[Colorado to Texas]

I currently live in Denver, Colorado and am researching Florida currently as a place to relocate.
As a person who was born in warm humid weather, I have missed the climate, strangely enough.
I am interested in learning more about your opinions of the best cities to live in Florida for a liberal person
who is considered “earthy” enjoys working out, fishing,
anything outdoors, buddhism, healthy organic food, great book stores, intelligent conversations, open minded people,
a thriving economy, and people who actively care about our environment.

Thank you very much for any information you could share. I truly appreciate your time.
Dede

[Pirateclosingon40]

Dede,

Any thoughts on where in FL you'd like to be? It's a pretty big place.

Thriving economy...well, not likely, but the rest is doable.

I'll nominate my humble little town of Lake Worth. You'll hear LOTS of negatives, most of which are true: there is a huge illegal immigrant population. There are problems with drugs and gangs. BUT...they are mostly in certain areas of town, which are relatively easy to avoid. If you stay in the area east of Dixie Highway and north of 6th Ave S, the downtown area is very nice, and has a lot of what you are looking for:

Large population of hippies - sorry, there's no other word for them, and I don't mean it in a derogatory sense
Organic market
Coffeehouse with very new age-y feel
Yoga studio and vegan restaurant
Playhouse with quality shows
Large gay population
Waterfront parks
Beach
Awesome library
Old homes from the 20s, 30s and 40s
LOTS of live music, festivals, crafts, bike night, drum circles, jam sessions...

The town just has a very, very cool vibe - and I'm by no means a liberal.

If you want a bigger city, there are certainly areas of Miami and Ft Lauderdale that would work.

Key West is about as liberal as it gets outside of NYC.

To me, Lake Worth just offers a great combination of old beach town feel and funkiness that's hard to find elsewhere.

Paul

[Scientifical Madness]

Delray.

[Pirateclosingon40]

Oh, and they just rebuilt and reopened the fishing pier that was destroyed by the hurricanes. \

Paul

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Pirateclosingon40

Dede,

Any thoughts on where in FL you'd like to be? It's a pretty big place.

Thriving economy...well, not likely, but the rest is doable.

I'll nominate my humble little town of Lake Worth. You'll hear LOTS of negatives, most of which are true: there is a huge illegal immigrant population. There are problems with drugs and gangs. BUT...they are mostly in certain areas of town, which are relatively easy to avoid. If you stay in the area east of Dixie Highway and north of 6th Ave S, the downtown area is very nice, and has a lot of what you are looking for:

Large population of hippies - sorry, there's no other word for them, and I don't mean it in a derogatory sense
Organic market
Coffeehouse with very new age-y feel
Yoga studio and vegan restaurant
Playhouse with quality shows
Large gay population
Waterfront parks
Beach
Awesome library
Old homes from the 20s, 30s and 40s
LOTS of live music, festivals, crafts, bike night, drum circles, jam sessions...

The town just has a very, very cool vibe - and I'm by no means a liberal.

If you want a bigger city, there are certainly areas of Miami and Ft Lauderdale that would work.

Key West is about as liberal as it gets outside of NYC.

To me, Lake Worth just offers a great combination of old beach town feel and funkiness that's hard to find elsewhere.

Paul

Sarasota has most of this stuff too - it's a beautiful, yet quirky town. We have 3 small colleges here including New College (a "hippie" college) Ringling College of Art and Design (highly acclaimed in the country) and a branch of USF. Lots of artists live here, and we also have a circus heritage and an Amish/Mennonite village, along with a cosmopolitan vibe from all the Europeans and other who have come here. We have lots of organic farms and shopping/restaurants, alternative healing, sustainable living type stuff etc. We do still have plenty of older conservative retirees, but it is easy enough to seek out your own niche and gravitate toward that. We have some of the most awesome beaches anywhere, and the incredible beauty of the area lends to it's laid-back happy vibe.

The BIGGY for wherever you move, however will be employment if you need it. There is no where in Florida that is exactly burgeoning right now, if you need to work you will need to explore the larger cities in florida.

[compelled to reply]

Look no further than downtown Delray Beach.

[Colorado to Texas]

Originally Posted by Pirateclosingon40

Dede,

Any thoughts on where in FL you'd like to be? It's a pretty big place.

Thriving economy...well, not likely, but the rest is doable.

