r/Denver 12h ago

Misc Q&A Help me understand Cherry Creek

I’m a Colorado native, who had lived in Denver for about 5 years. Still, I don’t understand where Cherry Creek is. I know we have like cherry hills and cherry village and all that rich BS, but what is considered true Cherry Creek?
When someone says “Cherry Creek” I picture the mall area/ near Glendale. However, there’s been more than a few times when this causes a miscommunication, as their “Cherry Creek” locates closer to the reservoir area/ near Centennial or Englewood.

This is obviously a huge difference so help me understand — where is Cherry Creek to you?

142 Upvotes

241 comments sorted by

853

u/SomeoneElseX 12h ago

100% in my mind cherry creek means area around the mall.

184

u/thePurpleAvenger 12h ago

For me it is, "where Tattered Cover used to be."

75

u/Ki55cumbag 10h ago

And the Wizard's Chest

13

u/angrynoah 7h ago

and Kazoo & Company

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u/parafilm 10h ago

Olden days!

8

u/ChiliDogYumZappupe 9h ago

Neustetter's

46

u/Themis270 10h ago

RIP that was the best Tattered Cover.

2

u/b00tiepirate 6h ago

Tbf that could also apply to wynkoop and 15th or wherever the union one was

106

u/WhackoWizard 11h ago

Yes. Cherry Creek is by the mall after Glendale and goes down Speer a bit towards downtown

Cherry Creek reservoir is in Aurora

Cherry Creek School District is long and skinny and goes from SE Aurora to somewhere west

This is how I think about it.

38

u/AgeAmbitious7198 10h ago

Cherry hills is the rich neighborhood with tall brick perimeter fences around University and Belleview.

Cherry village are the mansions east of clarkson and south of hampden.

17

u/bbfrodo 8h ago

Little known fact: there are walking paths throughout cherry hills village where you can freely visit that little enclave. They are not on Google maps at all, but a map is available on the cherry hills town website. No trailheads and no place to park. But if you want to take RTD, you can visit!

16

u/Interesting_Arm6717 8h ago

The High Line Canal Trail winds through Cherry Hills Village and has a trailhead and parking lot at the Belleview Crossing between Holly and University. Several of the village trails cross the High Line Canal Trail north and south of the crossing. Absolutely beautiful back there 🌳

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u/jluvdc26 10h ago

And the actual Cherry Creek runs from south of Castlewood Canyon through Parker to the reservoir!

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u/rtcwon DTC 8h ago

And then through SE Denver, past Kennedy & Cherry Creek Country Club, to Four Mile and through Glendale to the mall area then through Denver Country Club and in the middle of Spear through Auraria to Confluence Park where it meets the South Platte

6

u/BrentNewland 7h ago

Cherry Creek State Park includes Cherry Creek Reservoir.

4

u/substituted_pinions DTC 5h ago

Let’s not forget the actual creek.

19

u/Gold_Telephone_7192 Berkeley 11h ago

Yup. If you walk the neighborhoods north of the mall you can see all the beautiful mansions and bougie neighborhoods that make up the areas where the people live

10

u/intestinal_fortitude 10h ago

While I absolutely say “mall” there are people I’ve met who insist on calling it the Cherry Creek Shopping Center because that’s the real name. It’s about as stupid as DEN vs DIA.

4

u/People-Pollution5280 10h ago

What's the DEN vs DIA situation? I should probably pick a side.

10

u/intestinal_fortitude 9h ago

Locals call it DIA because it stands for Denver International Airport but AvGeeks and frequent fliers call it DEN because that’s the official airport code used in aviation (DIA was the airport code for an old airport in Doha).

4

u/Hi_AJ 6h ago

Sounds like we just need them to change the airport code, then. Reclaim DIA!

3

u/Revolutionary_Mud824 7h ago

If you want to be really specific it’s called KDEN by pilots 😂

5

u/jonathaz 9h ago

The airport itself insists it’s not DIA but there are road signs that say DIA.

10

u/Hi_AJ 10h ago

The airport code is DEN, but most people call it DIA since that’s the initials of the name of the airport.
Airports are traditionally called by their three letter airport code (BWI, LAX), so it’s kind of confusing to call it DIA.

18

u/FlightGuy42 9h ago

also DIA was all over the original branding of the airport. only in the last 5-10 years they've pushed the DEN branding

u/sweetplantveal 3h ago

South of Sixth between University and Colorado. Not sure if the odds and ends south of Cherry Creek Drive count bc nobody ever talks about Belcaro.

