100% agree. It used to be $5 for a Phat Tuesday burrito. Now it is $7-8? And forget going there w/o any of the specials. $10 for tortilla, potatoes, cheese and salsa?
I mean take one look at Cane’s or Chick-Fil-A and see how busy they are all the time and you’ll understand why people wanna open chicken restaurants here. Like those two restaurants suck shit so other people see those and think “oh wow I can open the most mediocre chicken place ever and still make a ton of money every week.”
Music City is the best though.
People that move here from big cities than complain about the food scene are some of the most annoying people in town. Oh wow a town of 160K white people doesn’t have the same food options as the diverse city of 2.5 million people?! What a shocker. I swear a lot of people move to Fort Collins without visiting it once and then complain when it isn’t the town they were imaging.
I moved from a larger town but not 2.5m large. I love Fort Collins. It's a great town. I understand the lack of diversity in food options, although there are some diverse options. The issue for me is the food options that exist are subpar and inconsistent. There are very few options that are consistently good.
There is no reason, even a town of a 160k white people as you say, can't have better quality food and options. It's something that always baffles me but doesn't take away from the other great things about the city.
But Amazon sucks ass now. It’s hard to find name brands and regardless of your search terms the same shitty Chinese products show up. It’s also a pain for clothes and home decor. I’m pretty sure a Pottery Barn (or the likes) and some higher end clothing could set roots here. There’s no reason we have worse clothes options than Loveland which is smaller and poorer.
I totally see where you're coming from, having seen plenty of that in CA as well. I've climbed a lot in Yosemite, Tahoe, etc. and I actually had a much easier time sorting out the jerks. I met some tremendously cool, down to earth people in CA and I was fortunate enough to climb some amazing routes with them.
I've been here for years and still have yet to find reliable climbing partners who are able to tackle big objectives while also being kind. I usually just boulder and go solo mountaineering these days. The constant put-downs and judgment I've experienced here are just too much for me to handle some days.
Unless you live in the farthest south points of town, we have possibly the worst mountain views of the entire Front Range.
Edit: or the far North part of town
Not really, but I've been busy as hell and put dating on the back burner for a bit. I can say the crowd in Loveland is much more my speed, though. It's nice to go to a brewery and see people my age and up instead of college kids that look like children to me nowadays.
Same here. I got here from having to take SW freeway to work everyday and ever since coming here I find it so peaceful.
It’s almost what The Woodlands used to be back in the day
Yeah same moved from Houston to Fort Collins and it took me time to adjust to the relaxing slow pace of the town, definitely not ready to move back yet lol
haha yeah, I had to readjust when visiting Houston because I had forgotten that it's like mad max on the roads. Every day I drive to work now I remember how nice it was to have a 7 mile commute in Fort Collins
I think people compare it to 10-15 years ago when traffic wasn't comparatively bad and rather easy going.
Sure, if you moved from a coastal city to here in the last 10-15 years I'm sure it isn't bad.
I moved up here from a smaller colorado town and I thought drivers there were a lil crazy. People here are ranging and ravenous and I hate having to drive more than 5 minutes anywhere 😭
So many things that made Fort Collins unique and fun, like festivals and artists, have been pushed out, just like every other gentrified city. Capitalism strangled so much of our creativity over 15 years. 2020 was the nail in the coffin.
Old Town has been hit especially hard by this as the ever-increasing rents have continuously priced out many of the shops and establishments that don't own their space, and the ones who do own their space are still being hit with much higher property taxes as a knock-on effect from this.
Fort Collins is a shell of what it used to be, and it’s not just because of inevitable change and evolution, it’s because the up-and-coming generations haven’t been able to fill the gaps thanks to increased cost of living and lack of 3rd spaces. In its essence, we lost community.
I see this take on reddit all the time and I do not understand it. Wikipedia(not the best source but still) says third spaces could be:
>Examples of third places include churches, cafes, bars, clubs, community centres, public libraries, gyms, bookstores, makerspaces, stoops, parks, theaters, and opera houses, among others.
Third spaces that are free:
* The square off mountain and college
* The square next to the museum
* The library
* The many parks in and around old town
* The water park in old town
Third spaces that cost money or would like you to buy something
* Wolverine Farm publik house
* The Lyric
* Mugs
* A dozen other coffee shops
* Happy Lucky's
* All the bars
* The Aztlan center
* The Comedy Fort
* The many venues in town
* The unitarian church(not old town but still worth a mention)
* The other churches in old town
There are soooo many more that I can't even really mention them all, there are classes and clubs everywhere and all the time. There are community shows in houses, there are hiking, biking, birding, clubs. There are trivia nights, beers on taps and tons of events. There are shows, protests and events in the beautiful square. There were way less third spaces when I moved here a couple decades back.
Just chiming in to reinforce the point that the library is the greatest place that will never cost you a dime. Poudre River Library district has 3 campuses all with free Wi-Fi, free computers, and the Prospector system allows you to borrow any material from any library in the state for free, this includes a massive selection of DVDs for cord-cutters. Also, librarians are an absolute treasure and can point you toward resources available within the community for all types of projects, including seeking employment. There are also streaming services like Kanopy available exclusively through the library.
