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Of course Ive been there. That's why its so easy to say that Cambridge while nice, does not exude the feeling of a large city like Oakland does.
2 subway lines is cancelled out and surpassed by the fact that ALL BART LINES CONVERGE IN OAKLAND(Oakland is the nexus of BART, not SF)--and trust me, you dont want to do the bus contest either cause AC Transit is based in Oakland and every major line of that system runs through Oakland. And as far as commuter rails-3 Amtrak lines run through Oakland.
Yet they cater almost exclusively to that college crowd--which in Cambridge works because its a college town. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Furthermore, its not surprising cause most college oriented areas have tons of things for that demographic to enjoy. Very reminiscent of Berkeley.
But alas, people grow up and out of that scene. Dont begrudge others for wanting grown up restaurants, adult art galleries, adult nightclubs and bars.
Furthermore, there's no escaping that whole college scene in Cambridge-its like in your face everywhere. I live about 2 miles from the UC Berkeley campus-Thank goodness I dont have to deal with those kids and their faux-reality.
Also, 45% working for colleges is MASSIVE. Please dont try to downplay that.
thats wrong 45% of the top 25 emloyers employees are for Colleges overall its closer to 25%.
Cambridge is a city of 108,000 and there is ~15,000 College students (undergrad) there for 8 months of the year, its not a College town.
thats wrong 45% of the top 25 emloyers employees are for Colleges overall its closer to 25%.
Cambridge is a city of 108,000 and there is ~15,000 College students (undergrad) there for 8 months of the year, its not a College town.
I have no idea why you continue to deny the obvious?
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There are at least 10 colleges in Cambridge, listed and described below. These schools represent 48,599 or more students (full-time and part-time), a combined student body equivalent to 42,019 full-time students, and a reported 19,021 dorm rooms.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
At least going by public transportation, I'd say it's in Cambridge's favor. Almost all of Cambridge is in walking distance to a subway stop. Not only does Cambridge have ample bus service, it has electric buses — buses that run overhead wires — to nearby suburbs. There are large parts of Oakland not that are not close to BART.
There are no freeways that go through Cambridge, but in some ways that's a good thing. There are several freeways right to next or on the edge of Cambridge that provide access to the rest of New England.
No airport, but the metro's largest airport is close by, closer than SFO is to Oakland.
You can get to most major destinations in the US through OAK, though.
2 subway lines is cancelled out and surpassed by the fact that ALL BART LINES CONVERGE IN OAKLAND(Oakland is the nexus of BART, not SF)--and trust me, you dont want to do the bus contest either cause AC Transit is based in Oakland and every major line of that system runs through Oakland. And as far as commuter rails-3 Amtrak lines run through Oakland.
Given the ease of use of the T, and the superior city coverage vs BART, I'd still probably give Cambridge a slight edge. I haven't seen the map for Oakland, but Cambridge has great coverage. This is of course helped by the fact that it's only 6 square miles, vs the 55 square miles of Oakland.
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Yet they cater almost exclusively to that college crowd--which in Cambridge works because its a college town. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I think to a degree Cambridge is a college town...but it absolutely doesn't solely cater to the college crowd. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, Cambridge is home to probably the most impressive concentrated cluster of high tech/biotech in the world. There's a ton of non-student/non-faculty population in Cambridge. Heck, there's considerably more office space in Cambridge than there is in Oakland (~21m for Cambridge and a little over 15m for Oakland). Even those who work for Harvard and MIT aren't necessarily working with students. My good friends' step father is a scientist for MIT and I can guarantee he's never talked to a student in his life haha.
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Furthermore, there's no escaping that whole college scene in Cambridge-its like in your face everywhere. I live about 2 miles from the UC Berkeley campus-Thank goodness I dont have to deal with those kids and their faux-reality.
Are you sure you've been to Cambridge? I mean...if you're hanging out in Harvard Square, then yes...it feels very college-ey. But that's a tiny slice of the city. What about this feels like an in-your-face college scene? If you do a 360 in that link, you'll be able to see part of Novartis' research headquarters, the Whitehead Institute (a biomedical research institution for MIT), the Broad Institute (joint venture by Harvard & MIT for genomic research), and the building under construction was some new building for MIT. However nothing about that scene screams "college" if you ask me.
For what it's worth, the "faux-reality" found in ultra-liberal Berkeley may not be shared by the grad students at MIT & Harvard.
All that said, Oakland is absolutely more independent than Cambridge.
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Originally Posted by btownboss4
thats wrong 45% of the top 25 emloyers employees are for Colleges overall its closer to 25%.
Cambridge is a city of 108,000 and there is ~15,000 College students (undergrad) there for 8 months of the year, its not a College town.
I think you could argue it is a college town...but those colleges just happen to be two of the most important and powerful colleges on the planet. It's far from your typical college atmosphere.
Given the ease of use of the T, and the superior city coverage vs BART, I'd still probably give Cambridge a slight edge. I haven't seen the map for Oakland, but Cambridge has great coverage. This is of course helped by the fact that it's only 6 square miles, vs the 55 square miles of Oakland.