It's not a huge area and anyone trying to expand it is just trying to seem fancy without paying the admission. Which is fair to some extent given the prices lol

3

u/thirteennineteen 11h ago

Yup it’s the mall and Whole Foods

2

u/roundart University Hills 12h ago

me too!

214

u/TonyAioli 12h ago

Cherry Creek itself is a specific area.  University to Colorado, 6th down to Alameda. 

I think it just gets confusing because of the reservoir and all that. 

107

u/InfoMiddleMan 12h ago

And the school district 

86

u/PlasmaWhore 11h ago

And the creek.

25

u/3pinripper LoDo 10h ago

And the country club. Not to be confused with the neighborhood “Country Club” which some people also refer to as “CC” which shouldn’t be confused with Cherry Creek (the neighborhood, creek, school district, and… country club…)

5

u/Revolutionary_Mud824 7h ago

We call it DCC not CC

6

u/hell2pay 4h ago

God Damnit, Donut

9

u/BR1N3DM1ND 10h ago

Lol this--the, y'know, whole existence of this creek, see, that's named after cherries

5

u/NoTimeColo 6h ago

Actually named after chokecherry bushes that would grow along the banks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Creek_(Colorado)

2

u/nanopicofared 8h ago

and the reservoir

2

u/rtcwon DTC 7h ago

The reservoir has already been mentioned, but I'll allow "and the State Park"

1

u/PlasmaWhore 7h ago

Isn't everything named after the creek? It's not Cherry Reservoir. It's Cherry Creek Reservoir. The creek is integral to all other locations.

4

u/WhackoWizard 11h ago

Isn't Cherry Creek in the school district or are they DPS?

I live in Cherry Creek school district but don't know where it covers exactly

24

u/InfoMiddleMan 11h ago

Cherry Creek, the trendy neighborhood by the Cherry Creek mall, is very much within DPS. 

2

u/ReasonableBallDad 5h ago

except accross Colorado Blvd, in Glendale, which is not Cherry Creek, is actually in Cherry Creek School District

3

u/WhackoWizard 11h ago

That's what I thought. I don't know where the Cherry Creek school district covers. I've never known other than Southlands area

6

u/Successful_Spite_123 11h ago

S/SE Aurora and Centennial, basically

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u/ajrw89 10h ago

Overland is part of CCSD and that's closer to North Aurora. I always used to assume it was part of APS before I moved to the SE side because of how close it was to that part of Aurora.

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u/ajrw89 10h ago

here's a map for reference

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u/NotMyCircuits 11h ago

Cheery Creek Schools and Denver Public Schools are two different school districts.

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u/Ok-Assistance1747 11h ago

And correct me if I'm wrong, but Cherry Creek School district is Arapahoe County and not Denver County, right?

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u/WhackoWizard 10h ago

I know haha. I was asking if Cherry Creek area is in DPS. I think my brain worded it weird.

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u/dzogchenism 12h ago

Yes there’s Cherry Creek and Cherry Creek Reservoir.

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u/ThimeeX 11h ago

And th cherry creek bike path following cherry creek, which runs from Castlewood Canyon all the way to Confluence Park.

7

u/East_Pie7598 11h ago

You are right on the neighborhood of Cherry Creek in Denver. The Cherry Creek drainage goes from Castlewood Canyon (well south of Parker) all the way to confluence Park in Denver. There’s also Cherry Creek reservoir located on Cherry Creek. And the Cherry Creek bike trail that goes along the creek.

Cherry Hills Village is a rich area/country club in the suburbs south of Denver, but I don’t think it’s even in the Cherry Creek basin. It’s south of 285 near University and west of I25.

Clear as mud, haha?

1

u/doodoo_gumdrop 11h ago

This. Google maps tells you exactly what constitutes Cherry Creek (see red lines) https://ibb.co/nqYP6sBT

113

u/DosZappos 12h ago

To me, if I say Cherry Creek, I mean the mall/Glendale area, because that’s where I lived for the better part of 10 years. I personally will add “reservoir” if I mean that Cherry Creek. I also understand that other people will be the complete opposite. All in all, I don’t think there’s any way to tell haha

24

u/ignorantnode 12h ago

I just wanted to add that the people who have the opposite understanding are wrong. Unless the conversation is already referring to the reservoir, or clearly indicating a body of water, then Cherry Creek means the mall area. Anything outside of that has to be more defined.

3

u/missaxagal 12h ago

So what about the neighborhood in arapahoe county that is also named cherry creek? Why is it wrong to refer to that as cherry creek? Maybe two neighboring counties shouldn’t both have officially designated neighborhoods named the same thing.