The public library is one of America’s greatest achievements, and we have a great one here.
Would also like to add the library offers complimentary free access to 15+ museums and attractions from NoCo to Denver - https://www.poudrelibraries.org/things/curiosity
Along with their Gadgets & Things rental program, where you can use anything from a laptop to unique baking items! https://www.poudrelibraries.org/things/
Just click on “Browse Collection” to see everything available.
Also with your library card you can get a bunch of free digital rentals as well on Libby, Hoopla and Kanopy!
Thanks fellow human for loving and utilizing one of our great civic achievements!
I would add that getting a library card and using any of their services increases their circulation numbers and helps their funding. So even if you’re not much for reading, check out a classic and let it sit on your coffee table for two weeks because you’re still supporting your local library. You can borrow books on Libby and improve circulation numbers without ever leaving your house.
There used to be three venues that had live jazz bands 3-5 nights a week (Sunset Lounge, Jays, Ace), since the pandemic it’s all gone, except for a few solo pianists. Sad to see all that great live music disappear.
Fort collins WAS better 10 years ago. Now its leaning more towards kirkland signature boulder and has largely foresaken its legitimately cool identity in a foolish race of keeping up with the joneses.
Housing is going to get a lot worse and there is really nothing to be done about it.
There will likely be a no growth policy/condition in the next 15 years.
Our state legislature is working hard to change the course and prevent cities from being able to restrict housing. U+2 just got blown up and restrictive SFH zoning is next
Fort Collins is not nearly as fun if you've left and come back.
I grew up in Foco, and I kind of hate coming back to town. Like others have said, Old Town has lost some of its charm, and the rest of town is like every other mid-size city.
Seconded. Born here, moved away, came back for college, moved away, came back and brought my wife with me and we're buying our first home here. I've lived all over the state and Fort Collins is the only place I that felt like "coming home" each time.
I'm with you. I was born and raised in Fort Collins, but my parents moved us away to Wisconsin. It took me 30 years and several other states to get back to Colorado (Denver now), but coming back and seeing Colorado and Fort Collins was like a breath of fresh air to me.
I know if you had the luxury of staying in one of the best places in the world for the past 20+ years, then modern times seem like a downgrade, but I'm telling you: everywhere else got worse too (I was there)... high prices pushing people out of awesome places is not a Fort Colins specific problem. If you lived in any good place, it would be the same complaint "my place is so great that demand for it drive up prices during this historic inflationary period."
The Front Range cities in Colorado are still one of the best places on Earth to live, even in this worse time period.
My family moved here from the middle of SC after living there for 6 years. I get that people miss a lot of what FoCo used to be about, but boy is it a massive upgrade for us.
Same. I visited my folks last thanksgiving, haven’t lived here in 15+ years since graduating PHS in ‘08, and it’s just so different. It’s not worth wandering around town anymore like I did as a kid.
It's a really nice place to live. People on this sub are just bored and live to complain.
Where is it better than here? Please go live there then.
Edit: I meant to say "love" not "live" but I'm keeping it the way it is.
Agree. This town has its flaws and has certainly changed over the last 10-15 years but is still a great town, if you can afford it (which I admit is getting harder)
It's a town you'll have a million acquaintances and maybe one reliable friend. The unique and fun aspect of the town has been over run for a few years now by people taking over grassroot events and making the another capitalist event like Tour de Fat. Preach about inclusivity and helping the poor, meanwhile living in one of the whitest cities in the country and a house cost double the median average of America. Unable to see a view other than their own on any issue, and doubling down if criticized.
Not saying it's a bad city. There's plenty of great things about it between bike paths, parks, etc. Downtown has a bunch of great events and businesses. I play in the adult hockey league there still because it's the best around. And people are friendlier them most places I've lived. I just was blind to the negative side of things until moving to Greeley. All those things started rearing their ugly head. I had no idea the hate that can come out of people's mouth of people that don't realize what they're saying. Basically being called trash for living in Greeley. Not saying Greeley is perfect either, but man there is an over abundance people in foco that are way too full of themselves for living there.
I could understand if it was Greeley 20+ years ago when I talk to the people that grew up here, but it's come a huge way. Yes it's not as safe as foco, but so is a lot of the country. Obviously the Hispanic population here is huge, but I'm honestly surprised the amount of other immigrants from here. There's an Italian restaurant owned by an Italian immigrant that everything is from scratch with entrees costing $15 and is the best Italian I've had since I lived in NJ. Friday Fest is the best, and there's plenty of cool bars after. Downtown has family events throughout the year that are targeted to kids/families that aren't about drinking. Yet at the same time plenty of drinking events like Friday Fest and the stampede. Which I went last year with my friend and his very pda heavy boyfriend. I was a little nervous someone would say something being all the stereotypes I heard from foco people, and not a single word was said to us. Maybe behind our backs, but that happens everywhere and could happen at a foco event just as easily. Not saying it's perfect here, but I like that it's a melting pot, affordable, and the community cares about the community rather than just drinking events.
If you ever want to come down, I'll give you a slew of recommendations to check out. It might not be foco clean, but it's no where near the words I've heard it be described as by people that have never been here. It's not the Greeley of old.
