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Just to give you a heads up. Chelsea, East Boston, and Revere are pretty ghetto. I wouldn't recommend living in any of those starting out. Once you spend a year or so here, you can guage whether you would feel comfortable living in any of the three areas. If you are searching on craigslist for apartments, avoid the following areas: Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, Chelsea, Hyde Park, East Boston, Revere.
For your price range and the fact that you want parking, I would recommend Brighton, Jamaica Plain, or Roslindale.
well, I personally won't try to stick up for Chelsea, but there are some very nice sections of Revere and Eastie where one could find great condos/lofts w/ access to Boston. these two areas are definitely up and coming, but most of these areas are far from "ghetto"
and I never could understand why people tell others to stay away from Dorchester. Dorchester is the largest neighborhood in Boston. by telling them to stay away from Dorchester, you're also telling them to stay away from Ashmont Hill, Savin Hill, Neponset, Lower Mills, and several other very nice sections of Dorchester. yes, there are some bad sections of it, but I'd rather steer newcomers away from those sections then from the entire neighborhood.
also, it's funny how you tell people to stay away from Dorchester and Hyde Park (a lot of sections of Hyde Park are safe and lovely and offer some excellent housing options. and you could have Mumbles as a neighbor!), but suggest JP and Roslindale (there are sections of JP that are riddled w/ gangs and drugs, and some parts of Roslindale that aren't that nice as well).
me personally, I'd much rather live live in the Neponset area of Dottie or the Readville area of HP then in the Mozart Park/Jackson Sq. area of JP or the area of Roslindale around the Archdale St. projects
well, I personally won't try to stick up for Chelsea, but there are some very nice sections of Revere and Eastie where one could find great condos/lofts w/ access to Boston. these two areas are definitely up and coming, but most of these areas are far from "ghetto"
and I never could understand why people tell others to stay away from Dorchester. Dorchester is the largest neighborhood in Boston. by telling them to stay away from Dorchester, you're also telling them to stay away from Ashmont Hill, Savin Hill, Neponset, Lower Mills, and several other very nice sections of Dorchester. yes, there are some bad sections of it, but I'd rather steer newcomers away from those sections then from the entire neighborhood.
also, it's funny how you tell people to stay away from Dorchester and Hyde Park (a lot of sections of Hyde Park are safe and lovely and offer some excellent housing options. and you could have Mumbles as a neighbor!), but suggest JP and Roslindale (there are sections of JP that are riddled w/ gangs and drugs, and some parts of Roslindale that aren't that nice as well).
me personally, I'd much rather live live in the Neponset area of Dottie or the Readville area of HP then in the Mozart Park/Jackson Sq. area of JP or the area of Roslindale around the Archdale St. projects
I recommended staying away from those certain neighborhoods to someone who is unfamiliar with Boston (as the bttrfly is). Do you really think the bttrfly knows the difference between Ashmont Hill and Meeting House Hill? Or Jeffries Point and Maverick Sq? It is terrible (and irresponsible) advice for you to recommend these neighborhoods to someone who isn't familiar with Boston.
I recommended staying away from those certain neighborhoods to someone who is unfamiliar with Boston (as the bttrfly is). Do you really think the bttrfly knows the difference between Ashmont Hill and Meeting House Hill? Or Jeffries Point and Maverick Sq? It is terrible (and irresponsible) advice for you to recommend these neighborhoods to someone who isn't familiar with Boston.
Come on. She's educating people on the differences, so they'll know what's a good bet and what isn't. She's a native; she knows the whole fabric of the place. She's telling bttrfly the difference between Ashmont Hill and Meeting House Hill--he can then go, look, ask questions, and decide for him/herself. Dorchester in all its variety is the opposite of Allston--few students, transients; lots of settled people, real communities. If you're looking for a convenient, non-student centric place to live, Dorchester is at least a reasonable possibility.