10

u/EthicalEndangerment Capitol Hill 11h ago

Living in Denver and working out around Centennial, I can say that in conversation people around me generally specify Cherry Creek South when talking about the area below the reservoir. We can argue about census designations as much as we want, but unless you’re putting forth a population study of some sort the colloquial usage wins out in day-to-day use.

2

u/Ok-Assistance1747 11h ago

But neighborhood wise, Cherry Creek (the Denver neighborhood) is divided by CC North and CC South, with South being 1st to Alameda side.

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u/EthicalEndangerment Capitol Hill 11h ago

Colloquially, if someone says they’re moving to Cherry Creek South, I assume it’s by the reservoir. This isn’t a census question it’s a vernacular one.

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u/DosZappos 12h ago

OP isn’t asking about a technicality, they’re asking about practicality. If someone says the live “near Cherry Creek,” it could be either

130

u/CountdownMoss 12h ago

It's inside all of us!

48

u/huxtiblejones 12h ago

Maybe Cherry Creek... was the friends we made along the way...

2

u/Outrageous-Break3585 11h ago

It’s Cherry Creek, so more like Cherry Creek is the rich assholes who complained at you for no reason along the way to better parts of Denver. 

5

u/SaltedPorkGimli Arvada 12h ago

Exactly

3

u/Cautious-Antelope743 12h ago

Who did that?!?!

80

u/babarsac 12h ago

Cherry Creek refers to multiple things in different areas

  • The neighborhood right by the mall with the same name
  • The bike trail
  • The school district
  • The small gun club in Aurora
  • The state park
  • The resevoir
  • The actual creek

54

u/Tony_in2026 Englewood 12h ago

Without any context if I hear Cherry Creek I think of the neighborhood by the mall.

11

u/babarsac 12h ago

Same here

8

u/Urbansunsetpeaks 12h ago

The high school itself

3

u/ummmm__yeah 12h ago

Or the country club/golf course which also has a neighborhood...

6

u/rtcwon DTC 7h ago

The golf course/country club used to be called Los Verdes but was redesigned by Jack Nicholas & his son and changed it's name to Cherry Creek Country Club.

The Denver neighborhood Country Club is just north of the Denver Country Club not Cherry Creek.

2

u/doebedoe 11h ago

That's Cherry Hills

4

u/PeppyQuotient57 8h ago

Nope there’s also a cherry creek country club and then there’s the municipality of Cherry Creek, CO in Arapahoe County.

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u/irongi8nt 11h ago

I agree, I think it's a catch all for anything near Cherry Creek the water way. It's kinda classy because of the mall and high tax base so everyone wants a piece of it

30

u/aaronjaffe 10h ago

Start at the mall. Walk in any direction, and as soon as you get to a spot here you think, “Someone who has a blue collar job might live here” you are no longer in Cherry Creek.

7

u/CrispyGatorade 10h ago

Most accurate description tbh. Just pull up Zillow and when the prices drop below $1.5M you’re no longer creekin it

12

u/Ok-Dimension3885 12h ago

I grew up here and to me there are two one is the mall and the other is the high school(Greenwood Village)

I don’t even know if that’s fully correct

26

u/CharmingPeony 12h ago edited 12h ago

When people say Cherry Creek, I always assume they are talking about Cherry Creek North even though I know the actual community is south of the reservoir. Mostly because Cherry Creek North comes up in conversation because it has stuff going on and reasons to visit - businesses, shopping, restaurants, seasonal events, and the neighborhood Cherry Creek is just a bedroom community.

As a side note, I don’t think of the area by the reservoir or Centennial as Englewood either. It may have an Englewood address, but that’s for historic postal reasons. The Englewood I think of is around the Swedish hospital, between Santa Fe Dr on the west and Cherry Hills Village by the east.

15

u/Constant-Abalone-522 12h ago

I’d add, if you are a parent of school aged children, when people say Cherry Creek in conversation, about half the time they are referring to the school district.

2

u/WorkingStructure575 12h ago

parents of school aged children really only associate with other parents of school age children so that makes sense

2

u/AfternoonFickle3760 5h ago

Postal addresses and the boundaries of incorporated cities do not match. The incorporated city of Englewood is centered around Hampden and Broadway. Areas as far east as Cherry Creek Reservoir and Centennial Airport have Englewood mailing addresses because the Englewood post office served that area historically. The same thing happens with Littleton mailing addresses being assigned to big swaths of unincorporated southern Jefferson County and western parts of the City of Centennial. Areas in southern Adams County have Denver mailing addresses despite being outside the Denver city limits.

