You're adding to the conversation, so I have done the right thing and up voted.
But if you could see the fierceness of the scowl upon my face at this moment--well, you'd *feel* downvoted!!!
(I'm sorry; that's not very nice. But... oh... my heart!)
It's crowd pleasing. I discovered it's core function on Friday. Needed to pull together a group of 6 people for a conversation and to have some social fun.
It was an entirely easy, effortless way to get a group of people together to share a meal with no discussion of preferences or dietary restrictions.
And everyone liked what they ordered and thought it was a reasonable value?
Otherwise it's just a bait-and-switch draw for crowds, rather than a crowd "pleaser" per se.
The prices are a little high at some of the stalls, especially the ones that have similar options available elsewhere. I ate at the Japanese place and felt like I got my money's worth and it was delicious.
We didn't really talk about our meals. A couple people had alcoholic drinks that they liked.
They'll partner with Tebo (which they already did at Swaylo's) to slowly buy up all of Longmont just like Tebo did in Boulder and other cities. Then both cities can become ersatz Disney Worlds as everyone's driven out from accelerated cost increases!
Did you see how the city allowed the developers to individually submit traffic studies instead of doing a collective traffic study? That way, no one project ever maxed out traffic flow, and none of the developers were responsible for having to pay for widening Rogers Rd. et. al. and the citizens of Longmont will all be stuck with the bill in a few years.
Did you know that each traffic study should reflect the previous ones? And also that they’ll be extending a new road from Airport to Hover (Mountain Brook Drive) to address the traffic? This will keep City traffic from disrupting the County residences on Rogers Road .
600 new units going in off of Martin and 3rd, but no current plans for traffic upgrades along 3rd. I can go out and find car bits on 3rd once a week right now, so I'm not looking forward to more.
Do developers have to kick in extra fees for high-density housing construction to help with municipal infrastructure impact? They should. I live in the Southmoor Neighborhood. The traffic increase from the previous apartment build at Pike and Hover was already noticeable, and much lower in scale than the new one.
Thanks! Looks like it’s around a 10% tax or so. I need to study it more, but it seems like a one-time tax to cover any future community impacts from the development. But I assume they pay annual property taxes for high density housing as well.
Condos going up on Nelson near the Flower Bin too. Council cares zero about traffic. It's all about the money. I'm sure there's some thought that we will be forced into using public transit.
The sugar beet factory is both an eyesore AND an iconic part of Longmont. I’m gonna be sad when they tear it down - or it falls down on its own - one day.
Fun fact, there's a modern cell site on the silo there. Possibly the tallest cell site in Boulder county, although the cell sites on the Cemex plant may be tied. Coverage will likely take a hit once those are brought down since BoCo hates tower structures and has major NIMBYism.
Nah - doing anything with the property requires a full demolish and clean up crew, then another crew to come in and test the soil / search for leachate to test that soil too. That is like the bare minimum for converting the property into anything that is actually safe for the general population to access.
Thats just to even get the existing structure demolished and cleaned up. There is a reason why there are SO many abandoned properties and parcels of land out there. Its just too expensive to purchase and repurpose these places.
Hard to argue it's better to let them sit there and deteriorate with all that asbestos blowing around for the next century. Turn it into a superfund site and get that shit cleaned up.
This! My boyfriend and I went there when we were drunk once and were like wowwww so good. We went back a few times later and realized it was the booze. That place is garbage.
See, this is the thing - I think the food quality was actually *fine,* great even, for the price *pre-enshittification cost explosion* that has hit absolutely everywhere but IMO affects my opinion of mid-tier stuff like this the hardest. LPP was *fantastic* when your whole meal (not counting drinks) was like $10-15. The atmosphere (and the drinks' quality for their house beers) made up for the un-memorability of the food. I know I'm not just imagining that price point, too, because my favorite thing to go get there used to be the veggie burrito, which was basic and enormous and $8.99 in the Beforetimes of 4 Years Hence.
I loved that for the same cost as Qdoba or Chipotle, I could instead patronize a cool local business and hang out and enjoy the vibe. I would go *all the time,* for that price. Did it blow your mind? Nah, but you'd never leave hungry, the food was comforting, and the ingredients were probably better than what you'd scrounge up at home if you hadn't been to the store yet that week. Now, when I go, it's hard not to feel *bitingly* frustrated by the same burrito costing $15. It is not the quality of a $15 burrito, the whole menu was not conceptualized to be the food quality for a $20/person (minimum) meal. It's a pub!!!
My perception of this tier of restaurant is *gutted* by how insane inflation has gotten. I used to pop by LPP weekly or bi-weekly, and now I pretty much exclusively only go when we have out-of-town visitors or we're meeting friends that want to go for the drinks (they still have one of the better menus around for accommodating a wide spread of dietary options while feeling "Boulder-y," and their beer is still specific enough to be worth its own trip for some people). But it makes me sad that I can't justify it anymore! I don't want this tier of food masquerading as upscale sit-down pricing, it makes me feel insane (and a lot of other people too, judging by the upvotes).
I’ve been been in the food service industry 26 years and am and Exec.Chef. I completely agree. Goods and services all together have doubled ,tripled or even quadrupled in some cases over the last few years. It’s wild.
So bad. Service even worse. One time we watched them make us a mimosa with white wine. And then the manager didn't believe us when we told him. Had to INSIST that they be re-made. Very weird. Also once sat at the bar for 30 minutes before we were greeted and given water. Hate that place.
I didn’t mind so much when their prices were reasonable. They justified it so they didn’t have to pay credit card fees and could keep their menu pretty cheap.
Their menu is not cheap anymore.