I think to a degree Cambridge is a college town...but it absolutely doesn't solely cater to the college crowd. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, Cambridge is home to probably the most impressive concentrated cluster of high tech/biotech in the world. There's a ton of non-student/non-faculty population in Cambridge. Heck, there's considerably more office space in Cambridge than there is in Oakland (~21m for Cambridge and a little over 15m for Oakland). Even those who work for Harvard and MIT aren't necessarily working with students. My good friends' step father is a scientist for MIT and I can guarantee he's never talked to a student in his life haha.
Are you sure you've been to Cambridge? I mean...if you're hanging out in Harvard Square, then yes...it feels very college-ey. But that's a tiny slice of the city. What about this feels like an in-your-face college scene? If you do a 360 in that link, you'll be able to see part of Novartis' research headquarters, the Whitehead Institute (a biomedical research institution for MIT), the Broad Institute (joint venture by Harvard & MIT for genomic research), and the building under construction was some new building for MIT. However nothing about that scene screams "college" if you ask me.
For what it's worth, the "faux-reality" found in ultra-liberal Berkeley may not be shared by the grad students at MIT & Harvard.
All that said, Oakland is absolutely more independent than Cambridge.
I think you could argue it is a college town...but those colleges just happen to be two of the most important and powerful colleges on the planet. It's far from your typical college atmosphere.
I see your point, but I believe there is a definite correlation beteen college-ey and research-y.....and that's another similarity between Berkeley/Emeryville(coincidentally major pharmaceuticals like Novartis and Bayer have operations in that specific area as well) and Cambridge.
Its all either college-ey or research-ey...everything revolves around academia in different forms--at least that was my observation.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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It never ceases to amaze how many parallels are drawn between Boston/Cambridge and SF/Oakland/Bay Area. I really think the two metro areas have a stronger link than any other East Coast/West Coast connection, almost a yin and yang of sorts.
I see your point, but I believe there is a definite correlation beteen college-ey and research-y.....and that's another similarity between Berkeley/Emeryville(coincidentally major pharmaceuticals like Novartis and Bayer have operations in that specific area as well) and Cambridge.
Its all either college-ey or research-ey...everything revolves around academia in different forms--at least that was my observation.
I suppose it depends on your perspective. When I think of a college scene, I think of 18-23 year olds, liberalism to the point of insanity (which falls in line with your "faux reality" claim and also explains why the Occupy Movement was so heavily populated with college students), and binge drinking/partying. I get that a lot of research is done by colleges, but I find it hard to therefore start claiming these universities, their faculty, and their grad students are living in a "faux reality". The difference between a hard-drinking, hard-partying undergrad and a grad student who does biomedical research is very, very large. The difference between an ultra-liberal undergrad professor and a graduate professor who worked on the Human Genome Project is quite large too.
So yes, there's a strong presence of academia in Cambridge...but it's far different from a classic college town due to the economic power of Harvard and MIT and the very, very strong private presence in the area. How many "college towns" are home to such an impressive lineup as Novartis, EMC Corp, Google, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline, Genzyme, Sanofi Aventis, Biogen Idec, Akamai Technologies, Pfizer, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Vertex Pharma, Raytheon, Analog Devices, Amgen, Yahoo, Novell, and IBM? MIT and Harvard have a combined endowment of over $42 billion...they are very much large businesses themselves.
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Originally Posted by caphillsea77
It never ceases to amaze how many parallels are drawn between Boston/Cambridge and SF/Oakland/Bay Area. I really think the two metro areas have a stronger link than any other East Coast/West Coast connection, almost a yin and yang of sorts.
Agreed. They share many, many characteristics. They specialize in similar industries, have relatively similar layouts (small city proper surrounded by a many notable satellite cities), are incredibly dense/urban, and have very liberal, educated citizens. Both are great cities.
At least going by public transportation, I'd say it's in Cambridge's favor. Almost all of Cambridge is in walking distance to a subway stop. Not only does Cambridge have ample bus service, it has electric buses — buses that run overhead wires — to nearby suburbs. There are large parts of Oakland not that are not close to BART.
There are no freeways that go through Cambridge, but in some ways that's a good thing. There are several freeways right to next or on the edge of Cambridge that provide access to the rest of New England.
No airport, but the metro's largest airport is close by, closer than SFO is to Oakland.
Oakland has it's own airport (Oakland International).
You're absolutely right though that Oakland's BART service is not extensive. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing more than two stops in East Oakland, by far the largest part of the city. In addition to the Fruitvale and Coliseum stops there should be one in Eastlake and one at the airport. As far as getting around the Bay Area though BART is very functional... it's very easy to catch BART from Oakland into say, Berkeley or SF and vice versa.
Most of AC Transit's buses run through multiple towns... the 57, NL, 1, 18, 72, etc. all run through the surrounding towns as well (Berkeley, San Francisco, San Leandro, Albany, etc.) and some of the lines have rapid buses that only stop at the major intersections. You can ride the 1R for example from Fruitvale & International and be on Telegraph by UC Berkeley (a 10 mile trip) in about half an hour. The bus system is very extensive and runs pretty late.
Wonder if Bart has more ridership than Boston's T.
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