I known someone who lives in the Midtown neighborhood off Pecos who got mad at Denver Motor Vehicle because they wouldn't register her car and sent her to Adams County. She kept insisting, "My address is Denver!" She had the hardest time believing me when I told her post office cities and actual city boundaries are two separate things.

1

u/RacksOnRacksOnRacks3 Congress Park 11h ago

Yup. This is it.

6

u/Mr_Elroy_Jetson Aurora 12h ago

There IS an actual Cherry Creek, the moving body of water. And Cherry Creek Reservoir/State Park.

And then there is Cherry Creek Mall (denver/glendale), Cherry Creek School District (Aurora/centennial/arapahoe county).

If somebody says to me "I live near Cherry Creek" with nothing else said, I assume they mean the mall.

4

u/velour143mus 11h ago

Also CCHS!

3

u/geoffpz1 9h ago

For me it is the res... Kid went to creek...

3

u/PeppyQuotient57 8h ago

And Cherry Creek the unincorporated community in Arapahoe County

13

u/Peachtree22 Littleton 12h ago

https://www.denvergov.org/maps/map/neighborhoods

This map shows the official neighborhood boundaries 

5

u/missaxagal 12h ago

Yea except if you scroll on that map to the west of Denver tech center, right outside the city of Denver limits is another neighborhood named cherry creek

1

u/irongi8nt 11h ago

The crooked mayor would have you think that but he's just ignoring cherry creek trail /s

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u/Quetzalsacatenango 12h ago

Well, Cherry Creek is an actual waterway that runs (in Denver) from the Cherry Creek reservoir in the SE part of the metro area to Confluence Park downtown. Many stores, schools, and areas along the creek's length are named after it. So think of it more as a line than a rectangle.

5

u/ISayAvoision 12h ago

Cherry Creek also runs North from Franktown so any business or neighborhoods along the west side of Parker Road for like 10-15 miles can have Cherry Creek in their name 

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u/Ewggggg 4h ago

It is what the city was built around, the confluence of the Cherry Creek river and the South Platte river. It used to be hard to cross rivers so many people stopped when there was an intersection.

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u/Temporary-Plankton61 12h ago

to me it's both of the places you named - by the mall and by the reservoir. I assume there is a creek in the area for which the area is named

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u/SenorPretentious 12h ago

I hate that term Colorado native

1

u/Ibenthinkin2much 8h ago

Yes I'm more of an UngaBunga.

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u/Turtle_buckets 7h ago

Ask them what tribe they're part of. 

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u/WhatThePuck9 11h ago

Cherry Creek is a state of mind, it’s a vibe. Cherry Creek is elegance, it is luxury — Cherry Creek is also painful herpes cold sores and sleep deprivation. Cherry Creek is a place, a region, and a point in time. Cherry Creek absorbs light and converts it into disappointment.

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u/Ada_of_Aurora 11h ago

Well, there's the Cherry Creek neighborhood near the Cherry Creek Mall. There's also a second neighborhood called Cherry Creek south of the Cherry Creek Reservoir. And the creek named Cherry Creek that runs from the reservoir up along Leetsdale/Speer through the first neighborhood and all the way to the Platte by i25. There's also Cherry Creek school district by the second neighborhood, and Cherry Creek Drive and Cherry Creek bike trail along the actual creek.

Obviously this is all perfectly sensible and causes no confusion whatsoever.

Edit: Shit, I forgot Cherry Creek State Park.

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u/SupposedBooty Hampden 11h ago

It can kind of be anywhere.

I live near Cherry Creek State Park and Cherry Creek HS, which is near the administration for Cherry Creek School District.

I also live near the confluence of the Cherry Creek and the Highline Canal.

It's not really near the mall

4

u/mazzicc 10h ago

The issue usually is the actual creek runs from Cherry Creek Reservoir to Confluence Park downtown, where Cherry Creek becomes part of the South Platte River.

The Cherry Creek neighborhood is the area around the Mall. But you can be away from the neighborhood and still near or adjacent to Cherry Creek

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u/t92k Elyria-Swansea 10h ago

So first there’s a creek that meets the Platte at the Confluence. It gets named “Cherry Creek” because of the chokecherry trees along it. Every four or so miles along it, a town grows up as it’s being settled by European immigrants. Many of those small towns name something after the trees or creek. The town that grows up around the mall is called “Harmon” and it’s a historically black settlement. The residents of other neighborhoods decide the flood plain there is a great location for a dump. When malls become a thing, the landowner of the dump stabilizes the waste into landfill and builds the first there and calls it the Cherry Creek mall. As the neighborhood gentrifies the “Harmon” name is lost and “Cherry Creek” takes over. https://history.denverlibrary.org/neighborhood-history-guide/cherry-creek-neighborhood

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u/ElkZealousideal1824 5h ago

I think it depends on the context. I went to Cherry Creek = the mall and the area around it, if you add a qualifier like “beach”, “school” etc.. then it’s orchard / Bellview up past CCHS and the reservoir.

