A Conversation for Boulder, Colorado, USA

Drawbacks?!?!

Post 1

Gnilwob

As one who has busked at Pearl Street, I must protest this word. And Rastaman is cool. There is nothing like seeing a Rasta-dude squeeze himself into a tube and walk around on his hands.


Drawbacks?!?!

Post 2

John in Colorado

The Pearl Street Mall, and the University Hill as well, are proof positive that there are in fact eddies in the time-space continuum. For one thing, it's always 1968. To add to the wierdness of Boulder, a flying Chesterfield sofa wouldn't even be noticed on the Mall.


Drawbacks?!?!

Post 3

GrahamW

I visit Colrado a couple of times a year to see a friend working in Boulder and can confirm the latest Pearl St. performer to watch out for is the man throwing playing cards over nearby building roofs.

To avoid the hippies, head to the eastern end of Pearl to the island of sweet goodness that is Spruce Confections where you can get a proper cup of coffee and a whole selection of fine cakes made on site.


Drawbacks?!?!

Post 4

frazeturner


The point about Boulder is that it IS different. And just like the adolescent life form attempting the same thing, sometimes it tries too hard; being different - it would seem - for the sake of it. Occasionally evolving a few times over lunch; you know how it goes. Those who don't care for this occasionally excessive quirkiness in their choice of residence are free to move to the surrounding towns of Longmont or Westminster (to name but two) which are like so many American 'communities' in that they are stunning monuments to yawning anonymity.
True, Boulder is becoming increasingly yuppified and choked with traffic, and many of those who would claim to be hippies are in fact trustafarians (grungy kids living off a trust fund). And some of the city council's decisions lend support to that '24 square miles surrounded by reality" comment from the original h2g2 article, so much so that even Boulders famously introspective residents shake their heads and say "Only in Boulder!".
However, Boulder's detractors would do well to remember that the extra taxes which Boulder's residents have voted for themselves are not a reflection of some underlying socialist philosophy, they were a practical mechanism which allowed the City to buy the open spaces (undeveloped, recreational land) which have become the model for many Colorado communites, even the very conservative ones. These same taxes paid for the rejuvenation of the Boulder Creek, which in the 1970s was a rubbish-strewn, Army Corps of Engineers canalised ditch; now its bike path regularly appears on top 10 lists of beautiful urban rides.

So: even allowing for the fact that the original h2g2 article was written in attempted Adamsesque-prose, its off-the-wall dismissive style missed some of the great points about Boulder (bike paths, brewpubs, political thought which reaches beyond the standard US pick-one-of-two model, the open-air Shakespeare festival at the university) for the sake of attempting to make an entry that sounded like 'mostly harmless'.


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