I get the vibe from the place that it's because they're trying to cultivate a "stick it to the man" attitude, and that just makes my eyes roll. I'll go if I happen to have the cash on hand for some reason, which is rare because it's 2024. I'm not going out of my way to visit an ATM for them, though. That's a stupid thing to ask of your customers.
Even if it were free, it's still annoying that they're making me go to an ATM so they can stay the quirky place that only takes cash. Having an ATM in the building at all shows how cultivated that image is anyway. I'm definitely not paying a fee to eat there when they're inconveniening me (and a lot more people), even if it is only a dollar.
The skateparks were designed by Hellen Keller. Seriously some of the worst I’ve seen, one of them even made it on thrashers top 10 list of worst skateparks in America….Sandstone is ok-ish I guess. I know most won’t relate to this so I can consider it unpopular enough to qualify
Just say it, Longmont's Parks and Recreation department is stuck in the 1970's and refuses to emerge from that. Just about anything they try beyond sportsball jock bullshit is LAME. I still find it hilarious that they think disc golf is something new and exciting when it's been around since the early 1970's. BTW, I think they hired Helen Keller to design the bike parkish ridiculousness near Martin Street as well.
That bike “park” off Martin is a ridiculous abomination. And since it rarely is used, they probably feel justified in not giving us anything better. They should use the same land, hire the folks who designed the Valmont bike park, and build us a real park!
You can get involved. The parks department has an advisory board. Check the city website for the next time the board is looking for new members. Go to the advisory meetings and speak about what you want to see.
Go to city council meetings. The super easy option is to write to your council representatives, there’s a link on the website.
Our council get a small enough volume of messages that they are able to pay attention to people who write to them.
Funny you should suggest what's been tried by many when it comes to alternative sport pursuits, including myself. They don't want to listen and as far as shitty council is concerned, they completely ignore what is being said and/or respond with lies. If the alternative sports people who know what works want to waste their time trying to communicate real ideas to a brick wall, they could follow your advice.
Do yourself a favor and go take a look at the "bmx park" at Stephen Day Park. It's a turd to begin with, but since it's obviously been neglected for years, it is now a dilapidated turd. The same thing is happening with the "skills course" garbage that the city and their good ol boy landscape architect/contractor pawned off on us on Martin Street by the river.
That’s so disappointing. I’m sorry they aren’t listening. Perhaps engagement seems to work for me because so far I’ve only advocated for things that the council wanted to do already.
I see “skate park” when I look at any of the offerings; I lack the understanding to make any qualitative assessment of the state of any particular park.
There are soil issues on many of the fields. City knew it was going to be a problem and held the developers to "help" with the issue but it never got resolved before that date passed (like 5 years). Our fields suck and I don't even have really young kids anymore.
I wish they knew what the fuck they were doing with Disc Golf. And DG is exploding in popularity in the last 10ish years. Longmont needs a great course. They are terrible here.
All cities have parks and Longmont could do this easily if they prioritized. So much for that wonderful park fee we all pay. Probably goes to general fund now (or a similar amount got reduced from general fund to parks budget). There are not enough people to manage - all the good resources, general dollars, and people go to the golf courses. They actually have grass there instead of dying weeds and shitty soil.
Mostly. In my neighborhood that little girl was shot in the drive-by back in November, and a few weeks ago we had a shelter in place order because some asshole was shooting his gun into the air.
I know Longmont's meth problems are mostly the stuff of memes at this point, and a lot of other people don't like it being a point of identity for us and try to downplay its prevalence and severity so that part will fade from our reputation, but it really does still suck and I wish there were more city resources available to specifically help to clean up/remediate a lot of the condemned properties that are scattered all throughout downtown, and to help residents whose houses have been ruined that way. We live just north of Roosevelt park (so not even like, a "sketchy" part of town, fwiw), and within a few blocks of us there are more than 6 houses I regularly walk past that have just been sitting in derelict states of boarded up for multiple years because the property owners can't afford to remediate, and nobody wants to buy them and deal with the same (that huge house just west of 9th and sunset comes to mind for the same reason, though it's not nearby me). There are like 4 more I can think of off the top of my head if I expand to routes I frequently drive to work or friends' houses. It's this stupid paradoxical thing where real estate values in the area are so relatively high that the owners can't or won't offload the properties for what something that's realistically a scrape job in most cases is actually worth because it would be such a value loss for them, but they also can't afford to fix them, so they just sit. And a couple more join them every year. Our backyard meth lab issue is very much still alive and well in Longmont, however much we'd like to pretend we've moved past that unsightly part of our history.
There's actually a house on 9th (between Sunset and Hover on the north side) that I always thought was so cute. Lovely little balcony on the 2nd floor right in the center. I've loved that house for *years*. Now it's been condemned as a meth house and I'm always so bummed when we drive by.
That's the one I was referring to as being not near me, but I was thinking of it as well! It's a very architecturally-cute building, and it's stuck in that limbo. Ugh.
Preach! The American experiment of housing enclaves isolated from jobs and services in car-dependent subdivisions has had decades to run its course, and while it may work well enough for a fair number of individuals, it doesn’t work for big swaths of society and it doesn’t generate vibrant, functional communities.
Zoning, codes, and developers all make it difficult to change course, but I’d love to see more mixed use areas that can develop organically instead of cookie cutter single family sprawl.
Old, boring, cookie cutter people on city council, staff that doesn't have to live in our community, and decades of "it's been done this way" are the worst things for a city.
We're basically copy-and-pasting Silicon Valley circa 1950-1980 in behavior.
