Work in Holden/Worcester - Where is a single early 30's professional to live? (Boston: rent, home)

[rranger]

Good luck on your new job. I'm sorry that you're getting most of the advice you're getting, because a lot of it - frankly - is at odds with reality. Worcester is boring - for everyone - not just the young and single, but it's hardly threatening. Unfortunately, your job is on the north side of town, which makes it unattractive from a commuting standpoint to just about any interesting place you might want to live.

You can pretty much forget anything inside of Rte 128 (now I-95), or you'll live a life of endless commuting frustration. I would suggest you do what one of the earlier posters said and just investigate one of the better areas in Worcester ... If I were you I'd look around WPI. Even commuting from Framingham or Natick would be trying on a bad winter day..

I thought about Providence as an alternative, but it would easily be an hour and fifteen minute commute, under the best of circumstances. So, that would also quickly become a drag.

BTW: Not to split hairs, but Worcester is much more comparable to Tacoma, from a size perspective, than Everett, FWIW. I don't know whether the comparison holds up otherwise.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by timberline742

When is the last time any one used Scumerville or Slummerville in any way but jest?

Me just yesterday.

It is an overrated, overpriced craphole.

I would take most of Worcester any day over there.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by rippersid

Thanks Massnative!

I am not trying to recreate either Seattle or WA in Boston or MA. I am just trying to find a place that would be ideal for what I am looking for.

You've said that none of the surrounding areas of Boston aren't that better off than Worcester, but are there areas within Boston that might be a good fit.

I have a few friends from school who are in Somerville and Brookline. Another friend lives up in Salem. Beyond that I don't know anyone else in the area. I am guessing everyone at work is pretty much older and lives near the Holden/Worcester/Shrewsbury area.

This is a hard choice to make

Well then at least you do have a few connections in Boston, but still like others say you're commute will be hell. You will have no time for any kind of social life on workdays. You'd be better off just saving that for the weekend and making the drive (which would be much more painless on a Saturday or Sunday).

There are plenty of nice areas both inside and surrounding Boston (you would like Back Bay, Cambridge, Brookline, South End to name a few), never said there weren't. I was just making a point to discredit the Worcester bashers ("Boston is the center if the universe, everyplace else sucks") on here, in that the majority of Greater Boston is no better than Worcester and nearby(just comes with much higher price tag).

I think you've discovered by now that you're "ideal" just doesn't exist, and that you will have to compromise. Good luck with that, it will be the most difficult part of the process.

[FCMA]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Well then at least you do have a few connections in Boston, but still like others say you're commute will be hell. You will have no time for any kind of social life on workdays. You'd be better off just saving that for the weekend and making the drive (which would be much more painless on a Saturday or Sunday).

There are plenty of nice areas both inside and surrounding Boston (you would like Back Bay, Cambridge, Brookline, South End to name a few), never said there weren't. I was just making a point to discredit the Worcester bashers ("Boston is the center if the universe, everyplace else sucks") on here, in that the majority of Greater Boston is no better than Worcester and nearby(just comes with much higher price tag).

I think you've discovered by now that you're "ideal" just doesn't exist, and that you will have to compromise. Good luck with that, it will be the most difficult part of the process.

Worcester is just fine if you're careful to rent in a safe area. Like MassNative says, people go to great lengths to trash Worcester, but it has MUCH more going on than any silly metro Boston suburb does. People love their burbs because of the easy access to Boston, but let's be real, most of those suburbs themselves are catatonically boring and would drive a single guy crazy! The metro Boston areas that would be good for the single young professional (Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, JP, Brookline, possibly Waltham, etc) are a serious serious haul to Worcester. And if you're working on the Holden side of Worcester, there is seriously no easy way in or out. You are best off looking in Worcester itself, unless you want a commute from hell and to pay the price in time, gas, and the absurd rents of the Boston 'burbs.

Worcester has concerts, an arts and culture scene in general, a good bar scene at places like Armbsy Abbey and The Dive Bar or Peppercorn's / Wormtown Brewery, among many many others. Great restaurants throughout the city, both ethnic and spanning the range of highbrow to lowbrow.

Don't let the Massahole chorus dissuade you from Worcester based on their pre-programmed false conceptions. Its dirty exterior and seedy past hides the many recently emerged interesting and worthwhile elements very well from the Boston hive mind. When people trash Worcester, their misinformation causes them to talk about it like it's Springfield, or Bridgeport Connecticut, which have pretty much already graduated to the level of irredeemable hellholes.

Just keep that in mind before you let some snoot from Wellesley or Framingham convince you you're going to socially decay and die if you set foot in Worcester.

[495neighbor]

WPI, Clark University, UMass Medical school, Holy Cross, Worcester has a pretty impressive list of academic institutions. You have Worcester Art Museum and the DCU Center for arts and entertainment.

