Question about Roxbury (Boston, Newton, Brookline: apartments, condos, high crime)

[allenk893]

I want to know about the Roxbury area. So I was searching through different apartments, condos, just to get a feel of the housing. Just out of curiosity. And I ALWAYS google map everything. It seems like Roxbury is a hit-or-miss. I remember I clicked on just a random neighborhood. It was hideous. Then I clicked on an area more north called "Lower Roxbury". It was a definite contrast from that other neighborhood. It was pretty nice. I check the rents in the area and it was reasonable for Boston. Then I clicked on this park nearby. There was a big basketball court and literally there's Boston in the background! It was huge and the view was awesome. I was thinking, ok, this is too good to be true right? There has to be some kind of issue. I wanted to know what is it? Does lower Roxbury have a huge ghetto surrounding it? Is it 100% white? No offense. Is it a mile or more walk to the T? If have any info, let me know! Thank you!

[dazzleman]

From what I understand, Roxbury is a ghetto area. It's not any place I'd be looking to live, but I don't know what your taste or requirements are.

[Urban Peasant]

Exactly which park are you talking about? Much if not all of Roxbury is a high crime area that most outsiders are advised to avoid unless your job is there. Roxbury was once predominantly working class White (Jewish, Lithuanian, Polish, and Irish) but that was a long time ago and is now predominantly Black. The Fort Hill area is handsome and some say is up and coming but it is still too close to really bad parts for my taste.

Now WEST Roxbury is a totally different story. West Roxbury is predominantly White middle to upper middle class, safe, and nowhere near Roxbury.

[Bostonian08]

I'm sure it's Carter playground you saw. I lived in Lower Roxbury for 7 years. It's a great mix of all the city. You have projects, ghetto, millionaires, Northeastern dorms, the Symphony, the South End, Slade's Wally's, all right there. It's an AWESOME neighborhood - bursting with culture & history. It's not all grit and it's not all glam - it's some of everything. Two things it's not is clean or quiet.

(All my pix)








As for the rest of Roxbury, well there's a few places which are pretty nasty, but much of ROX is just a predominantly African American neighborhood with perfectly nice AA people living there. If you are AA you will be welcomed, if you are Gentry you will get scowls cuz they don't want to be gentrified out of their neighborhood. The hilly section of ROX is real pretty actually, although there are some social issues. Seaver St is approaches gorgeous, and Franklin Park is right there. The city has done a lot to mend ROX but the ghettoness hasn't much gone away.

The Orange Line serves Lower Rox at Mass Ave and Ruggles.

[missionhill]

Historically (well, in the 19th century), lower Roxbury was the very poor part, with crowded housing near the factories, and Roxbury Highlands (basically everything south of Dudley Street) was middle to upper class. So it's ironic that anyone would think that the best part of Roxbury now is lower Rox--even if it's true (and i'm not saying it is or isn't). Except for the Mission Hill area, Roxbury is predominantly black and in the society we live in, a lot of people make the mistake of equating black with ghetto. If you saw Washington Park, along Dale St, it looks pretty nice. Even nicer is the smaller Horatio Harris Park, with a beautiful row of Tudor townhouses facing the park. Lots of nice streets in this area, off of Walnut Ave and Elm Hill Ave. Franklin Park, a 500-acre park between Seaver and Morton Streets, would look beautiful in Google maps and is no less so in person. Roxbury has an emerging art scene on Fort Hill and Mission Hill and in Lower Roxbury. The most rundown area in recent years (the triangle between Blue Hill Ave, Dudley Street, and W. Cottage St) has been vastly improved thanks to the work of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. The big shopping district in upper roxbury is known as Grove Hall (a term of picturesque but mysterious origin) where a new supermarket complex with parking has helped turn the business climate around for the better. The biggest shopping area is at the former Dudley Station (no longer an orange line station) at Dudley and Warren Streets, which has quite a few businesses but still seems pretty tattered. In all it's a big, varied, and interesting area, but as Urban Peasant says, it has plenty of crime issues.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by Bostonian08

I'm sure it's Carter playground you saw. I lived in Lower Roxbury for 7 years. It's a great mix of all the city. You have projects, ghetto, millionaires, Northeastern dorms, the Symphony, the South End, Slade's Wally's, all right there. It's an AWESOME neighborhood - bursting with culture & history. It's not all grit and it's not all glam - it's some of everything. Two things it's not is clean or quiet.

As for the rest of Roxbury, well there's a few places which are pretty nasty, but much of ROX is just a predominantly African American neighborhood with perfectly nice AA people living there. If you are AA you will be welcomed, if you are Gentry you will get scowls cuz they don't want to be gentrified out of their neighborhood. The hilly section of ROX is real pretty actually, although there are some social issues. Seaver St is approaches gorgeous, and Franklin Park is right there. The city has done a lot to mend ROX but the ghettoness hasn't much gone away.

The Orange Line serves Lower Rox at Mass Ave and Ruggles.

Yes!! That park is EXACTLY the one I saw! But I saw it from the right side! Lower Roxbury looks awesome!! I LOVED the pics. Thanks for showing me your neighborhood. Now all I have to do is finish my last 2 years of high school, go to college for 4 or 6 years, and come back and have a family in Lower Roxbury so I can commute easily to Boston! It's gonna be great! Thank you!

P.S., Yes I am in high school and yes I am serious about moving to Boston after college. And I don't I'm insane or crazier than anybody else for planning where I'm going to have a family. I just like plan in advance. And it's not like I'm dead set on Roxbury. I'm looking at other places too like Brookline, Medford, Newton, etc. I like to keep my options open.

[dazzleman]

Is the South End really part of Roxbury? I never heard that before.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

Is the South End really part of Roxbury? I never heard that before.

No. According to some info discussed on another thread, though, since much of the South End has become gentrified, so the S.E. now has a hip reputation, realtors have been advertising propeties in Rox. neighborhoods near the S.E. as being in the S.E. to try and make the propeties more attractive, since too many people automatically think ghetto when they hear "Roxbury." This rather unscrupulous practice may be one source of some confusion, but Rox. and the S.E. are distinct sections of Boston, each with its own history.

[tcrackly]

Just a little info about my ol' hood.

[mod]link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed[/mod]

Roxbury, Boston - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do search around the city for the neighborhood of your liking...just don't let less informed people tell you to write Roxbury off.

[Vermolas]

From what i understand Rox is Ghetto, and i pass by lower rox and into dudley square everyday with the 47. The Dudley square/ washington street area and going into the S.E. is not that nice. Its all Projects and run-down buildings. Lower ROX is the best area iv'e seen it still has projects like the Whittier street aptmts, but it has that whole street of colorful buildings before reaching dudley square. Its almost like a portal when i pass on my dayly bus, Lower Rox is all nice and not many people around and then dudley square is all dirty and a bunch of crack whores walking around.