True natives will have moved on or disappeared. It will be a city of everyone from "somewhere else" with little or no chance of establishing an identity beyond a place people came to, to escape where they were. Trouble is, they bring attitudes and styles from the cities they left and refuse to embrace the uniqueness of life here in Denver.

Growing up and going to Phillips Elementary, Smiley, and East High School. The number 40 bus to downtown was the quickest way to get to the Republic building for dental and optometrist appointments. The great downtown theaters on 16th Street...the great crystal palaces I called them were the best. I remember when the "new" library opened on Broadway. I too remember when Denver University was a "forever" drive from Park Hill because traffic was so slow. This was before Monaco extended beyond Alameda and University and Colorado Blvd. were scrawny little two-lane streets.

Of all the spectacular building that went on in Denver in the 50s, the most striking was the May D&F complex on 16th Street, with it "cootie catcher" out building and the skating rink.

We used to go downtown on the buses all the time. Sixteenth Street was a treat. Several fine movie theatres, department stores with escalators, KarmelKorn, where we would buy something sweet, and the beginnings of the skyscrapers.

I see the old neighborhoods becoming very distinct and special -- Capitol Hill, Park Hill, Cherry Creek, etc. The small towns within the city will increase their desire for distinct identity because the metro area has grown so large and diffuse.

My great aunt would come in a taxi and take my sister and I out to lunch at the Denver Dry Goods tea room. We would wear our best dresses and try to act like ladies.  I found out years later one of my male cousins dreaded these lunches when it was his turn to go - not a boy place at all!

I was born in 1950 in Denver at Mercy Hospital, lived in Brighton for three years and moved to Denver on 47th & Wyandot. I went to Beach Court Elementary School, when there was no I-70 and we were one community. The electric street car ran east and west on 44th Ave., and to go downtown, we rode the Argo 5 bus. When I was in grade school, my friends and I were going downtown and our mothers made us wear gloves and dresses. It was our first adventure by ourselves going downtown. We would ride our bikes to Chaffee Park "shopping center", where the J.C.Penney's had wood floors that squeaked, and next door was Woolworth's. The bookmobile would come every Wednesday and we would go there to get books. We would go to Republic Drug and sit at the soda counter and have pineapple sodas. When I was older, my most fondest memories were going to lunch at the Denver Tea Room and having halibut on Fridays. I have so many fond memories of growing up in our "cowtown" that they are too numerous to mention. Those were the good old days!!

I'm a Denver native with many fond memories, including: driving up 38th and finally seeing the Elitch's arch; driving to the country to eat at the Northwoods Inn; McDonald's with the golden arches at Mississippi and Colo. Blvd. and an A&W across the street; having Cokes and Milk Nickel bars at my dad's pharmacy; playing in the fields and handball courts at St. Thomas seminary; taking the #11 bus downtown and eating dinner at the Swift cafe; going to movies at the Aladdin theatre. Also fondly remember when there wasn't any traffic. 

As a child, the greatest treat was going to the Cherry Creek Mall (the open-air one) and being let loose at Anderson's Toy Land. Imagine...two stories of games, dolls, hula hoops, toy guns and the best collection of Mini-tanks a boy could want. It was so popular in later years, they put an amusement park on the roof. When the mall died, it became a women's clothing store, and now houses Foley's furniture department.

Another memory was watching (and feeling) the jets take off from Lowry A.F.B. and go right over my house at 300 feet in the air.

By 2010, the light rail system will be more usable, having a line connecting Santa Fe to the DTC line, and they'll be wanting to run it south to Colorado Springs and west to Vail. E-470 will be surrounded by houses. Evergreen will be a suburb of Denver by then, as will Longmont. Colorado Boulevard will have an elevated section added from Alameda to Evans.

There will be another bust cycle and the inner city will be a war zone. Democrats will control both houses of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Someone will reopen the old Elitch gardens as a park or arboretum.

My mother worked at Neusteter's for close to 25 years. As a child, I would take the No. 8 bus and meet her after work, where we'd go to Cahill's and have great cheeseburgers! And who could possibly forget the wonderful days in the '60s at the Scotchman on 50th and Federal!

Unfortunately, I see the city ridding itself of the old, beautiful buildings and putting up concrete monsters.

Washington Park had public swimming in Smith Lake until about 1954, when it was closed because of the polio scare. There were two piers on the north side of the lake, one with a very high diving platform. My dad was an excellent diver. I remember him executing some rather impressive moves from that high perch, which was probably 25' or higher.

The park also hosted an annual Huck Finn Day. The contestants wore costumes and the judges would pick the "best" Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher. Their pictures would then grace, as I remember, the front page of one or both of the daily newspapers. My mother, grandmother and aunt would dress me up with a straw hat, eyebrow pencil huge freckles on my cheeks, and have me don a tattered pair of overalls. I made the final round of judging a few times, but the honor always went to a kid with bright red hair and real freckles!  A fishing derby was also held in the park, with the park ditch filled with trout for the youngsters to angle. 

