East Colfax

East Colfax is the far east edge of Denver. It runs from Quebec Street east to Yosemite Street and from 11th Avenue north to Montview Boulevard, about 684 acres, with Colfax Avenue cutting straight through the middle. Cross Yosemite and you're in Aurora. Lowry, built on a former air base, sits next door. You'll still hear people call it East Montclair, but the neighborhood association settled on East Colfax in August 2017.

From streetcar line to US 40

The Colfax streetcar reached Fletcher, the town that later became Aurora, in 1898. Denver adopted its first zoning code in 1925, and much of the avenue was zoned for business, so Colfax stayed a strip of shops and motels while the houses sit on the blocks behind it. Around then Colfax also became part of US 40, one of the first coast-to-coast highways.

After the war, sprawling motels in U and L shapes went up along Colfax to catch the tourist traffic. I-70 was finished between 1964 and 1968 and let through traffic bypass the avenue. Some of those old motels are still standing, and a few have been redeveloped.

Bungalows behind the avenue

Step a block off Colfax and the grid turns residential fast. Valentia and Trenton streets are lined with classic Denver bungalows, so if that's the house you're picturing, start your search on those two. Houses at 1740 and 1760 Ulster Street were part of the Greeters of America Home from the 1920s into the 1950s.

The East Area Plan, adopted in November 2020 for East Colfax, Hale, Montclair and South Park Hill, is a 20-year guide for how the area changes. It prioritizes reusing older commercial buildings along Colfax instead of tearing them down, and a pilot program targets converting underused commercial buildings between Broadway and Yosemite. Expect the frontage on Colfax to keep shifting, even where the side streets stay put.

New Freedom Park on Westerly Creek

New Freedom Park, at 13th Avenue and Xenia Street, opened in 2012 on what had been a vacant dirt lot. Denver Parks and Recreation built it with the Trust for Public Land, and Westerly Creek runs right through it. Around a big old cottonwood there's a playground, community garden plots and a youth-size turf soccer field.

Coffee off Quince, breakfast on Syracuse

Quince Coffee House, at 1447 Quince Street, is a coffee shop in a renovated house a few steps off Colfax, with vintage chairs, board games and shelves of Colorado history books. It's open 7 to 5 every day and hosts a Sunday morning backyard music jam.

For breakfast, Santos Café & Grill at 1141 Syracuse St., just above 11th Avenue, has served breakfast burritos, chilaquiles and huevos rancheros since 2020.

Colfax buses and the Lynx line

RTD's 15 and 15L run the length of Colfax, and the city is rebuilding the avenue for Lynx bus rapid transit, which will run along Colfax out to I-225 in Aurora. From Colorado Boulevard to Yosemite, which covers this whole neighborhood, buses get a dedicated center lane in each direction, and past Yosemite they share the road with cars. Construction started in October 2024 and continues through 2027, with stations planned at Quebec and Syracuse. If you want to ride the bus downtown, look at houses within a few blocks of Colfax, and if Colfax is your daily drive, budget extra time while the construction lasts.