デンバーの概要、コロラド州デンバーの有益な紹介
デンバーの概要、コロラド州デンバーの有益な紹介
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00:00Denver is one of my favorite cities in the country.
00:03It's the city that I visited most frequently
00:05when I was growing up,
00:06so it certainly played a major role
00:08in developing my love for cities.
00:10In this series, I quickly touch on a city's history,
00:13population, skyline, as well as a few things
00:15that make it unique.
00:17Now, let's meet the Mile High City.
00:21♪♪♪
00:24♪♪♪
00:28I always like to explore how a city wound up
00:30being where it is today.
00:32Denver is located where the Great Plains
00:34meet the Rocky Mountains at the junction
00:36of the South Platte and Cherry Creek Rivers.
00:38It's a surprising location to find such a large city,
00:41with one travel writer saying,
00:43it was as if angels were carrying a city to a proper place
00:46and accidentally dropped it here.
00:48During the early 1800s,
00:50the area was a stopping place for the Arapaho people,
00:52as well as fur trappers and traders.
00:55Everything changed, though,
00:56when gold was discovered in 1858,
00:58leading to a huge influx of people
01:00and the creation of a couple towns.
01:02Two years later, the towns were consolidated
01:04and were later named Denver.
01:06As with most cities out West,
01:08the arrival of railroads led to significant growth
01:10and helped Denver become a food processing center.
01:13Today, Denver has a city proper population of 711,000,
01:17making it the 19th largest city in the country,
01:20falling between Seattle and Oklahoma City.
01:23If you've watched many of my other videos,
01:25you'll know that I think metro population
01:27is more indicative of a city's true size,
01:29and Denver is also ranked 19th in the country
01:32for metro population, with just under three million.
01:35Its metro population is just smaller than that of Tampa Bay's
01:39and larger than Baltimore's.
01:41Some of the most recognizable companies
01:43headquartered in Denver include Dish Network,
01:45Frontier Airlines, Coors, and Noodles and Company.
01:48Denver is home to 28 institutions of higher learning,
01:51including two public universities,
01:54the University of Colorado Denver
01:55and the Metropolitan State University of Denver.
01:58Call me shallow, but when it comes to cities,
02:00I think appearances matter,
02:02which is why evaluating a city's skyline
02:04is one of my favorite parts of making these videos.
02:07My feelings about the Denver skyline
02:09have changed a little over the years.
02:11Growing up in Idaho, Denver was the largest city
02:14that I would visit on a frequent basis,
02:16and I thought that it had an incredible skyline.
02:18Well, now that I've lived throughout the country,
02:20the Denver skyline hasn't aged particularly well for me.
02:24Its buildings just don't come together
02:25to form a very picturesque skyline, in my opinion.
02:28If you took the average height
02:29of its tallest five buildings,
02:31Denver would be ranked as the 16th tallest skyline
02:34in the country, being just shorter than Pittsburgh
02:37and just taller than Cleveland.
02:39The tallest building in the city
02:40is the Republic Plaza at 714 feet,
02:43but my favorite skyscraper in the city
02:45is the Wells Fargo Center,
02:46also known as the Cash Register Building,
02:49because of its unique crown.
02:51I also like the Daniels and Fisher Tower,
02:53which was modeled after St. Mark's Campanile in Venice.
02:57It was built in 1911, and at 325 feet,
03:00was at one point the tallest building
03:02between the Mississippi River and the state of California.
03:06The Daniels and Fisher Tower
03:07is located on the 16th Street Mall,
03:09which is one of many things that makes Denver a unique city.
03:12The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian promenade
03:16with a street designed like the backside
03:17of a diamondback rattlesnake.
03:19The mall is flanked by 42 outdoor cafes
03:22and has free shuttles that take you up and down
03:24the mile-long street.
03:25On the south end of the mall,
03:26you'll find the Colorado State Capitol Building.
03:29Although the Capitol at first glance
03:30looks like a standard state capitol building,
03:32there are a few things that make it unique.
