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So, I'll be coming up to Boston (from NC) to take a job at the Aquarium in mid-September. I'm seriously considering Winthrop as a place I may like to be (I'll be commuting from NH for a month or so while I save up to move). Any opinions / input on this area? I did a search on here and found some info, but I'd like to hear more from those who live / lived / visited / are familiar with the area. I've seen some decent places for reasonable prices there so far. I think I'd like to steer clear of Pt. Shirley (heard it's right in Logan's flight path).
Some ?'s:
I know there's not much of a "scene" there, but how difficult / easy would it be to get to Boston Proper either by car or public transport? Are the supermarkets in Revere accessible by Bus (I'll be looking to drive as little as possible).
Is the bus service in Winthrop fairly reliable? (as I understand it, it's not run by the MTBA). Does anyone know if you have a MBTA monthly subway pass ("charlie card") is the Winthrop bus included?
I really like the idea of living by the water. What is the beach like? Is it shut down due to water quality issues much?
Welcome back to C-D! I hope your earlier thread helped you get to this point.
Winthrop has much to like, the main negatives are those you're already wise to: lack of large-scale necessity shopping, and the flight path. It's one of those towns where family roots only go deeper with each generation. My manager at work grew up there and so did her kids, at least one of whom may in turn settle there (both are now phasing into their adult lives.) Lots of folks in East Boston and Revere aspire to a Winthrop address.
Transportation is not that big of a deal. There's not an MBTA tie-in to the local buses as far as the Charlie Card system goes, because the system is independently run. You can probably buy a ticket book or a pass and save on fares that way. Beachmont Station on the Blue Line is right inside the Boston city limits for quick trips into town for work and fun. For the Revere supermarkets, all you need to do is take the train "outbound" to the end of the line and then grab a bus from there. What I recommend doing is joining the "Peapod" home delivery service for non-perishables. This would allow you to only have to contend with schlepping produce, and meat and dairy products, home on the T. Pay a little extra and let somebody else haul your paper goods and soda and whatnot. Supermarket chains are a bane and a blessing. Market Basket is the most reasonably priced, and carries an extensive line of "store brands" (essentially the same stuff as the better-known product but costing much less. On a shopping trip for a recent cookout I scored some of those sturdy red plastic party cups, identical to Dixie "Solo's" except without an imprinted logo and a few centimeters' thickness, for less than half the price of the national brand, to name but one example.) Stop & Shop and Shaw's are more expensive partly because you're paying for 24-7 convenience and seemingly endless selection, neither of which matter much to most people.
There aren't many beach closures due to pollution problems, much less shark scares. On the rare occasions this does happen, two-mile-long Revere Beach is close at hand as is East Boston's "hidden gem" called Constitution Beach. If you lived close to the shore in NC, or made frequent trips, prepare for colder ocean water and smaller waves. Up here we don't have anything like the piers of Wrightsville, and little worth mentioning remains of the amusement and entertainment venues in Revere save for the awesome Kelly's.
Thanks for the info - yea, the previous threads have basically narrowed my hitlist down to JP / Roslindale, Davis / Porter Square / Medford area, and, more recently Winthrop. There's a lot of info on the former, but not that much on the latter (likely due to it's smaller size?). I'm torn between living somewhere with resturants, cafe's, etc within walking / biking distance, and living within biking distance to the beach (I'm originally from southern NH, so I have some idea of what to expect beach-wise - that water is cooold!).
Luckily, I'll initially be able to live with some family for a bit and commute from Lowell, so I'll be able to visit neighborhoods on my way home and try to get a feel for where I may like to be.
I'll be looking for a place with roommates (so I can afford something decent). Once the school crunch is over, I'm concerned about the selection of places available around October / November. Any idea if this is a good / bad time to be looking for a place?
The home-share search always brings a mixed bag when you're not looking during the "peak" times around June and September. Do what "everybody" does now, work Craigslist and also visit matchingroommates.com. The old-school methods of finding people to split living expenses - posting and reading flyers, or flipping through any given newspaper - are dying out in a major way.
People are landing in Greater Boston every month for job relo's, academic appointments, etc. Goyguy himself, after having finally saved up enough money, rolled into town one mid-November in the middle of the week. In other words, you'll not only encounter kicked-out or unplaceable college kids once September ends.
You're at a huge advantage being from the area and having a place to lay your head. This affords you as much time as you need to find a good living situation. I sponged (admittedly) off a friend for an entire year after returning to Boston from western MA until I landed a place that worked for me. Determining compatibility with other humans is always a tricky proposition. Folks will always put their best foot forward no matter what the interview. One of the people with whom I did my first apartment share had a "bedroom voice" over the phone, then turned out to be a significantly overweight and maladjusted beeotch with no social life whatsoever outside of inappropriate closeness to her dog. She eventually did time behind bars for embezzlement. OTOH the other roommate and I struck up a good friendship, in part out of solidarity from our plight, and remained in touch for some fourteen years even after he moved out of state. "You never know." I've resided on my own for a long time and love it, but when reflecting on the share situations I had (five in all, with sometimes a shifting slate of characters and once involving the renting of my spare bedroom where I live now) the overall feeling is positive.