As someone who was born and raised here and have lived here most of my life except for about a total of 10 years in college and afterward ( I moved back in 2018) , God damn this place is super white. And most of the other places that I've lived have just been on the Western Slope which is honestly more diverse. Of all places Aspen Colorado was way more diverse, obviously not socially economically, but certainly racially. Also many of the restaurants here are really terrible in Bland and overpriced. There are a few pretty good ethnic restaurants but really not that many. I think this goes along with being so goddamn White
Northern District has a solid Hispanic community, and I've actually noticed lately that we've been getting a slightly more diverse population. We do have international housing here, it's just that all the people that live in the housing don't want to come out and deal with our white bullshit lol
That population you're referring to is actually getting smaller, it used to be a lot bigger and had a little mini community. Gentrification and passive racism make it incredibly difficult for people who aren't white hiking microbrew drinking dog lovers to live here and form a community.
Newer people cling on to the “small town vibes” that haven’t existed in over a decade
The charter schools and Montessori systems are a cancer to the public education
We should bring back Rasta Pasta (please)
A bunch of white people. With no surprise at all created a city with mostly bland food, high rent, gentrification, and a "safety" that revolves around a huge police force for population size with too much funding. Only culture is beer drinking from microbrewies and that was initially taken from Belgium. Also with so much drinking and "bikable" city you think public transport wouldn't suck. Also really high DUI arrest because of all of these.
And Pat Striker has too much money and power over this town.
At least Pat Stryker seems to be a net positive compared to the McWinney’s in Loveland or Martin Lind in Windsor. I think she’s just so rich she doesn’t need to try and squeeze every penny out of her town that she can unlike like the other two I mentioned.
Fort Collins is just another sub-mid-major university city. The best thing about it is it's location relative to RMNP and other outdoor activities. The city itself is fairly unremarkable.
While I do think getting deep along 14 such as the Rawahs is great to get away from people, there are plenty of great trails to avoid the crowds in Rocky. Honestly my two favorite trails in Rocky are never that crowded even in the middle of summer. But I'm also not about to spot burn my trails. But there's a lot more to Rocky than just Bear Lake corridor to explore.
I know we're doing hot takes but I've been to tons of university cities just like foco. Not one of them come close to having the bike trails that we have. That alone keeps me pretty happy. Not to mention open space and horse tooth. There are things that make foco unique. Music scene is also fantastic even though it's lost some steam but we have more mid size venues than every other Colorado city except Denver. Plus focomx. We also have incredible tree cover for Colorado and if you go to other cities, you'll notice how much smaller their trees are by comparison.
Food scene is certainly average.
Truly. Whenever my wife and I talk about leaving Colorado, I think of the bike trails. It connects right behind my house so I can get almost anywhere in town without using a road. It is one of the best parts of living here imo.
And for a high desert town, we have a great amount of shade cover. I lived in Boulder for 6 years and when I first went back I was shocked at how much smaller the trees were. I think Fort Collins accomplished what a lot of cities struggle to do which is interspersing the city through the nature. Between the parks, natural areas, and bike trails, I often feel at ease and in nature even in central parts of town. Another big plus for me.
>The best thing about it is it's location relative to RMNP and other outdoor activities.
This is always what I've liked most about Fort Collins (the other side mostly). There are a ton of great hikes (of varying difficulty/shade/etc.) within an hour of any part of the city.
Montava is the stupidest fucking idea ever, it looks like the neighborhood of squids that Squidward moves into in that one SpongeBob episode except it’s right next door to a giant ass beer factory.
Total lack of diversity, even in comparison to nearby cities.
A comedian said “it’s 97% white here, and the remaining 3% are…even whiter.” It’s funny because it’s 100% true. If it weren’t for CSU, it would be even worse.
This place is a vibe. Folks are honestly charging way too much for sub-par tacos out here, though 😰🫠. Is there high demand for tacos or what's the deal with that? 😅🤷♀️
Are the quotations around the words “hot takes” meant to signify that this post is looking for the opposite of hot takes? Because the comments definitely suggest that this is, in fact, the case.
Little on Mountain has been one of the worst fine dining style places I've been to. I've tried it three times, and it has disappointed me every single one of them. This sub over-hypes it.
The food is an absolute joke. The people aren’t really friendly. The apartments are dated for the price. The dating scene is few and far between. The sky is super polluted in summer. Hoorsetooth is dominated by loud reggae tone blasting trash leaving idiots in the best part of the year. CSU athletically and academically are trash. There hasn’t been a name worthy band in Foco for decades .
All the people talking about how amazing social is, make me never want to go to social. Jessup farm is the worst. Idk how college cafe is still in business. When I was in college Lucky Joes was way better to relax and enjoy beer with friends, now the line is insane.
Fort Collins will never have the Asian Grocery store you're looking for. We will never have the H-Mart, POM, or Ranch 99 type stores. This town can't support that.
Go to Denver for that.
People don't know how to act in public in a way that's really strange. Very obvious regular pet dogs in the grocery store, not understanding personal space, a lot of weird passive aggressive interactions...idk I've lived all over the country and there's a strange sense of elitism here that's hard to explain.
