I know of 2 places in the Denver area where 5 streets come together. One is Five Points northeast of downtown Denver, and one is in Lower Highlands. After 15th Street crosses I-25, it goes up the hill to greet Boulder, Umatilla, and 29th Avenue. 
I crossed 15th Street and kept walking down Umatilla (I think) and up 28th and across Vallejo until I reached the Smithson Clinic, which practices alternative medicine,
where I photographed the tulip plaque featured yesterday. I like the gargoyles. 
When I had circled around to 29th Avenue, I walked by Confluence Heights, one of the newish developments in Highlands.
It was across the street from this stunning building, 2900 Wyandot.
Just up 29th Street I found Joie de Vivre Pilates studio, which looked inviting
and featured this pineapple carving.
So far, I’ve found tons of restaurants in Lower Highlands (more than I can afford to review anytime soon) and a fair number of service providers, such as exercise studios and clinics. But there isn’t a lot of retail in the area bounded by I-25 on the east, 26th Avenue on the south, Federal on the west, and 29th Avenue on the north, and what is open is fairly specialized.
Denver Photos: Lower Highlands Walkabout, Pt. 1
2
I liked turning the top of the tree white without having to do any spot editing (which I don’t know how to do yet).
I had to rest my camera on the bar itself in order to get any semblance of focus, and that was at ISO 1600.
thick with a cheesiness to some of the bites that couldn’t be explained simply by the parmesan shavings on top.
whose 
which also has a store in Boulder just east of the Pearl Street Mall.
I can think of quite a few people who would like them, but they’re not on my gift list. Too bad for them.
which is in between Paris on the Platte and 
How is that possible? I don’t know. I’m not sure I would have gone for the wide legs even if they had fit. Still, Common Era does know how to display the goods.
as well as handmade items by other artists they met at craft fairs.
I both love and hate visiting that store. As you can see from this picture, 
it’s huge and has a large selection, but walking up the stairs always gives me the willies. Unfortunately, the women’s clothing section is located upstairs. Every time I go, I ask myself, “Do I really need to look at clothes? I could just stay on this floor and look at backpacks!” If I stay downstairs, I can sit and relax by the fireplace, or read in the bookstore (off to the left in this picture). 
I also bought a set of cards at the Tattered Cover.
and notes and other paper items from 150 vendors, some of whom you won’t find elsewhere, spread out on tables and shelves along the walls. Scribbles is located two doors down from 15th and Platte in Denver’s South Platte Valley neighborhood, between Mona’s and My Brother’s Bar and across from Vitamin Cottage and Wilderness Exchange. Like Mona’s it fits into a long, narrow space that probably used to be a house, though Mona’s seems to have been updated with cement floors. Scribbles has wooden floors painted black and a pressed tin ceiling and brick walls. 
As soon as you walk in past the old garage doors, you see the ice cream (outside the left margin of the picture above). But it’s not just a coffee and desserts shop. It also sells artisan breads and prepared meals such as the thin-crust pizza that tempted Todd, along with Mini-Moos cheese from Canon City and pasta and novelty items such as Too Haute Cowgirls candied popcorn. I was amused by the subtitle, “Hellbent for Chocolate.”
Jessica George painted this Cubism-meets-Abstract-Symbolism piece. (The colors are not true. My camera wasn’t allowing me to adjusting aperture and shutter speed—just a slight drawback.)
that I actually sat down in the restaurant and had a proper meal. I’m not yet willing to award it the title of best Indian restaurant in the Denver Metro area. Possibly because of nostalgia, I’d still give that title to Royal Peacock in Boulder.
we sat in the main room, facing the wine display. There’s a bar upstairs where they have karaoke on Wednesdays. It’s more laid-back upstairs, though I wouldn’t call the main floor formal, just elegant.
The peas, onions, potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers spiced with cardamom were hot and slightly firm but not at all spicy, as we’d asked.
It was a novel sensation for me, tasting Tandoori spices on a relatively tender steak, and I would recommend it for that reason alone. But it was also very good, although the “lemon potatoes” should have been called “rosemary potatoes.” Todd thought my saag was heartier than most, and the blend of garlic, onion, and turmeric still tasted as good the next day.
and I can say with certainty this year was colder. I’ll bet there weren’t too many of these poinsettias out last Saturday.
This year they blocked off the street at night and had perhaps 10 vendors. Otherwise, most things hadn’t changed. Marsha’s Cookies was there again (her cookies are delicious, as was the fudge sample I stole), along with Nana’s Coffee Cakes (the pumpkin chocolate chip was a big hit with the in-laws), and Old Colorado Smokehouse. 
We were about to buy jalapeno cheddar or elk bratwurst or fresh sweet Italian (the last two both sweet), but then the vendor got tired of freezing his ass off in the dark and walked over to listen to the Clam Daddys.
Trout Steak Revival was also there. (The band names are as quaint as the district, don’t ya know?) Both helped take our minds off the cold. 
The ice sculptor had packed up and gone home, leaving a sleigh that 
The Clydesdales were warm in their stables by the time we arrived, 
and people also found ways to stay warm, especially if their shoes weren’t the most practical.
We had dinner at India’s Pearl and then had dessert at Pajama Baking Company (more on those two later this week).
The blue cheese and hot sauce on the fries seemed like an afterthought, but the sliders had this tender, moist meat that I still dream about.
I changed my mind. It may have been the combination of potato and cheddar and bacon that made the difference. I ate most of them and left the truffle fries for Todd. Again, the topping there seemed incidental.
Todd’s salad dressing had enough garlic and anchovy to be spicy and rich, whereas the veggie bowl was merely spicy without a lot of coconut or other flavor to make up for it.
Once I descended the stairs from the bridge and crossed the courtyard and Platte Street, 
I reached Commons Park West, an attractive condo development that borders the South Platte River.
Then I was in Commons Park, which is planted with lots of native grasses and shrubs in addition to bluegrass in the high-traffic areas. 
I followed the winding paths to 
and east to a bridge over the South Platte River, Commons Park, and downtown Denver. Next to the bridge is a partial amphitheater that looks like a skateboarder’s dream except for the strategically placed ridges on the seats. The theater surrounds this rather blobulent piece of public art, “Red Velvet” by John McEnroe.
I sat there and watched cyclists whiz up and down and around it, coming to and from this bridge leading to the Highland neighborhood.
I heard him calling. Maybe he was lonely in there with the eggplant and potatoes from Colorado and the last of the Rocky Ford cantaloupe and the lemons from California. I paused to look for the source of the voice and ended up going inside.
I tried the doors, but they were locked. There’s not much else nearby except empty storefronts, 1 bar, the Hot House (open for breakfast, the sign says), 
and Krav Maga at 29th. 
A sign on the Strategy Room said it would be opening October 2nd.
I walked up to 32nd, where I found the offices of the Women’s Bean Project in the old Denver Fire Station No. 10. 
On my way back down to 31st, I saw one man striding through the park and a woman playing with her dog. Otherwise the park and pool were quiet, 
waiting for the sun to bring people back.
