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Boulder is the worst best small town in America. You know what I mean.

by mp05 3y ago

CPLX 3y ago
Boulder is more accurately described as a neighborhood or region of Denver. If that’s not obvious today it certainly will be when the staggering construction in Arvada, Broomfield, and so on, has filled in all of the areas that could plausibly be used to argue otherwise.
- jlarocco 3y ago
  Part of the reason it's so expensive here, though, is the swath of city and county owned open space around the outskirts of town. Maybe some day it'll get developed, but I think it'll be a long time before that can happen.
patrick451 3y ago
It's not a small town, but rather a suburb of Denver.
- justinator 3y ago
  It's 25 miles away from Denver.
  - patrick451 3y ago
    What's your point? Denver is a massive sprawling metro.
    - Sparkle-san 3y ago
      There's still a lot of open space between Boulder and the surrounding cities. I'd argue Denver ends in that direction at Broomfield.
      - scarecrowbob 3y ago
        From my limited perspective there isn't much space. I'm a bit of a stranger to the area- right now I am in a Starbucks in (I think?) Boulder. But I came out to work as a tech with an audio company I contract for to do concerts up at some ski resort. And I am sleeping in my truck front of the Warehouse in Broomfield. But the guy who hires me has a house in Boulder where he keeps a lot of our equipment... and I am often not super clear about when I am just crossing a large green space and when I am crossing into different cities. So you are probably right, but that's not how I've been experiencing this over the last summer's worth of gigs. Of course, to me the drive from Boulder to FoCo seems like one continuous city. Contextually, it might be the fact that I come out for work from Durango, and crossing the san luis valley is what "open space" looks like to me. So maybe I'm just not sufficiently calibrated for the city yet.
    - justinator 3y ago
      Denver is in a different county altogether. There's a county in between Boulder and Denver counties, saying nothing of them being the same city.
      - CPLX 3y ago
        Brooklyn and Manhattan are in different counties too. Ask yourself questions like what airport do you fly to and where would you take your kids to the children’s museum if you lived there and you’ll realize what city Boulder is a part of.
        justinator 3y ago
        >Brooklyn and Manhattan are in different counties too. You're going to use the most densely populated city in the US for your example? >Ask yourself questions like what airport do you fly to Colorado has one international airport - are you saying ALL of Colorado is Denver? Are you saying Newark NJ is in the same city as Brooklyn? I don't know where you're heading, but it's just logical gymnastics.
        CPLX 3y ago
        Colorado has commercial service to half a dozen airports including Colorado Springs, Aspen, Vail/Eagle, and Grand Junction. And Newark is definitely a part of greater NYC, absolutely nobody is confused by that at all. I lived in Colorado for years. Boulder is definitely a suburb of Denver. In 20 years Fort Collins probably will be too at this rate.
      - alistairSH 3y ago
        So…? Arlington and Fairfax are different counties than DC. Heck, they’re in a different state and across a river too. But nobody would argue they aren’t suburbs of DC. 25 miles is well within commuting distance for many major metro areas. Boulder may arguably be a suburb or not. But an arbitrary 25 mile limit isn’t what defines suburb or not.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Boulder probably has enough of a unique character that thinking of it as its own thing rather than just a commuter suburb is probably reasonable. But there are certainly places within 25+ miles of Boston, say, that are reasonably described as suburbs and probably exurbs out to about 50 miles. (It's how ESRI would generally describe them.) It sort of depends. To use another Boston area example, no one would reasonably consider Portsmouth or Nashua in NH as suburbs even though people will go into Boston for a night's entertainment and probably fly out of the airport.
  - mp05 3y ago
    My old boss when I worked in Boulder (commuting from Arvada) claimed he hadn't been to Denver proper in at least a decade, not counting DIA or the interstate to it. I believe him. Boulder is definitely its own thing.
lskdnvldn 3y ago
I don't know, but based on this entire thread, I think this was one of the places that was popular for people to move from cities during the pandemic, when everyone was working remotely. Its fascinating to me that for decades people have been moving to the same cities from places like Boulder (and many such all over the country) for opportunities/careers/lives and now a few chose to move from the cities to these small towns. While I understand that people do not like change but how is this any different, its still people making a choice of moving to a different place in the country which they think is better for their lives? Isn't this NIMBY, its fine as long as everyone moves to NY, but not here.
danielvaughn 3y ago
I lived there for 6 years and halfheartedly agree. It's a very nice town in terms of general quality of life - definitely the best I've ever experienced, and I've lived all over America. But there's a pretentiousness in the air that can be utterly nauseating at times. The "Boulder bubble" is real.
- mp05 3y ago
  I enjoy some of the pretentiousness, namely the physical fitness and cycling fanaticism. There are some really, really tremendous athletes there. But Boulder lost me at the rock worshipping yogis that appropriate "brown people cultures" into their daily routines while chastising white people who celebrate Cinco de Mayo. They're fucking everywhere.
  - danielvaughn 3y ago
    lol, well said. The trustafarians, as I liked to call them. Also yeah, the athleticism there is off the charts. I'm a fairly lazy dude and I was in the best shape of my life, simply by biking around town.
bigstrat2003 3y ago
It's pretty, and it would be nice to be that close to the mountains, but I can't stand the political climate in Boulder. Denver is fairly blue but still diverse enough that I feel comfortable here even though I don't personally share a lot of those views. Boulder, though... it's like people are trying to build the Berkeley of Colorado there. Which is fine, live and let live. But I would never want to live there.