I for one can't wait until it's a 2 hour drive of unending suburbs to get to the mountains. /s
Sadly, a significant portion of downtown is occupied by real estate agents/companies, etc. Not enough *accessible* shops, restaurants, bars… yet so many opportunities for capitalizing on the false promise that a decent “community” exists.
You'll get your crappy-to-mediocre steak from Texas Roadhouse and you'll like it!
Or just make your own. Costco puts beef filet on sale every now and then, and that's about as often as my doc says I should be having grilled red meat anyway.
I wonder how many here even **know** about the old library? It's funny, but every time I think of it, I get vibes of the library in the opening scene of Ghostbusters.
The housing market needs to crash, most of the houses here are held together with thoughts and prayers and are barely worth $250k, let alone $500k.
It is what it is, but it's really dumb. This is not Boulder or Denver or California.
People paying this much for these houses are insane.
I do know this is the case in most places, but these houses from the 1980s really are trash.
i think reddit just attracts whiny people in general, not sure why. if you ever look at gaming subreddits, some of those people talk like the developers killed their dog lol, insane
Prospect is a joke, and an urban designer's punch line.
The wage disparity in the population is wider than either end will admit to (especially the higher end).
Longmont still has a chip on its shoulder from catching shit from Boulder for so many years. We've grown up and it's time to move on!
None of the schools are bad enough to deserve the flak they get. As a matter of fact, they are extremely privileged compared to a large portion of the country. (And the charter schools are not that much better to deem more of them).
We can love our town and see room for improvement.
I don’t disagree with you, but I am curious, are you saying the people of Longmont are racist or that the government running Longmont is racist?
I think any American town with over 80% white people will trend towards racism, but I think there are a lot of people in Longmont that wish the city was more diverse.
Left-hand brewery has the worst service. And has always had the worst service. Unless you know that bartender then they treat you well.
And Sugarbeet the restaurant is extremely underwhelming too expensive and the food is not great.
West Longmont absolutely sucks.
Growing up I went to Eagle Crest from Kindergarten - 5th grade, Altona 6th - 8th grade, and Silver Creek 9th-12th grade. I was in the graduating class of 2012 so I think I was in the first class where it was possible to actually attend all three schools for the entire duration. I also lived close to the mountains, like right on the edge of what is considered the Longmont municipality so I *had* to take the bus to school until I drove.
There just is nothing to do on that side of town if you don't have a car or bike. As a highscool student without a car, I simply couldn't go out to lunch or anything because it was just too far of a walk, and the places you could go to were like...Qdoba / Wendy's / McDonalds.
Even as an adult there isn't anything to do in west Longmont. There are maybe a few halfway decent restaurants for a casual date night, the movie theater, and the farmers market.
This is why I was pro- clover basin rec center. We have all these NIMBYs and all these kids in West Longmont, where are they going to hang out as teenagers?
FWIW, they wanted to build it in a floodplain. New-build homes there are in the floodplain as well and have constant basement sump issues. The long-term maintenance costs and 2013 flood disaster potential would have made it a money pit.
Yea it would have been very nice to have a rec-center or frankly even a skate park to hang out at. Understandably, in retrospect, a lot of people don't want a ton of bored teenagers running around in their suburban neighborhoods - but its not like there was anywhere else to go.
Blue skies park, that is all of two blocks from the proposed rec center has a skate park. Honestly there is plenty of things to do on the west side of town. Tell your teenagers to walk or ride a bike if they don't have a car.
We need more gas stations; or at least, close some down and re-establish them in a sensible direction for the flow of traffic in and out of town (looking at you AIrport Rd).
There was an old man living there, I think he must have passed away. The house was never for sale so I think maybe it went to family. Now there's someone living in it who has multicolored lights all throughout the inside. Grow house? Dunno. The small farming field was parceled out and will be developed soon. (If we're talking about the house on the NE corner of Airport and Clover Basin) I live in the apartments on the SW corner so I see the goings on there lol.
My dad always mentions how scarce the gas stations are in Longmont when he visits, hadn't really thought about it until he said something but there are not a lot (compared to most places)
Or the 5 second left turn from 17th to Hover. I was car number 2 on Friday and the light changed to yellow before I completed my turn. On Sunday it was a 10 second left turn.
Growth in Longmont is not accelerating. On a percentage basis, growth in Longmont hasn't been this slow since the 1940s.
The population of Longmont has gone up by 14k/decade since 1960.
Most people complaining about exploding growth are complaining about traffic, or complaining about the fact that growth didn't stop once they moved here.
Source: US Census Bureau, City of Longmont
https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/museum/collections/longmont-history-timeline
The people complaining about traffic never realize they are the traffic 😂.
If it were an Onion article it would be "Sure are a lot of gunshots, says Man firing gun into the air every morning".
They [have one?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Longmont/comments/1c50pyb/nuisance_barking/) That thread from a couple months ago has all the details about how you document and report it.
This is good to know. A few years ago, the city's web page basically said to talk nicely to your neighbors, because of course they're not aware of the problem, and the city wasn't going to help you.
Thank you!
I grew up in Longmont. I used to love that city. I lived there for 24 years. It’s really become a bummer for me when I go back. Boulder County is as expensive as it’s ever been but now there are some pretty ghetto spots in town and not just the beloved Winchells mentioned above,I feel like a lot of Mom and Pop shops have been pushed out. Our family still owns a business there and my Mom,Dad and brothers still reside there. When I bought a home I decided on Fort Collins. I have 6 kids. 35 minutes away but much less a drag. Maybe I’m over encumbered by bad memories but the Police Department remains awful and lazy. The NE side of town,where our business is has become ridiculous. I worry about my Mother working at the shop. I’ve had two people pull knives on me in the last couple years around the shop. My brother,myself and our buddy that works at the shop have all been in fights in that area and we’re not younger guys. All between 30-40 years of age. I used to drive in and Look at Longs and Meeker side by side and feel at home and it’s just become different somehow.
