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Admittedly seafood isn't really my thing. However I've had some really bad seafood in Boston too. Just because a seafood restaurant is in Boston doesn't mean it's good.
False. By definition, "in Boston" = the best anywhere, ever.
False. By definition, "in Boston" = the best anywhere, ever.
Wow.
People from Boston are so pretentious. I can't believe you actually think this. I'm going to start a new thread on this sub-forum and write an 11 paragraph rant about this particular interaction.
A placed may have varied options but, are they any good? Or, maybe there is really only one good option and you have to travel 30 miles to get there. I have been places where people would say we have mexican -- taco bell -- and it's good.
So unless someone is well traveled and has been exposed to varied cusine, there is no basis for comparison to rate the cusine. This is why out-of-towners are most critical as they have experienced cusine elsewhere.
My point is Boston is not just pizza and donuts..if you think this you don’t know Boston..whether you like the food or not is your opinion but if you think it’s all pizza you are not correct...I rarely eat pizza..I eat lots of sushi, Greek or middle eastern, thai, tacos, italian..
My job situation has been the pits for a while and about 3 months ago I ended up having to move to Boston for a contract job from Atlanta where I have lived for the past two and a half decades. I grew up in Queens, northern VA and east TN, so excepting the latter I have experience with large'ish US cities.
I ended up being underwhelmed by Boston. I had never visited before I started work there, but friends who had been had told me tales of a lovely city that was totally awesome in the summer with a great river and that I should definitely go visit.
Fair enough. From what you've written, Boston definitely doesn't seem like a good fit for you/your tastes.
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1. The Charles River is great. I think that the banks of the Charles River are nicer than most waterside development you'll see in Chicago, Denver, and Atlanta. Plenty of bridges crossing it that don't ruin the landscape, and plenty of activity (joggers, boats, kayaks). It probably helps a lot that it empties into the atlantic. There are nicer waterfronts, but most of these tend to be in southeastern tourist towns. A definite plus to living in Cambridge, Back Bay, etc.
It's definitely great. I'd give Chicago an edge myself, but it's an asset.
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2. The housing stock is old. I'm not sure whether its municipal laws, mafia kickbacks or other barriers, but a lot of the housing that would have been torn down and rebuilt 2x or 3x over in other large cities of the same approximate age tend to persist in Boston. This is slowly changing in some areas (like Revere) and absent in some of the farther flung suburbs but in all likelihood if you aren't forking over $2.5k+ for rent then you're going to live in a 3rd floor loft built in 1920 with no forced air ducting, tiny bathrooms and a 50/50 chance that eating the paint chips will give you lead poisoning. Lots of the neighborhoods i stayed in or drove through reminded me of New Jersey (a state I dislike).
This is true. I think it's largely due to the fact that well, the city is old. And unlike places like Atlanta which are on a growth spurt and have never experienced a decline, Boston has had both large population gains and losses. Peak Boston population was over 800,000 in the 50s. We're still below that now. So for a long time, there was no need to build more as we weren't even fully occupying what we had. Now there is a need, and Boston's building a LOT. but it has a lot of catching up to do before it's where it needs to be on that front.
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3. The city is smaller than its reputation would imply. I was surprised by how short a trip it is to get from East Boston to Brighton or from Malden to Milton. Drive 15 miles from just about anywhere and you're outside the conventional city area. Traffic means that it takes time, but speaking as an Atlantan... you guys are traffic rookies. You have tolls, tunnels, bridges and density all contributing to the traffic situation. Doubling a 15-20 minute commute means 30-40 minutes in the car (or an hour on the T). Atlanta is putting down pro numbers with 12 lane wide highways that turn into parking lots twice a day. 20 minutes of driving will barely put you into the next town in most cases. Its not a treat to drive in either city during rush hour, but I will take Boston's traffic over Atlanta's 7 days a week and twice on Sunday.
It is. Atlanta is a neat contrast because it's so different, but actually similarly sized (population wise). Boston is extremely dense and compact at the core, but it tapers off fairly quickly. Atlanta doesn't match the core density, but it's outer suburbs extend at a higher density over a larger distance giving one the impression that the "conventional city area" extends a greater distance. Boston also has far more in terms of urban satellite clusters (like Lynn, Quincy, Waltham, Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Brockton, etc.) where big chunks of the metro population live. It's not a typical city/suburb arrangement at all. When I walk anywhere around the Financial District, Back Bay, Kendall, the Seaport, etc. Boston feels bigger than Atlanta to me by a good margin. There's nothing approaching that level of sustained urban density in Atlanta. But driving across the metro? Atlanta feels significantly bigger because it's so spread out and decentralized. Boston has nothing resembling Perimeter Center, Cumberland, etc. to let someone know they're in a major metro even though they're well outside the core.
You're right about the roads (though I can't think of any toll booths clogging traffic anymore). Frankly, this is a city that isn't going to accommodate growth by adding lanes to roads. There's just no room. And as most cities (see: Houston) can tell you, added lanes rarely "fix" traffic issues for long. Boston can improve on some roadways (i.e. the I-90 realignment), but this is a city that needs to upgrade its mass transit infrastructure first - that's where the most capacity increasing potential is. But I agree that Boston's traffic isn't as bad as we make it out to be. I experienced much worse living in DC and that was over a decade ago.
