WPB, Boca, or Hollywood? (Miami, West Palm Beach: apartment, house, buy)

[leao2u]

I’m a 30 year-old single professional guy looking at WPB, Boca, and Hollywood….

I’ve heard some pretty positive things about Hollywood, Fla… Can anyone give me a good idea of the vibe/pulse of this area? (Cultural makeup, age bracket, clean/safe/quality of life, lifestyle/nightlife, etc…)

Also, I would certainly appreciate any comparisons b/t the three areas… Thanks for any input!

[House4Sale]

Don't know much about Hollywood but if memory serves me, Hollywood was not a good choice. Boca is great. Upscale professionals, great restuarants, beach. WPB, "no."

[PBCboy]

From best to worst, it goes

1.Boca Raton - An upscale area with a large "anglo" (mostly Jewish) population. Even if it's not a good house with no yard you're still going to pay through the nose for it in Boca. However Boca Raton is very safe and among the best that Palm Beach County has to offer.

2. Hollywood is a mixed bag, it has iffy areas but it's not nearly as bad as Palm Beach County's main city, West Palm Beach. Hollywood is mostly ok while West Palm Beach is mostly bad!

3. West Palm Beach is the 14th most dangerous city in the entire U.S. Besides City Place and the unincorporated western areas (the suburbs that are not part of the city, but use WPB addresses anyway) it is not a very good place to live. There are alot of gangs, and if it really matters, it has a small anglo population (only about 30% or less, the City Place area is vastly anglo though, if you'd buy an apartment there). Hollywood would be a better choice than WPB.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by House4Sale

Don't know much about Hollywood but if memory serves me, Hollywood was not a good choice. Boca is great. Upscale professionals, great restuarants, beach. WPB, "no."

Hollywood has improved significantly over the past few years, but I would still recommend Boca Raton over Hollywood, unless you are looking for a more urban or multicultural environment. PBCboy summed it up very well, and I think I summed up what it is like living in these 3 places on the Miami forum pretty well, but feel free to ask if you have more questions!

[urbandeco]

Please note that there is a difference between East Boca and West Boca. West Boca is and has been very suburban and upscale. East Boca, has a downtown (which is just coming to fruition). East Boca has Mizner Park. Most of the new developements in East Boca have been targeted to younger 30/40 something professionals. The population is diverse in a really good way. There are people from all over the world. Very cosmo place. However, the materialism factor can be annoying.

[rkumar3]

With no argument Boca wins among the 3. It is expen$ive but you can cut it down by living in Delray or Boynton and still work/socialize in Boca.