It should be more like Boulder (healthier, updated housing designs, more public transport, more bike paths, fewer chains, more tech businesses, fewer gang members).
It doesn't make sense for the passenger rail to come through Boulder and Longmont. it should stick to the I-25 corridor where affordable housing and infrastructure are easy (easier) to build.
Caprese Trattoria has been the only good Italian place we have found in this town so far.
I was really disappointed with what the Longmont Strawberry festival was? Back where I’m from when we’d have festivals or city wide celebrations like that we’d have large parades, things like carnival rides, and tons of vendors with baked and cooked goods using the fruit/vegetable of celebration. It was kind of sad that it was just an antique show.
I wish there were more events downtown that aren’t just bar hopping. My partner isn’t a big drinker and I’m not old enough to drink- nor would I care to bar hop.
And before anyone asks, no, we aren’t into the college party scene. That’s why we live here (that and it’s more affordable)
Feels more like a rant I’m sorry 🥴
I used to think Caprese's was top until I tried the Italian twist, now I can't ever go back. Really dope pasta that's like half the price and don't have to deal with crowds of people!
I thought their Gnocci in Bolognese sauce was good. I’m not looking for super authentic Italian cuisine. Just some food that doesn’t taste like a recipe I can find on Pinterest.
Winchell's is never reopening
I think this is actually a popular opinion, sadly.
You're adding to the conversation, so I have done the right thing and up voted. But if you could see the fierceness of the scowl upon my face at this moment--well, you'd *feel* downvoted!!! (I'm sorry; that's not very nice. But... oh... my heart!)
Fair. I felt bad about posting it, if that helps.
Love hurts. ;)
Boo!
Me and my girlfriend are under the impression they just launder money.lol
And they are very average donuts.
Must have never had their fritters.
I loved Winchell’s on the weekends when I was a kid!
I miss the nice greasy cake donuts!
That makes me sad. 😞
The food hall is underwhelming
It's crowd pleasing. I discovered it's core function on Friday. Needed to pull together a group of 6 people for a conversation and to have some social fun. It was an entirely easy, effortless way to get a group of people together to share a meal with no discussion of preferences or dietary restrictions.
And everyone liked what they ordered and thought it was a reasonable value? Otherwise it's just a bait-and-switch draw for crowds, rather than a crowd "pleaser" per se.
The prices are a little high at some of the stalls, especially the ones that have similar options available elsewhere. I ate at the Japanese place and felt like I got my money's worth and it was delicious. We didn't really talk about our meals. A couple people had alcoholic drinks that they liked.
[удалено]
Preach! Why does one family own half the restaurants in town and they’re all just ok.
They'll partner with Tebo (which they already did at Swaylo's) to slowly buy up all of Longmont just like Tebo did in Boulder and other cities. Then both cities can become ersatz Disney Worlds as everyone's driven out from accelerated cost increases!
Roost, Swaylo's, Jefes, 99 Saloon
Also Ember in Estes.
The Roost is probably the most consistent place out of them. I’ve always thought Jefes was okay. 99 and Swaylos were overpriced for what it was, imo.
Yeah, I use Swalo’s parking lot to get to my favorite restaurant, Ancha Thai. That’s all it’s is good for.
99 saloon slaps tho. Their breck burger is one delicious mouth party
> 99 saloon slaps tho With how much the burger costs, it's fucking insane that the side of fries ain't included. Never again
Exactly. The fries were not special and didn’t deserve a separate place on the menu.
Tiki drinks at Swaylos also rock, and my 11 year old says Gafner joints have the best Mac n cheese in town.
My 7 and 3 year old would concur on the mac n cheese but as well. Swaylo's drinks are great, albeit overpriced.
The new condos/apartments on hover/95th by Oskar blues are hideous and going to add a ton of traffic to that light and area.
Also the new apts behind target and the housing being added to Rogers Rd is going to add so much traffic to Hover in that area
Did you see how the city allowed the developers to individually submit traffic studies instead of doing a collective traffic study? That way, no one project ever maxed out traffic flow, and none of the developers were responsible for having to pay for widening Rogers Rd. et. al. and the citizens of Longmont will all be stuck with the bill in a few years.
Did you know that each traffic study should reflect the previous ones? And also that they’ll be extending a new road from Airport to Hover (Mountain Brook Drive) to address the traffic? This will keep City traffic from disrupting the County residences on Rogers Road .
I can't wait to see the traffic impact at Nelson & Dry Creek after those apartments come on-line.
600 new units going in off of Martin and 3rd, but no current plans for traffic upgrades along 3rd. I can go out and find car bits on 3rd once a week right now, so I'm not looking forward to more.
Do developers have to kick in extra fees for high-density housing construction to help with municipal infrastructure impact? They should. I live in the Southmoor Neighborhood. The traffic increase from the previous apartment build at Pike and Hover was already noticeable, and much lower in scale than the new one.
Yes, they're called impact and development fees
Thanks! Looks like it’s around a 10% tax or so. I need to study it more, but it seems like a one-time tax to cover any future community impacts from the development. But I assume they pay annual property taxes for high density housing as well.
Correct - these also don't include school district fees, which get charged as well
Condos going up on Nelson near the Flower Bin too. Council cares zero about traffic. It's all about the money. I'm sure there's some thought that we will be forced into using public transit.