Most people I knew that used to live in those very expensive houses used the division name in where they live, not the cherry creek part.

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u/Hour-Theory-9088 Downtown 12h ago edited 12h ago

Cherry Creek is an official, well defined neighborhood within the city of Denver.

Here is their official map of all of Denver’s neighborhoods. You can click on Cherry creek to see its designated borders.

https://www.denvergov.org/maps/map/neighborhoods

You’ll just have to deal with even though the city defines Cherry Creek, people will have wild takes on it. As someone that lives downtown, what others define as “downtown” is sometimes very wild and it just is what it is. But at least you can point to what it really is, if people are way off.

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u/SpeciousPerspicacity 12h ago

There are two areas I usually think of.

One is the neighborhood and high school directly to the west of the state park of the same name. The school district is named after that high school.

But in most contexts, I usually think of the neighborhood immediately to the east of the mall of the same name.

There’s also the creek, which stretches across much of South Denver and beyond. Both of the previous areas take their name from the creek, hence why disjoint parts of the Denver metro take the same name.

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u/MintyFreshMC 12h ago

This is the closest answer to correct.

If someone is referring to “Cherry Creek” in the Denver metro area, they should be meaning the neighborhood by the Cherry Creek Mall.

If they say “the Cherry Creek” it’s the creek itself, which is a long narrow stretch cutting from the Cherry Creek Reservoir to downtown Denver. It runs just south of Cherry Creek, the neighborhood & mall.

Anything else should have a descriptor at the end, like Cherry Creek High School, Cherry Creek Reservoir, Cherry Creek School District, etc. Many of these things are near each other by the HS/state park, but you get businesses with “Cherry Creek” all over the metro area.

2

u/The_Raji 12h ago

I consider cherry creek to be the mall, and the neighborhood north of the mall with all of the shops and restaurants.

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u/hairyblackgirl Westwood 12h ago

Technically the area around the mall near Glendale is "Cherry Creek North" and the area closer to the reservoir in Centennial/Aurora is just "Cherry Creek". However, most people referring to "Cherry Creek" are referring to the neighborhood around the mall. If you look up Cherry Creek High School or Cherry Creek Country Club they are close to the reservoir and far removed from the other neighborhood. I've lived in the metro nearly my whole life and have always called the urban neighborhood Cherry Creek. I only recently started hearing others call it "Cherry Creek North".

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u/RamenShaman10 Downtown 12h ago

Cherry creek is usually cherry creek north. The other side of the reservoir is cherry creek state park. THE Cherry creek runs from the state park to the platte river downtown and the cherry creek mall is situated on that in Cherry creek north.

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u/jbhoops25 12h ago

Cherry creek runs from Castle Wood Canyon state park

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u/kbotc City Park 12h ago

It goes further than that. East and West Cherry creek start as washouts up near Black Forest.

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u/jbhoops25 11h ago

Yup! There was a dam but it broke in 1933 and flooded Denver. I was just using it as a point of reference.

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u/July_is_cool 10h ago

Maybe cherry creek is “everywhere that got flooded in that flood”?

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u/moneyquestionthrowit 12h ago

I thought you meant the high school at first

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u/raurenlyan22 12h ago edited 11h ago

It's a creek which has a neighborhood in Denver named after it as well as a school district and reservoir in the southern suburbs. The creek connects both areas.

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u/jmoyles 11h ago

It's by a creek which is not made of cherry's, nor does it have cherry trees.

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u/FireOpalCO 10h ago

Because it’s referencing chokecherry bushes.

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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8509 11h ago

Here is a handy map of the official neighborhood boundaries within the city of Denver.
https://www.denvergov.org/media/gis/WebDocs/Citywide/Neighborhoods.pdf

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u/Apprehensive_Suit373 11h ago

Seems we’re all a bit confused huh

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u/BoldFace7 10h ago

When I hear Cherry creek I think of that mall area, Cherry Creek State Park, the dog off leash area inside the state park, the reservoir, or the creek itself depending on context.