Just to give you a heads up. Chelsea, East Boston, and Revere are pretty ghetto. I wouldn't recommend living in any of those starting out. Once you spend a year or so here, you can guage whether you would feel comfortable living in any of the three areas. If you are searching on craigslist for apartments, avoid the following areas: Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, Chelsea, Hyde Park, East Boston, Revere.
For your price range and the fact that you want parking, I would recommend Brighton, Jamaica Plain, or Roslindale.
I second this. East Boston, particularly around Maverick Sq, has improved, but East Boston still has rough pockets and no nightlife to speak of, though it has nice views. Chelsea and Revere have some good prices but are pretty ghetto in parts. There are nice parts in Revere, and frankly in Chelsea too, but neither place is prime territory for a person relocating to the area from away. They are much more local, tight-knit places. Dorchester has great areas too, but again there is not the social life for someone who is from somewhere else. It's usually easier for people in that situation to go places where there are other people their age who also come from elsewhere.
I also generally agree with the suggestions of JP, Roslindale and Brighton. My favorite is Brighton, with a caveat: Don't go along the B line. That will be full of students and the B line is the slowest, most crowded train in the area.
Brighton Center has a lot of very nice apts for much less than the South End, and is not full of undergrads at all. More people 25-35 and long time residents. Brighton is often lumped in with Allston, because the area along the B line on Comm. Av. has a lot of young students, but that is not the case in Brighton Center, near Washington and Market Sts. If you're keeping the car, parking there is generally quite easy. There is an express bus from there at rush hours that gets to Copley or downtown (2 different buses, 503 and 501) in 15-20 mins. At other times the trip from Brighton Center is tougher (bus to the T, can take up to an hour to get downtown), but you can hop on the Mass Pike in Newton (recommended) or Allston and get downtown in 15 mins by car on the weekend.
JP has some great sections and a lot of nice restaurants. It is also near the pond and the arboretum, which are both very nice. The community is diverse and tolerant, but there are some not so safe parts of JP, mostly along the Washington St corridor north of Green St. Particularly avoid Jackson Sq and the area near the Bromley-Heath and other housing projects.
I love Arlington, I lived there as a kid, but (while this has changed in recent years with new arrivals and new restaurants) it's about 75-80% of the way toward Lexington on the "families with kids and old people" meter. There is not a bar in all of Arlington b/c it's dry other than a few restaurants with licenses.
I recommended staying away from those certain neighborhoods to someone who is unfamiliar with Boston (as the bttrfly is). Do you really think the bttrfly knows the difference between Ashmont Hill and Meeting House Hill? Or Jeffries Point and Maverick Sq? It is terrible (and irresponsible) advice for you to recommend these neighborhoods to someone who isn't familiar with Boston.
so it's ok to fully recommend JP and Roslindale, which both has very sketchy areas, but not ok to recommend certain sections of Dorchester and HP? how is it "irresponsible" to say some sections of Dottie and HP are safe, but it's not irresponsible of you to recommend JP and Roslindale w/o highlighting the dangers in those neighborhoods? sorry, not following your logic here. how is a newcomer to Boston going to tell the difference between Centre St in the heart of JP and the Centre St that passes by the Bromely-Heath projects? how is a newcomer going to tell the difference between Roslindale Sq. and the area around it and the area right next to it, the areas near Archdale and Hope Cemetery?
I'm just trying to dispel the rumor that ALL of Dorchester is bad, that ALL of Hyde Park is bad. telling people to avoid an area 100% doesn't help them either. I've always been one to point out the good and bad areas of certain neighborhoods to the best of my knowledge (I know nada about Chelsea, hence why I didn't tackle it in my last response. and I don't have much personal experience w/ Eastie, just second hand from friends who live there. I HAVE however lived in all the other neighborhoods mentioned in your post). I've pointed out several times that Dorchester has its rough spots, but I will never discount that area completely b/c the rough spots, when compared to how large Dottie actually is, is a small portion of the area and very easily avoidable. and crime in HP is pretty low compared to other parts of Boston and, again, is concentrated in certain areas.
