[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by Jason_Els

1. Reasonable pay...

2. Late night food. Dennys is about it.

3. Museums. Not entirely fair to Vermont as no place in North America can duplicate NYC's museum experience, but culture goes with it. You can't just decide to go do something new every night...

4. Milder winters. Vermont winters are tough. Winter comes faster and stays longer.

5. Gay bars. Despite its image, there isn't a single one in Burlington.

6. Ease of transportation...

7. Ethnic diversity. Vermont is one of the whitest states there are...

8. Shopping. Burlington has wonderful shops, creative people, and good taste, but it doesn't have a Saks or a J. Press or Prada...

9. Late night life. Unless you're a student, there isn't much nightlife...

Disclaimer: I love both places very much and wish I could combine the best of both of them.

I love both places very much as well. Please forgive my lengthy observation below - I simply want to pass on my alternative view about the dizzying quantity AND variety of cultural offerings here. I think the observations above are worthwhile, but somewhat out of date.


Where to start...hmmm...

I'll admit, Burlington is an exception within VT. And Burlington is not NYC. But as a Burlington resident, I don't recognize the limitations I see enumerated above. Let me (begin to) count the ways:

3) NYC is unique in the world for it's sheer variety of museums. But there are a few in The Burlington Area which are also unique in the world. May I suggest The Shelburne Museum? If you've ever tried to see The Met in NYC in one day, you'll be familiar with the problem one has at The Shelburne Museum. In fact the standard ticket is a 2 days ticket, because the museum is spread over 39 buildings and includes 150 thousand works. There are impressionist paintings and the like, but there are also countless other objects. I've heard it said that the two largest collections of important American objects are The Smithsonian and The Shelburne Museum.
The Shelburne Museum is but one example of a VT museum that's unique in the world.

3A) One can in fact decide to do something new, if not every night, many of them. In the 3 weeks, I've seen Bik Bent Braam, (a Dutch Big Band) in a newish high tech modular black-box theatre seating 160 people; Roseanne Cash, the singer-songwriter, in a 1400 seat converted former Art Deco Movie Palace; Salim Washington's world class Jazz septet in a University concert hall; Flutist/composer Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) with 5 piece band plus string orchestra; The Royal Drummers of Burundi; Scottish singer/songwriter Dougie Maclean in a rock club; and the Jazz/Rock guitarist Al DiMeola; The Preservation Hall Jazz band and The Michael Bisio Quartet. Oh, and I saw (New York saxophonist) Pete Robbins sextet, with the explosive young drummer Tyshawn Sorey, in a bar.

If I'd been in NYC, I doubt I'd have been able to afford the cash to see 25 percent of these offerings. Cab fare alone would likely have been 100 dollars.
I walked to all but 2 of these shows...

I missed countless performances too, including - The Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, playing commisioned New Music works; The VT Symphony Orchestra with guest soloist Daniel Bernard Roumain; and the extraordinary metal guitarist "buckethead". I also missed the big Georgia O'Keefe show, and the exhibition of graphics from The Jewish Museum in New York. And that's just for starters.


9) See number 3 above

8) There's a Macy's right downtown here. I occasionally get clothing at the Brooks Brothers outlet store in Essex, or the Hathoway shop. The suburban shopping malls offer a whole variety of Department Stores, but I can't run them down here - I get there about once a year.
I like Costco quite a bit.
I'll admit I'd like a Target here...a Trader Joe's too.


I can buy terrific food though, but local and imported. It's easier and cheaper than I remember good food being in NYC. Farmers markets, CSA/Subscription gardens, a municipally owned food co-op, half a dozen gigantic california-style supermarkets. Bakeries and artisinal food galore.

7) Actually, I believe as of the last census, VT was the most homogeneous state in the nation from the standpoint of ethnic and racial diversity. But that's changing very quickly indeed. The recent influx of Bosnians, hmong, Somali Bantu, and Tibetan refugees is adding to the vibrancy of Chittenden County. There are also many many African Americans and Latinos in VT now and this is also a big and welcome change.

5) Yes, Pearls is closed now. So's Charlies. The Taj Mahal is closed too, and The High Hat is no longer. But the fact that I can't tell you where "the gay bar" is, doesn't mean much. Trust me on this: there are gay bars in Burlington. They just don't tend to scream "gay bar!". And Denny's isn't the only place to get food late.

[arel]

Chaz Longue, thank you so much for that encouraging post.

The good news is that there is lots of stuff to do in Vermont, and that you can do lots of stuff without breaking the bank.

Where I am thinking of moving to is Brattleboro, which is 3 hours away from Burlington. Maybe I'll move to Burlington afterwards.

Brattleboro is similar to Burlington in that there is lots of stuff to do, culturally, and in that there is some diversity, although there is no diversity like in New York. (Someone spoke about similar diversity in Los Angeles, though.)

It is true, though, that there is no place in the world like New York City. It is probably the only world class city in the United States, with the possible exceptions of San Francisco and maybe Chicago.

By the way, there is a good Thai restaurant in Brattleboro, by Pliny Park. I couldn't help notice, however, that the portions are much, much smaller than those given in New York. And the Brattleboro food co-cop is huge, with an eat-in area.

[vter]

I'm not all that familiar with Brattleboro, other than it's a LOT smaller than the Burlington area. We're talking 15Kish in Brattleboro, and 150K +/- in Greater Burlington. You're going to be in for a bit of culture shock I'm sure!
Good luck with your move!

[Bonnie9878]

for ontheread: treat yourself to dinner sometime at kasa soba in santa fe (my husband and I call it kama soba because it makes us feel so good) -- the sashimi and other japanese delights there are pretty great.

[ontheroad]

Hello Bonnie,

I shall have to check out kasa soba, or perhaps I have I did eat in one Japanese restaurant at the end of summer on Guadalope.

Thanks, a bunch!

Originally Posted by Bonnie9878

for ontheread: treat yourself to dinner sometime at kasa soba in santa fe (my husband and I call it kama soba because it makes us feel so good) -- the sashimi and other japanese delights there are pretty great.

[Nomoresubways]

I forget the name of it now, but the country market on Western Ave just past 91 used to have by far the best bagels in Brattleboro. Bruegger's was essentially Lender's bagels sold "fresh" but that little country market had some amazing bagels. Just a tip.

[Dragondog]

Brattleboro does have a gay bar- and a fairly large GLBG community.
Also the downtown with it being backed up to the mountains does have a 'urban feel' with more funkiness then Burlington. IMHO.

[Nomoresubways]

What's nice about Brattleboro is the somewhat central location to a lot of other cool towns/small cities. Within 30-40 minutes you can get to Keene, NH and Northampton, MA, both of which have their cultural benefits. In fact, I'm a big fan of Northampton myself because of the music scene there. I don't think you get that much diversity being in the Burlington area, but I could be wrong.

[vter]

Burlington has a very vibrant arts & music scene. Flynn Theater, Flynn Space, Waterfront Theater, Fire House Ctr for the Arts, Higher Ground (www.highergroundmusic.com) (broken link). Besides, when you get bored, Montreal is just up the road.
I've heard Northhampton is fun...never been to Keene. I should probably get down there to check it out someday.

[Nomoresubways]

Well I went to Keene State College and just found Keene to be a pretty cool town. Bunch of my buddies went to college in the Northampton area and that's how I got into the music scene. Both places have great restaurants and bars/clubs. I got bored of the Brattleboro scene pretty quick, though the Common Ground always had some good music. Occasionally the Mole Eye would have a good solo act going on...