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EDGEWATER, Colo. — To the east of Sloan’s Lake is Denver’s city skyline, but it’s to the west of the popular park where you’ll find the charming City of Edgewater.

Nearly 5,000 people call Edgewater home, according to the most recent census data. Compared to the City of Denver, which is home to nearly 800,000 people, it’s a smaller city, but despite its size, the small-town feel and business community keep residents there and visitors coming back.

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“I grew up coming here, grew up in the neighborhood, and I hadn’t been in a long time, because I was spending all my days on Tennyson,” said Niya Gingerich, the owner of the Edgewater Inn and Lot 46 Music Bar.

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Denver7’s Veronica Acosta met with Gingerich at Edgewater Inn, a popular spot near the main strip in the city, and spoke with her about how she became the eventual owner of the historic pizza spot in January of 2023.

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“I actually sat right here, and I was having a beer and a salad in the middle of the day, and the bartender, Haley, was Ben DiPietro, the founder of Edgewater Inn’s granddaughter,” she said. “Her and I got to chatting…she literally leaned over the bar and whispered, ‘You should buy this place.’”

“I mean, I got chills,” Gingerich added. “I said, ‘Is it for sale?’ And she said, ‘We literally just listed it.’”

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Gingerich told Denver7’s Veronica Acosta she never looked back after that moment, making the Edgewater Inn her new home.

“We got to carry on the pizza parlor legacy and then build Lot 46 next door,” she said.

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Still, it hasn’t all been easy.

“It’s hard. I mean, this industry is hard in general,” Gingerich told Denver7. “I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody, but we’re, you know, the independent restaurant community, are facing challenges across the board.”

Gingerich told Denver7 one of those challenges was resolved in the new year.

“We just had a huge win. Something that I fought really hard for, was the tip credit increase that we just had,” she said. “It was a matter of honestly life or death — death for our business and for a lot of independent restaurants in Edgewater.”

READ MORE: Edgewater becomes first Colo. city to increase tip credit for restaurant workers

Despite the business hurdles, it’s the overall feel Edgewater offers that keep Gingerich and other business owners cemented in their community.

“The mayor and city council, they are real faces. They are real community members that come in here and have pizza with their families. And the sense of community is very strong in Edgewater,” she said.

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Right down the street from the Edgewater Inn, is Wesco Dog Grooming, which has been a staple for more than four decades.

“We’re the third to maybe the fourth owner,” said Jim Hesser, the co-owner of Wesco Dog Grooming. “It’s been around a long time, but we’ve owned it now 27 well, maybe 28 years, something like that.”

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As the longest business owner on the main street of Edgewater, Hesser told Denver7’s Veronica Acosta he’s seen the city change a lot.

“It went from Mayberry to, like any other neighborhood. You used to be able to buy a house under $100,000 you know, when we first moved in here, easily in this part of town,” said Hesser, who added now, homes right behind his business sell for upwards of $700,000, and continue increasing in price.

“You’re seeing the development like everywhere else, which is good,” he said. “It brings in a new clientele. So I guess all businesses need that, you know, a lot (of) new, younger people with dogs, thank heavens.”

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“The change has been somewhat positive, but you miss the old days like anything else and I’m sure there’s people older than me that would even say, ‘I don’t remember the good times,’ you know, but we can still remember when Edgewater was small and quaint,” he added.

For those like Sara Miles, who’s called Edgewater home for 12 years, the small business community, walkability and history of the city keeps her around, with a certain piece of the city’s history really sticking out in her mind.

“Back in the 1900s at Sloan’s Lake, there was sort of, like, an amusement park or carnival, where the rich people lived and they had circus animals there,” she said. “One of them was an elephant, and on the Edgewater side was where all the bars and the brothels were. Anyways, this nice family was visiting the amusement park carnival and unfortunately, the elephant crushed the little boy,” Miles said.

“So, they decided to kill the elephant and the elephant is buried either underneath the Target or the Edgewater Marketplace. When you go to Joy Ride Brewery, you’ll see that there’s an elephant. If you go look at the side of the Lakeview Lounge, there’s this whole mural of fancy people with their parasols walking around Sloane’s Lake,” she said.