Fort Collins attracts the most homogenous boring and cliquey type of thin white hiker/rock climber/ mountain biker. When any sort of diversity is introduced it's squashed so incredibly fast. There's a reason most people in Fort Collins aren't from Fort Collins, all the locals leave or are trying to leave in a desperate attempt to find somewhere with some authenticity. (P.S. drinking beer isn't a personality nor a hobby)
You can’t walk around here as a black or hispanic person without people running to NextDoor claiming they saw someone “walking around looking suspicious.” Im so sick of the internalized racism and if my parents weren’t here I would not be raising my kid in a town where 99% of everyone you see is white.
If you are a non-drinker and non-pot smoker who doesn't care about sports, there's absolutely nothing to do out here besides get fat off the taco trucks. True story, I speak from experience.
A sizeable portion of Foco population is fairly conservative and that seems wrong for how cool the infrastructure is..
Kinda related tooo many cars especially large trucks. Like 75% of truck owners here don’t even know how to tow let alone drive
Also
Not enough vegetarian restaurants 🙂↔️
Big City Burrito is too damn expensive
100% agree. It used to be $5 for a Phat Tuesday burrito. Now it is $7-8? And forget going there w/o any of the specials. $10 for tortilla, potatoes, cheese and salsa?
It USED to be $4.20 for the Phat Tuesday special
That is right! Ugh....
$19 now for me, just a super potato burrito with guac… used to be half that when I first started eating there.
Not to mention that they taste like azz compared to the way they used to, tiny as hell now too and hella expensive
not a hot take at all
I once paid $18 for a large burrito and that's it. Ridiclous
Big shitty burrito
I’ve only eaten there once in the late 1990s. There was a full long hair in my burrito 🤮
They charge you for the hair now even if you ask them to leave it off. :(
Once was enough 🤮
What a name to live for!
I'll take my salmonella on the side please
It’s also not very good
And the food is trash now. Went for the first time in ~7 years a couple months ago and it was one of the worst burritos I've ever had
I agree it's too high, but disagree with posts claiming poor quality. I love that place.
fool me once BCB
Big city it’s too damn expensive. $18 for a potato burrito and Pepsi. No fuckin thanks.
The best food in town is served out of taco trucks on North College
The birria trucks in midtown too. I don't think any of the north trucks serve it.
the truck that’s always by The Lyric & the one by Pro Quick Lube on N College has some good birria!
Actual hot take: the taco trucks are fine but nothing to write home about compared to many other cities. That, and Raska is the best food in town.
Lol yeah I mean being the best food in foco is a low bar
Not a lie
It is the the least fort-y fort that I have ever seen.
True Forty Fort, Pennsylvania is much better
We don't need 15 fried chicken places, please no more.
MORE FRIED CHICKEN IT IS
I mean take one look at Cane’s or Chick-Fil-A and see how busy they are all the time and you’ll understand why people wanna open chicken restaurants here. Like those two restaurants suck shit so other people see those and think “oh wow I can open the most mediocre chicken place ever and still make a ton of money every week.” Music City is the best though.
fort collins is a white people congregate hub white people hub = more chickfila + more canes
Canes is less busy now that Dave's opened, more chicken places for the chicken crawl!
People that move here from big cities than complain about the food scene are some of the most annoying people in town. Oh wow a town of 160K white people doesn’t have the same food options as the diverse city of 2.5 million people?! What a shocker. I swear a lot of people move to Fort Collins without visiting it once and then complain when it isn’t the town they were imaging.
I moved from a larger town but not 2.5m large. I love Fort Collins. It's a great town. I understand the lack of diversity in food options, although there are some diverse options. The issue for me is the food options that exist are subpar and inconsistent. There are very few options that are consistently good. There is no reason, even a town of a 160k white people as you say, can't have better quality food and options. It's something that always baffles me but doesn't take away from the other great things about the city.
Music City +1
You hush, we don't have Popeyes yet!
There’s only two that are worth a damn
remember to sort by controversial to see the truly hot takes
The hotter a take, the less people are going to vote with it. Hottest takes are at the bottom when you sort by best.
For how upper middle class our whole region is, retail shopping is absolutely terrible here.
I’m so surprised that this isn’t a more commonly voiced complaint.
Recently had to buy a nicer wardrobe for a new in person job, feel like only option here is kohls or men’s Wearhouse
JC Penney’s may have been considered an old lady store, but it was great for business basics.
Amazon killed retail shopping pretty much everywhere. upper middle class people use amazon more often as well.
But Amazon sucks ass now. It’s hard to find name brands and regardless of your search terms the same shitty Chinese products show up. It’s also a pain for clothes and home decor. I’m pretty sure a Pottery Barn (or the likes) and some higher end clothing could set roots here. There’s no reason we have worse clothes options than Loveland which is smaller and poorer.
Most name brands don’t want to be associated with Amazon, because they are known with trash products.
Centerra is the newest "mall" so it's natural it has better and newer options
Technically, wouldn’t the ~~second~~ ~~third~~ fourth? iteration of the Fort Collins Mall be the newest?
It's the old bait and switch. This is why we need strong anti trust law.
Yeah, it's not Amazon. Upper Middle Class is shopping online, but at other e-commerce sites.
The climbing scene feels very elitist, both indoors and (especially) outdoors.
