Denver: The Big Picture

Denver was founded at the confluence of the South Platte River (on the right) and Cherry Creek (on the left).

The South Platte was often said to be "a mile wide and an inch deep." These days, it's unable to spread out as much as it once did, but it can still do damage. There was a devastating flood in Denver in 1965.

Cherry Creek, which also produced some nasty floods, is much more constrained. Bounded by Speer Boulevard and bike paths on each side, it runs southeast through Denver to the tony Cherry Creek neighborhood and shopping center.

Denver has about 500,000 people; the metro area has about 2,500,000. Of those inhabitants, 68 percent are white, 34 percent Hispanic, and 10 percent African American. Colorado is home to about 4.5 million people (as of April 2009).

This picture was taken at Cinco de Mayo in 2009, held in Civic Center Park, where downtown Denver, Capitol Hill, and the Golden Triangle meet. The people here are listening to a band called Wide Open. The building behind them is the City and County Building, across the park from the Capitol.

Denver averages 300 days of sunshine per year.

My favorite building in Denver is the cash register building downtown. This picture is taken from Uptown, which is east of downtown Denver.

The Denver Art Museum had its origins in the Denver Artists' Club, formed in the 1890s. The museum opened its first galleries in 1949 and added a children's art center before constructing the building pictured here, now called the North Building, in 1971.

This picture of the DAM was taken from Civic Center Park, during the Imagine Peace Paint-In, in celebration of John Lennon's birthday in the fall of 2008.

There's a festival happening somewhere in the Denver Metro Area every weekend in the summer and well into the fall.

Denver's mayor, John Hickenlooper (nickname: Hick), was a brewer before running for public office. He founded Wynkoop Brewing Company.

When Barack Obama came to Denver to make a speech during the 2008 election, Hick greeted him by saying, "I'm the other tall Democratic politician with a funny name." Obama returned the favor by repeating it for the crowd.

The DAM's North Building was designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti and Denver-based James Sudler Associates.

It resembles a castle. Its long, narrow windows would be the perfect spot from which to fire an arrow; others would be ideal for pouring boiling oil on enemies storming the gates.

As Ponti said, "Art is a treasure, and these thin but jealous walls defend it."

Designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, the Hamilton Building opened in 2006. Libeskind said this about his creative process: "I was inspired by the light and the geology of the Rockies, but most of all by the wide-open faces of the people of Denver."

I'm not sure what that means. Should I take it as a compliment that Denverites' faces are wide and flat?

The Hamilton Building is on the left. In the back-middle of the picture, you can see part of the Denver Public Library. The building on the right is the Museum Residences.

The first building constructed in Denver was supposedly a saloon. The bar pictured, Don's Club Tavern, doesn't date back to 1858, but it has been in business for 60 years.