READ MORE: The history of Sloan’s Lake and the Edgewater elephant

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For others, the diversity of the City of Edgewater is the driving force behind staying.

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“Depending on where you move around, Edgewater, we have a lot of Spanish speakers. We have a lot of folks that have lived here for many years, and then we have a new crop of folks moving in,” said Joel Newton, a council member for the City of Edgewater. “The diversity of it and the fact that we can know our neighbors, so when we talk about big issues on a national scale, we can actually talk to the people that are impacted by that right here in town.”

While Newton agrees his love for Edgewater is rooted in its diversity and the feel it has to offer compared to other city’s nearby, he worries for those who hope to make it home but are priced out.

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“I’d say, for a majority of people that are hoping to make a home in Edgewater, it’s really tough,” Newton told Denver7’s Veronica Acosta. “We’re hoping to find a way to make it more affordable. There’s not necessarily a fix, I wish there was, but trying to look at things from a community lens, working with partners to make it more affordable. Though, like every metro area community, it’s really (a) tough issue to try and solve.”

Still, those Denver7’s Veronica Acosta spoke with say Edgewater is a place they’ve chosen to make home because of the atmosphere and community it has to offer.

In these Denver7 | Your Voice stories, we want to hear from you about what matters most in your community. We hope to hear what makes our communities special, the challenges facing them, and everything in between. Have an idea or want to share your thoughts? Fill out the contact form below.

Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Veronica Acosta

Denver7’s Veronica Acosta covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on immigration and wildfire management in our state. If you’d like to get in touch with Veronica, fill out the form below to send her an email.

DENVER — Every day, Denverites and Interstate 70 drivers pass by a barren plot of land where Washington Street meets the interstate in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood.

It backs up to the home of Joseph Herrera, who calls it “a dust bowl.” He has spoken with Denver7 before about the land being a dumping ground for trash or home to a homeless encampment.

Denver7 first spoke with Herrera about the land, owned by the Colorado Department of Transportation, in 2021 when he started a petition for CDOT to turn the land into a community space, specifically a park or green space.

Read our previous coverage below:

“Trees and grass do help clean our pollution, especially here, the highway being so close to us,” he said.

When asked what has changed since 2021, Herrera responded, “Nothing, really. I mean, yes, CDOT does come and clean, but they have to.”

CDOT put the land up for auction in 2022. The agency told Denver7 it wasn’t able to finalize a deal with a couple of private bidders at the time, eventually accepting a below-market offer from the City of Denver. But that sale still has not gone through as of Wednesday. CDOT said that’s in part because both sides have “strict rules on contracts, and getting those to match has been difficult.”

Denver7 | Your Voice spoke with several Globeville residents who feel they are often ignored or overlooked by local leaders. The sale of the land hitting a standstill is another example, and Herrera fears the land will remain a blight on the neighborhood even after the sale is finalized.

“I’m afraid that once this property is sold to the City of Denver, it’ll just fall into the cracks,” he told Denver7. “We have been fighting for fresh air, clean air, and we can’t get anywhere.”

But Herrera said he has no plans to move. When asked why, he explained, “You have to fight for what you love.”

He also said finding an affordable alternative in the city is difficult.

“Imagine trying to find a home here in Denver,” he said, noting his own home value has gone up in recent years. “Rents have gone up. Taxes have gone up. Everything has gone up.”

Herrera said he will keep fighting to beautify his neighborhood, starting with the decrepit land next to his home.

CDOT told Denver7 that as of this week, contract language regarding the sale has been agreed upon and is awaiting signatures.

The City of Denver did not respond to requests for updates or plans for the land once the sale is complete, though an email sent from the city’s Department of Finance to Herrera said once the sale is complete, the city will first need to evaluate possible uses for the land, go through community outreach and a competitive contract bid process before it can move forward with a project.

In these Denver7 | Your Voice stories, we want to hear from you about what matters most in your community. We hope to hear what makes our communities special, the challenges facing them, and everything in between. Have an idea or want to share your thoughts? Fill out the contact form below.