I'll nominate my humble little town of Lake Worth. You'll hear LOTS of negatives, most of which are true: there is a huge illegal immigrant population. There are problems with drugs and gangs. BUT...they are mostly in certain areas of town, which are relatively easy to avoid. If you stay in the area east of Dixie Highway and north of 6th Ave S, the downtown area is very nice, and has a lot of what you are looking for:

Large population of hippies - sorry, there's no other word for them, and I don't mean it in a derogatory sense
Organic market
Coffeehouse with very new age-y feel
Yoga studio and vegan restaurant
Playhouse with quality shows
Large gay population
Waterfront parks
Beach
Awesome library
Old homes from the 20s, 30s and 40s
LOTS of live music, festivals, crafts, bike night, drum circles, jam sessions...

The town just has a very, very cool vibe - and I'm by no means a liberal.

If you want a bigger city, there are certainly areas of Miami and Ft Lauderdale that would work.

Key West is about as liberal as it gets outside of NYC.

To me, Lake Worth just offers a great combination of old beach town feel and funkiness that's hard to find elsewhere.

Paul

Thank you Paul, I appreciate your response. I will check out Lake Worth. I know a wonderful couple that lives there so I'll query them. In terms of where I would like to live, ideally in the Northern part of the state due to proximity to the Carolina's for hiking trips but I have been told numerous times this is the most conservative part of the state. I am looking into employment as a clinical social worker with the geriatric population, in particular teaching Behavioral Health Wellness classes in independent living communities. Since I am over 35, I was curious if Ft. Lauderdate would be "too young" for me?

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Pirateclosingon40

Dede,

Any thoughts on where in FL you'd like to be? It's a pretty big place.

Thriving economy...well, not likely, but the rest is doable.

I'll nominate my humble little town of Lake Worth. You'll hear LOTS of negatives, most of which are true: there is a huge illegal immigrant population. There are problems with drugs and gangs. BUT...they are mostly in certain areas of town, which are relatively easy to avoid. If you stay in the area east of Dixie Highway and north of 6th Ave S, the downtown area is very nice, and has a lot of what you are looking for:

Large population of hippies - sorry, there's no other word for them, and I don't mean it in a derogatory sense
Organic market
Coffeehouse with very new age-y feel
Yoga studio and vegan restaurant
Playhouse with quality shows
Large gay population
Waterfront parks
Beach
Awesome library
Old homes from the 20s, 30s and 40s
LOTS of live music, festivals, crafts, bike night, drum circles, jam sessions...

The town just has a very, very cool vibe - and I'm by no means a liberal.

If you want a bigger city, there are certainly areas of Miami and Ft Lauderdale that would work.

Key West is about as liberal as it gets outside of NYC.

To me, Lake Worth just offers a great combination of old beach town feel and funkiness that's hard to find elsewhere.

Paul

If you are looking for "up and coming" you can also find all of the above in the downtown Hollywood area in addition to a MUCH MUCH MUCH nicer beachfront. The main advantage to Hollywood would be that it's closer to job centers in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale (which are doing better than WPB in that way), and it has about half the crime (still above average though). Hollywood still has a lot of shady areas that I wouldn't suggest for residence, but few are downright scary like what can be found in parts of Lake Worth.

[Colorado to Texas]

Thank you "Compelled..." I appreciate your reply and will consider Hollywood. In terms of my familiarity with crime, I did live in New Orleans for 6 years and wasn't frightened,at all, by the crime and had very positive experiences there. I was aware of keeping myself safe and lived a life this way which has served me well. In New Orleans, I loved the weather, people, universities, food, and people's priorities which seemed to be: 'work hard, keep learning and educating yourself, help your neighbor, be friendly and hospitable, maintain an open-mind and have a darn good time while you're here on the earth.' I would LOVE to find this culture and mentality in my new city in Florida. Job finding with appropriate pay for a person's education is a huge challenge in NOLA and the crime has worsened significantly by reports from my close friends who live in the city.

I hope my above highlighted description helps those that are reading in city suggestions for relocation in Florida.

With gratitude,
Dede

[Pirateclosingon40]

Originally Posted by Colorado to Texas

Thank you Paul, I appreciate your response. I will check out Lake Worth. I know a wonderful couple that lives there so I'll query them. In terms of where I would like to live, ideally in the Northern part of the state due to proximity to the Carolina's for hiking trips but I have been told numerous times this is the most conservative part of the state. I am looking into employment as a clinical social worker with the geriatric population, in particular teaching Behavioral Health Wellness classes in independent living communities. Since I am over 35, I was curious if Ft. Lauderdate would be "too young" for me?

Northern Florida is certainly more conservative for the most part.

I'm over 35, and I don't find Ft. Lauderdale to be too young, overall. Yes, there is a young crowd in the nightclubs (what few there are) but the population base is still much older, generally speaking. I lived in Pompano Beach (just south of Ft. Laud) from my mid 20s to about 31, and I was one of the youngest people in my neighborhood, by a wide margin.

Paul