Artistic, hip & trendy place in MA to open Cafe/Venue? (Boston: appointed, crime)

[nandieart]

Hello.

My fiance & I are planning to open a cafe/music venue in MA. We are looking for a small to mid-size city (population 40-80k) with a good sense of community & culture. We have been to Boston, and love it (especially Cambridge), but its a little too big & the property is rather expensive. We've heard great things about towns in Western, MA and now we're seeking further advice. (But we are open to any location in MA.)

A few things we'd like in a location are:
- a walkable community
- nearby colleges (preferably an art or music school)
- a cultured area where music & art is valued highly
- near to outdoor activities...mountains, lakes, etc.

Maybe your town is looking for a new small business? Please share any advice you have! Thanks

[western mass and love it]

ummm you ever heard of a town called Northampton!!!!!!!

[lrfox]

There are any number of places in MA that could fit your bill. Northampton is one that stands out as an obvious fit. It's beautiful, "hip," and walkable. It's also right near the woods and hills of Western MA.

Other towns that would fit are Salem, Lowell, Gloucester, Newburyport, Plymouth, and even Pittsfield and North Adams, MA.

I'd be remiss if I didn't throw in a recommendation for New Bedford because I know no one else will. Downtown New Bedford is very attractive, hip and walkable. 13 cobblestone blocks of the downtown area are a national historic park (Whaling District National Historic Park) lined with many galleries, restaurants, performing arts venues, etc. If you want "artsy," the UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) is located right downtown in a renovated department store (UMass Dartmouth, Bridgewater State, BCC, and a few other institutions are nearby). The bottom floor is a big gallery open to the public. They also have a nice Art Museum (New Bedford Museum of Art) and the centerpiece to the national park is the Whaling Museum. The downtown area is beautiful (and so are many of the surrounding neighborhoods... this city is the setting for much of Melville's "Moby Dick" and much of the architecture and landmarks are still in place). It's growing rapidly, even in the recession (40 more downtown shops, restaurants and galleries have opened than closed since the start of the downturn). There are a number of cafes, bars and restaurants that host live performances on a regular basis (many of the art galleries do too). Most of these places work in close conjuncture with the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, a major venue downtown.

The city is right on Buzzard's Bay. It has ferry service to Martha's Vineyard and Cuttyhunk as well as its own set of nice beaches. The region is big on farming so there is an abundance of locally grown produce available in town. New Bedford is also the highest grossing fishing port in the nation so you'd be hard pressed to find better seafood.

Of course, no place is perfect. New Bedford has some pockets of crime in outer neighborhoods. The exodus of industry has left unemployment relatively high as well. Still, the city is very pretty and is making quite a comeback (no city in MA has had as much of an increase in assessed property value as New Bedford has in the past 3 years) and small businesses are at the forefront. The city has gained a reputation of being very friendly for small businesses.

At the very least it's worth a visit to check out. There are other places where you may do just as well, but you should give it a look. Good luck!

[teachertype]

Greenfield. Someone in Greenfield must have read Richard Florida on cultural creatives...and, finally, they're making it happen. With plenty of houses for $200k.

The Arts Block - Greenfield, MA

[wmass]

Northampton, of course, fits the bill. But there is no shortage of places like that there. Easthampton or Greenfield or Westfield may be a good bet as they are cheaper and "up and coming". and a new cafe/music venue there might attract a llot more attention. Maybe look at Great Barrington or Brattleboro, VT too.

[syracusa]

If I may insert a related comment here...clearly not a direct answer to your question but something that may spark some discussion that could help.

Just the other day my husband and I decided that it was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, when anybody in their right mind, NOT SICK in a variety of ways (workaholism or addiction to indoor electronics would both qualify as sick) had to be outside, sipping some coffee or what have you at an outdoor cafe, coffee shop, etc. and just enjoying life a little bit for God's sake (lack of commas intended).

We live in Lynnfield and even though we knew of no such specific place nearby, we didn't lose our optimism (the sunshine was making it impossible) and decided to go look for such a place in any of the surrounding towns: Wakefield, Reading, Stoneham, etc.