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4. The housing and living expense doesn't seem worth it. Boston has a ton of educated people and low unemployment and a 2% vacancy rate. If you are a single person with a white collar job making ~$70-90k/yr then you most likely have a roommate unless you want to overburden yourself with rent. You are also probably spending 3x-4x the rent for the privilege of renting in the city. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. There are areas in the ATL that are just as expensive as most of Boston, but unlike Boston you aren't fighting for the attention of rental brokers or schmoozing with landlords to please please please let you pay them for a room. If you have the skills or experience to land a good job in Beantown, i'm not sure why you wouldn't depart for a Chicago or Philadelphia or even west coast town where your money will get you a bit more.
That's fair, and very real for many of us. I'm in my early 30s and just moved in with my girlfriend. Before that I was with a roommate working a white collar job making as much as/more than my hometown friends who all own single family homes in the suburbs/exurbs and have mortgages that are less than my rent is now. Chicago's on my list. So is NYC, DC, San Francisco, etc. I like what I can get here from an urban experience standpoint much better than what I can find in places like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, etc. All cities I like, but wouldn't want to live in. It's that whole personal tastes thing again. But what you point it is certainly a problem for Boston.
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5. The people there have some serious city pride. As a former new yorker, I am completely familiar with the attitude that there is no reason to ever live anywhere else... why-would-I-because-anything-I-could-ever-want-or-need-can-be-found-somewhere-in-the-city. New Yorkers have a serious superiority complex and love their city. Bostonians are almost as proud. I saw Pats and Bosox hats just about everywhere I went.. and even when I didn't see those I saw Bruins tattoos. I also got unhappy looks when I asked townies what they would do when that cheater retires. Then I would get reminded about the superbowl :-). Then *they* would get reminded about the other superbowl by a coworker from Philly. Good times :-). I'm not an NFL fan, but let me know when your MLS team manages to win a championship.
Would the Pats then remind that coworker from Philly that the Pats then won the next Super Bowl? In all seriousness, the city pride thing is a double edge sword and I don't see it as a uniquely Boston thing. I've experienced worse "homerism" in almost every smaller city I've been to as well as bigger places like San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, etc. The sports fans can be over the top, but they're not as bad as plenty of other places (you mentioned Philly...). I feel like it's transient enough up here that you get a decent mix of fans from other places. The unprecedented recent success amplifies it. When (and it's definitely going to happen sooner than later), most/all of our teams fall out of regular contention, you won't see the cockiness that you see now. But yeah, it's a bit much. I've gotten to the point where I love supporting my teams, but take serious issue with the fans sometimes (especially Bruins/Pats).
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6. The T. I was surprised by how small the trains were. The system is overloaded and overcrowded. Everyone knows this. Thankfully I avoided the two derailments, fire, flooding and bear spray incident that happened over this ONE SUMMER (good lord!)... but I shudder to think what the transportation situation would be without it. Atlanta has a poorly funded, fledgling train system that none of the YUPPIE, baby-boomer conservatives gerrymandering the vote want. As a result it has a serious image problem and practicality problem amongst a lot of folks who could get good use out of it. That being said, even the T with all of its problems is helping solve a significant transportation issue that I wish the ATL has the political will and funding to tackle. Our trains are bigger than yours, though... and have better service to our airport
Apart from the Green Line which is a pretty standard light rail vehicle, I'm not sure how the trains are small? Compared to what? It's been an AWFUL few months for the MBTA, but the overcrowding issues are almost entirely due to train frequency (they're not running often enough to keep the trains from filling to capacity) issues, not the size of the cars which are plenty adequate to move people comfortably if they're running frequently enough. Thankfully this is in the works (first new Orange Line train rolled out last week). But yeah, frequencies and breakdowns/issues remain a big problem.
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7. The food scene. Boston has a small population amongst large US metros... and this accounts for the food scene. Its not horrible, but its segmented and one can only eat so many donuts and pizzas before longing for a larger variety of cuisine. Its ridiculous that you have more dunkin donuts than fast food places. I am embarrassed for Boston. We do have a lot of LBGTQ-hating-chicken restaurants out here, but we don't put them every nook and cranny of a train station, supermarket or kiosk. You guys really need to let up a bit on the DD. If you're ever in the ATL, make your way out to one of our Sarah's Donuts locations and you'll swear off of the 2nd rate pastries that dunkin makes.