Boulder is the worst best small town in America. You know what I mean.

by mp05 3y ago

Boulder is the worst best small town in America. You know what I mean.

CPLX 3y ago

Boulder is more accurately described as a neighborhood or region of Denver. If that’s not obvious today it certainly will be when the staggering construction in Arvada, Broomfield, and so on, has filled in all of the areas that could plausibly be used to argue otherwise.

jlarocco 3y ago
Part of the reason it's so expensive here, though, is the swath of city and county owned open space around the outskirts of town. Maybe some day it'll get developed, but I think it'll be a long time before that can happen.

patrick451 3y ago

It's not a small town, but rather a suburb of Denver.

justinator 3y ago
It's 25 miles away from Denver.
- patrick451 3y ago
  What's your point? Denver is a massive sprawling metro.
  - Sparkle-san 3y ago
    There's still a lot of open space between Boulder and the surrounding cities. I'd argue Denver ends in that direction at Broomfield.
    - scarecrowbob 3y ago
      From my limited perspective there isn't much space. I'm a bit of a stranger to the area- right now I am in a Starbucks in (I think?) Boulder. But I came out to work as a tech with an audio company I contract for to do concerts up at some ski resort. And I am sleeping in my truck front of the Warehouse in Broomfield. But the guy who hires me has a house in Boulder where he keeps a lot of our equipment... and I am often not super clear about when I am just crossing a large green space and when I am crossing into different cities. So you are probably right, but that's not how I've been experiencing this over the last summer's worth of gigs. Of course, to me the drive from Boulder to FoCo seems like one continuous city. Contextually, it might be the fact that I come out for work from Durango, and crossing the san luis valley is what "open space" looks like to me. So maybe I'm just not sufficiently calibrated for the city yet.
  - justinator 3y ago
    Denver is in a different county altogether. There's a county in between Boulder and Denver counties, saying nothing of them being the same city.
    - CPLX 3y ago
      Brooklyn and Manhattan are in different counties too. Ask yourself questions like what airport do you fly to and where would you take your kids to the children’s museum if you lived there and you’ll realize what city Boulder is a part of.
      - justinator 3y ago
        >Brooklyn and Manhattan are in different counties too. You're going to use the most densely populated city in the US for your example? >Ask yourself questions like what airport do you fly to Colorado has one international airport - are you saying ALL of Colorado is Denver? Are you saying Newark NJ is in the same city as Brooklyn? I don't know where you're heading, but it's just logical gymnastics.
        CPLX 3y ago
        Colorado has commercial service to half a dozen airports including Colorado Springs, Aspen, Vail/Eagle, and Grand Junction. And Newark is definitely a part of greater NYC, absolutely nobody is confused by that at all. I lived in Colorado for years. Boulder is definitely a suburb of Denver. In 20 years Fort Collins probably will be too at this rate.
    - alistairSH 3y ago
      So…? Arlington and Fairfax are different counties than DC. Heck, they’re in a different state and across a river too. But nobody would argue they aren’t suburbs of DC. 25 miles is well within commuting distance for many major metro areas. Boulder may arguably be a suburb or not. But an arbitrary 25 mile limit isn’t what defines suburb or not.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Boulder probably has enough of a unique character that thinking of it as its own thing rather than just a commuter suburb is probably reasonable. But there are certainly places within 25+ miles of Boston, say, that are reasonably described as suburbs and probably exurbs out to about 50 miles. (It's how ESRI would generally describe them.) It sort of depends. To use another Boston area example, no one would reasonably consider Portsmouth or Nashua in NH as suburbs even though people will go into Boston for a night's entertainment and probably fly out of the airport.
- mp05 3y ago
  My old boss when I worked in Boulder (commuting from Arvada) claimed he hadn't been to Denver proper in at least a decade, not counting DIA or the interstate to it. I believe him. Boulder is definitely its own thing.

lskdnvldn 3y ago

I don't know, but based on this entire thread, I think this was one of the places that was popular for people to move from cities during the pandemic, when everyone was working remotely. Its fascinating to me that for decades people have been moving to the same cities from places like Boulder (and many such all over the country) for opportunities/careers/lives and now a few chose to move from the cities to these small towns. While I understand that people do not like change but how is this any different, its still people making a choice of moving to a different place in the country which they think is better for their lives? Isn't this NIMBY, its fine as long as everyone moves to NY, but not here.

danielvaughn 3y ago

I lived there for 6 years and halfheartedly agree. It's a very nice town in terms of general quality of life - definitely the best I've ever experienced, and I've lived all over America. But there's a pretentiousness in the air that can be utterly nauseating at times. The "Boulder bubble" is real.

mp05 3y ago
I enjoy some of the pretentiousness, namely the physical fitness and cycling fanaticism. There are some really, really tremendous athletes there. But Boulder lost me at the rock worshipping yogis that appropriate "brown people cultures" into their daily routines while chastising white people who celebrate Cinco de Mayo. They're fucking everywhere.
- danielvaughn 3y ago
  lol, well said. The trustafarians, as I liked to call them. Also yeah, the athleticism there is off the charts. I'm a fairly lazy dude and I was in the best shape of my life, simply by biking around town.

bigstrat2003 3y ago

It's pretty, and it would be nice to be that close to the mountains, but I can't stand the political climate in Boulder. Denver is fairly blue but still diverse enough that I feel comfortable here even though I don't personally share a lot of those views. Boulder, though... it's like people are trying to build the Berkeley of Colorado there. Which is fine, live and let live. But I would never want to live there.