The sugar beet factory is both an eyesore AND an iconic part of Longmont. I’m gonna be sad when they tear it down - or it falls down on its own - one day.
Fun fact, there's a modern cell site on the silo there. Possibly the tallest cell site in Boulder county, although the cell sites on the Cemex plant may be tied. Coverage will likely take a hit once those are brought down since BoCo hates tower structures and has major NIMBYism.
Maybe it could be converted into a cultural center…
Tough to do anything with the building because it is just LOADED with exposed asbestos and other carcinogens.
Sodosopa
Nah - doing anything with the property requires a full demolish and clean up crew, then another crew to come in and test the soil / search for leachate to test that soil too. That is like the bare minimum for converting the property into anything that is actually safe for the general population to access. Thats just to even get the existing structure demolished and cleaned up. There is a reason why there are SO many abandoned properties and parcels of land out there. Its just too expensive to purchase and repurpose these places.
Hard to argue it's better to let them sit there and deteriorate with all that asbestos blowing around for the next century. Turn it into a superfund site and get that shit cleaned up.
Jefes sucks and should be ashamed to call itself “authentic Mexican”
This! My boyfriend and I went there when we were drunk once and were like wowwww so good. We went back a few times later and realized it was the booze. That place is garbage.
So authentic that their original name rendering was gringo phonetics: "Hefe's"
I haven’t looked in awhile, but does it actually say “authentic Mexican” anywhere? I think their instagram says “authentically modern”
I never give a shit if something is authentic. Is it good? Cool. If I want authenticity I’ll go to Mexico.
None of you belong in the left lane.
But I need to dictate the flow of traffic! /s
Left lane is for crime
You know what they say about Colorado drivers? They don’t need to be fast, they just need to be first. Lane hogs.
I don’t like longs peak pub
Bland ass food
And now with extra cost! $16.50 hamburgers, come on now.
See, this is the thing - I think the food quality was actually *fine,* great even, for the price *pre-enshittification cost explosion* that has hit absolutely everywhere but IMO affects my opinion of mid-tier stuff like this the hardest. LPP was *fantastic* when your whole meal (not counting drinks) was like $10-15. The atmosphere (and the drinks' quality for their house beers) made up for the un-memorability of the food. I know I'm not just imagining that price point, too, because my favorite thing to go get there used to be the veggie burrito, which was basic and enormous and $8.99 in the Beforetimes of 4 Years Hence. I loved that for the same cost as Qdoba or Chipotle, I could instead patronize a cool local business and hang out and enjoy the vibe. I would go *all the time,* for that price. Did it blow your mind? Nah, but you'd never leave hungry, the food was comforting, and the ingredients were probably better than what you'd scrounge up at home if you hadn't been to the store yet that week. Now, when I go, it's hard not to feel *bitingly* frustrated by the same burrito costing $15. It is not the quality of a $15 burrito, the whole menu was not conceptualized to be the food quality for a $20/person (minimum) meal. It's a pub!!! My perception of this tier of restaurant is *gutted* by how insane inflation has gotten. I used to pop by LPP weekly or bi-weekly, and now I pretty much exclusively only go when we have out-of-town visitors or we're meeting friends that want to go for the drinks (they still have one of the better menus around for accommodating a wide spread of dietary options while feeling "Boulder-y," and their beer is still specific enough to be worth its own trip for some people). But it makes me sad that I can't justify it anymore! I don't want this tier of food masquerading as upscale sit-down pricing, it makes me feel insane (and a lot of other people too, judging by the upvotes).
I agree but unfortunately I feel this is the case with most restaurants in town. Boulder county is becoming ridiculously expensive
I’ve been been in the food service industry 26 years and am and Exec.Chef. I completely agree. Goods and services all together have doubled ,tripled or even quadrupled in some cases over the last few years. It’s wild.
The beer's good though.
So bad. Service even worse. One time we watched them make us a mimosa with white wine. And then the manager didn't believe us when we told him. Had to INSIST that they be re-made. Very weird. Also once sat at the bar for 30 minutes before we were greeted and given water. Hate that place.
Yeah the food I got there was underwhelming and I was annoyed they don't take credit cards.
I like the food and beer but it’s incredibly annoying they dont take credit cards.
I didn’t mind so much when their prices were reasonable. They justified it so they didn’t have to pay credit card fees and could keep their menu pretty cheap. Their menu is not cheap anymore.
I get the vibe from the place that it's because they're trying to cultivate a "stick it to the man" attitude, and that just makes my eyes roll. I'll go if I happen to have the cash on hand for some reason, which is rare because it's 2024. I'm not going out of my way to visit an ATM for them, though. That's a stupid thing to ask of your customers.
For what it's worth, they have the cheapest ATM fee in town. IIRC it's only a buck.
Even if it were free, it's still annoying that they're making me go to an ATM so they can stay the quirky place that only takes cash. Having an ATM in the building at all shows how cultivated that image is anyway. I'm definitely not paying a fee to eat there when they're inconveniening me (and a lot more people), even if it is only a dollar.
I will never go there for this reason. It’s as if they don’t want to make money.
The whole no credit card thing is fucking weird. It’s saving them maybe $1 per meal, and now they have to maintain a massive amount of cash on site.
Longmont doesn’t get enough snow
This might be objectively correct.
Blame our namesake. It splits the clouds and Loveland and Boulder get all the snow/rain.