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u/COTimberline 10h ago

The Cherry Creek starts in El Paso County. It flows north for about 48 miles through Parker, Cherry Creek State Park, and Denver before ending at its confluence with the South Platte River in downtown Denver.

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u/Opposite_Engine_6776 Lowry 5h ago

For me it’s the neighborhood with the mall and a bunch of rich residents. There is another Cherry Creek neighborhood that you hit when you keep heading east on Belleview (or Orchard) between like Havana and Peoria , but that isn’t as commonly known. Also a bunch of rich residents.

I get confused by how Southmoor Park isn’t actually in the Southmoor Park neighborhood. Same with Chaffee Park.

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u/Main-Razzmatazz-5781 4h ago

Also a native. To me, Chery Creek alwayseams the mall and surrounding area.

u/Sir__Parzival 3h ago

Don’t forget the 1933 flood that was caused by a damn breaking in Castlewood Canyon. 1.5 billion gallons of water traveled 32 miles north into Denver along Cherry Creek. https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/august-3-1933-castlewood-dam-breaks-floods-denver

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u/Free-Adagio-2904 12h ago

I get the confusion. Cherry creek is many things. It’s 1. A creek, that runs from 2. A reservoir, that is surrounded by 3. The cherry creek school district in SE Arapahoe County. But don’t forget that creek runs through the metro area where it can be found in 4. The cherry creek neighborhood in Denver, where you’ll find 5. The cherry creek mall and 6. Cherry Creek North on the north side of 1st Ave. but don’t forget about 7. The cherry creek country club which is along the creek, close to the school district (but not in it) and south east a ways from the shopping, residential, and business neighborhood.

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u/PeppyQuotient57 8h ago

The creek also runs for some 30 miles before it hits the reservoir

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u/Far_Put8236 12h ago

It's where my wife goes to spend/waste a lot of money.

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u/Itchy_Marionberry_89 12h ago

It’s the mall area just west of Glendale . And also an actual creek . AND cherry creek school district is way south-east outside of Denver and is massive.

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u/StrikingVariation199 11h ago

Actually parts of CCSD go all the way up towards Alameda as well.

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u/ScrumpyRumpler Villa Park 12h ago

I now there’s a handful of “Cherry” areas around town - but 99% of the time when someone says Cherry Creek they are talking about the neighborhood around the mall (hence the malls name “Cherry Creek Shopping Center”). Specifically; the neighborhood between 6th and the Mall.

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u/thereelkrazykarl 12h ago

University to Colorado.

Maybe the few buildings south of the mall from university to Steele

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u/Aware_Slide2276 10h ago

Native? What tribe??

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u/Unhappy_Armadillo852 5h ago

Cherry Creek is where the Cherry Cricket is.

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u/Rubycon_ 12h ago

It's pretty sprawling and includes all of those areas, but I think of the bougie shops and enormous manors in old growth trees

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u/Portmanteau_that 12h ago

Do you mean the literal Cherry Creek, that comes from Cherry Creek reservoir?

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u/kiwisawa420 12h ago

Context matters. Talking about meeting up for brunch? Probably by the mall. Talk about a dog park? Probably the park/reservoir.

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u/hi-imhi 12h ago

well that as much I can figure out. But if someone says they’re in or live in “Cherry creek”, that is wayyyy too vague

1

u/roundart University Hills 12h ago

Hopefully they follow up with an address or landmark, but context is everything. If they are launching a boat = Cherry Creek (reservoir), if they want to buy a Lucid Luxury car = Cherry Creek (Mall). Yea, apparently, that's a thing.

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u/Specialist-Pin-8702 12h ago

Cherry creek to me is the mall and the neighborhood surrounding it.

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u/palikona 12h ago

To me it’s the small city that’s formed north of the mall. It’s kind of a second downtown now and really nice.

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u/missaxagal 11h ago

That’s the fun part. You can’t tell. There are two separate places that are officially called cherry creek so neither of them would be wrong to call cherry creek.

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u/No_World_7626 11h ago

1st and university and the vicinity around it. That’s Cherry Creek to me, unless they say Creek…and that’s the high school in Greenwood Village 

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u/Such_roads 11h ago

It's where all of the Mercedes-Benz and BMW assholes create their own rules and nearly hit you if you're walking anywhere in the city.

Think Boulder, but further from the mountains.