I think this is likely a matter of taste again. It's hard to take a post knocking the city's food scene seriously when one of the sticking points is that we don't have a lot of fast food places. Dunkin' was born here, so it makes sense that there are a ton. It's also largely for "coffee" (I don't care for Dunkin's coffee, hence the quotes), and not actual meals, so the proliferation relative to fast food chains also makes sense. If there was a market for more fast food, we would have more of it. Simple as that. Dunkin's cutting down on the pastries, again, because the coffee is where their money is. People who are getting their pastries at Dunkin (or Starbucks) are doing it wrong. There are a million bakeries and coffee shops that aren't Dunkin to buy pastries from. From local chains like Tatte to the hundreds of small independent bakeries. If you missed them all, then look again next time because it's hard to miss them. I'm also not sure what you were looking for that you couldn't find here in terms of food? I have a ton of local options across the price spectrum near my home and my office. I would definitely make the case that Boston crushes Atlanta in terms of variety. At least in my experience. Maybe next time reach out for recommendations?
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8. Overall livability? You need some serious bucks or good luck with job location to not live on top of people or in a rickety dungeon out there. I really like Davis Square (reminded me of a neighborhood just south of Piedmont Park here) and parts of Cambridge were nice. I spent my first day there at Danehy park playing pick up ultimate and getting to meet a few folks. Trying to parlay that experience into a living arrangement would require a serious financial, logistical and temporal commitment and I'm not sure that the added day-to-day stress and cost of doing so would be worth it long term.... and this is in the summer when the weather is nice!
This checks out. I live in a 2br apartment right at Davis in a place that's far from "recently renovated" and we're paying more than what my friends are paying for large single family homes in nice neighborhoods/good school districts about an hour outside of the city. Some of this is lifestyle preference, I love the activity and energy of the neighborhood and the convenience to Boston while also being able to easily park my car and have some outdoor space. I do not want to live in the 'burbs in a big house and have to drive everywhere. So it's worth it. But there should be more options for people who have an in between preference or more limited means. I'm not rich by any stretch, but I'm also lucky enough to be in a dual income situation where we can afford the rent of an OK transit accessible place. I realize that many people (especially those with children) can't. That's tough. But for me, in my circumstances, Boston is arguably one of the most "livable" places I could live in the U.S. I've done Portland, ME; Washington D.C.; and Providence. I've split time between Boston and SF for a long time. I've traveled extensively between Boston - Chicago, Boston - NYC, Boston - Dallas, and Boston - Atlanta for work. Apart from Chicago, Boston is the most "livable" of the bunch because I get the full urban experience of a major city without the NYC/SF price tag. I could not afford to live like this in either of those places.
It's hard to take a post knocking the city's food scene seriously when one of the sticking points is that we don't have a lot of fast food places.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.co...-for-2018.html
We are ranked the No.2 healthiest state. Georgia barely slid out of the top 10 WORST. As a whole, we don't generally buy food from DD. It's Coffee. Maybe you should be more concerned about all the options Atlanta has and wonder if that is contributing to Atlanta's health problems.
My point is Boston is not just pizza and donuts..if you think this you don’t know Boston..whether you like the food or not is your opinion but if you think it’s all pizza you are not correct...I rarely eat pizza..I eat lots of sushi, Greek or middle eastern, thai, tacos, italian..
I never stated Boston is all pizza and donuts.
The OP stated that and another poster agreed. I stated that Boston cusine is to my liking. My husband and I have dined at numerous restaurants over the past ten years. (Admittedly we are not fans of sushi and middle eastern so we have not sought those out).
I have enjoyed my meals in Boston however variety seemed lacking in a few respects -- notably BBQ, and perhaps it doesn't have the variety the OP desired and is accustomed to from his experience elsewhere, specifically Atlanta.
This was a casual remark not an indictment on Boston's cusine.
Last edited by Maddie104; 08-19-2019 at 01:01 PM..
I have enjoyed my meals in Boston however variety seemed lacking in a few respects -- notably BBQ, and perhaps it doesn't have the variety the OP desired and is accustomed to from his experience elsewhere, specifically Atlanta.
Yeah, well I don't go looking for whole belly clam rolls when I'm in Phoenix
Yeah, well I don't go looking for whole belly clam rolls when I'm in Phoenix
This isn't about what you look for and it's taking the thread off course.
Some cities are more cosmopolitan than others. My city, Philadelphia, has a highly rated Israeli restaurant and has received acclaim from food critics. Would you go looking for Israeli food in Philadelphia? The chefs visit Israel regularly to improve the cusine.
We also have a highly rated Norwegian restaurant, would you go looking for a Norwegian restaurant in Philadelphia.
When you visit NYC, you do get food that is just local to the region -- no.
It goes back to one's experiences in dining various places to compare one major city to another. Most people who have largely dined in their own locale have no way of knowing how their city compares to other cities.
It's also about quality -- not just a list of restaurants.
Getting back on course to OP's claim in the thread. I agree that Boston is not just pizza and DD.
Last edited by Maddie104; 08-19-2019 at 02:58 PM..
People from Boston are so pretentious. I can't believe you actually think this. I'm going to start a new thread on this sub-forum and write an 11 paragraph rant about this particular interaction.
Could be I'm completely mistaken, since I am not a native. And on top of that, I do NOT explore the Boston restaurant scene. However, I feel fairly safe in saying that you misunderstand bjimmy24 completely. Either that, or you understand him completely. Either way, he is right, and you don't even know what's going on. Or you do, and you're wrong.
Looking forward to your rant. I'll be counting.
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