Whither after Somerville?

[beinneighe.livejournal.com]

Hi all,

It's been clear for a while that I can't afford Somerville anymore, but I'm at a loss as to where to move next.

I've lived in Camberville for eight years, having moved here directly after college. I absolutely love this area--I love that I don't need a car, I love all our festivals, I love the concentration of artists/creatives and scientists/techies, and I love that Somerville is an actual community, not just a city. As a single, childless freelancer, I need those things to avoid going all Jack Torrence.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cities (local, national, international) that would suit someone who loves Somerville but can't swing $1500/mo for a one-bedroom, $18 for a sandwich/latte at a cafe, etc.?  

Comments

[3rdragon]

My brother went to college in Pittsburg, and certainly thought it was a nice city to be a college student in.

I would recommend Philadelphia, which has some lovely neighborhoods. (Actually, one of the things I like about Somerville is that it in some ways reminds me of the neighborhood I grew up in.) For the most part it's not as dense as Somerville, but there are benefits to that. Summers tend to be a little hotter than here, but most winters you can see the ground on a pretty regular basis, and both the growing season and winter days are a little longer. There are not AS many festivals and road races and whatnot as Somerville, but there are some, and strangers on the street tend to be more likely to greet and perhaps strike up a conversation. (Whereas here I find that people mostly only talk to you if they're lost tourists or the T is super late again.)

Mt. Airy/Germantown is a nice, integrated neighborhood with a lot of local color and community instutitions. These days Mt. Airy is starting to be considered a little pricey and gentrified (nothing on Camberville, though), but Germantown is still quite affordable. It's right by the Wissahickon Creek and one of the largest urban parks in the US (perhaps the largest). Philly's subway system is not as comprehensive as Boston's, but there are buses and regional rail service (with schedules more reasonable than the commuter rail).

West Philadelphia is supposed to be a wonderful neighborhood, also with a lot of local color. There's a trolley system, it's near Drexel and UPenn, and quite close to center city. (Well, when I say "quite close," I mean, "farther than from Cambridge to the ocean.") There are parks and restaurants and neighborly cafes and they have a Shakespeare in the park every summer. I haven't lived there myself, but I knew a lot of people who did, and if I had struck out on my own in Philly and looked for an apartment, that would have been one of the areas I considered.