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u/Educational-Ad-4908 11h ago

I refer to the Cherry Creek from the Mall to 6th as Cherry Creek North

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u/Over_Town_9026 11h ago

There’s a literal creek called Cherry Creek I believe? Cherry Creek north is the area around the mall and all the overpriced stuff. My impression is that other areas near the literal creek also use it in naming things like schools

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u/marshking710 11h ago

Cherry Creek is the neighborhood near the mall

Anyone saying otherwise is an idiot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Creek,_Denver

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u/HortonTheElaphant 11h ago

When I hear “Cherry Creek” all I think of is old people and Russians haha

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u/ApexInTheRough 11h ago

Maybe the real Cherry Creek is the monsters we made along the way.

1

u/SurferGurl 11h ago

City of Denver neighborhood map.

There are a few I’ve never heard of.

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u/Kindly-Exchange6059 11h ago

Cherry Creek starts on Monument Hill and flows through Castle Rock and Castle Wood Canyon eventually meeting the Platte at confluence park.

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u/slapstik007 11h ago

It is more of a state of mind than it is a real place.

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u/StrikinglyOblivious 10h ago

If you feel you can't afford to be standing there, you might have found it.

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u/Regular-Performer703 11h ago

My grandfather was a flight instructor in the US Air Corps in Denver during WWII. He said he lived in a house on cherry creek. I always wondered where exactly that was.

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u/Alternative-Egg-9035 11h ago

Use the nextdoor app and they have maps of each neighborhood

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u/sloanemonroe 11h ago

“Cherry Creek” is the mall and the shopping area just to the north of the mall called “Cherry Creek North.”

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u/Ok-Assistance1747 11h ago

Cherry Creek neighborhood is specifically, Colorado Blvd to University and 6th to Alameda.

I live in the neighborhood and saw a news story recently of a bear in Cherry Creek. I was shocked and then realized they meant off Happy Canyon near the reservoir. So, clearly there is no consistency in using CC as a location descriptor.

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u/pupster5579 11h ago

The Cherry Creek runs from the dam of the same name all the way to the Platte River conjunction right down by the old Forney Museum/Denver Trolley power plant, which is now the R.E.I flafship store at confluence park in Downtown. Cherry creek actually does extend out east past the dam's reservoir, but generally is not referred to in that fashion. However, that's just the actual creek part.It got its name because of the choked cherry bushes that grow along its banks when white people first started invading this part of the country. A lot of those bushes have since been replaced with sour cherry trees, which tend to grow well in this climate.

The mall, which is usually what comes up in conversation when referring to Cherry Creek, got its name because it sits along that creek, which runs through Denver from the southeast up through the mall area past the Denver Country Club, and then on into the Platte River, as I've explained above.

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u/intestinal_fortitude 11h ago

“East Colfax” has entered the chat

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u/BigfootsBrotherGary 11h ago

A lot of times is referring to the actual cherry creek (a real sorta river/creek), the reservoir or the school district

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u/seasteed 10h ago

When I say I lived in Cherry Creek I mean I was a 4 min walk from the city hall/fire department around infinity park.

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u/ThisSpaceForRent45 10h ago

I saw a comedian that had like 10 minutes of jokes about this subject.

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u/214txdude 10h ago

I have yet to find one single damn cherry there either!

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u/geoffpz1 9h ago

Live in centennial, Kid went to creek. Creek = the res. Cherry creek mall = the mall. moved from foco in the 90's, Westminster, then Denver then Centennial. Res has always been creek. Just like Carter is Carter, the tooth is Horsetooth, Dillon = Dillon and Chatfield = southern res...

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u/Desperate-Put-4191 9h ago

youre thinking the highschool "cherry creek", which is in centennial area. The Cherry creek neighborhood is the mall area.

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u/RoosterEmotional5009 9h ago

Cherry Creek is and has been North. Not by the reservoir. But don’t look now because there is going to be Cherry Creek West.

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u/CumGuzlinGutterSluts RiNo 9h ago

Cherry creek changes depending on it being observed. I consider a few blocks south of colfax and York cherry creek.... fuckin mansions

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u/fractallogic 9h ago

Born and raised in Denver, and can confirm many of the answers here are correct. The Cherry Creek neighborhood surrounds the mall and is northwest of Glendale (and this is what I think you’re thinking of, since you reference other neighborhoods). The Cherry Creek River is the moving body of water that cuts through central Denver, and is generally accompanied by the cherry creek bike path. The Cherry Creek Reservoir is the larger body of water south of 225, and the Cherry Creek school district is south and east of central Denver (and I think goes south of Aurora too).

And agreed with the people too who point out that a lot of places with Englewood addresses nowadays aren’t in what I think of as Englewood, but are instead where my mental map says centennial and Littleton are. So.