03:34Most notably is the fact that the pink stone
03:37seen on the inside of the building is called rose onyx,
03:40which was found in Colorado.
03:42It's the only onyx this color anywhere in the world,
03:44and the amount used for the Capitol
03:46was the entire known supply of the incredibly rare stone.
03:50The dome is coated in 200 ounces of gold,
03:52which is fitting considering the significance
03:54of gold for the city and the state.
03:56There's also a step which is exactly 5,280 feet
04:00above sea level, which has the words
04:02one mile above sea level engraved on it.
04:05The Civic Center Park separates the Capitol
04:07from another unique Denver landmark, the Denver Mint.
04:10The Denver Mint, which is a branch of the U.S. Mint,
04:12is the single largest producer of coins in the world.
04:16Near the Mint is the most eye-catching building
04:18in the city, the Denver Art Museum.
04:20It's one of the largest art museums
04:22between Chicago and the West Coast,
04:24and the exterior alone is a work of art.
04:26The two main buildings on the museum campus
04:28both have very unique architectural styles.
04:31One of the most notable public works of art in the city
04:34is the giant blue bear that peers
04:36into the Colorado Convention Center.
04:38This giant bear is 40 feet tall
04:40and has become one of the icons of the city.
04:43Across the street from the Convention Center
04:44is the Denver Performing Arts Complex,
04:46which is the second largest performing arts center
04:49under one roof in the country.
04:51The complex has a unique giant sculpture of its own,
04:54often referred to as the Dancing Aliens.
04:57One of the things that Denver is most known for
04:59is its proximity to the mountains,
05:01and sitting up against the mountains near Denver
05:03is perhaps the city's most iconic performance venue,
05:07Red Rocks Amphitheater.
05:08Red Rocks is a beautiful outdoor amphitheater
05:11built into the rocks.
05:13The world-famous venue seats nearly 10,000 people
05:16and is one of the most unique landmarks of the Denver area.
05:19Between Red Rocks and downtown Denver
05:21is an iconic Denver restaurant, Casa Bonita.
05:24Casa Bonita is a Mexican restaurant
05:26that is known more for its venue than it is for its food.
05:30It's billed itself as the world's most exciting restaurant
05:33and has a 30-foot indoor waterfall with cliff divers,
05:36a haunted cave, and unique themed seating rooms
05:38that in total have a seating capacity of over 1,000.
05:42It was a magical place for me to visit as a kid
05:44and was usually the highlight of our trips to Denver.
05:47It's been featured in an episode of South Park
05:49and the South Park creators
05:50are the new owners of the restaurant
05:52and will be reopening it sometime later this year.
05:55Denver's airport is the largest in the country
05:57and second largest in the world by total land mass.
06:00It's also the third busiest airport in the country
06:03by passenger traffic.
06:05The peaked roof is meant to resemble snow-capped mountains,
06:08which is a great design choice
06:09for the airport in my opinion.
06:10The airport is also famous
06:12for the blue Mustang sculpture outside the airport,
06:14which is nicknamed Blucifer
06:16because of its demonic appearance.
06:18There are many conspiracies surrounding the airport
06:20and the airport decided to lean into that
06:22by unveiling a talking gargoyle sculpture in 2019
06:26that jokes about the conspiracies.
06:28Another thing that makes Denver unique
06:29is that its amusement park, Elitch Gardens,
06:32is located in the actual downtown.
06:34It's the only theme park in the country
06:36located in the heart of a major city.
06:39I've been there a couple times
06:40and it's great being able to take in views of the city
06:42while enjoying the park.
06:43And lastly, I'll mention Union Station.
06:45As I explained earlier,
06:46the railroad played a major role
06:48in making Denver what it is
06:49and Union Station is the historic transportation hub
06:52of the city.
06:53It was reopened in 2014
06:55and now has restaurants, shopping, and a hotel.
06:57Well, that wraps up my video about Denver.
06:59If you enjoyed the video,
07:00please give it a like
07:01and check out some of my other videos about cities.
07:04And if you have a city you'd like to see an overview on,
07:06let me know in the comments.
07:08Thanks for watching.