but this is called Uptown by many residents. Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue

is the border between these two neighborhoods.

Geography

The neighborhood is located just southeast of Denver's Central Business District

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

(CBD) in a well-established residential neighborhood, with commercial centers located along major traffic routes (such as Colfax Avenue and Broadway) and interior arterials (such as East 13th and 14th Avenues). The neighborhood is directly east of the Civic Center

Civic Center, Denver

Civic Center is a neighborhood and park in Denver, Colorado. The area is known as the center of the civic life in the city, with numerous institutions of arts, government, and culture as well as numerous festivals, parades, and protests throughout the year...

neighborhood and the Colorado State Capitol

Colorado State Capitol

The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed...

. Over 95% of this neighborhood is developed. The average year of construction for buildings is approximately 1920, with some of the oldest single-family homes in the city. The characteristics of Capitol Hill are closely related to other east Denver neighborhoods, which include the hospital district and the North Capitol Hill neighborhood. Public transportation and city support services are readily available.
Neighborhood Boundaries:

North - Colfax Avenue
South - Seventh Avenue
East - Downing Street
West - Broadway

Characteristics

Capitol Hill is Denver's most densely populated neighborhood. It was once the home of Denver's elite and origination of American Foursquare architecture. Today it consists of historic mansions, apartments and condo buildings. Because of the concentration of multi-family uses and the urban character of the neighborhood, parking is at a premium. The area is strongly influenced by the Colorado State Capitol

Colorado State Capitol

and Downtown Denver which is adjacent to the northwest boundary of the neighborhood. Commercial uses are typically located on major arterials such as Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue

,East 8th Avenue, East 14th Avenue, East 13th Avenue, Lincoln Street and Broadway. A considerable number of mansion properties have been converted to office uses over the past several years due to zoning exemption offered to historic structured which are zoned for residential uses. Office development in the neighborhood is primary concentrated in the northwest portion of the neighborhood which small profession offices located throughout the neighborhood.

Culture

The Capitol Hill neighborhood is influenced by its proximity to the Colorado State Capitol, Downtown

Downtown Denver

Downtown Denver is the main financial, commercial, and entertainment district in Denver, Colorado. There is over of office space in downtown Denver, with 130,000 workers....

and its northern boundary, East Colfax Avenue.

Capitol Hill is one of the most cosmopolitan neighborhoods in Denver, well-known as a haven for artists and bohemians. There are numerous restaurants, clubs, bars, stores, concert venues, and other cultural amenities in the community. East 13th Avenue is the center of Denver's punk

Punk subculture

The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...

community with the punk club Bender's, as well as various stores that cater to punks and hipsters. Colfax Avenue has a reputation for a wild nightlife with two concert venues (The Fillmore and the Ogden), and numerous late-night bars, coffeeshops, restaurants, stores and clubs on the street. During the day, lobbyists and politicians from the Colorado State Capitol can be seen making deals in the restaurants and bars of the neighborhood.

Capitol Hill is also known as a gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

-friendly neighborhood and is sometimes categorized as a gay village

Gay village

A gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people live or frequent...

. The annual PrideFest

PrideFest (Denver)

PrideFest is an annual Gay pride event held each June in Denver, Colorado. PrideFest honors the culture and heritage of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the State of Colorado. The annual event draws an estimated 200,000 spectators to downtown Denver and is presented by the...

gay pride

Gay pride

LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...

parade goes through the neighborhood.

Capitol Hill is next to two major Denver parks, Civic Center Park

Civic Center, Denver

and Cheesman Park. Both of these are meeting centers for the community; they host many festivals, including the Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods-sponsored People's Fair

People's Fair, Denver, Colorado

The People's Fair is an annual event, held in early June, in Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. It is sponsored by Capitol Hill United Neighbors ....

in early June.

Capitol Hill has had a long bohemiam reputation with the Colburn Hotel on Grant Street being a one time residence of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg.

Notable spots in Capitol Hill

Wax Trax Records - record store opened in 1978 which spawned Wax Trax Records in Chicago. Located at 13th and Washington
Quizno's subs - the first of the chain - 13th and Grant since 1981
Molly Brown House
Molly Brown House
The Molly Brown House Museum is a house located at 1340 Pennsylvania Street in Denver, Colorado, United States that was the home of American philanthropist, socialite, and activist Margaret Brown. Brown was known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" because she survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic...

- now a museum

Urban Renewal

Capitol Hill is one of many neighborhoods in central Denver in a gentrification phase. The neighborhood was originally the home of Denver's elite who constructed elaborate mansions. As the economy of Denver slumped after the Silver Crash of 1893, construction in Capitol Hill concentrated on apartments. Three buildings still in existence are examples of the architecture of this time: The Colonnade, Alta Court (currently an office building), and the Hamilton. This cultural and demographic shift, from single-family mansions toward boarding houses and rental property for the transient middle class, marked a shift toward the present multi-family dominance of the neighborhood.

Capitol Hill remained a solid middle class neighborhood until after World War II, when middle-class families left Capitol Hill. The demographics of people left behind were transients and renters.

Another watershed in the history of Capitol hill was the completion of Interstate 70. No longer did incoming tourists drive down East Colfax Avenue on their way into downtown. The tourist dollar was effectively wiped out as a revenue source for East Colfax after this decade. So began another downward spiral. With no tourists to spend money along East Colfax the businesses suffered, as did the demand to go to Capitol Hill.

The affordability, urban character and eclectic architecture made the area appealing to young bohemians, artists, musicians (Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

and Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

were former neighborhood residents) which has led to a gradual gentrification that reached its height during the 2000s. The rents in the neighborhood have increased significantly over the past decade, and many of the cheap apartments in the area have been converted into more expensive condominiums. Nonethless the neighborhood has an older housing stock which lacks off-street parking, contributing to a relative affordability compared to other central neighborhoods.

Currently many portions of East Colfax Avenue are undergoing redevelopment to make them denser and more pedestrian-friendly. Despite these redevelopment efforts, a brief stroll along Colfax Avenue through the Capitol Hill neighborhood will provide a glimpse of its history.

Crime

Finally, Capitol Hill is also well-known for its crime, particularly the common use of drugs

Recreational drug use

Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...

and prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

in the neighborhood. Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue

(though not just in Capitol Hill) has a reputation as a prostitution street, with many by-the-hour hotels along the avenue. Recently both prostitution and drug use have decreased in the neighborhood as policing initiatives brought down the crime rate and hastened the ongoing gentrification. The crime rate in the Capitol Hill neighborhood is at 114 incidents per 1,000 persons, well above the national and city averages.

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