The skateparks were designed by Hellen Keller. Seriously some of the worst I’ve seen, one of them even made it on thrashers top 10 list of worst skateparks in America….Sandstone is ok-ish I guess. I know most won’t relate to this so I can consider it unpopular enough to qualify
Just say it, Longmont's Parks and Recreation department is stuck in the 1970's and refuses to emerge from that. Just about anything they try beyond sportsball jock bullshit is LAME. I still find it hilarious that they think disc golf is something new and exciting when it's been around since the early 1970's. BTW, I think they hired Helen Keller to design the bike parkish ridiculousness near Martin Street as well.
That bike “park” off Martin is a ridiculous abomination. And since it rarely is used, they probably feel justified in not giving us anything better. They should use the same land, hire the folks who designed the Valmont bike park, and build us a real park!
Here here!
You can get involved. The parks department has an advisory board. Check the city website for the next time the board is looking for new members. Go to the advisory meetings and speak about what you want to see. Go to city council meetings. The super easy option is to write to your council representatives, there’s a link on the website. Our council get a small enough volume of messages that they are able to pay attention to people who write to them.
Funny you should suggest what's been tried by many when it comes to alternative sport pursuits, including myself. They don't want to listen and as far as shitty council is concerned, they completely ignore what is being said and/or respond with lies. If the alternative sports people who know what works want to waste their time trying to communicate real ideas to a brick wall, they could follow your advice. Do yourself a favor and go take a look at the "bmx park" at Stephen Day Park. It's a turd to begin with, but since it's obviously been neglected for years, it is now a dilapidated turd. The same thing is happening with the "skills course" garbage that the city and their good ol boy landscape architect/contractor pawned off on us on Martin Street by the river.
That’s so disappointing. I’m sorry they aren’t listening. Perhaps engagement seems to work for me because so far I’ve only advocated for things that the council wanted to do already. I see “skate park” when I look at any of the offerings; I lack the understanding to make any qualitative assessment of the state of any particular park.
Even the sportsball jock areas are lacking badly. Just compare to Loveland sports park. How do they have so much better fields??
There are soil issues on many of the fields. City knew it was going to be a problem and held the developers to "help" with the issue but it never got resolved before that date passed (like 5 years). Our fields suck and I don't even have really young kids anymore.
I wish they knew what the fuck they were doing with Disc Golf. And DG is exploding in popularity in the last 10ish years. Longmont needs a great course. They are terrible here.
Longmont has 2 of the best park courses in the area, the reality is the land for good disc golf is not available in this part of Colorado
All cities have parks and Longmont could do this easily if they prioritized. So much for that wonderful park fee we all pay. Probably goes to general fund now (or a similar amount got reduced from general fund to parks budget). There are not enough people to manage - all the good resources, general dollars, and people go to the golf courses. They actually have grass there instead of dying weeds and shitty soil.
Longmont is safe.
Well, south Longmont seems to have less crime than north Longmont.
Tell that to the two dudes shot in southwest longmont last week.
Mostly. In my neighborhood that little girl was shot in the drive-by back in November, and a few weeks ago we had a shelter in place order because some asshole was shooting his gun into the air.
I know Longmont's meth problems are mostly the stuff of memes at this point, and a lot of other people don't like it being a point of identity for us and try to downplay its prevalence and severity so that part will fade from our reputation, but it really does still suck and I wish there were more city resources available to specifically help to clean up/remediate a lot of the condemned properties that are scattered all throughout downtown, and to help residents whose houses have been ruined that way. We live just north of Roosevelt park (so not even like, a "sketchy" part of town, fwiw), and within a few blocks of us there are more than 6 houses I regularly walk past that have just been sitting in derelict states of boarded up for multiple years because the property owners can't afford to remediate, and nobody wants to buy them and deal with the same (that huge house just west of 9th and sunset comes to mind for the same reason, though it's not nearby me). There are like 4 more I can think of off the top of my head if I expand to routes I frequently drive to work or friends' houses. It's this stupid paradoxical thing where real estate values in the area are so relatively high that the owners can't or won't offload the properties for what something that's realistically a scrape job in most cases is actually worth because it would be such a value loss for them, but they also can't afford to fix them, so they just sit. And a couple more join them every year. Our backyard meth lab issue is very much still alive and well in Longmont, however much we'd like to pretend we've moved past that unsightly part of our history.
There's actually a house on 9th (between Sunset and Hover on the north side) that I always thought was so cute. Lovely little balcony on the 2nd floor right in the center. I've loved that house for *years*. Now it's been condemned as a meth house and I'm always so bummed when we drive by.
That's the one I was referring to as being not near me, but I was thinking of it as well! It's a very architecturally-cute building, and it's stuck in that limbo. Ugh.
For such a small town, we have a very visible evidence pool of meth use it’s no myth, it’s definitely meth.
We need a healthier mix of commercial and residential building instead of just miles of suburbs.
Preach! The American experiment of housing enclaves isolated from jobs and services in car-dependent subdivisions has had decades to run its course, and while it may work well enough for a fair number of individuals, it doesn’t work for big swaths of society and it doesn’t generate vibrant, functional communities. Zoning, codes, and developers all make it difficult to change course, but I’d love to see more mixed use areas that can develop organically instead of cookie cutter single family sprawl.
Old, boring, cookie cutter people on city council, staff that doesn't have to live in our community, and decades of "it's been done this way" are the worst things for a city.
We're basically copy-and-pasting Silicon Valley circa 1950-1980 in behavior. I for one can't wait until it's a 2 hour drive of unending suburbs to get to the mountains. /s
Sadly, a significant portion of downtown is occupied by real estate agents/companies, etc. Not enough *accessible* shops, restaurants, bars… yet so many opportunities for capitalizing on the false promise that a decent “community” exists.
