moving to Cambridge

[elswyth-thane.livejournal.com]

I am moving to Cambridge around Labor Day, and only know the immediate Harvard Square area. I'd appreciate advice about where in Davis Square to live (or NOT to live) and how to approach the apartment hunt. There seem to be some (relatively speaking) bargains near Kendall Square, which would reduce my commute, but I have alway felt Davis Square had more personality. I assume I should also budget for parking.

Thanks! I am looking forward to returning about 16 years away.

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

First of all, Davis Square isn't in Cambridge; it's in Somerville.

Everything near Davis & Porter Square is equivalent in my mind as far as where to/not to live. (If you head much down Beacon Street away from Porter Square in my recollection of reading the police blotter you get into more apartment break-ins, but nothing too scary.)

How important is the subway to you? Are you talking driving commute, walking commute, or subway commute?

If you're not tied to the subway, look at Union Square for more reasonable prices (and still personality). If that's still out of your price range look at Winter Hill for a medium area, or the Medford/Somerville line. Personally I'm not that enthralled with the Sullivan Square/East Somerville area.

In my experience the area around Kendall is very office-driven and kind of dull after 5:15pm.

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Although, to be fair yet annoyingly nitpicky, I live a 2-minute walk from the heart of Davis and am literally on the border of Cambridge. I have a lot of friends in this area, too, who technically live in Cambridge, and would say "I live in Davis Square," to a taxi taking them home.

[ron_newman]

I know at least one frequent participant in this community who lives on the Cambridge side of the line (across Mass. Ave., even) and I bet there are others.

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

Davis is pretty pricy. The area is all pretty much the same as far as safety. I'm just off Mass Ave and it's great for bus access as well as the Red-Line. It's West Somerville and right on the border. There is a lot of on street parking avail and some of the places have driveways.

Kendall is pretty much a wasteland after 9-5 business hours. Winter Hill and the rest of East Somerville is pretty craptastic, cheap but craptastic. Nothing is really bad around here, I grew up in Detroit and nothing here comes close.

Kendall

[cos]

Kendall Square itself is right on the edge of the MIT campus. Most likely you're thinking of the few blocks of office buildings to the north and east. But most of the residential areas people talk about as being "near Kendall" aren't, obviously, among those office buildings. There's east Cambridge, and there's the towards-Kendall portion of Area 4. Neither of these areas are oriented towards Kendall Square in terms of social life or stuff at night, also for obvious reasons. They're both very active neighborhoods.

I currently live in the towards-Kendall portion of Area 4. I'm 3 blocks from One Kendall Square in one direction, and 4 blocks from Inman Square in the other. Central's not far, and in between me and Central are my health clinic, several Chinese & Indian restaurants, a Pentecostal church, a public school, a Puerto Rican / fast food restaurant, an immigrants rights center, a Cambridge municipal youth center (where the neighborhood coalition meets every month, with free dinner :), Toscanini's ice cream, a couple of convenience stores... across the street from me is the B-side lounge (late night food / pub) and there's a hair salon on that block. I can easily walk to the Harvest Coop, the Kendall cinema, the Cambridge Brewing Company, Tosci's, Emma's pizza, etc. This is not a wasteland. But the nearest major square to me is Kendall, so I sometimes describe it as "near Kendall" to people who aren't familiar with it.

[ron_newman]

If by 'Kendall' you really mean East Cambridge and Lechmere, that area has real life and personality.

When you look in Davis you should also look in nearby Teele, Powderhouse, and Ball squares.

Winter Hill is not part of East Somerville -- those are two different places.

[ron_newman]

Also, if you like Davis Square, you might also consider Inman and Central squares in Cambridge. Both have lots of restaurants, music clubs, used book and record stores, etc.

[dangerousface.livejournal.com]

Consider crossing over into Medford, if you've got wheels or don't mind taking the bus--I live off of Tufts Square and it's uber cheap.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you're looking for, really, but...

If you're hip and middle-upper class, live near porter or davis. Also great if you're an artist, you'll meet plenty of other aimless patrons.

If you're looking for cheap rent, live in east somerville or medford. Just don't look for a coffee shop.

[turil.livejournal.com]

If you really like Davis, then the commute wouldn't be too bad to get to Kendall, since it's only 4 stops away on the Red Line. But generally, since you are likely to have far more trips to and from work (or school?) then I say you should live as close to work as possible, walking distance is obviously the best. Then, you spend far less time and aggrevation commuting and have more time and energy to go fun places when you have free time. Oh, and if you are living in the city, ditch the car. It's far more of a hastle than a help in an urban area. And if you need to go far away, you can rent a car if you need to. If you, for some reason, do travel a lot and find a cheap car more cost effective than renting all the time, then consider sharing your car with others (roommates, neighbors, friends, etc.). Sharing can cut down on operations costs quite a bit. You can also keep your car outside the city, where parking is free, and take a bus or train to pick it up when you need it. (That's what my husband does.)

As far as places not to live? Well, I don't think there are really and perticularly bad places in Cambridge or Somerville. A few places are less upscale than others, but for the most part all of the communities are pretty friendly. The only real difference is in accessability. East Somerville and West Cambridge, along with the area of Cambridge near the Charles River and the area of Somerville near Medford are not well served by the T, so they are cheaper, generally. If you bike, then these areas are great. I live on Spring Hill, near Somerville Hospital and City Hall, and my bike commute into Harvard Square is only about 5-10 minutes, depending on the lights, whereas it would take me at least 45 minutes by T (bus and/or subway). And when I don't feel like biking, I can walk to work in less than 25 minutes.