End of story: we drove like complete idiots until we had to admit that such a place was not to be found anywhere close to where we live: sanctimonious, puritan, narrow spirit suburbia. They call these "small towns" but these areas have anything BUT a true small town feel.
They are modern suburbs all right, with people who obssess over "great school districts" and nothing else, thinking that if they raise their children in such "pristine" yet excruciatingly boring places, their offspring will somehow grow up to conquer the world. I continue to have my doubts.

We ended up in a Mom and Pop coffee shop in downtown Wakefield, that has 3-4 small tables inside and nothing outside, even though their commercial space has a large sidewalk in front where plenty of tables could have been accommodated for the "weirdos" who, horror of horros!, want to just hang outside on a beautiful summer afternoon, during the week-end.

This is one of the aspects that contributed to our disappointment with Massachusetts after less than a year of living here. I had been told that suburban Mass is not like suburban Georgia and that these are more like small towns with charm and a life of their own. For me such charm would mandatorily include a few coffee shops and cafes where locals can relax and have a conversation over a cup of coffee.
It's part of civilization.

I am aware that not ALL Massachussets is like this and that some places defined as "hip" (like Salem, for example) would have more to offer in this respect.

I, however, still don't understand why a place has to be "hip" in order to have a coffee shop with some outdoor sitting for the locals.

So if you want to open something in the area I mentioned, perhaps a few souls will be grateful to you.

End of vent, thank you for listening.

[western mass and love it]

I hear you on the utter boredom of the outer Boston suburbs,all about the perfect school and perfect lawn and perfect cars and the need for the outside world to think that every family is perfect. It almost feels sterile to live in that enviroment if you ask me. But i have come to discover that the western half of the state is much less pretentious and more.....well livable. Houses don't all cost 700k kids actually play outside without every minute of their day planned to the last details. There is still that tough shell to crack for the most part but not nearly as tough as the 495 belt.
And i can think of at least 10-15 places in the immeadiate Springfield area where you can go and grab a coffee and actually sit outside and drink it,and that is not counting anything in Northampton.
I loved growing up in Brookline and having the city at my disposal but i am enjoying family life much more out in western mass(but if you tell someone from eastern mass you live out here they think you moved out here to farm).

[ogre]

Oops, that's "coffee expEditions." Long day. Can't find any way to edit the post headline, or I'd correct it.

Syracusa, if you're willing to drive around some in the area north of Boston, a couple of towns you might want to check out are Beverly and Winchester. I can't tell you about specific coffee shops in those towns, but I'd check those towns first, just because their downtowns seem like the kinds of downtowns that have those little shops like that. Maybe you could make some phone calls to find out which places, if any, have outdoor seating. Heck, if you're willing to travel a little farther, make a trip to Cambridge.

[lrfox]

I'm sure syracusa will get some crap from other posters, but the gripe about Boston's suburbs is well founded and I agree. Obviously there are some exceptions and as you get further from the city, you find some more independent spirited small towns, but I'd avoid the bulk of suburbia.

[syracusa]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I'm sure syracusa will get some crap from other posters, but the gripe about Boston's suburbs is well founded and I agree. Obviously there are some exceptions and as you get further from the city, you find some more independent spirited small towns, but I'd avoid the bulk of suburbia.

Irfox,

One thing I learned is that the issue is not really about MA suburbs.
It's really just about suburbs. You've seen one - you've seen them all.
You've lived in one, you lived in all.

I was just disappointed that MA suburbs turned out equally boring and dry as those in GA. I guess I was hoping to find something radically different - lively small towns, with a life of their own.
I learned that, in fact, they can be even more boring than GA suburbs where neighbors often congregate in the swimming/tennis areas of their planned subdivisions. In MA you don't even get that, as most of the year, people hibernate inside their houses and there is a whole lot more "reserve" and emphasis on "privacy" than I care for.

Our neighborhood looks picture perfect but I swear on everything I have dear, it feels treated with Sarin gas. There is nobody EVER outside. It's dead - for all eternity.