Boston is without a doubt the worst place I have ever lived. (Cambridge: rent, low crime)

[TAM88]

Originally Posted by okyoureabeast

Thanks for the good points in this thread everyone. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and put in some relocation requests. Also gave a headhunter friend of mine a call and sent off some cover letters and resumes.

Got a few replies already. I'm hoping to be out of this frozen land of New England by the end of February. West coast here I come!

PS: to those who think LA is filled with air headed bimbos, boston is filled with peter pans who attend one of the too many schools here in town. Seriously stop studying to get your post doc in Basket Weaving Studies and get a real job. At least air heads are nicer than smug people whose pieces of paper from 2nd and 3rd tier schools warrant respect. At least Biotech and finance will save this town once the education bubble pops.

So your response to people making assumptions and generalizations about people from LA is to turn around and do the same to people from Boston? Makes sense, I guess.

[9162]

Originally Posted by nobodyyouknow

So I came here from Los Angeles kicking & screaming due to my spouse's job. Obviously the weather isn't going to sit well with me. My experience has been long and brutal winters, a non-existent spring (mostly rain), humid summers that warrant 2 showers a day with the beauty of the tropics. Fall is so-so but living for fall seems sad.

We actually live in Newton which is 80% white and have had more than enough racist encounters.

Complaining about 80% white? Did you think it would be similar to Asia? I wonder what the response would be if an American went to an Asian country and said such things? Imagine saying, "Wow, I can't believe all these Chinese people in China? The nerve, and so racist toward Americans. And so densely populated...geez, I thought it would be spread out, with plenty of parking. Why aren't the streets easier to get around...

Originally Posted by nobodyyouknow

While the food scene is growing it's at least 10 years behind the times and the segregation saddens me i.e. no Little Tokyo (downtoan la), Little Saigon Westminster), koreatown, armenian village etc. I have eaten a lot, and I do mean a lot and my decent meals have been few. In two years I've eaten at two-3 places that I would take out of towners to....providing I could find parking.

I suspect you haven't found many of the good food locations, perhaps due to your difficulty in getting around.

Originally Posted by nobodyyouknow

My experience with Somerville & Cambridge is why don't they just gate the whole town with two entrances/exits where residents show their pass to enter. It doesn't inspire me to check out my new unfortunate home. For the record Somerville is 7.5 miles from my home in newton and to take the MBTA i would have to take 3 busses and 1 train. It would take approximately 75 minutes and cost 11.25. That just seems whacked to me.

Something is wrong here; it shouldn't take 3 buses, and 1 train to go from Newton to Somerville, or Cambridge.

[Dport7674]

The OP moved from a huge west coast city to a smallish east coast city and then complains about things being different?

Fool.

[BitofEndearment]

Originally Posted by nobodyyouknow

So I came here from Los Angeles kicking & screaming due to my spouse's job. Obviously the weather isn't going to sit well with me. My experience has been long and brutal winters, a non-existent spring (mostly rain), humid summers that warrant 2 showers a day with the beauty of the tropics. Fall is so-so but living for fall seems sad.

We actually live in Newton which is 80% white and have had more than enough racist encounters.

While the food scene is growing it's at least 10 years behind the times and the segregation saddens me i.e. no Little Tokyo (downtoan la), Little Saigon Westminster), koreatown, armenian village etc. I have eaten a lot, and I do mean a lot and my decent meals have been few. In two years I've eaten at two-3 places that I would take out of towners to....providing I could find parking.

My experience with Somerville & Cambridge is why don't they just gate the whole town with two entrances/exits where residents show their pass to enter. It doesn't inspire me to check out my new unfortunate home. For the record Somerville is 7.5 miles from my home in newton and to take the MBTA i would have to take 3 busses and 1 train. It would take approximately 75 minutes and cost 11.25. That just seems whacked to me.

Move into town? Well when we first got here my spouses's job put us up in a apt. in Brookline. Another unfriendly parking city especially when out of town guests come to visit.