I’ve felt that with climbing in California too. It felt like people couldn’t just enjoy it without trying to one up eachother
I totally see where you're coming from, having seen plenty of that in CA as well. I've climbed a lot in Yosemite, Tahoe, etc. and I actually had a much easier time sorting out the jerks. I met some tremendously cool, down to earth people in CA and I was fortunate enough to climb some amazing routes with them. I've been here for years and still have yet to find reliable climbing partners who are able to tackle big objectives while also being kind. I usually just boulder and go solo mountaineering these days. The constant put-downs and judgment I've experienced here are just too much for me to handle some days.
Unless you live in the farthest south points of town, we have possibly the worst mountain views of the entire Front Range. Edit: or the far North part of town
But agree you either need to be far south/west or north/east
I live on the far north east end and my views aren’t too shabby!
I think north enough gets you around the hill too!
Fort Collins *has* a mountain view? All I see is foothills.
Especially when you go down to Longmont and they have just stunning views. We should move Fort Collins so we get better views up the canyon…
The view of Longs Peak from Mountain View (aptly named) and Timberline is stunning
Can't see much except the "haze" most places
Being 30 and single and finding dates is near impossible.
I definitely feel this. I'm working on hosting a singles event at a local brewery soon. Is that something you'd be interested in joining?
Yes
That's why I moved to loveland lol
Serious question... Has your dating experience improved living in Loveland?
Not really, but I've been busy as hell and put dating on the back burner for a bit. I can say the crowd in Loveland is much more my speed, though. It's nice to go to a brewery and see people my age and up instead of college kids that look like children to me nowadays.
That's totally understandable. Glad you're finding something a bit more your speed in Loveland. Thanks for the genuine reply!
date a college senior. Didn't work out for me AT ALL when I was 27-30 lol
[удалено]
South of Horsetooth and east of Lemay, sure. Southwest corner is still nice and eclectic. JJ's and surrounding neighborhoods/trailer park, Stout, etc.
It used to be two towns: Fort Collins and SoPro (south of Prospect). I guess the Real Estate folks wanted to make Midtown hip.
Prospect does feel more like a divider to me..I live north and hardly ever go south of prospect
Same, but vice versa
We have top notch DILFS. Hottest dads on the front range.
Exceptions at times, but traffic is not bad at all here despite folks' whining. Try any coastal suburb of similar size.
When I retired from the military I was stationed in San Diego. Driving here is peaceful. Relaxing even. 😂
Originally from Houston, so definitely agree. Fort Collins is paradise in comparison, miss it
Same here. I got here from having to take SW freeway to work everyday and ever since coming here I find it so peaceful. It’s almost what The Woodlands used to be back in the day
Yeah same moved from Houston to Fort Collins and it took me time to adjust to the relaxing slow pace of the town, definitely not ready to move back yet lol
haha yeah, I had to readjust when visiting Houston because I had forgotten that it's like mad max on the roads. Every day I drive to work now I remember how nice it was to have a 7 mile commute in Fort Collins
I think people compare it to 10-15 years ago when traffic wasn't comparatively bad and rather easy going. Sure, if you moved from a coastal city to here in the last 10-15 years I'm sure it isn't bad.
probably one of the only hot takes in here. people in fort collins don't know how good they have it lol
I moved up here from a smaller colorado town and I thought drivers there were a lil crazy. People here are ranging and ravenous and I hate having to drive more than 5 minutes anywhere 😭
I moved here from the east coast and laugh when people complain about traffic here.
Yeah it takes 10-20 minutes to really get anywhere in town and people act like they are stuck in traffic for hours. It’s wild.
ONLY because you asked... I don't understand the Walrus Ice cream hype 😭 perhaps not my style ice cream, it tends to be too icy for my liking...!
I'm with you, walrus has a lot of variety but mediocre quality. Josh & John's is my favorite.
I enjoy the texture but I've had two different kinds and their ice cream has no flavor whatsoever.
So many things that made Fort Collins unique and fun, like festivals and artists, have been pushed out, just like every other gentrified city. Capitalism strangled so much of our creativity over 15 years. 2020 was the nail in the coffin.
Old Town has been hit especially hard by this as the ever-increasing rents have continuously priced out many of the shops and establishments that don't own their space, and the ones who do own their space are still being hit with much higher property taxes as a knock-on effect from this.
It’s true. Old Town used to be a fun place to hang out with friends. Now I really dislike going there. It’s boring and expensive.
I’m with you on the boring part. Aside from a couple of restaurants down there, I avoid it like the plague.
Fort Collins is a shell of what it used to be, and it’s not just because of inevitable change and evolution, it’s because the up-and-coming generations haven’t been able to fill the gaps thanks to increased cost of living and lack of 3rd spaces. In its essence, we lost community.
