Inman Square

[moireach.livejournal.com]

Can anyone tell me about the relative sketchiness (or not) of the Inman Square area? Apparently there's a right and wrong side of both Western Ave and Putnam -- which is which? Would you feel safe walking around the area at night? Is it feasible to live there carless?

Thanks much! [crossposted to b0st0n, sorry]

Comments

[cemeterygates.livejournal.com]

also, yes, it's totally fine to be carless in that area, the 69 bus takes you right to harvard from anywhere on cambridge street, and it's fairly regular. it's also only about 10-15 min walk to central square.

[alphacygni]

There are also several other buses that pass through Inman, so you can get to all sorts of T stops from it, in addition to the short walk to Central.

It's a great area. There's an area of not-so-good roughly in the square formed by Norfolk and Windsor, and Harvard and Main Streets, but even that has improved much over the years. Also, as was previously mentioned, things get a bit sketchy down Cambridge Street towards Lechmere, as you pass Windsor Street.

And not to Windsor Street sound bad. :) I lived at the corner of Windsor and Hampshire for some time, and felt fine. As the B-Side evolved into a popular hipster bar, I even felt very safe at night, since there would always be people walking to and from it.

Laundromat situation in the area is pretty sucky, though.

[pyrric.livejournal.com]

There's an area of not-so-good roughly in the square formed by Norfolk and Windsor, and Harvard and Main Streets, but even that has improved much over the years.

It really has. I lived near the intersection of Norfolk and Harvard for two years, from 2001-2003, and the difference even between those two short years was pretty palpable.

That's not to say that I had any real trouble--I used to walk to and from Central at all hours of the day and night (sometimes dressed in all sorts of strange Manray-attending garb) without incident--but something about the sense of the place changed.

As far as Inman goes, I lived at the corner of Cambridge and Prospect from 1997-1999 and found it absolutely delightful. I used to bump into the same people at the 1369 as I did at the Druid and the laundromat and the bank, and it felt like a really cohesive community. I hope I can move back there someday.