Best walkable area for young family in Boston/Cambridge? (Somerville: real estate, lease)

[afewyearsinboston]

Hello, I will be relocating to the Boston area next year along with my wife and (now) 9 month old son. We are currently in the bay area, Ca and if any of you are familiar with the area, we would like to find an area similar to downtown palo alto/university ave as we used to live there and liked it a lot.

I am hoping to get some advice on what areas might be best for us to look for that might fit our situation? We are not bringing a car, so we must be within walking distance (10-15min) to the T, groceries, and hopefully a park, some restaurants, pharmacy, book store, etc. I have never survived totally without a car but I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

The most important factor would be the "walkability/convenience" of the neighborhood considering we have a young child and no car. We don't need an SFR, we are looking to either buy or rent a condo with at least 2 bedrooms, and a washer/dryer in the unit, other than that we are pretty flexible on the property and are not concerned with schools yet.


I have been doing some research and thought cambridge's harvard or central squares sound like they might fit, back bay and beacon hill sound interesting but I'm not sure how convenient they are, not to mention expensive - Am I close or way off-base here? I'd love to hear any other suggestions as well!

[septimus]

I highly suggest you look at the cambridgport section of cambridge. It is the area between central square and the river. There is a trader joes, whole foods and shaws all within walking distance of the neighborhood. It also has the highest concentration of under 5 year olds in cambridge and a great park and some smaller parks that are great for toddlers. It also has a fairly active neighborhood association.

[missionhill]

Don't know Palo Alto but I've been on--what is it, Telegraph Ave?--around the UC Berkeley campus. Cambridge has a similar vibe to that area. Cambridgeport is a good suggestion, but you could cast a wider net. Anywhere within walking distance of the red line from Central Square up to Davis Square in Somerville would meet most of your requirements--walkability, reasonably convenient shopping, plenty of pub transp, bookstores, cafes, bakeries. Inman Square, where Cambridge and Hampshire streets cross, also has a nice buzz. There is no large park in the area but there are several small ones and the Charles River. Fresh Pond has a pleasant walking track through parkland around the pond but the chain-link fence between you and the water (it's used for water supply) diminishes the parklike effect.

The urban parts of Brookline, along Beacon Street and especially Coolidge Corner, where Beacon and Harvard Streets cross, is great although it lacks the university atmosphere of Cambridge and Somerville.

A third area to consider is Jamaica Plain which is within Boston's city limits. On a 10-point scale of parkland in Greater Boston, J. P. scores 20. The community revolves around beautiful Jamaica Pond; it also has the magnificent Arnold Arboretum and the many trails, fields, golf course, and zoo in Franklin Park. JP has wonderful side streets, considerable cultural diversity, great pub transp., and a nice selection of restaurants, cafes, shops. Again, no university presence.

[burbsbound]

I would recommend Cambridge (Cambridgeport, Kendall, Harvard, or Porter Square areas, all on the T, all reasonably safe). Decent schools, good resources/activities for kids around, etc.

Cambridgeport and Kendall (where MIT is) have a lot of technology/bio-tech companies and hence lots of new condo developments (such as this one: OneFirst). One way to do research on real estate is look at the Real Estate section of boston.com

BackBay and Beacon Hill are not as convenient to Supermarkets and not as family centric (not to mention inconvenient to schools if you have kids) but have a much more European feel to it (Beacon Hill has small grocery markets such as Savenor's that's more upscale/gourmet)

Since you're going carless, look at MBTA.com > Official Website for Greater Boston's Public Transportation System to see all the places you can go on the T (subway), pretty much anywhere you would want to go in Boston can be reached via the T (subway) or the commuter rail (purple line).

Hope this is helpful.

[eevee]

another good source of info on how to get around w/o a car is the book "Car Free in Boston" (title may not be exact). it's a great book that lists various malls, attractions, colleges, beaches, etc and shows how to get there via public transportation. the book is about $10 new, but is a great resource, even for locals.

IMO, the supermarket thing is a sticky point. if you're willing to bring home groceries via the T/bike/cab, you're options will open up more. JP is a great suggestion, but there's only one major store in that area, and it's in a gang ridden area.

the Porter Sq area is another suggestion, has just about everything you're looking for (though the area is mostly populated by college kids/professors)

[afewyearsinboston]

Originally Posted by septimus

I highly suggest you look at the cambridgport section of cambridge. It is the area between central square and the river. There is a trader joes, whole foods and shaws all within walking distance of the neighborhood. It also has the highest concentration of under 5 year olds in cambridge and a great park and some smaller parks that are great for toddlers. It also has a fairly active neighborhood association.

Thank you very much for the suggestion, I've been looking into this area and it looks very promising!