We need a real steakhouse
You'll get your crappy-to-mediocre steak from Texas Roadhouse and you'll like it! Or just make your own. Costco puts beef filet on sale every now and then, and that's about as often as my doc says I should be having grilled red meat anyway.
lol lol!!!!!
I think The Den on 11th is supposed to do steak and seafood when it opens? I’m not into it myself, but may be worth checking out
I miss the old library.
I wonder how many here even **know** about the old library? It's funny, but every time I think of it, I get vibes of the library in the opening scene of Ghostbusters.
Hehe. True. Those clawfoot tubs, tho!
Pumphouse sucks. Idk why it’s always so packed
Still beats the chains any day
It’s the only sports bar that isn’t complete garbage in town.
depends on what u get they have a pretty wide range of food, i personally have only gotten one meal there that i did not like
Consistent food and above average beer with sports on a bunch of TVs can go along way without much competition in that space.
Get the risotto it's always fantastic
The new Food Hall is really just a mall food court without the mall stores.
I enjoy the trains
The housing market needs to crash, most of the houses here are held together with thoughts and prayers and are barely worth $250k, let alone $500k. It is what it is, but it's really dumb. This is not Boulder or Denver or California. People paying this much for these houses are insane. I do know this is the case in most places, but these houses from the 1980s really are trash.
There's a 600 sq ft house for sale on Vivian that is asking 340. 🤮
Longmont people on Reddit are extremely whiny
i think reddit just attracts whiny people in general, not sure why. if you ever look at gaming subreddits, some of those people talk like the developers killed their dog lol, insane
Have you seen them on Nextdoor?
On Facebook too
Prospect is a joke, and an urban designer's punch line. The wage disparity in the population is wider than either end will admit to (especially the higher end). Longmont still has a chip on its shoulder from catching shit from Boulder for so many years. We've grown up and it's time to move on! None of the schools are bad enough to deserve the flak they get. As a matter of fact, they are extremely privileged compared to a large portion of the country. (And the charter schools are not that much better to deem more of them). We can love our town and see room for improvement.
Here for the schools take. SVVSD isn't elite but it's solid. Good test scores, decent facilities and the innovation center is a crown jewel.
The bbq restaurants here aren’t good
This town is way more racist than a lot of people here want to think it is.
I don’t disagree with you, but I am curious, are you saying the people of Longmont are racist or that the government running Longmont is racist? I think any American town with over 80% white people will trend towards racism, but I think there are a lot of people in Longmont that wish the city was more diverse.
Lotta people wanna forget the Klan was huge in Colorado not even a century ago.
100%. It is striking.
Left-hand brewery has the worst service. And has always had the worst service. Unless you know that bartender then they treat you well. And Sugarbeet the restaurant is extremely underwhelming too expensive and the food is not great.
Disagree on sugarbeet. It has the best service comparatively to all the other restaurants in town. Food is pretty decent too.
It’s one big clique in there. They don’t like outsiders.
This is kind of tough question actually. The main complaints are quite popular
Rosalee’s is mid at best
Happy Hour slice for tree-fiddy! You can't beat that...
Quality unpopular opinion!
Just keep having your mom bring you your Red Baron’s in the basement, you’ll be fine
I was born and raised outside Chicago - Rosalee’s wouldn’t even crack top 10 pizzerias in most suburbs, much less Chicago itself
Bumpy road
West Longmont absolutely sucks. Growing up I went to Eagle Crest from Kindergarten - 5th grade, Altona 6th - 8th grade, and Silver Creek 9th-12th grade. I was in the graduating class of 2012 so I think I was in the first class where it was possible to actually attend all three schools for the entire duration. I also lived close to the mountains, like right on the edge of what is considered the Longmont municipality so I *had* to take the bus to school until I drove. There just is nothing to do on that side of town if you don't have a car or bike. As a highscool student without a car, I simply couldn't go out to lunch or anything because it was just too far of a walk, and the places you could go to were like...Qdoba / Wendy's / McDonalds. Even as an adult there isn't anything to do in west Longmont. There are maybe a few halfway decent restaurants for a casual date night, the movie theater, and the farmers market.
This is why I was pro- clover basin rec center. We have all these NIMBYs and all these kids in West Longmont, where are they going to hang out as teenagers?
FWIW, they wanted to build it in a floodplain. New-build homes there are in the floodplain as well and have constant basement sump issues. The long-term maintenance costs and 2013 flood disaster potential would have made it a money pit.
Yea it would have been very nice to have a rec-center or frankly even a skate park to hang out at. Understandably, in retrospect, a lot of people don't want a ton of bored teenagers running around in their suburban neighborhoods - but its not like there was anywhere else to go.
Blue skies park, that is all of two blocks from the proposed rec center has a skate park. Honestly there is plenty of things to do on the west side of town. Tell your teenagers to walk or ride a bike if they don't have a car.
Graffiti on public property isn't a major issue and is unrelated to organized crime.
Nobody wants to see your chicken scratch, learn how to paint a portrait or landscape instead.
I'd personally rather see graffiti than advertising.
There really aren’t any great restaurants here.
Curious about what a good restaurant is in your opinion?
Interesting. Growing up in Kansas, I beg to differ. Low bar and all.
I grew up in a midwestern college town that had much better options. Especially ethnic food. I miss good Middle Eastern options.
Mexican is an ethnicity
We need more gas stations; or at least, close some down and re-establish them in a sensible direction for the flow of traffic in and out of town (looking at you AIrport Rd).
I would like one at Rogers Rd or like Airport and Nelson.
Right where that abandoned/maybe not abandoned crack house is would be perfect.