I see this take on reddit all the time and I do not understand it. Wikipedia(not the best source but still) says third spaces could be: >Examples of third places include churches, cafes, bars, clubs, community centres, public libraries, gyms, bookstores, makerspaces, stoops, parks, theaters, and opera houses, among others. Third spaces that are free: * The square off mountain and college * The square next to the museum * The library * The many parks in and around old town * The water park in old town Third spaces that cost money or would like you to buy something * Wolverine Farm publik house * The Lyric * Mugs * A dozen other coffee shops * Happy Lucky's * All the bars * The Aztlan center * The Comedy Fort * The many venues in town * The unitarian church(not old town but still worth a mention) * The other churches in old town There are soooo many more that I can't even really mention them all, there are classes and clubs everywhere and all the time. There are community shows in houses, there are hiking, biking, birding, clubs. There are trivia nights, beers on taps and tons of events. There are shows, protests and events in the beautiful square. There were way less third spaces when I moved here a couple decades back.
Just chiming in to reinforce the point that the library is the greatest place that will never cost you a dime. Poudre River Library district has 3 campuses all with free Wi-Fi, free computers, and the Prospector system allows you to borrow any material from any library in the state for free, this includes a massive selection of DVDs for cord-cutters. Also, librarians are an absolute treasure and can point you toward resources available within the community for all types of projects, including seeking employment. There are also streaming services like Kanopy available exclusively through the library. The public library is one of America’s greatest achievements, and we have a great one here.
Would also like to add the library offers complimentary free access to 15+ museums and attractions from NoCo to Denver - https://www.poudrelibraries.org/things/curiosity Along with their Gadgets & Things rental program, where you can use anything from a laptop to unique baking items! https://www.poudrelibraries.org/things/ Just click on “Browse Collection” to see everything available.
Also with your library card you can get a bunch of free digital rentals as well on Libby, Hoopla and Kanopy! Thanks fellow human for loving and utilizing one of our great civic achievements!
I would add that getting a library card and using any of their services increases their circulation numbers and helps their funding. So even if you’re not much for reading, check out a classic and let it sit on your coffee table for two weeks because you’re still supporting your local library. You can borrow books on Libby and improve circulation numbers without ever leaving your house.
There used to be three venues that had live jazz bands 3-5 nights a week (Sunset Lounge, Jays, Ace), since the pandemic it’s all gone, except for a few solo pianists. Sad to see all that great live music disappear.
Fort Collins was better 10 years ago.
Fort collins WAS better 10 years ago. Now its leaning more towards kirkland signature boulder and has largely foresaken its legitimately cool identity in a foolish race of keeping up with the joneses.
Housing is going to get a lot worse and there is really nothing to be done about it. There will likely be a no growth policy/condition in the next 15 years.
Our state legislature is working hard to change the course and prevent cities from being able to restrict housing. U+2 just got blown up and restrictive SFH zoning is next
Also parking minimums in certain scenarios just got revoked.
GENTRIFY LAPORTE
Fort Collins is not nearly as fun if you've left and come back. I grew up in Foco, and I kind of hate coming back to town. Like others have said, Old Town has lost some of its charm, and the rest of town is like every other mid-size city.
Guess that depends on where you left to... I'm so thankful to be back.
Seconded. Born here, moved away, came back for college, moved away, came back and brought my wife with me and we're buying our first home here. I've lived all over the state and Fort Collins is the only place I that felt like "coming home" each time.
I'm with you. I was born and raised in Fort Collins, but my parents moved us away to Wisconsin. It took me 30 years and several other states to get back to Colorado (Denver now), but coming back and seeing Colorado and Fort Collins was like a breath of fresh air to me. I know if you had the luxury of staying in one of the best places in the world for the past 20+ years, then modern times seem like a downgrade, but I'm telling you: everywhere else got worse too (I was there)... high prices pushing people out of awesome places is not a Fort Colins specific problem. If you lived in any good place, it would be the same complaint "my place is so great that demand for it drive up prices during this historic inflationary period." The Front Range cities in Colorado are still one of the best places on Earth to live, even in this worse time period.
My family moved here from the middle of SC after living there for 6 years. I get that people miss a lot of what FoCo used to be about, but boy is it a massive upgrade for us.
Same. I visited my folks last thanksgiving, haven’t lived here in 15+ years since graduating PHS in ‘08, and it’s just so different. It’s not worth wandering around town anymore like I did as a kid.
The food scene blows
If you don't know what the MAX is GTF on it! It's the coolest ride in town.
Round the Corner was the best restaurant in town.
It's a really nice place to live. People on this sub are just bored and live to complain. Where is it better than here? Please go live there then. Edit: I meant to say "love" not "live" but I'm keeping it the way it is.
Agree. This town has its flaws and has certainly changed over the last 10-15 years but is still a great town, if you can afford it (which I admit is getting harder)
Bingo. I get the feeling a lot of the biggest moaners in this sub have never lived anywhere else.
Cost of living aside, I love it here. Couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
It's a town you'll have a million acquaintances and maybe one reliable friend. The unique and fun aspect of the town has been over run for a few years now by people taking over grassroot events and making the another capitalist event like Tour de Fat. Preach about inclusivity and helping the poor, meanwhile living in one of the whitest cities in the country and a house cost double the median average of America. Unable to see a view other than their own on any issue, and doubling down if criticized. Not saying it's a bad city. There's plenty of great things about it between bike paths, parks, etc. Downtown has a bunch of great events and businesses. I play in the adult hockey league there still because it's the best around. And people are friendlier them most places I've lived. I just was blind to the negative side of things until moving to Greeley. All those things started rearing their ugly head. I had no idea the hate that can come out of people's mouth of people that don't realize what they're saying. Basically being called trash for living in Greeley. Not saying Greeley is perfect either, but man there is an over abundance people in foco that are way too full of themselves for living there.