[afewyearsinboston]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Don't know Palo Alto but I've been on--what is it, Telegraph Ave?--around the UC Berkeley campus. Cambridge has a similar vibe to that area. Cambridgeport is a good suggestion, but you could cast a wider net. Anywhere within walking distance of the red line from Central Square up to Davis Square in Somerville would meet most of your requirements--walkability, reasonably convenient shopping, plenty of pub transp, bookstores, cafes, bakeries. Inman Square, where Cambridge and Hampshire streets cross, also has a nice buzz. There is no large park in the area but there are several small ones and the Charles River. Fresh Pond has a pleasant walking track through parkland around the pond but the chain-link fence between you and the water (it's used for water supply) diminishes the parklike effect.

The urban parts of Brookline, along Beacon Street and especially Coolidge Corner, where Beacon and Harvard Streets cross, is great although it lacks the university atmosphere of Cambridge and Somerville.

A third area to consider is Jamaica Plain which is within Boston's city limits. On a 10-point scale of parkland in Greater Boston, J. P. scores 20. The community revolves around beautiful Jamaica Pond; it also has the magnificent Arnold Arboretum and the many trails, fields, golf course, and zoo in Franklin Park. JP has wonderful side streets, considerable cultural diversity, great pub transp., and a nice selection of restaurants, cafes, shops. Again, no university presence.

Thank you! Coolidge Corner does look very cool, sort of has an old town feel to it and has what we're looking for but it seems to be more expensive than the cambrigport area.


This might be an odd question, but have there been any articles or websites about "the best squares"? Perhaps a ranking of the top 3 or something? I have been looking on wikipedia and they seem to have a good overview of them but I haven't found any comparisons.

[afewyearsinboston]

Originally Posted by burbsbound

I would recommend Cambridge (Cambridgeport, Kendall, Harvard, or Porter Square areas, all on the T, all reasonably safe). Decent schools, good resources/activities for kids around, etc.

Cambridgeport and Kendall (where MIT is) have a lot of technology/bio-tech companies and hence lots of new condo developments (such as this one: OneFirst). One way to do research on real estate is look at the Real Estate section of boston.com

BackBay and Beacon Hill are not as convenient to Supermarkets and not as family centric (not to mention inconvenient to schools if you have kids) but have a much more European feel to it (Beacon Hill has small grocery markets such as Savenor's that's more upscale/gourmet)

Since you're going carless, look at MBTA.com > Official Website for Greater Boston's Public Transportation System to see all the places you can go on the T (subway), pretty much anywhere you would want to go in Boston can be reached via the T (subway) or the commuter rail (purple line).

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for the information! especially the condo link, that's very helpful. Those look a little pricey though as the 1 bedrooms start in the 500s..probably the high fives I assume (gotta love marketers). That's probably about the max we're looking to spend on a 2bd condo as we don't want to stretch ourselves. I came across this other condo project that looks nice too but it seems to be under some type of legal limbo: Living at NorthPoint (http://www.livingatnorthpoint.com - broken link)

I have been looking on craigslist and ziprealty (they have a really cool map search feature that allows you to look at everything in a neighborhood). We'll most likely rent at first and look for a short term lease while we get to know the area, and see what happens with property prices

I kind of figured the back bay/beacon hill might not be a "family" area, and I already found out it's quite pricey, but it still stands out in my mind for some reason. The last time I was in Boston I remember walking around the narrow streets in beacon hill and I just had this great feeling, it was like being in a totally different place and had a very charming feel to it. This was in summer time by the way, the weather was great and people had flower boxes out in front of their brick & stone buildings. This probably sounds silly but coming from Ca it's just a whole different feeling. It definitely had a "european" feel to it, but it was still unique in it's own way (I've been to a few cities in the UK & Scotland).

[afewyearsinboston]

Originally Posted by eevee

another good source of info on how to get around w/o a car is the book "Car Free in Boston" (title may not be exact). it's a great book that lists various malls, attractions, colleges, beaches, etc and shows how to get there via public transportation. the book is about $10 new, but is a great resource, even for locals.

IMO, the supermarket thing is a sticky point. if you're willing to bring home groceries via the T/bike/cab, you're options will open up more. JP is a great suggestion, but there's only one major store in that area, and it's in a gang ridden area.

the Porter Sq area is another suggestion, has just about everything you're looking for (though the area is mostly populated by college kids/professors)

Thanks, great suggestions! I'm going to pick up that book, looks very useful. JP sounds kind of nice but I'd like to avoid crime ridden areas.

I know the supermarket factor limits our choices, honestly I don't mind taking a cab once and a while or even better, ordering groceries online and having them delivered (we recently discovered this service and love it). But I would like to have some sort of market nearby to get milk, bread etc..something small is ok but I'm thinking a mom & pop grocery store rather than 7/11 Trader joes or whole foods is great too. Love there stuff, hate the prices though.

One of the reasons we want to minimize the walking distance is we aren't used to the cold weather. I'll suck it up & adapt. But I don't want my wife & baby to have to go too far if it's freezing and snowing.

Now that I think about it, are all the red line stops underground, and are they heated? I almost feel bad for asking this silly Californian question

[afewyearsinboston]

Hmn...I checked this thread last night and someone posted an incredible review of the various squares in the area, but after I refreshed the page the post is now gone/deleted. I'm sorry, I don't remember who posted it, but can you re-post that great info?