[nalz.livejournal.com]

I live over the border in Medford - its about a mile into Davis but pretty close to powderhouse and ball square. I love this area and its cheaper than Davis, and always pretty easy to find apartments/parking without paying out the wazoo.

That being said, if I were working in Kendell I'd probably drive as its not that far to drive, and the public transportation route from where I live would be at least 3x as long. Driving, however, will probably take 5 minutes w/o traffic. Or if you're into biking that would be viable as well.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Parking is the big problem when commuting by car in the city. It's just not feasible in most areas. If you live in Cambridge, you can buy a resident Permit Parking sticker, and then you can at least legally park on the street. But you'll probably have to spend 10-25 minutes at least looking for a parking spot, and then have to walk 5-10 minutes to wherever you are going. Kind of defeats the purpose of using the car, really.

If you want to go a little faster, or you're not quite up for using your own power to propel you by bike, an electric scooter like the eGo or somesuch is a great option. They have a range of at least 15 miles on a charge (about 3-4 hours), and can go up to about 25 mph. And you can park them pretty much anywhere you can park a bicycle.

[nalz.livejournal.com]

While alternative transportation is always ideal - I haven't ever had a problem parking in the Kendell area any time of day/night/weekend. just my experience anyway.

[cos]

The whole Davis Square area is great, there's no part to avoid IMO. The best way to find a place around here seems to be through friends, or at least, that's how almost everyone I know has found their places :) People who are going to vacate tell all their friends, and if it's a good place or a good deal, a new renter gets found before the place really gets on the public market.

Post here with a brief description of what you're looking for (how many bedrooms, got any pets, what price range, etc.), and do the same on craigslist, and perhaps some of us will know someone with an appropriate place.

P.S. I was expecting to click through to find 10 comments saying Davis Square is in Somerville, not Cambridge - I'm impressed there was only one!

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

I have some friends who are looking to move to Boston from the midwest and they showed me this book they got called the "Not For Tourists Guide to Boston 2006."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097586646X/ (There's versions of this for other major cities too.)

What I thought was really interesting about it is that breaks up Boston and the surrounding metro area into different "bite-size" regions and then for each region you get detailed maps with different overlays like all the public transportation options, all the grocery stores and ammentities, etc etc. It's a great way to see if the exact address you're considering is close to things you might want to be close to.

Of course it probably isn't the best indication of things like how safe is the neighborhood and how good is the closest grocery store, etc. But it looked really helpful nonetheless. It's always so hard when you just pull up a google map of an address to really get a sense of what's in the vicinity of that address.

Hope this helps a bit!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Though looking at the Google satelite photo of an area will give you some sense of what it's like, since you can really see the size and shape and a bit of the style of buildings, as well as seeing the greenspace and street widths.

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

I don't know if they've updated it for 2006, but I saw one of those guides last year and a lot of their information was incorrect or missing. I vaguely remember them not listing Downtown Liquors or the Rosebud or something like that. Sad, I know, I wish they'd put as much research into it as they have for other cities.

[dawneliz.livejournal.com]

Inman Sq is lovely. Also worth considering is Union Sq. I grew up there, and moved there again a few years ago (am now in Ball Sq and love love love it). Union is close to Harvard, Inman Sqs, also fairly close to Porter Sq. A little quieter than Davis or Central, but it has some good restaurants, Sherman Cafe, Thirsty Scholar etc.

Good luck. I HEART SOMERVILLE!

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

Don't get a car. Don't commute by car. I pity people who drive to work every day in this city. The T works great, biking is better in good weather, and there's no place to park. It's not as bad as Back Bay, to be sure, but still.

There's a wonderful service called Zipcar, which lets you rent a car by the hour whenever you feel like it. I've been using it for years, and I love it. It gives me complete freedom to get out of the city when I want to, and when I'm in the city, I am completely free of all the nuisances of car ownership. Check their website at www.zipcar.com.

And no, I'm not an employee.

thank you

[elswyth-thane.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the feedback, which I appreciate (blushing that I didn't know Davis Square was really in Somerville). I found an apartment complex online that looked appealing called Walden Park Apartments on Walden Street in Cambridge. Is anyone familiar with it?

Re: thank you

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

i would be hesitant to recommend that place. it's a hike to the nearest T (probably at the very least a 20-25 minute walk to either porter or davis, and that's a generous estimate), and that would not be very pleasant in a boston winter!

i, like you, did my search from afar before i moved here and was also interested in walden park -- pool, nice hardwood floors, etc. my realtor even offered me some kind of deal on the rent if i chose a place there. but i needed to live close to the T (my boyfriend doesn't drive) and i was shocked at how far it was when the website makes it seem so close. in addition, bus routes don't really run close to there (i think the 78 bus runs on garden street, three or four streets away, to harvard square). there are lots of complexes in davis that are totally worth checking out. my building management company works with metro realty, who were very polite when i called them to ask for a friend looking to move into my apt building. there are a lot of "no fee" apartments where landlords pay the fee -- and you have the bonus of a realtor searching for you without actually having to pay for it.

Re: thank you

[elswyth-thane.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO much for the feedback. It was very hard to tell from my map, and since I will be taking the red line to the silver line, I definitely don't want another transfer.

Re: thank you

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

no problem! i'm glad it was helpful. :)

Re: thank you

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

oh, and in addition to being a hike, there's not a lot around there - you'd have to walk aways for a coffee shop, restaurant, etc, but there is a park near there, and a hardware store.