Good walk-able cities, with public transit in the US. (bigger, life, highest)
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Boston may shut down early, but during non covid years, there are still plenty of bars open til 2am. There are also some festivals and activities you can participate in. When my wife and lived in Cambridge 10 years ago, there was always plenty to do.
But if you're worried about covid lockdowns, I don't know what to tell you. Dense walkable cities where people live on top of each other are more likely to have lockdowns during pandemics. That applies to NYC, Boston, DC etc. You don't really need strict lockdowns in Tulsa because nobody's taking public transit and everyone has their own yard. Big dense cities across the world had to lockdown or else it could have killed more people in their cities.
But now that most people in Mass are vaccinated, I can't imagine another strict lockdown. Right now you need a mask to go in to a hospital or on public transit, which certainly isn't the end of the world. You have to accept the fact that if you're looking for density, you have to think more collectively than individually.
That good that most of Boston is now vaccinated, I am too. I just notice this winter that it was alot more lock down in Boston than it was in Florida. Even compared to Miami which has it dense area and public transportation, though has crap for walkablity in most part of the city. They didn't have much lock down at all since 2020, had everything open and a lot to do. Thought since your over there now and if it not that bad anymore, than I won't worry about it. But, Boston is still is a tough sell for just because I had problem living in New England area before as a teen and being back there, even in Boston kinda make me depressed. Even if Boston is much different that the rural area lived it on the NH border.
From my time living in Queens, I just found people in NYC to be more miserable and workers to be far less efficient. I generally found Bostonians to be harder working and generally more satisfied with their lives, whereas I found NYers to generally be miserable and quick to put down others in casual conversation.
"Oh, you're from Boston. What a boring city."
"Have you ever been there?
"No."
"Well, **** off then."
Hell, I was in Hanoi, Vietnam and some dude from Brooklyn saw my Pats hat and started talking **** despite never having been to Boston. Ugh.
I'm not sure where you're paying 18 bucks for a drink, but I do generally find the quality of bars in the Boston area to be better. They usually had a better beer list. When I came to NYC, I was surprised that even bars in Manhattan had a very limited supply of domestic beers. Most half way decent bars around Boston have at least a few micro-brews and I think that relates to the highlighted portion of your comments. I generally found Boston to be more "quality". Still, whenever I come home to visit Mass, I'm always happy to take a day or two to wander around Boston. I still love the city quite a bit.
That being said, I've always love the outer boroughs of the city and I even like Westchester County. The cities in Westchester are smaller, but many of them are quite walkable and have decent public transit. Hudson county NJ is dense and very walkable, but architecturally it's pretty ugly.
I have had a much different and worse experience with the New England area than most people, which make not want to consider Boston. I also new that NYC had it problem as well given the amount of New Yorkers leaving. There is a reason why on the original post I said I was not interested in NYC and Boston. Though I am still interested in some outer borough in New York as long if it not Manhattan.
I live in the woods 2 hours out side of Boston and I hated it. Any where outside of the city of Boston is just as un walkablity as anywhere else. The commuter trains weren't very good as well. The city of Boston it self was also way to expensive as well.
Err…. The New York State line is 2 hours from Boston. Provincetown is 2 hours from Boston. 2 hours from Boston is the farthest reaches of the state. And commuter rail doesn’t go that far out. The longest commuter rail ride is Fitchburg and that’s less than 90 minutes. If you live beyond Fitchburg out in the sticks, that’s not particularly representative of living in Massachusetts.
Metro Boston has seen population growth but it’s generally top people from around the world moving in. If the OP doesn’t have in-demand job skills from that Florida college, Boston isn’t going to be affordable.
The problem the OP faces is that only the high cost of living cities have public transportation used by the middle class and upper middle class. Elsewhere, it’s transportation of last resort for poor people with the corresponding quality level. The exception tends to be college towns but then, the public transportation tends to be a hub centered on the college. It doesn’t get you to your cubicle drone job in the office building.
Actually, Prickly Pear, you had originally written:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prickly Pear
[snippage; besides New Orleans,]
Boston is the only other city in the US that has some Old World design to it and even then it's Boston's inner ring and only there. Not even Boston's downtown. But I've also never been to Boston
A lot of the cities others mention are still heavily American in their neighborhood design, even the more walkable ones. They have very large buildings instead of a bunch of smaller ones, the latter helps walkability while the former still prevents it. The older neighborhoods in Philly also have that.
Really it's Boston and New Orleans only for old world design. The rest has been redesigned and destroyed for America's suburban design. Even other dense cities like Chicago and NYC are not Old World design even if they are walkable with public transit. They lack small buildings in a row with no setbacks that make it easy for people to walk between blocks, or in between shops and apartments, without traversing car-scale buildings taking up entire blocks while on foot. Even big based skyscrapers, even though they are tall and dense, don't help walkability They don't have good pedestrian interaction.
