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That's absolutely wrong, though I know back in the 90s, when Durham was earning its (now obsolete) "crime reputation", it was said that Durham had a "beeline" to Brooklyn and Bronx drug lords, thanks to 85/95.
Southeast Durham still has some very scary parts, but "Durham" as a whole is a really upcoming city, "gritty" in a good way. And the most diversity (defined almost any way you define it) in the Triangle)
I'm pretty sure he mean Durham=Brooklyn in a positive way, what with the high hipster quotient in each place.
North Raliegh is soccer mom big house area? Downtown Raleigh --. The 'generalizations' are very helpful bc for the most part they are accurate. Once obviously you familiarize yourself with a place and live there you find your way and know the nooks and crannies. But there is not that much information on those types of questions -- pc reasons, many threads people wanting to buy houses etc. So Raleigh is mostly white, Durham is mostly black and mixed and Cary is mostly ?
Where are the college kids congregated? There has to be a 'section.'
Running trail areas, parks that people utilize? Cuter or more quaint sections of Raleigh?
More industrial parts or areas?
The flavor of Charlotte from people's posts is banking and women with tans and plastic surgery. So now add golf and malls. It's all fitting.
People's personal experiences living in an area can vary obviously -- but the character or sections and areas (people wise) is what I am seeking to know.
That's absolutely wrong, though I know back in the 90s, when Durham was earning its (now obsolete) "crime reputation", it was said that Durham had a "beeline" to Brooklyn and Bronx drug lords, thanks to 85/95.
Southeast Durham still has some very scary parts, but "Durham" as a whole is a really upcoming city, "gritty" in a good way. And the most diversity (defined almost any way you define it) in the Triangle)
I love Durham, just like I love Brooklyn. Durham's a funky place where there's something fun always happening. We're a city that's being recognized across the nation for our art, eating, diversity and sense of community. And so has Brooklyn in the past five years.
Again, purely by stereotype/reputation, caveat emptor, we are all unique snowflakes on the inside, etc.
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Originally Posted by alizbet
North Raliegh is soccer mom big house area?
Soccer mom, big house in an established neighborhood with a big wooded lot.
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Originally Posted by alizbet
Downtown Raleigh
Harder to pin down. Has its hip areas, state government with attendant lawyers -n- lobbyists, run-down areas, etc.
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Originally Posted by alizbet
So Raleigh is mostly white, Durham is mostly black and mixed and Cary is mostly ?
Eh, probably not as, er, black and white as that? By demographics Durham and Raleigh probably aren't that far apart, but (again, purely by reputation) Durham comes off as more racially and socioeconomically fluid than Raleigh. Durham has a history that was more blue-collar and also had a stronger black middle/upper class presence (e.g.,: Parrish St as the "Black Wall Street"), whereas Raleigh has a reputation of being more stratified racially and socioeconomically.
By reputation, Cary has a high percentage of transplants who have moved here for white-collar jobs. So, soccer mom, big house in a brand-new development on a small lot. Multicultural in that you'd probably see a wider range of racial and ethnic backgrounds than other parts of the Triangle (think the demographics of a university computer science department) but not as much socioeconomic integration/diversity.
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Originally Posted by alizbet
Where are the college kids congregated? There has to be a 'section.'
Several mini-sections, clustered around the attendant universities (Duke in Durham, UNC in Chapel Hill, NC State in Raleigh, plus other smaller schools). Both Durham and Raleigh are big enough that despite having large universities, you really wouldn't call either of them "college towns." Chapel Hill is more generally influenced by the university, but you haven't asked much about CH. In Durham and Raleigh, student areas to avoid if you want to, easy to find if you're looking for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alizbet
Running trail areas, parks that people utilize?
In Raleigh, most folks would point you to Umstead park for running/walking/biking trails. In Durham most folks would point you to the American Tobacco Trail, which runs from downtown south towards more rural areas in Chatham and Wake Counties, or to the Eno River parks, which would be more hiking or trail running.
People's personal experiences living in an area can vary obviously -- but the character or sections and areas (people wise) is what I am seeking to know.
Then I would highly suggest spending time in these areas because none of the descriptions I've read so far are accurate.
Well obviously -- not to sound snippy -- but that's not logistically doable sometimes. Nor are there necessarily funds to investigate all the nooks and crannies -- so telling me to come and do it myself as opposed to getting an idea and filtering information isn't helpful.
I've been to a few cities -- knowing the neighborhoods -- based on prehomework and I sailed through getting the 'gist'. Someone can spend a week in one place and still not know the hell what is going on.
I'm not going to hang out and visit for a relocation without having a good idea of the areas and sections.
EVERY place has character. I can tell you the areas of Seattle and Boston -- hipsters, college area, soccer mom/stroller, professional/mixed, industrial, grunge hang out, not so nice, ghetto (no real ghetto in Seattle in comparison to other areas). I could easily direct people to certain locales based on their descriptions.
So urbancharlotte -- instead of telling me to come and do it myself, why not tell me your sense of the areas and sections? No way you are going to have fringe neighborhood, heavily mixed, universities right nestled with soccer moms and huge wooded lots.
Where do the single professionals over 28? hang out -- or do they not exist?
Where are the quainter, prettier sections that are considered the 'nice' neighborhoods and which ones don't border on the fringe/mixed or more ghetto-y areas.
I'm sure there is more than one -- but they do exist and people have to know them.
So urbancharlotte -- instead of telling me to come and do it myself, why not tell me your sense of the areas and sections? No way you are going to have fringe neighborhood, heavily mixed, universities right nestled with soccer moms and huge wooded lots.
Where do the single professionals over 28? hang out -- or do they not exist?
Where are the quainter, prettier sections that are considered the 'nice' neighborhoods and which ones don't border on the fringe/mixed or more ghetto-y areas.
I'm sure there is more than one -- but they do exist and people have to know them.
Durham definitely has tons of single professionals over 28. Many of them are grad students, post-docs, and residents at Duke and UNC.
So urbancharlotte -- instead of telling me to come and do it myself, why not tell me your sense of the areas and sections? No way you are going to have fringe neighborhood, heavily mixed, universities right nestled with soccer moms and huge wooded lots.
First off, at the risk of being rude, I'm a little sick of the term "ghetto-y," with all that the idea of a ghetto assumes. But, since you asked:
Yes, at least in Durham, it is absolutely possible to have universities "nestled with" soccer moms and wooded lots and "fringe" neighborhoods.
I live near the corner of Gloria and Watts in Durham, with actual soccer moms (including one who's a school board member) on the street. Duke's East Campus is a block away. Big trees and big, old lots -- a third of an acre in my case, which while not huge is much bigger than the new tenth-acre developments in subdivisions.
About a mile and a half away is Duke Forest, where there are homes on very wooded land, much of it permanently preserved. Many homes there are on significantly more land.
My neighborhood is a mile long, north to south. Four blocks away are some apartments in very poor condition where shootings, even homicides, have happened in recent years.
Go the same distance in another direction and it's wine bars and upscale restaurants.
Go a half mile north and there is a neighborhood with a reputation for drug and crime problems, though that's changing.
...The point is, don't assume that you can't have "nice" areas near "not nice" areas. They happen between cities; they happen within cities. (This is true of Chapel Hill, too, where there is much variation between Franklin St. and the blocks off of it, and true of parts of central Raleigh, too.)
Asking strangers you don't know on the Internet the gestalt of different areas will give you a high-level, impressionistic sense of reality. But yes, you will want to spend time visiting and figuring out where you want to live -- or picking a "default" option such as subdivisions in bedroom communities where the mean may not be what you're looking for, but the standard deviation is quite low, if you know what I mean?
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