Your ideal living location?

BostonUrbEx

BostonUrbEx

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Given your current job, recreational activities, nightlife, living environment desires, etc... and assuming you can afford anything... where would you live?


I'd have to say anywhere around Brookline Village Station, ideally immediately on top of it or slighty southeast if that were possible. I could easily bike or walk to my company's office at the VA in JP. I could easily enjoy the Muddy River parks and ponds. I think I could easily live off just the 39, 60, 65, 66, D Line, and E Line. I find Harvard St/Harvard Ave to be one of the most interesting streets when viewed in its entirety, from end to end. I just find the area really nice. But I abhor Brookline residents, so that sucks big time.
 
Whenever I looked at moving out of Allston, I was just not very enthused at the other options. So that's where I remain, and I've settled in.

Sometimes I think about how nice the North End would be, but I dunno if I'd want to deal with the stuffiness of the long time residents and the way its all touristed up.
 
Same DD...

For me it's DTX, Bay Village or the sliver of South End north of Tremont.
 
The Bay Village or somewhere in the South End along the Linear Park.
 
Bay Village all the way.

BostonUrbEx said:
Given your current job, recreational activities, nightlife, living environment desires, etc... and assuming you can afford anything... where would you live?


I'd have to say anywhere around Brookline Village Station, ideally immediately on top of it or slighty southeast if that were possible. I could easily bike or walk to my company's office at the VA in JP. I could easily enjoy the Muddy River parks and ponds. I think I could easily live off just the 39, 60, 65, 66, D Line, and E Line. I find Harvard St/Harvard Ave to be one of the most interesting streets when viewed in its entirety, from end to end. I just find the area really nice. But I abhor Brookline residents, so that sucks big time.
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You know you just described pretty much exactly where I now live? I am slightly southeast of Bk Vil station and it's very nice having easy access to both the D and E lines as well as all the bus routes. I've been posting a ton of pictures lately and it's in no small part because of my new home base situation (versus the boonies of Brighton previously).

The housing stock in this immediate area though leaves something to be desired as the majority seems to be student slums. My own unit is clean and well maintained but suffers from finishes that are cheap cheap cheap. But no matter, it's all about location location location!
 
If I were to choose Brookline, Coolidge Corner has it all over Brookline Village. A great indy movie theatre and a great indy bookstore right across the street from each other.
 
Secretary Kerry was kind enough to give me right of first refusal on his place. I'm mulling.
http://bit.ly/1fz0cgz
All kidding aside, I actually like living a little outside the action and then visiting as I please. My ideal locations are the blocks between Harvard campus and Prospect St in Cambridge.

My ideal neighborhood that does not exist would be the old West End. Imagine how cool this area would have been if the 1950s-1980s never happened? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WestEnd_ca1850s_Boston.png
 
Ron Newman said:
If I were to choose Brookline, Coolidge Corner has it all over Brookline Village. A great indy movie theatre and a great indy bookstore right across the street from each other.
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Absolutely, Coolidge Corner is great and you have the Trader Joes right there too. Trust me I looked there during my search but quickly realized I couldn't afford it.
 
James St. would be my first choice in Coolidge Corner. Such a neat little street.

My first choice with $2m+ to burn, though, would be any of the statelier places south of Francis, north of Linden, west of Kent, and roughly east of St. Paul. You get to walk to Coolidge Corner and Brookline Village that way, plus easy access to Longwood and the Riverway, choice of C or D, and free NU baseball/soccer games right on your doorstep.
 
One of the perks of working in real estate and property management is that you constantly get to explore different places around the city and make comparisons. I've seen apartments that rent for $500/month in the sh*ttiest parts of town and a day later walked through a six-story Beacon Hill townhouse worth $10 million+. I've toured all the luxury condo buildings that have been built in the last 10 years and explored the quaint, walkable neighborhoods like Coolidge Park or mid-Cambridge. Last week I was in a penthouse duplex on Comm & Dartmouth in the Back Bay with a private rooftop deck complete with all amenities imaginable, and an interior right out of the Restoration Hardware catalog.

But of all the buildings I've gone to--in all the locations--one stands out. There is no richer feeling a Bostonian can have than walking out the front door of the Four Seasons residences and looking across the street at the Public Garden pond as your front yard. You are quite literally in the center of it all, have every possible amenity at your disposal, and the feeling when you're there that you've made it. That this is as good as it gets. At least that's how I felt the times I've been there.

I also just love that it is where so many of the neighborhoods meet: Back Bay, Bay Village, Theater District/downtown, and arguably Beacon Hill, too.
 
Common Ave Mall between Berkeley and Clarendon. Close enough to everything, far enough from it all.
 
The Brookline/Longwood side of Audubon Circle. Like the area between Beacon St, Kent St, Longwood Ave, the Emerald Necklace and the Boston border.
 
If I ever had the money, I'd live on St. Botolph Street. As an NU student I love the convenience and accessibility of the area and St. Botolph is probably my favorite street in the city.
 
I've been thinking about this for a while. I keep weighing all different places id love to live, and while the Fort Point, Cambridgeport, Harvard, Jeffries Point and downtown are contenders, when all is said and done the Back Bay always wins. Specifically Marlborough St. Its just central to everything, you've got the comm ave mall on one side and the esplanade on the other, is drop-dead gorgeous, and has more resturants, bars and shopping than you can shake a stick at.

A 2nd floor space opened up over Newbury Comics recently. My friend and I were trying to figure what kind of "business" we could open up and live there.


As for reality, I'm with Matt. Every year I look around the area, and every year I stay in A/B. There is a vastly underrated restaurant scene, good entertainment, its safe, has pretty good transportation, and living north of the pike or up the hill eliminates most of the $&€!#*%$ students! issues. The charles river parks at the tip of allston rival the esplanade. With New Balance, Harvard and the innovation district getting expensive, its also only going to get better. I also live stupid close to Harvard for the rent I'm paying (10/15 mins walking, 5 by bike, if that).
 
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Marlborough, specifically in a north-side-of-the-street-facing-south unit around Dartmouth would be so ideal. And the women...so much eye candy around there!
 
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