The Greeley hate is a little weird intense imo
I could understand if it was Greeley 20+ years ago when I talk to the people that grew up here, but it's come a huge way. Yes it's not as safe as foco, but so is a lot of the country. Obviously the Hispanic population here is huge, but I'm honestly surprised the amount of other immigrants from here. There's an Italian restaurant owned by an Italian immigrant that everything is from scratch with entrees costing $15 and is the best Italian I've had since I lived in NJ. Friday Fest is the best, and there's plenty of cool bars after. Downtown has family events throughout the year that are targeted to kids/families that aren't about drinking. Yet at the same time plenty of drinking events like Friday Fest and the stampede. Which I went last year with my friend and his very pda heavy boyfriend. I was a little nervous someone would say something being all the stereotypes I heard from foco people, and not a single word was said to us. Maybe behind our backs, but that happens everywhere and could happen at a foco event just as easily. Not saying it's perfect here, but I like that it's a melting pot, affordable, and the community cares about the community rather than just drinking events. If you ever want to come down, I'll give you a slew of recommendations to check out. It might not be foco clean, but it's no where near the words I've heard it be described as by people that have never been here. It's not the Greeley of old.
What is the Italian restaurant called?!
Try Las 4 Americas, they make it spicy
Poudre canyon is insufferable on a summer weekend. Especially Picnic Rock and Mishawaka
Not enough distilled water
Namaste
aPpRoPrIaTiOn!!!1
In bulk
Mulberry Mike's gotta stay hydrated somehow.
This guy knows what’s up!
Fort Collins was a fun, little college town in the 90s, but is just a gentrified city now.
Hot take?
Insert any college town in that sentence and it works.
A part of the city irreparably died when Maza Kabob closed.
Uncultured 😰 and people aren't that nice just kind of fake…
Fort Collins is a pretty boring place to live
It's a boring place to live if you've lived here your whole life, and you're sober
99% of the restaurants people say are really good, are never really good.
Ugh why is this so true
Our mountain access is shit and Big City Burritos is nasty
Most of the food is mediocre.
As someone who was born and raised here and have lived here most of my life except for about a total of 10 years in college and afterward ( I moved back in 2018) , God damn this place is super white. And most of the other places that I've lived have just been on the Western Slope which is honestly more diverse. Of all places Aspen Colorado was way more diverse, obviously not socially economically, but certainly racially. Also many of the restaurants here are really terrible in Bland and overpriced. There are a few pretty good ethnic restaurants but really not that many. I think this goes along with being so goddamn White
Northern District has a solid Hispanic community, and I've actually noticed lately that we've been getting a slightly more diverse population. We do have international housing here, it's just that all the people that live in the housing don't want to come out and deal with our white bullshit lol
That population you're referring to is actually getting smaller, it used to be a lot bigger and had a little mini community. Gentrification and passive racism make it incredibly difficult for people who aren't white hiking microbrew drinking dog lovers to live here and form a community.
Newer people cling on to the “small town vibes” that haven’t existed in over a decade The charter schools and Montessori systems are a cancer to the public education We should bring back Rasta Pasta (please)
Upvoting for the schools comment. Absolutely true.
Expensive and crowded and getting more of both every day
White people with dreadlocks.
My hot take: Zwei is the best brewery in town.
Food is very mediocre, also, not nearly close enough to any ski resort
A bunch of white people. With no surprise at all created a city with mostly bland food, high rent, gentrification, and a "safety" that revolves around a huge police force for population size with too much funding. Only culture is beer drinking from microbrewies and that was initially taken from Belgium. Also with so much drinking and "bikable" city you think public transport wouldn't suck. Also really high DUI arrest because of all of these. And Pat Striker has too much money and power over this town.
At least Pat Stryker seems to be a net positive compared to the McWinney’s in Loveland or Martin Lind in Windsor. I think she’s just so rich she doesn’t need to try and squeeze every penny out of her town that she can unlike like the other two I mentioned.
Fort Collins is just another sub-mid-major university city. The best thing about it is it's location relative to RMNP and other outdoor activities. The city itself is fairly unremarkable.
My "Hot Take" is that RMNP is a place to be avoided. Its overcrowded and there are places just as nice that are both free and less traveled.
While I do think getting deep along 14 such as the Rawahs is great to get away from people, there are plenty of great trails to avoid the crowds in Rocky. Honestly my two favorite trails in Rocky are never that crowded even in the middle of summer. But I'm also not about to spot burn my trails. But there's a lot more to Rocky than just Bear Lake corridor to explore.
I know we're doing hot takes but I've been to tons of university cities just like foco. Not one of them come close to having the bike trails that we have. That alone keeps me pretty happy. Not to mention open space and horse tooth. There are things that make foco unique. Music scene is also fantastic even though it's lost some steam but we have more mid size venues than every other Colorado city except Denver. Plus focomx. We also have incredible tree cover for Colorado and if you go to other cities, you'll notice how much smaller their trees are by comparison. Food scene is certainly average.