I logged many a mile riding my red Raleigh 20" bike around the park. The bike was a birthday present from Collins Bike Shop on East Colfax Avenue, one of Denver's last remaining business landmarks.

I hope they will start issuing citations for those who run red lights.

I played in the school band, and remember the many parades down 16th Street. There would be many marching bands playing their music. About every three or four units was a marching band. There was always marching music in the air. The parade route was down 16th Street to Arapahoe, then up 15th Street past City Hall.

More trolley cars and less automobiles, because of parking fees. People will come to the city by public transportation and leave their cars at home.

I remember the rides up I-25 through Castle Rock, before the highway bypassed the town. We would visit my cousins in North Denver. My fondest memories are sipping Cokes at the Elitch's Trocadero, while my parents danced to the big bands. I also remember the night boat rides and the Fun House at Lakeside

Way too crowded.

The Denver Bears under Manager Ralph Houk--the best minor league team in history with Don Larsen, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Woody Held, Herbie Plews Norm Sieburn and Rhine Duren. Cruising l6th Street. and East Colfax; and Bonsibs, The Frosted Scotchman, and the Holiday for car-hop drive-in restaurants. Five high schools in Denver, the Compass schools and Manual. The Valley Drive-in theatre at Evans and Monaco, and open fields all around it for miles. The Lakeside Mall opened, but everyone said people would only shop downtown. A six-pack of Coca Cola cost 25 cents.

The worst large city in the U.S., except for all the others.

When my mom, Leona Housand, took us kids downtown in the late '50s and early '60s for doctor and dental appointments.  We took bus #23 or #9 and rode downtown, wearing our best clothes because at that time, people dressed up to go downtown. We shopped at Joslin's, Neissner's (which later became K-Mart), the Denver Dry Goods, which we considered upscale; ate a slice of pizza at Woolworth's, walked past the spectacular blue-mirrored Russell Stover candy store, and in the winter, watched the skaters at the Zeckendorf Plaza, which could be seen from our orthodontist's office in the Republic Building. At Christmas time, we looked at the beautifully decorated windows of Christmas scenes at the Denver Dry Goods and Joslin's. We often had to run to catch the bus on Arapahoe Street, and if we missed it, we had to stand another 30 to 45 minutes to wait for another. In the meantime, we looked at the furniture displayed in the May Co. windows, later called the American Furniture Co., in the building attached to the Daniels and Fisher tower.

One time there was quite a downpour, so being closest to the Loop Market on Larimer Street, we waited for the bus just inside the door of this grocery store. Having nothing to do but wait, we idly looked around at the meat and fish displayed in the counters. There was a subtle, glistening bacterial rainbow of colors showing on quite a few of the meats. Yuck! Pity the poor shoppers who bought there!

Larimer Street itself was full of reclining bums and drunks and no one in their right mind ventured to any of the old, seemingly menacing lower downtown buildings or streets, if they valued their safety.

We lived in North Denver and our big treat on weekends was to go out to the airport with a lunch and watch the airplanes. In the evening, we would go down to City Park and watch the fountain show while we kids rolled down the hills. We would top it all off with a trip to Golden Creme Donuts on 18th Avenue for frosted donut holes. On Sundays, we would walk up to Rocky Mountain Lake, where I learned to fish. The Valley Highway and I-70 were just being built.

Cool summer nights at Bears Stadium, Elitch's, or just playing outside. Wonderful teachers and special events (like Halloween, Christmas Shows, Field Day) at Palmer Elementary School, two blocks from our house.

Going downtown with my family to a movie at the Denham (or Paramount, Orpheum, Denver, or Centre) and then to Bauer's for ice cream and a trip to the treasure chest.

Trips to Glenwood/Aspen and buying rocks from the character at the top of Loveland Pass. Shows and events at Central City, Red Rocks, Elitch's and DU. The leisurely pace of life that was Denver in the '50s.

Overcrowded, overdeveloped, and overdone. I live in the mountains now but am grateful for the memories of a city and an era when people had time to care about their kids and their neighbors.

The best thing about Denver now is LoDo/Coors Field/Rockies, an example of how good things can still be with a little imagination.

In 1952, my husband, sister and brother-in-law came to Denver to spend a weekend. We got a motel on South Santa Fe, and went to the Museum of Natural History. It was wonderful. We went downtown and the streets were so crowded, it was exciting to be in the huge city. We went to a movie and started back to the motel. It seemed like we were driving a long way and soon we were past the buildings. Finally my husband stopped at a service station and asked if we were close to Santa Fe. The attendant informed us that we were in north Denver and were almost in Brighton. A year later, we moved to Brighton.

Each July, I took my daughters and their friends to Eltich's to celebrate the oldest girl's birthday. I had no trouble going TO Elitch's, but always got lost on the way home. It became a joke, we could see the highway but couldn't find a way to get on it.