Would you leave Austin for another city? (to move, rating)

[FueledByBlueBell]

I love Austin and can't imagine moving, but would consider the NY area ('burbs most likely), Seattle or Portland or maybe California (but not on the brown desert side).

[texastrigirl]

Dangerous list to make...it might be used against you by your spouse. So keep it close to the vest.

I was asked this question years ago when my husband (who liked Austin but did not love it) was unemployed in the tech crash and it was phrased "if you HAD to leave Austin" and I listed in order 1) Seattle 2) Portland 3) Denver (used to live there), 4) Kansas City (random I know...but I am Midwesterner by birth...it's just a good place) and 5) Chicago (I think...number 5 had a lot of options). A few years later, sweet husband comes home and says "What would you think of moving to Seattle?". "I wouldn't" was my answer because I didn't HAVE to leave Austin. "But you said you'd move to Seattle...it was number 1 on the list!" his response.

Enter new salary figure that far outweighed the increase in living costs in Seattle relative to Austin and 1 month and 2 days later I had a new home. First year was not the greatest, missed Austin terribly, year 2, much better, opportunity to move back to Austin and turned it down...after year 3, I will probably be here for a very long time and I love it, rain and all. Keep in mind, I was one of those people that said "I will NEVER leave Austin".

You never know where life will take you...

[Cardiff Giant]

I grew up in NY, lived in the Detroit area (Ann Arbor and Detroit 'burbs) for 5 years and now think that we are here in Austin for the long haul. Especially when my in-laws move down here. I'm happy with our choice.

We haven't lived out West yet so never say never. I've been telling people lately that I'm reluctant to visit the SF/Bay Area because I'm afraid I'll want to move there if I visit.

I could see us back in Manhattan someday too. It's a great city for young people...and old people.

[lukec]

If money is not a factor and you have patience, I think many Austin folks would love Boston. And I'm a conservative guy. Cold, yeah. But its Austin on steroids.

[homeinatx]

Originally Posted by lukec

If money is not a factor and you have patience, I think many Austin folks would love Boston. And I'm a conservative guy. Cold, yeah. But its Austin on steroids.

Nah. Boston has pretty old buildings, great Italian food and seafood and fabulous universities and is still my least favorite East Coast city. 1 am last call, and if you scratch, a nasty provincial Puritan city underneath and racially segregated like a pre Civil Rights Birmingham. If you smile or nod at someone on the street, they cross to the other side or walk faster. Its like a richer, duller version of Baltimore without John Waters. I hate it and I have not even got to the weather, and while it has some things Austin lacks, it has none of things I like about Austin, warm weather, great Mexican food, good live music, year round outdoor activities, friendly people and a jolly, half-assed libertarian tolerance.

[Nomadic9460678748]

I can't wait to leave Austin.

Today I was awarded an illustrious dish washing position after months of employment searching. This purportedly "robust" job market really knows how to reward you. Is the position an insult to my intelligence, fortitude, and self-worth? Yes, it is. But that's the Austin job market. Know the right people and you'll get the right jobs. Unfortunately, I don't know the right people, don't own the right "look", and am not ever going to find myself rewarded with a worthwhile, fulfilling remunerative opportunity in this town. That's all well and good as I feel no love for the place.

I am going to be the best damned dish washer on this side of the Mississippi for the next year and a half and then I am moving back to California. Oakland, specifically. And yes, I was born in Texas, raised in Texas, graduated from high school in Austin, took my diploma from this state's behemoth, overrated Football U, and will happily go back to the "Left Coast" if it means I can have summers without sweating, true diversity, public transportation, the ocean, and my personal feeling of contentment. All of those who come here seeking low-taxes and affordable housing, have at it. I want none of those things. Texas is probably very good for the family-oriented; but I share none of those aspirations. I will gladly live in a room the size of a closet if it means I can finally be somewhere I love.

I cannot wait to leave Austin for another city...for good.

So go ahead, jump on my case. Tell me not to "let the door hit me on the way out", etc, etc, so on and so forth, and you'll only be reinforcing my desires to leave this place. Insular, defensive, and self-absorbed, keep being "weird", Austin.

[lukec]

Originally Posted by homeinatx

Nah. Boston has pretty old buildings, great Italian food and seafood and fabulous universities and is still my least favorite East Coast city. 1 am last call, and if you scratch, a nasty provincial Puritan city underneath and racially segregated like a pre Civil Rights Birmingham. If you smile or nod at someone on the street, they cross to the other side or walk faster. Its like a richer, duller version of Baltimore without John Waters. I hate it and I have not even got to the weather, and while it has some things Austin lacks, it has none of things I like about Austin, warm weather, great Mexican food, good live music, year round outdoor activities, friendly people and a jolly, half-assed libertarian tolerance.

