Berkeley

Berkeley is the Northwest Denver neighborhood bounded by 38th Avenue on the south, I-70 on the north, Federal Boulevard on the east and Sheridan Boulevard on the west. West Highland sits just across 38th, and people often lump Berkeley in with the Highlands, so check the cross streets on any listing that uses that name.

An alfalfa farm, then a streetcar town

The name comes from Berkeley Farm, a 1,500-acre spread that once covered the land. In 1888 the Denver & Berkeley Park Rapid Transit Company laid streetcar tracks up Tennyson Street between 38th and 41st, and at the south end the cars carried riders to Elitch Gardens. Some of the 450 or so people living here set up the Town of North Denver in 1892 and renamed it Berkeley in 1898. Denver Tramway pushed the line north to 46th in 1901, and Denver annexed the town on December 1, 1902.

Small, old houses and a few newer ones

The detached houses here are old and mostly modest. Denver Assessor open data counts 2,723 of them: 73 percent were built before 1940, 17 percent between 1940 and 1959, and only 8 percent since 2000. The median is about 1,130 square feet, and condos, rowhomes and apartments aren't in that count. That's a small footprint, so if you need more room, look hard at what's in the basement and whether it was finished with permits.

The neighborhood has grown fast since the Elitch Gardens amusement park closed in 1994, and much of the newer building sits along Tennyson. Older houses and small shops there have given way to three-story apartment and commercial buildings. Berkeley had about 25 alley houses, small cottages built behind a main house, in 1930. Four remain, among them a century-old cottage at 4450 Tennyson.

Berkeley Lake and Rocky Mountain Lake

Two lake parks take up much of the north edge. Berkeley Lake Park covers 83 acres around a 34-acre lake, from 46th Avenue to I-70 and from Sheridan to Tennyson. The city bought the land in 1906, and by 1910 it had Denver's first public golf course north of the lake. By 1918 a Moorish-style bathhouse, an Italianate pumphouse and the cottage-style William H. Smiley Branch of the Denver Public Library had gone up. S.R. DeBoer redid the park roads in 1927 to keep commuters from cutting through, and a cottonwood-shaded path still loops the shore. The William Scheitler Recreation Center, a city rec center with indoor and outdoor pools, sits in the park's southwest corner.

Rocky Mountain Lake Park sits east of Lowell Boulevard, between 46th Avenue and I-70. Both lakes belong to the Denver Park and Parkway System, on the National Register since 1986. I-70 runs just north of Berkeley Lake, so the houses closest to the water also sit closest to the interstate. If road noise matters to you, visit those blocks at rush hour before you make an offer.

Tennyson Street and 44th Avenue

Tennyson is the main street, with about six blocks of shops and restaurants from 38th to 44th.

The Oriental Theater, at 4335 W. 44th Avenue just off Tennyson, opened on Christmas Eve 1927. It cost $200,000, was designed by Leo Andrew Desjardins in the Exotic Revival style, and went on the National Register in 1997. After decades dark, it was bought in 2005 and turned into a music venue that holds 707 standing.

Up on the third floor at 4337 Tennyson, Hey Kiddo serves shared plates with Asian flavors, like Korean fried chicken, and it's listed in the Michelin Guide. It has a rooftop bar and the OK Yeah cocktail lounge in back. A few blocks east, Tocabe, founded in 2008, runs its flagship at 3536 W. 44th Avenue, serving Native American food built around bison and fry bread.

Getting around

Federal Boulevard runs along the east edge and Sheridan along the west, I-70 crosses the north side, and 38th Avenue runs along the south edge. I-25 is east of Federal.