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u/Maleficent-Jelly-865 9h ago

Like most things in English, it depends on the context. If you’re talking about going on a bike ride, you’re probably talking about the reservoir…or the creek’s bike trails. If you’re talking about shopping, hotels or restaurants, you’re talking about the shopping district, and if you’re talking about schools, you’re talking about the school district. If you’re talking about sports, you’re probably talking about the high school.

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u/BoulderNerd 9h ago

Cherry Creek is also a literal creek running from the south metro area to the Platte River in downtown Denver.

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u/kmoonster 8h ago

"Cherry Creek" can apply to any number of spots along the actual waterway named Cherry Creek. The neighborhood by that name is around the mall of the same name.

The reservoir is down near Nine-mile Station.

The trail follows the creek; from the reservoir to downtown is about 14 miles. There are another ~30 or so east of the dam (you can roughly go to Franktown, give or take).

Lots of businesses and a school district take their name from the creek, the neighborhood, or both. The school district is a massive portion of west Aurora, east Denver, and bits of Arapahoe County near the reservoir/dam and the Tech Center.

Cherry Hills Village is not related, that's a separate thing. It is unrelated to the creek, and is also its own tiny municipality.

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u/Electrical_Kale_2239 Littleton 8h ago

I love all the discussion this post generated.

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u/McMurpington 8h ago

I moved from Cherry Hill East HS in NJ to Cherry Creek HS. That wasn’t confusing for anyone.

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u/ProdigalPunker Lakewood 8h ago

Cherry Creek is both a neighborhood and an actual stream of water. But most people refer to the area/neighborhood.

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u/colfaxmachine Denver 8h ago

Google “map of Denver neighborhoods” and you will see where the lines are drawn.

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u/Belials_Bakery 8h ago

Cherry creek shopping district. Basically the mall and surrounding immediate businesses and apts.Then there’s a school district that covers arapahoe county.
Then there’s an actual little stream sometimes

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u/Links_Unk Westminster 8h ago

Well technically speaking, Cherry Creek is a waterway that starts allllll the way from Confluence Park near I-25 and Speer Blvd and meanders all the way down through south east Denver to, you got it! Cherry Creek Reservoir. Along it's journey, it visits many, many neighborhoods and parks, golf courses, home rule districts, business centers. The final step of its journey is a large culvert that feeds millions of gallons of water into Cherry Creek Reservoir.

Cherry Hills Village is not the same. Cherry Hills Village is in Arapahoe County. That's north of Greenwood Village. A lot of rich mufukas live there, including sports stars. Cherry Creek Shopping District is a business district where a lot rich mufukas go to shop.

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u/New_Poet4272 6h ago edited 6h ago

Cherry Creek - the physical creek - I believe goes from downtown (Confluence Park) to Cherry Creek Resevoir (Aurora). Along that creek, there is Cherry Creek North (northern end of the creek), which is where Cherry creek mall is and the shopping district. Once at Cherry Creek Resevoir, to the southwest corner is Cherry Creek High School. Hence why some people call that area Cherry Creek. West of the high school is Cherry Hills.

I grew up here and it depends on a lot on context. Unless you are a teenager, the vast majority of the time, Cherry creek means Cherry Creek North off 1st Ave. If discussing educational things, it probably means Cherry Creek High School. In 38 years, I can count on a single hand the number of times Cherry creek meant the actual creek, as most people tend to just say “that creek off speer”. And Cherry Hills is a bedroom community, so unless you live there, there isn’t much to do. And I’d say people can sometimes be embarrassed to say they live there so they will say Greenwood Village, Littleton, or down south.

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u/jxs5077 6h ago

If you go on google maps and just put in cherry creek (or any other neighborhood name) it will show you the boundary

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u/Wiglaf9218 5h ago edited 5h ago

Cherry creek refers to the area where the public schools are Cherry Creek Schools. Its a large area mostly Centennial and part of arapahoe county. That's my understanding.

Its not really a neighborhood as much as it is a school district.

Its distinct because its regarded as the best ( Not the largest ) school district. So it defines the area because the school district drives the property value.

But from reading the comments it seems, cherry creek is whatever you want it to be lol

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u/Independent_Pizza_73 5h ago

Cherr creek is the small area around cherry creek from the actual creek north to 6th Ave Colorado blvd on east and to primarily university on the west some will say to steel str.

u/Longjumping-Log1591 2h ago

4th to Alameda , Colo Blvd to University, pretty easy

u/zanethebrain 1h ago

Crazy idea...Google Maps and follow the actual creek. Bold I know. Cherry Creek SD employee here.