My dream place to live (move, friendly, cities)

[Radical_Car]

I know this thread is 3 years old but in the past 3 years have you found anywhere thats close to Cuautla, Mexico or Cuernavaca, Mexico Granada, Nicaragua? It would be my dream place too.

[jambo101]

Try Montreal.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Haven't found anything. The block I live on now is friendly and people are pretty engaged for events like National Night Out, etc. but there is a severe lack of communal beer drinking, so it's alot more boring in that regard.

I'm convinced that due to the nature of American society that type of neighborhood will never exist. We are a working society, everybody is on the go all-the-time, things move too fast and nobody seems to have time to hang out. People here are less family-oriented and more individualistic. Plus our society has too many rules. In Latin America there really aren't any enforced rules and as a result it creates a much more laid-back atmosphere. It's alot more common to see a bunch of guys standing around drinking in public, with random stray dogs walking about, etc. I don't really know how to describe it, but you never really see that kind of thing here and it makes the neighborhood ambience much more tame and boring as a result.

My wife is from Mexico originally and she claims she likes Minneapolis more than her hometown but we both agree that it's far more boring here. Everybody needs a little anarchy every now and then...at least that's how I feel.

[heart2jam]

Originally Posted by Slig

a 24 hour block party where everybody is chill and friendly to everybody. I've been to a few places like that in my life and none of those are in the United States. Is there any place remotely like that in Minnesota? If there is I wanna live there.

I have found places like this in rural texas. been here two years and have made one friend. If you find this place in Minnesota I would like to know as well. Good luck.

[uptown_urbanist]

On our block during the summer it's like an every weekday afternoon block party, with everyone sitting out on their lawns and migrating from yard to yard. It's mostly mothers with young kids and sometimes retirees, though, since everyone else is at work. Random neighbors walk by and stop, too. No beer drinking, though, but it's as close as I've seen around here to what you're describing (although not nearly the same thing, admittedly). Try to carve out the time to hang out day in and day out in your front yard and maybe eventually you'll create your ideal neighborhood, or at least block. I think it's true, though, that American society just isn't very good for that.

[audadvnc]

It changes from year to year. I remember the Powderhorn neighborhood being that way in the 1980's, until the poverty and attendant ills sucked the life out of the area.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Going on the other thread, The old Minneapolis Skid Row in the lower loop appears to be closer to what I'm looking for than anything currently in the Twin Cities, a little bit too much fighting, theft and idiotic drunk antics for my tastes though.

[audadvnc]

Here's an interesting Utopian community running in Switzerland:

How I Found Utopia // Current

Kinda like Stonemill Farms - with free weed!

[golfgal]

In our neighborhood on any given night in the summer someone is usually having a bonfire in the back yard, bring a beer and a chair. We had this in our old town too. Heck, we even get together once/year with our old neighbors for a bonfire and beer. We used to stock our fridge with several types of beer we knew our friends liked so we were ready when they would stop by on a walk or whatnot.

[Camden Northsider]

Every year at NNO our block vows to all get together more often during the year, but there are a lot of us who do end up hanging out a fair amount throughout the year (esp summertime). Besides BBQs, fires in the backyard, on-the-fly dinners, etc.- many of us are out walking, gardening, or sitting on our front porches at nights or on weekends- so we often spend a lot of time talking with each other and/or hanging out to the point where it can be hard to actually get yard work done when you need to. A number of us have also taken to sharing/bartering things- fire pits, BBQs, mulch, plants, the ocassional truck or trailer, etc. ....it's nice.