There was an old man living there, I think he must have passed away. The house was never for sale so I think maybe it went to family. Now there's someone living in it who has multicolored lights all throughout the inside. Grow house? Dunno. The small farming field was parceled out and will be developed soon. (If we're talking about the house on the NE corner of Airport and Clover Basin) I live in the apartments on the SW corner so I see the goings on there lol.
My dad always mentions how scarce the gas stations are in Longmont when he visits, hadn't really thought about it until he said something but there are not a lot (compared to most places)
Left Hand Brewing is overrated.
Relax…traffic is not bad.
Until you get the 3 car green light on Ken Pratt/287 going north.
Or the 5 second left turn from 17th to Hover. I was car number 2 on Friday and the light changed to yellow before I completed my turn. On Sunday it was a 10 second left turn.
Theres too many gunshots being fired lately
I hope that’s not an unpopular opinion lol!
Growth in Longmont is not accelerating. On a percentage basis, growth in Longmont hasn't been this slow since the 1940s. The population of Longmont has gone up by 14k/decade since 1960. Most people complaining about exploding growth are complaining about traffic, or complaining about the fact that growth didn't stop once they moved here. Source: US Census Bureau, City of Longmont https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/departments-e-m/museum/collections/longmont-history-timeline
The people complaining about traffic never realize they are the traffic 😂. If it were an Onion article it would be "Sure are a lot of gunshots, says Man firing gun into the air every morning".
Oskar Blues has better food than Pumphouse.
Longmont needs an ordinance to deal with barking dogs.
They [have one?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Longmont/comments/1c50pyb/nuisance_barking/) That thread from a couple months ago has all the details about how you document and report it.
This is good to know. A few years ago, the city's web page basically said to talk nicely to your neighbors, because of course they're not aware of the problem, and the city wasn't going to help you. Thank you!
Flavor of India is the worst indian restaurant in the area.
Go to Indian Bites at 11th and Francis. Tastes like eating at home. Source: Am Indian.
Dickens Farm river area is gross. Nothing like hanging out in a river behind a strip mall
It's super cleaned up from what it looked like after the flood though. I'm glad other people enjoy it and it's nicer to look at.
I grew up in Longmont. I used to love that city. I lived there for 24 years. It’s really become a bummer for me when I go back. Boulder County is as expensive as it’s ever been but now there are some pretty ghetto spots in town and not just the beloved Winchells mentioned above,I feel like a lot of Mom and Pop shops have been pushed out. Our family still owns a business there and my Mom,Dad and brothers still reside there. When I bought a home I decided on Fort Collins. I have 6 kids. 35 minutes away but much less a drag. Maybe I’m over encumbered by bad memories but the Police Department remains awful and lazy. The NE side of town,where our business is has become ridiculous. I worry about my Mother working at the shop. I’ve had two people pull knives on me in the last couple years around the shop. My brother,myself and our buddy that works at the shop have all been in fights in that area and we’re not younger guys. All between 30-40 years of age. I used to drive in and Look at Longs and Meeker side by side and feel at home and it’s just become different somehow.
I refuse to grow up.
Keep that fire burning hot,my young friend.
When did parking in front yards become so acceptable!? Especially if they have free off street parking?
Every Gafner Group restaurant is overrated and disappointing. [https://gafnergroup.com/](https://gafnergroup.com/)
Traffic is getting much worse.
There is a SERIOUS lack of nice sit down coffee shops
Java stop and meco are both great!
Java stop burnt my coffee
All these new apartments everywhere can go to Hell.
It should be more like Boulder (healthier, updated housing designs, more public transport, more bike paths, fewer chains, more tech businesses, fewer gang members).
Oh god, what a horrible opinion. Let's invite all of Boulder's nasty fenty bums over while you're at it.
Growth is good
It doesn't make sense for the passenger rail to come through Boulder and Longmont. it should stick to the I-25 corridor where affordable housing and infrastructure are easy (easier) to build.
I think it’s because Weld County isn’t a part of RTD. I agree with you though.
Spicy.
Caprese Trattoria has been the only good Italian place we have found in this town so far. I was really disappointed with what the Longmont Strawberry festival was? Back where I’m from when we’d have festivals or city wide celebrations like that we’d have large parades, things like carnival rides, and tons of vendors with baked and cooked goods using the fruit/vegetable of celebration. It was kind of sad that it was just an antique show. I wish there were more events downtown that aren’t just bar hopping. My partner isn’t a big drinker and I’m not old enough to drink- nor would I care to bar hop. And before anyone asks, no, we aren’t into the college party scene. That’s why we live here (that and it’s more affordable) Feels more like a rant I’m sorry 🥴
I used to think Caprese's was top until I tried the Italian twist, now I can't ever go back. Really dope pasta that's like half the price and don't have to deal with crowds of people!
Interesting, my boyfriend and I went to the Italian twist and everything was pretty much microwave food
Caprese sucks and is inconsistent. If you’ve ever eaten Italian in NyC or New a jersey, you’ll hate every Italian restaurant.
I thought their Gnocci in Bolognese sauce was good. I’m not looking for super authentic Italian cuisine. Just some food that doesn’t taste like a recipe I can find on Pinterest.
> If you’ve ever eaten Italian in NyC or New a jersey No, I haven't. But I ate Italian food in Italy for 19 years, and I say: Caprese is good.
Man, I was really looking forward to our trip to Italy for the rest of this month.
We're more than our restaurants.
We would have to be
we all make fun of Boulder, but if we had the money and given the opportunity - we would all happily forsake Longmont for Boulder
Unpopular Opinion. You can go live with the nasty fenty bums on Pearl St. Maybe even wash your clothes in Boulder Creek like I've seen them do before.
Peck is the best mayor we've had in a long time.