Living In LoHi Denver
Nick and I moved to LoHi Denver (North Denver area) just a few months before Giulian was born. We've only lived in the suburbs before so I wasn't sure if we would love or hate living in Denver. Now it's been about 6 months since we moved here and we're both absolutely loving it! Nick's Great Grandparents moved here from Italy and built a home off of Tejon St. That used to be where all the Italians lived, you might even say it was once the area where the Denver mafia was prevalent. Then it became a not so nice part of town, and definitely not what I would say is an ideal neighborhood to have a baby. And now, what was once the "hood" in North Denver has gone through a huge transformation and that part of town is the spot to live. The house is still in Nick's family, his Dad owns it, and it will always stay in the family. We really lucked out and are so blessed to have access to that house that is right where everyone our age wants to live (well not everyone, but a ton of people our age). I'm so beyond obsessed with the neighborhood now that we've spent the last 6ish months exploring it and living in that part of town that I decided I had to share with you all why I love it so much.
First off, waking up every morning to the city sounds makes me feel motivated to get my day going, hearing a ton of people out and about, making things happen, makes us motivated to jump out of bed and conquer our day. The quietness of living in the suburbs can be nice too at times, but I personally love the city sounds and feeling like the world is going on all around us. I love looking out our front windows or sitting on our front patio and people watching. You see it all in Denver, families walking their kids, tons of people are out running, and naturally there is the occasional homeless person wandering around (LoHi might be a yuppie part of town, but come on it's still the city).
My other favorite part about living in LoHi (Lower Highlands) is the COFFEE SHOPS! Okay, if you follow me on Instagram then you know I am a coffee nut who loves her lattes and will photograph them any chance I get. A few years ago I realized (after spending $6 several times a week on not so great lattes for years), that Starbucks coffee sorta sucks. Then I became somewhat of a coffee snob and the perfect place for a coffee snob/addict/lover to live is LoHi Denver. There are so many amazing coffee shops around town, I'm still discovering new ones. So far I have a few favorites, some of them are in LoHi and some are not but they are within walking distance so I figured I'd tell you about them too. My top three favorites currently are Huckleberry Roasters, Cherry Bean, and Black Eye Coffee. Huckleberry has great customer service and my favorite coffee in town, Cherry Bean has great coffee (not the best I've ever had, but still amazing) but the people who work there are always so sweet and friendly and I feel so comfortable bringing my baby there. Black Eye has some of the best lattes I've ever had but I wouldn't really call it a baby or kid friendly coffee shop, actually I probably wouldn't use the word friendly when describing this coffee shop at all... but heck, the lattes are tasty and it's a great place to meet your girlfriends for some coffee. I'm sure there are other coffee shops around this area that I'll fall in love with, but like I said I'm still testing them out. I love being able to walk down the street and get some amazing coffee, I will miss that when we live in the subburbs again one day.
Photo taken at LoHi Local Coffee Shop
Another great aspect of living in the city is going on walks. No matter where I live, I love going on walks, especially now that I have a little guy to bring with me. Living in LoHi has been so fun to get out and about on walks. It really doesn't get boring, there is so much to see and so many different streets to take. I've even taken our baby over the pedestrian bridge crossing I-25 into downtown Denver, right there is Commons Park which is a stunning walk with riverfront trails. One down side to walking around LoHi is the sidewalks are old and extremely uneven. I see people jogging with strollers and I don't know how they don't hit the bumps and fly over the stroller. I have a jogging stroller and am still hesitant to take on the LoHi terrain at full speed.
An obvious favorite reason for living in LoHi is the eateries in the area. It's been such a blast being able to walk to the best restaurants in Denver. I mean, it's probably not the best for our wallets or our waistline, but heck it's a blast. We still have so many spots in the area to try, but our favorites so far are Avanti, Little Man Ice Cream (a must try), Postino, La Casita's Tamales (amazing Mexican food, but super affordable), Uber Eats, Masterpiece Deli, and Root Down. I've tried a few other places, but these are by far my favorites in the area. Nick and I have already (too many times) walked down to Little Man Ice Cream as a fun and easy date night. It's so simple with the baby, it gets us out of the house and Giulian loves being in the stroller or the carrier and looking around at everything going on. Usually Little Man has a line around the block, but living in the vicinity we are able to take a stroll down there at their non peak hours to avoid the lines which has been fun.
We are loving life in LoHi Denver with our new baby boy, and would totally recommend this part of town to anyone looking for a wonderful place to live, or just to spend a day in the area, enjoying the amazing restaurants, shops and community. If you are familiar with this area and have recommendations for Nick and I, comment below! We love trying new places and new things so let us know what we've missed. Thanks for reading!