You hadn't included Philadelphia in this small number of cities, though it definitely belongs. Row houses (if they cost enough, Americans call them "townhouses") make up more than 60 percent of the city's housing stock, a higher percentage than in any other US city (Baltimore comes in second), and — as you noted later — the residential neighborhoods in Center City (not just Old City, the area where the historic icons are) consist of three- and four-story row/townhouses. (Chinatown, where apartments over the stores are the rule, is an exception, but even here, the buildings are low-rise, not high-rise.
One travel writer recently told Rick Steves that she considered Philadelphia the most European of American cities. Hell, we even did a Baron Haussmann on part of the city center by bulldozing a grand boulevard diagonally through its middle, and our City Hall is pure French Second Empire architecture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uhthaya
I live in the woods 2 hours out side of Boston and I hated it. Any where outside of the city of Boston is just as un walkablity as anywhere else. The commuter trains weren't very good as well. The city of Boston it self was also way to expensive as well.
Pace what GeoffD said, Philadelphia remains affordable by American big-city standards and you will find middle- and even upper-middle-class residents on its mass transit system. To get around the city, you will use the buses more than in the other cities because our rapid transit network is skeletal, but — especially on the east-west routes through Center City, but not just on those — you will find a decent cross-section of the public riding. Because Philadelphia does have one of the highest poverty rates of any large US city (around 25 percent), you will see more poorer people than you might in Boston, New York or DC on the subways, but they still aren't "transit of last resort". And the commuter (I prefer the term "regional") train system here is quite extensive, its stations are closer together than in other large cities, and many of the suburbs they stop in are themselves quite walkable. We also have two light rail lines and one light metro (rapid-transit-style service using light rail vehicles) line that operate exclusively in our suburbs; one of them ends in one of the liveliest suburbs you will probably ever set foot in, Media, Pa.
If you haven't visited this area yet, I recommend you do so. But if you're looking for a smaller metropolis/core city than Philadelphia, I too highly recommend Pittsburgh to you. Its setting amidst hills rivals San Francisco's for topographical splendor, and it's far more affordable. It has many distinctive neighborhoods, including one I consider the most urbane university district in the country, Oakland. It has several light rail/light metro lines connecting the downtown ("Golden Triangle") with south-side neighborhoods and suburbs as well as the sports stadiums on the other bank of the Allegheny River, and it also has some of the best bus rapid transit in the country (Oakland, which should have had it already, will get it in two years). Walking around the city will be even better exercise than it is elsewhere because you will be climbing hills in the process. I can't speak for outdoor recreational activities around the city, but I imagine they are available; there are some noteworthy tourist sites surrounding the city, including a famous house designed by the country's most revered architect in Bear Run.
(FWIW, you can get to both mountains and beaches within one to two hours from Philadelphia, and buses and one train line connect Philly to the New Jersey shore towns.)
Legal closing time in Pennsylvania is 2 a.m., and most of the bars in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are now open that late once again. (Private clubs can serve until 3:30; you may be able to get in to a few of those, but you will need to find a member to buy your drinks for you). Pennsylvania hasn't been hit hard by the delta strain of COVID, and there's no statewide mask mandate, but many businesses do ask that patrons still wear masks (and they're still required on public transit). One local bar and a popular restaurant here in Philly recently implemented a requirement that all patrons provide proof of vaccination in order to enter, prompting some cries of outrage but also some cheers. I honestly don't think we will be going back into lockdown again anywhere, though, not even in Florida, which has become a COVID hotbed.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Arlington, VA. It's very walkable and transit oriented. It's one of the most urban "suburbs" in the nation, and essentially functions like a borough of Washington DC, so you have all the access to big city/metropolitan area amenities you need, but Arlington itself is small. Arlington has little crime and great schools, the restaurants are average, but getting better with the transformation of the area due to Amazon's headquarters arriving. DC has recently just put mask mandates back into play, while Virginia has not. You also can live in Arlington, and be immediately connected to a major airport, which soon may be walking distance from Crystal City once a pedestrian bridge is added.
Someone else mentioned New Orleans, and I think that's probably your best bet based on what you described that you're looking for. May Charleston, for something smaller.
The reality is that there are very few American cities that feel like Europe. Certainly not NYC, which I always chuckle at when it shows up on lists of most European like cities. It is absolutely unlike any European city. It's the city that invented the skyscraper, and grid layout. It's format has now been copied in Asian megacities. If you like Lisbon, you will not find what you're looking for in NYC.
Boston is probably the most (northern) European-like large city, but you've mentioned you don't want it on your list which is fine. Although living in the woods 2 hours outside of it may not be the best proxy for what it's like to live there. It does shut down earlier than many similarly-sized cities for whatever that's worth.
