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

[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.