You may have been convincing if you didn't compare it to Baltimore.

When I was young, I thought the moniker "city of neighborhoods" was lame. I didn't get it and I was from Mass. I went to law school there. Still didn't get it. Boston is cold, with respect to weather and attitude, but its a vast, vibrant dynamic city. Honestly, Cambridge is not part of Boston. It takes more time to learn the neighborhoods, the nooks, the crannies of Cambridge, where Harvars Square is nothin like Kendell Square, which is nothing like Central Square, which is nothing like the "coast"

And that is not even stepping into Brookline, Boston or Somerville.

People come to Boston and go "downtown" because that is what its like where they are from. Start central, expect happy people and once the non-party building stop.. its over.

Austin has a "Nite Owl" bus. Who can complain about a 2:00 last call from city with no late night transport. There aren't even any diners in Austin and the Boston diners suck, and its still better then Austin.

The neighborhoods of most cities are just that neighborhoods. Maybe one or two local bars and super market. If you want to know Boston, it will take months to get SOWA, months to get South End, months to get Charlestown, moths to get the Fens, months to get Washington Square, months to get Coolidge Corner, months to get the North End, months to get the Financial District, months to get Fort Point, months to get Central Square, months to get Allston Rock City, months to get Chinatown, months to get Beacon Hill, months to get Southie...

If you are looking for a half square mile block of bars and restaurants surrounded by urban sprawl, then maybe its not for you.

Its a dense, complicated, secretive, turfy city not for the naive. I miss it dearly. Was there for a decade and there are still parts I want to explore. Dated a girl from Rozzi. What about the restaurants in the Leather District...

[homeinatx]

[quote=lukec;15995693]You may have been convincing if you didn't compare it to Baltimore.


"The neighborhoods of most cities are just that neighborhoods. Maybe one or two local bars and super market. If you want to know Boston, it will take months to get SOWA, months to get South End, months to get Charlestown, moths to get the Fens, months to get Washington Square, months to get Coolidge Corner, months to get the North End, months to get the Financial District, months to get Fort Point, months to get Central Square, months to get Allston Rock City, months to get Chinatown, months to get Beacon Hill, months to get Southie..."

I spent 6 months in Cambridge. The Boston MSA is obviously much bigger than the Austin MSA, so there is more stuff, but for a city its size it kinda sucks. Months to get the North End? - only if you are REALLY slow. 5 good Italian restaurants/delis and a few BORING bars. I have better things to do with my MONTHS. If you want an urban life, which Austin as a sunbelt city does not really offer, NYC, Chicago, D.C, are way more interesting. Brookline - Westlake on ice! Otherwise, I don't see how "Boston is Austin on steroids." They are not comparable. I like old edgy urban U.S. cities and there are not many, but Boston is at the bottom of that list for me. How well do you know Baltimore?

[homeinatx]

P.S. Lukec,
Sorry, I am being rude. Tastes differ, and the love of any city is a great thing! Hope Austin is working as methadone!

[lukec]

I have a million Boston stories and Boston is 1/10th the size of NYC. Too expensive and too stressful, but too many people dont get the city.

I lived in C-Town for six years. I woke up, rolled out of bed and boom, the Boston Garden was a ten minute walk. I could see the Zakim Bridge in the garden from my window like you wouldnt beleive. Beautiful. Walk along the Mystic River and the Charles. (Serously, you hype the Colorado?)

10 minute walk to the Garden, no exageration. 15 minute walk from Hanover Street. 20 minute walks to Faneuil Hall, 29 minute walk from Puerto Riquan Chelsea, (an their hot strip clubs, yowwww), 20 minute walk to Brazilian East Cambridge and 20 minute walk to eclectic East Somerville.

And no one even knew my town, The Town - watch the movie. Sleepy little hoods just lie underneath the radar. (I was once recruited to join a bank robbery gang by the way, but it was because of the guys I knew in jail and my reputation fighting in the street of NB and FR.) But its the Green Square Mile. People can spend a year in Boston and not see a "downtown" or a "strip mall" and will ignore it. But it has great heart.

This is one tiny, tiny, tiny sliver of Boston:


YouTube - The Town Trailer


Not Austin, not NYC, not Dallas has little hidden neighborhoods in the heart of all like C-Town. Like I said a lot of people pass through, but they really dont get it. They look for "downtowns" and "strips". Boston has too much culture, history and flavor for that.

Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins... Psst