[Mordi]

Originally Posted by FCMA

Worcester is just fine if you're careful to rent in a safe area. Like MassNative says, people go to great lengths to trash Worcester, but it has MUCH more going on than any silly metro Boston suburb does. People love their burbs because of the easy access to Boston, but let's be real, most of those suburbs themselves are catatonically boring and would drive a single guy crazy! The metro Boston areas that would be good for the single young professional (Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, JP, Brookline, possibly Waltham, etc) are a serious serious haul to Worcester. And if you're working on the Holden side of Worcester, there is seriously no easy way in or out. You are best off looking in Worcester itself, unless you want a commute from hell and to pay the price in time, gas, and the absurd rents of the Boston 'burbs.

Worcester has concerts, an arts and culture scene in general, a good bar scene at places like Armbsy Abbey and The Dive Bar or Peppercorn's / Wormtown Brewery, among many many others. Great restaurants throughout the city, both ethnic and spanning the range of highbrow to lowbrow.

Don't let the Massahole chorus dissuade you from Worcester based on their pre-programmed false conceptions. Its dirty exterior and seedy past hides the many recently emerged interesting and worthwhile elements very well from the Boston hive mind. When people trash Worcester, their misinformation causes them to talk about it like it's Springfield, or Bridgeport Connecticut, which have pretty much already graduated to the level of irredeemable hellholes.

Just keep that in mind before you let some snoot from Wellesley or Framingham convince you you're going to socially decay and die if you set foot in Worcester.

right. like i said. its a dump.

FEMA up there is right about the location of holden, though. you'd have to go THRU worcester to get to your job, which will easily add 10-15 minutes coming from boston. the reverse commute is doable, but very long, and the only place that i can think of that would be worthwhile for a single guy would be newton. you'd have to suck up the commute, though.

the real problem is the location of the job. you could come over here and be a "worcester person". i know the town well. i work there. i commute there from metro west. honestly........its a dump.

also, you may really need to consider the caliber of girl you are going to meet in worcester vs. boston. i dont know how important that is to you, but something to think about.

[FCMA]

Originally Posted by Mordi

right. like i said. its a dump.

FEMA up there is right about the location of holden, though. you'd have to go THRU worcester to get to your job, which will easily add 10-15 minutes coming from boston. the reverse commute is doable, but very long, and the only place that i can think of that would be worthwhile for a single guy would be newton. you'd have to suck up the commute, though.

the real problem is the location of the job. you could come over here and be a "worcester person". i know the town well. i work there. i commute there from metro west. honestly........its a dump.

also, you may really need to consider the caliber of girl you are going to meet in worcester vs. boston. i dont know how important that is to you, but something to think about.

Seriously? It's no Boston, sure. That's the whole reason you people love to drag it through the mud. Would this guy's girlfriend prospects be any better in the malls of Framingham and Natick?

There are plenty of highly educated biotech, medical, and any other industry you can think of all around Worcester. If I'm the anti-Leominster troll (massnative knows what I'm talking about), then Mordi is the anti-Worcester troll I guess! Sheesh!

This is the rabidly anti-Worcester Massahole attitude I talked about in my last post. Worcester is pretty much the only place in between 128 and the Quabbin that isn't utterly boring and basically culturally vacant. Keep that in mind, OP! MetroWest is great if you have a family and enough money to buy a house or whatever but unless you're idea of fun, and arts and culture, is a suburban stripmall, I'm thinking you'll be bored stiff.

[timberline742]

Yeah, I'm trying to think of what city, other than Boston, someone thinks is decent to live in if they think Worcester is so bad (in Massachusetts of course). Worcester is pretty alright, I'm out there at least once a month from Boston to see bands.

[Mordi]

Originally Posted by FCMA

Would this guy's girlfriend prospects be any better in the malls of Framingham and Natick?

probably. definite better prospects in newton, brookline, and boston. i dont want to get into the specifics, but do you really want to compare central mass and eastern mass women?

[FCMA]

Originally Posted by Mordi

probably. definite better prospects in newton, brookline, and boston. i dont want to get into the specifics, but do you really want to compare central mass and eastern mass women?

Oh magnanimous gatekeeper of Massahole match-making, please share with us your generalization of what is a socially appropriate mating hierarchy by geographic region.

Please shower us with your infinite wisdom, and tell us how every person west of 128, and especially 495, is an unwashed piece of uncultured, uneducated trailer trash, but in the magical land of Metro Boston thou shalt be saved from human mediocrity!

Dating websites exist that are capable of successfully matching people with similar values regardless of geographic location, and I'm sure he'll find someone worthy, even if he chooses to live in the "foul abyss" of Worcester - please advise him on who (and where) exactly has potential mates with the correct genetic makeup and upbringing, and proper Metro Boston social, educational, and professional caste markers with appropriately provincial worldview.

In the process, please justify how he should spend many thousands of extra dollars per year on gas, car maintenance, and rent, to re-locate somewhere more Metro Boston Massaholey, simply to be near the "right" people, or more specifically, away from the "wrong" people.

We eagerly await your advice.