Cell phones have their pluses and minuses, but a big "plus" is in the home-sharing arena: No more battles over who racked up charges for calls to Arkansas ("C'mon, ONE of us knows somebody in fricken Little Rock, admit it!"), no more turn-waiting, no more missed messages, etc. For other expenses like utility bills and rent, draw up a written agreement and have everybody sign, then keep copies of the document in a safe place. Carry someone's costs only if they run into genuine financial hardship. One housemate, who had additional "issues" and didn't last long under my roof, never failed to keep me and the third guy hanging financially from month to month - faithful with repayment, but causing us to front the money for his share of the bills in the meantime. The almighty dollar strains home shares just as it does marriages, when there's not enough of it. Stay realistic when looking at places to rent, and run from anyone who says, "I plan on finding work as soon as I get settled" unless they can prove they have the bucks to see them through.
Be realistic also in assessing the type of person you are and the types of people you get along with best. It's a delusion to think that you can be within the same four walls as others and have zero interaction with them except at bill-paying time. "I can get along with anybody" is well-intentioned, but not how life goes. If you walk in the door of an apartment to find five beer-swilling, belching dudes stripped to shorts and sandals yelling at a college football game on TV while pizza boxes and empties and fast-food wrappers and potato chip bags clutter the entire living room...either grab some space and join the party or say, "Later." They're either potential best buds or not; there's no in-between when you're looking to be a fellow occupant of living quarters. The same holds equally true if you keep an appointment eager to find fellow 'heel or Wolfpack fans only to encounter women and/or men puttering around a garden or putting aside a book on philosophy to greet you. Variety's the spice of life, but the more common ground you have with housemates the merrier.
Asking around at work also is a proven tactic, BTW.
So, I'll be coming up to Boston (from NC) to take a job at the Aquarium in mid-September. I'm seriously considering Winthrop as a place I may like to be (I'll be commuting from NH for a month or so while I save up to move). Any opinions / input on this area? I did a search on here and found some info, but I'd like to hear more from those who live / lived / visited / are familiar with the area. I've seen some decent places for reasonable prices there so far. I think I'd like to steer clear of Pt. Shirley (heard it's right in Logan's flight path).
Some ?'s:
I know there's not much of a "scene" there, but how difficult / easy would it be to get to Boston Proper either by car or public transport? Are the supermarkets in Revere accessible by Bus (I'll be looking to drive as little as possible).
Is the bus service in Winthrop fairly reliable? (as I understand it, it's not run by the MTBA). Does anyone know if you have a MBTA monthly subway pass ("charlie card") is the Winthrop bus included?
I really like the idea of living by the water. What is the beach like? Is it shut down due to water quality issues much?
How difficult would it be to have a car there?
Thanks for any input!
I moved to Winthrop less than a year ago. I have not heard of beaches being shut down due to water quality. I live near Winthrop Beach though not on the water. You really need some kind of water shoes however because the beach is full of stones and lots of seaweed. Winthrop leaves its beaches as is in a completely natural state. Yirrell Beach did not have the stones but still lots of seaweed. I have enjoyed taking my grandchildren to Constitution Beach at Orient Heights which has picnic tables, grass, trees, sand and big planes taxiing across the water. which is fun to watch.
I live here without a car and find the bus service (712/713) to be exceptionally reliable as long as you have a schedule. They do run only one bus on Sunday which goes all the way to Point Shirley and back to Orient Heights. The bus does cost 90 cents. There is a Shaws very close to Beachmont Station on the Blue Line which is the most convenient and a Stop and Shop that you can walk to from the Wonderland stop. The Winthrop Marketplace is a small grocery store, maybe a bit expensive for some items and of course does not have the variety of the big markets but fine when you can't make it to the Shaws. If you don't mind taking a long bus ride, you can get to Market Basket in Chelsea from the Wood Island Blue Line stop on the 112 bus.
There are no bars here or nightlife which is fine for me because I am not a young person however you can easily get to Boston. The last Winthrop bus that leaves Orient Heights waits for the last train. You can take a Viking cab to Beachmont (from my address it is $5.00) and that distance is walkable though a good hike. If you are driving it is just a few minutes into Boston via the tunnel though the tunnel cost $3.50 going intown (free going out)
Good thread. I'm another Massachusetts native "stuck" in the NC Bible Belt now and looking to move back to MA.
I've been thinking about Winthrop as well, and will have to take a detour next time I'm on the south shore visiting family. I don't know what it is - proximity to Boston, the beach even the flight paths, there's just something that I'd like to check out.
Let us know what you find as I'm in the same boat as you (although I don't forsee leaving for the next year or two).
Ewww. Unless you're living rent free, Winthrop is not the place to be. It is cut off from the rest of the city. No one will come visit you. Going anywhere is a hassle. And the noise from the planes going in and out of Logan is loud.
Ewww. Unless you're living rent free, Winthrop is not the place to be. It is cut off from the rest of the city. No one will come visit you. Going anywhere is a hassle. And the noise from the planes going in and out of Logan is loud.
That's a pretty misinformed post, but most people in Winthrop would like you to believe that. Winthrop is really a "hidden gem" in terms of access to Boston, proximity to the water and safe neighborhoods.
The schools have had challenges with funding in recent years and the high school hockey and football teams are not as dominant as they once were but Winthrop is very appealing. I keep my boat in East Boston and I pass by Winthrop all the time, I would not hesitate to live there if it made sense for me.
About groceries: I don't live in Winthrop, but I'd imagine it would also be pretty easy to take the Blue Line to Government Center and go to Whole Foods. It's only about a seven-minute walk from the T.
OP said the job was at the Aquarium. Seems Winthrop would be an easy commute and I do hear from co-workers that it is a wonderful place to live in every way (although not night life). Yes, OP will have to leave the town to socialize, but that could well be done after work, in the center of everything.
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