Beyond all the debates about what neighborhoods to recommend (or not), I would point out that Chelsea and Arlington are pretty dissimilar areas, in general. I find them to be an odd duo. Arlington is sort of a Cambridge/Lexington/Belmont hybrid, with lots of young parents and young professionals. Chelsea is a gritty urban area that reminds me more of Everett (aaaaack!) or Lynn. I'm sure there are nice parts of Chelsea, but I would never compare anything about Chelsea with anything about Arlington.
Boston is a college and sports town completely. If you want to get away from that scene, live downtown. Look for a place in the North End, South End, Beacon Hill, or Back Bay. Very few students live there, however it is pricey. Most 1 bedroom apartments i've seen go for $1600 and up.
The big college areas are:
Allston-Brighton (BU, BC),
Mission Hill (Northeastern, Mass College of Pharm, Harvard Med, Simmons, Emmanuel, and a few other)
Cambridge (MIT, Harvard, and some BU)
Somerville (Lesley, Tufts, some Harvard)
Jamaica Plain (Northeastern spillover and a ton of graduate students live there because it's cheap)
Waltham (Brandeis, Bentley).
Sounds like downtown is your best bet. Personally, I like the South End.
I am 31, work at Northeastern and live in JP. I run into VERY FEW college students. I have a one bedroom which runs $1200. It's rough finding anything cheaper if you don't want to live in a shoe box. JP is great! Cute restaurants, bars, boutiques, etc. Also very easy to catch the T or the bus to get into Boston (I personally drive pretty much everywhere...mostly because I'm from the Midwest and have been "programmed" to use my car).
I would definitely steer away from Mission Hill (all NU students). There are tons of colleges and during the academic year, it is pretty much impossible to avoid all the students. But, with that said, there is an endless amount of "stuff" to do, great restaurants, great nightlife, the best sports scene, etc.
I have lived in Boston, Somerville, Roslindale, and now JP. In all locations you can find areas that are and aren't saturated with college kids. Because I work at NU, it was HUGE for me to not live in an area where there were tons of students. Boston is also a great place for young professionals and when the summer comes the students tend to depart a bit and the city really shines.
It's a great place to live, but it is quite pricey. My apartment in Boston was broken into and it has been critically important for me to find somewhere "safe"...this means avoiding certain areas and usually higher rent. The other thing I have found is that off street parking in the city or close to the city is almost impossible to find unless you are paying for it. I haven't had any issues with my car being parked on the street.
Location: Boston/Cambridge area, Massachusetts, USA
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Cambridge, just across the Charles River from downtown Boston and home to Harvard, MIT, Lesley, and Cambridge College, plus close geographical ties to Boston University and Tufts University, is arguably a "college town."
However, I would not consider Boston (either the city itself or especially the city and its suburbs) a college town. The Boston area does, indeed, have many renowned colleges and universities, many of which are within the city limits (much of Cambridge-based Harvard actually lies on the Boston side of the Charles; the Business School is in Allston, just across from Harvard Square; the medical, dental, and public health schools are in the Longwood Ave medical area).
People from other parts of the country have this image of Massachusetts in general, Greater Boston in particular, as a place where most people are politically to the left of Jesse Jackson, drive Volvo or Subaru Outback wagons, always listen to NPR, diligently keep abreast of the situation in Tibet and Darfur, and will only shop at Whole Foods Market.
It was 20 years ago that former Education Secretary William Bennett referred to (at the time) Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic Presidential Candidate as a "card carrying member of the ACLU" and a "member of the Brookline-Cambridge crowd I dealt with at Harvard." Although there is probably a higher percentage of people who could be classified, pejoratively, as the "liberal elite," in Massachusetts than in, say, most of the South and Midwest, it is still a minority.
Even in the "fashionable" parts of Massachusetts (i.e., Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, Wayland), there are more real-life Archie Bunkers and Peter Griffins than people who are of the "elite" persuasion described in the last two paragraphs.
To summarize, is Boston is a city with many colleges and universities? Yes. Is Boston a "college town?" No.
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