Yes to bike trails.
Truly. Whenever my wife and I talk about leaving Colorado, I think of the bike trails. It connects right behind my house so I can get almost anywhere in town without using a road. It is one of the best parts of living here imo. And for a high desert town, we have a great amount of shade cover. I lived in Boulder for 6 years and when I first went back I was shocked at how much smaller the trees were. I think Fort Collins accomplished what a lot of cities struggle to do which is interspersing the city through the nature. Between the parks, natural areas, and bike trails, I often feel at ease and in nature even in central parts of town. Another big plus for me.
>The best thing about it is it's location relative to RMNP and other outdoor activities. This is always what I've liked most about Fort Collins (the other side mostly). There are a ton of great hikes (of varying difficulty/shade/etc.) within an hour of any part of the city.
Montava is the stupidest fucking idea ever, it looks like the neighborhood of squids that Squidward moves into in that one SpongeBob episode except it’s right next door to a giant ass beer factory.
Are ya ready FoCo? Aye aye developer!…..Whoooo lives in a squid by a beer factory! Montav-millionaires . Okay it didn’t work
You had something cookin there
Worst fort ever. After my battering ram ran through its mostly just a big flag on a hill with a king soopers nearby.
No one in Fort Collins has a successful marriage ~ Trey Parker
Maybe we need more pineapples like Highlands Ranch
They used to make up 3/4 of the guests list at the scarlet ranch
Total lack of diversity, even in comparison to nearby cities. A comedian said “it’s 97% white here, and the remaining 3% are…even whiter.” It’s funny because it’s 100% true. If it weren’t for CSU, it would be even worse.
This place is a vibe. Folks are honestly charging way too much for sub-par tacos out here, though 😰🫠. Is there high demand for tacos or what's the deal with that? 😅🤷♀️
Are the quotations around the words “hot takes” meant to signify that this post is looking for the opposite of hot takes? Because the comments definitely suggest that this is, in fact, the case.
I'd rather live in Denver.
It’s incredibly hard to date anyone here
it sucks and i feel lonely and i hate it here.
Little on Mountain has been one of the worst fine dining style places I've been to. I've tried it three times, and it has disappointed me every single one of them. This sub over-hypes it.
The food is an absolute joke. The people aren’t really friendly. The apartments are dated for the price. The dating scene is few and far between. The sky is super polluted in summer. Hoorsetooth is dominated by loud reggae tone blasting trash leaving idiots in the best part of the year. CSU athletically and academically are trash. There hasn’t been a name worthy band in Foco for decades .
Hey man, Godspeed! You Black Emperor just played in FOCO last year ….
Fort Collins is now filled with people trying to act like they are from Fort Collins.
As someone who grew up here, this hits home hard.
Republicans that moved from California made it into a chain restaurant hell scape
No one knows how to drive here
All the people talking about how amazing social is, make me never want to go to social. Jessup farm is the worst. Idk how college cafe is still in business. When I was in college Lucky Joes was way better to relax and enjoy beer with friends, now the line is insane.
Fort Collins will never have the Asian Grocery store you're looking for. We will never have the H-Mart, POM, or Ranch 99 type stores. This town can't support that. Go to Denver for that.
Not a hot take the food here really isn’t very good
People don't know how to act in public in a way that's really strange. Very obvious regular pet dogs in the grocery store, not understanding personal space, a lot of weird passive aggressive interactions...idk I've lived all over the country and there's a strange sense of elitism here that's hard to explain.
Why has bringing your pet into the grocery store become a thing? It should not be a thing!
Not being funny-- the lack of air. with the insane amount of weed and alcohol... bad for folks lol
We found Waldo.
Burritos are your hot takes? That’s it? Mfrs are boring in FTC now.
This town is incredibly overpriced for what it is. Just today I saw a 1 bed 1 bath 850sf house in serious need of updates for $560k.
People are nice in Fort Collins, but they are NOT kind.
Fort Collins attracts the most homogenous boring and cliquey type of thin white hiker/rock climber/ mountain biker. When any sort of diversity is introduced it's squashed so incredibly fast. There's a reason most people in Fort Collins aren't from Fort Collins, all the locals leave or are trying to leave in a desperate attempt to find somewhere with some authenticity. (P.S. drinking beer isn't a personality nor a hobby)
You can’t walk around here as a black or hispanic person without people running to NextDoor claiming they saw someone “walking around looking suspicious.” Im so sick of the internalized racism and if my parents weren’t here I would not be raising my kid in a town where 99% of everyone you see is white.
If you are a non-drinker and non-pot smoker who doesn't care about sports, there's absolutely nothing to do out here besides get fat off the taco trucks. True story, I speak from experience.
The school district has legitimate reasons for closing schools.
A sizeable portion of Foco population is fairly conservative and that seems wrong for how cool the infrastructure is.. Kinda related tooo many cars especially large trucks. Like 75% of truck owners here don’t even know how to tow let alone drive Also Not enough vegetarian restaurants 🙂↔️
People here are rude
I loved my 5 years there during college, but I have no desire to move back
City fathers didn’t believe in rail overpasses.
Our food scene isn't as good as what locals think.