I've always thought SF had a bit of a Barcelona vibe to me, which of course is also European. But it's expensive. And like Boston, will be more restricted in terms of regulations which you may not be used to coming from FL.
So I go back to New Orleans (which sounds perfect for you btw - walkable, dense, open late, no pesky COVID regulations to keep you safe, etc.)
Mid town is the reason why I said I wanted a more mid sized city. Though what borough or area of NYC would you recommend? Some placed that isn't too expensive, more down to earth and relaxed with good walkablity?
Boston for me is tough sell for more subjective less logical reason. I used to live and go to high school in a rural area outside of Boston. It was some to the worse time of my life, I hated small town new England life, I was extremely lonely, and could not make friends because of the brash nature of new Englanders. I was sick all the time and could eat any food there due to my dairy and gluten allergies. I am sure most of these issues I had are just because I was a high schooler living in rural community and I am sure living in the city of Boston is different. However, because of this I can't help but be depressed when I am in New England even in Boston.
But I have plenty of friends from NYC even dated people from NYC. So I just have to find the right area.
Go to NYC and then live in neighborhoods you would most likely live in with your budget and aesthetic.
Theres a lot of questions before I can name a neighborhood. Are you gay? Whats your budget? Whats your indistry? Whats your race? What do you like to do for fun? Friday nights? I mean I could recommend Queens in general because that fits everyone. Queens is like a Doechester-Hyde Park-Downtown crossing area of Boston IMHO.
But please visit and try it out first. Everyone says they want NYC and then a good amount actually move there and literally hate it no matter how many times they visit. It can look glamorous until tour paying $1800 for a Studio above a Restaurant with roaches in Brooklyn and your friends are working too much to grab drinks. Someone at 25-30 is just starting a career and getting into things and probably working a ton and building wealth. You dont know New York at all and if you think Boston is brash, New York will be hell whether it be Staten Island or Queens or Midtown. The grind is real.
The only reason im cautious is you said you lived near Boston.. 2 hours away.. which is Middle Vermont, Pittsfield MA and the far reaches of Nantucket and New Hampshire. It seems you dont know much about Boston at all based on some things you said that were just not true (like extremely brash new englanders and highlighting how nice New Yorkers are). Something tells me your glamourizing NYC and I think you need to visit and do more research on both because your assessment of both are just very very .. wrong.
Buffalo, Ann Arbor, New Haven, Albany, Lansing/East Lansing, Rochester, Cleveland, Madison and Eugene, among others. These are cities with relatively decent public transportation/ridership, where a decent amount of people walk or bike to work in terms of mid sized/smaller cities.
From my time living in Queens, I just found people in NYC to be more miserable and workers to be far less efficient. I generally found Bostonians to be harder working and generally more satisfied with their lives, whereas I found NYers to generally be miserable and quick to put down others in casual conversation.
"Oh, you're from Boston. What a boring city."
"Have you ever been there?
"No."
"Well, **** off then."
Hell, I was in Hanoi, Vietnam and some dude from Brooklyn saw my Pats hat and started talking **** despite never having been to Boston. Ugh.
I'm not sure where you're paying 18 bucks for a drink, but I do generally find the quality of bars in the Boston area to be better. They usually had a better beer list. When I came to NYC, I was surprised that even bars in Manhattan had a very limited supply of domestic beers. Most half way decent bars around Boston have at least a few micro-brews and I think that relates to the highlighted portion of your comments. I generally found Boston to be more "quality". Still, whenever I come home to visit Mass, I'm always happy to take a day or two to wander around Boston. I still love the city quite a bit. Compared to NYC, I always enjoy taking the train into Boston to wander around for the day. After living in Queens for a year, I got bored going in to Manhattan. I just found Boston to be so much nicer.
That being said, I've always love the outer boroughs of the city and I even like Westchester County. The cities in Westchester are smaller, but many of them are quite walkable and have decent public transit. Hudson county NJ is dense and very walkable, but architecturally it's pretty ugly.
Yeah when I lived in NYC, I absolutely hated it. You dont talk to your neighbors, work/life balance was trash and my place was sooo dirty. I love visiting, but living its just not for me. I much prefer New Jersey and would recommend it over NYC because the people are friendlier like they are in Boston where Im from and it seems like a lot of Native New Yorkers have transplanted here. New York City is more transient and Feel like I knew more people from Tennessee or Ohio over NY there lol. And those people were the rude ones. They give New Yorkers a bad rap lol.
But for Boston, i got a fancier cocktail. Not like a beer. Which makes sense. But in NJ that same cocktail is $12.
And yeah I like wandering in Boston better. Aimelessly did 33,000 steps yesterday lol and covered 7 neighborhoods. The walking here is just awesome.
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