I don't feel any buzz or excitement and the independent commercial stores are just rundown, terrible looking and full of crap as is the majority of art I have seen which surprises me given all the youth. Having been to Portland Maine recently it seems to me the youth moves up there where it is more affordable? This would go for Portsmouth as well.

Boston is notorious for navigating and I get lost too often (as does spouse) even with a GPS!

On a slightly positive note, when the trees "pop" in the "spring" it is nice and I do appreciate all the parks, walden pond, the audobon parks. the lack of a horizon/mountains makes me crazy and attributes to my lack of a sense of a direction.

I'd like to understand the physics of road deterioration. h20 expands in the cold, got it, I figuredthe water would mostly be out of the cement? Does the snow and salt really do that much damage? really, the roads here are horrible. That allston/brighton strip leading into boston! Jeez.

I could go on and on and on and on.

I'd really like to know how out of towners survive here/

Am I the only one who noticed the OP mentioned how much she appreciated Walden Pond? If there is a bigger tourist trap in New England that isn't Faneuil Hall, I want to know what it is.

As a native Bostonian who now lives in LA, I understand what it's like going through such a move. I mean, I was a college student and surrounded by other college students and I still managed to feel very lonely at times. Is the suffrage of loneliness really that high in Boston? I can't know because I'm an insider. Anyway, I initially hated LA, for about a month, because it was different and more because I hadn't gone out and experienced it. I had kept to campus and my little corner, but then after a few weeks I started getting out to every corner of the city. It's hard to imagine I ever hated it, because I am absolutely in love with. No more or less (okay, maybe only less in the way one loves their hometown) than Boston. It has an amazing history and I, yes Bostonian in blood, love the sprawl in LA.

I feel your pain. But having to experience Boston from Newton is like having to experience LA from Pasadena. It gets talked up because it's a nice place but...blech.

If you need to, you'll get back to LA in time. In the meantime, try and enjoy yourself. If it looks dirty or old, or doesn't seem diverse, or feel cold, try again. See it as historical, move around a find the plethora of diversity, get by a fire and grab a hot apple cider, preferably from Clover Food Lab or something like that, and make the most of it. I'd hate for you to have to look back to the time you lived in Boston and wished you hadn't missed out because you couldn't overcome your discomfort. I know it's not home but come on, how different are American cities from each other, really? Comparably?

[dravogadro]

I don't think Boston is terrible at all but I wish people would learn how to use a garbage can. And tell Dunkin' Donuts to get rid of the styrofoam. Or maybe I'm just surprised that more people don't use reusable mugs. See, Boston problems aren't that bad.

[semiurbanite]

It sounds like you have to drive everywhere, and then you complain about parking. Boston is a walking city (unlike LA), Boston is not great for driving, which is partly why I love it. It may make sense to move to a walkable neighborhood near the trains - check out Cambridge or Somerville. Why Newton? Schools are good but its probably a tough transition from LA.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by 9162

Something is wrong here; it shouldn't take 3 buses, and 1 train to go from Newton to Somerville, or Cambridge.

Take trains - the Green Line to Park Street, then Red line to Cambridge and Somerville. But that green line ride is long and slow...

[semiurbanite]

You are in the minority here. LA pretty consistently ranks among the least desirable cities, and Boston among the most. For example this recent Bloomberg ranking has Boston at #4 and LA #50.

America's 50 Best Cities - The Best Places to Live - Businessweek

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Take trains - the Green Line to Park Street, then Red line to Cambridge and Somerville. But that green line ride is long and slow...

Some days, I think I could actually walk waster than the Green Line moves, before it goes underground.

[TAM88]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Some days, I think I could actually walk waster than the Green Line moves, before it goes underground.

Aside from the D line, the other 3 branches are plagued with the same problems and at times can move pretty damn slow.

It's too bad there isn't enough money to bury the C line to Coolidge Corner, the B line to Washington Street and bury the entire E line.