Westwood Via Verde

Cuatro Vientos Park
Opening in 2014, Cuatro Vientos—or Four Winds—was the first new park in the area in more than 30 years. TPL helped purchase this abandoned space and worked with community partners to transform it into a beloved park complete with a vibrant playground, water play features, turf fields, a walking loop, and native plants.

Westwood Park
Some consider it the “crown jewel” of all neighborhood parks, the Westwood Park features a fun exercise loop, outdoor fitness center, play equipment that highlights natural elements, water features, artwork that symbolizes migration, and a beautiful park shelter that serves as community gathering space.

Kentucky Irving Pocket Park
Half gathering space, half skate haven, this Pocket Park at the corner of West Kentucky Avenue and South Irving Street was designed with Westwood’s youth at its core. During our community engagement sessions, it was clear a place to run—and to roll—was necessary for Westwood Via Verde. Complete with stunning murals, shade, and a basketball court, Kentucky Irving Pocket Park is not only a fun green space to play, but also provides a safer intersection for families to commute from local schools, their homes, and neighborhood stores.

Wayfinding Mural by Kayla Gilbert
In researching the phoenix-and-dragon mural, which represents fire, Gilbert did a deep dive into various references and meanings. “I was reading about fires and their cultural significance and learned that in Chinese feng shui, the phoenix and dragon are used together to symbolize harmonious communication,” she says.

Wayfinding by Santiago Jaramillo
Jaramillo used Aztec iconography in conceiving the butterflies that frame the mural of the phoenix and dragon at Munroe Elementary School. Butterflies help guide the way along Westwood Via Verde, including painted on the street and fabricated in metal, attached to the facades of buildings, so people can glance up and know they are on the Via Verde.

Wayfinding Mural by Santiago Jaramillo
As a third generation Westwood resident whose overcome homelessness and his own struggle with addiction, Jaramillo has returned to the streets of Westwood, but this time, with a new mission. Jaramillo hopes that his art will spark conversations about what it means to have ancestral roots so firmly planted into the earth of Westwood and help ground a community that is closer to their home than they think.

Wayfinding Mural by Ratha Sok
For Ratha Sok, a self-taught artist and first-generation Cambodian American, the idea for the koi fish mural, which he painted alongside neighbors and students last August outside the school, sprang from his own cultural connections. “It represents good luck and fortune,” he says, referring to koi fish, “and that is something that appeals to the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community in Westwood.”

The Tennessee Greenway
A key trail segment of the Westwood Via Verde, this greenway will connect Westwood to communities to the east like the Athmar Park neighborhood. Once complete, it will establish a linear park along Tennessee Avenue from South Federal Boulevard to Zuni Street in Southwest Denver and transform historically unused space along a power line into a safe, green space for the community to run, play, walk, or bike.

Enhanced Alleyways
When green spaces are hard to come by in dense urban settings, alleyways offer an innovative solution to addressing the need for better connectivity between communities. Cleaned up, spruced with trees and fun play features, these enhanced alleyways throughout Westwood offer safer spaces for families to walk and play.

Knapp Elementary School mural by Santiago Jaramillo
After collaborating with students to incorporate their ideas for themes and designs, local artist Santiago Jaramillo brought this mural to life with symbols representing creativity, contemplation, singing, poetry, and the Aztec people.