Boston/Deep City Residents: Question/s

[Andrew.Glose]

Oi,

I'm moving to Boston in September and have a question for you guys.

Do you own a vehicle? Being a bassist, do you think I can manage without a vehicle? I do have a Markbass 30lb 400w combo, that I can carry with me to gigs, should I walk. But that could get old...

It would be nice to have one to take my stuff with me, but the cost of maintaining, or worrying about parking a vehicle may not be worth it, in the long run.

If you don't have a vehicle, do you find yourself wishing you did?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Andrew

[MadMan118]

I take my Bass with me on BART (the subway), and it does get rather cumbersome as the train fills with people.

[BurningSkies]

Maybe you should tell people what neighborhood you're moving to...transportation differs in different areas as does parking availability. The North End is different from Allston, from Southie, etc.

[Andrew.Glose]

I'm currently looking at somewhere in Brighton.

[arbitrary]

Originally Posted by Andrew.Glose

I'm currently looking at somewhere in Brighton.

You might be more bus defendant then.

[WickedPissah]

Originally Posted by Andrew.Glose

I'm currently looking at somewhere in Brighton.

Oh really? Brighton's a pretty good place. Good places to eat, a great music shop nearby, and there's a damn good hospital if you get hurt or sick.

[coreyfyfe]

Brighton is awesome, but you'll probably want a car. Very little T access and the green line drivers aren't friendly to carrying a bunch of equipment on board, although I guess your little MB combo wouldn't be much of a problem. If you're anywhere near brighton center, mandy and joes is great cheap breakfast and jims deli has good sandwhiches.

Mr. Music on harvard in allston is a cool little joint, and usually has a nice rotating selection vintage gear.

On the vehicle subject, my first year at northeastern I couldn't have a car on campus, so I took the T everywhere. We had a practice space on n. beacon in brighton which I would either take a bus to or walk and then later on cambridge st in allston, and I would usually take the greenline out then walk. I always left my practice head/cab in our space, and when we were gigging regularly, I was keeping my gig rig at my drummer/guitarists house.

For me, it was much easier once I was allowed to have my car, but I do a fair amount of traveling for work purposes as well, so I really needed to have it.

In terms of parking, in brighton there is resisdent parking and visitor parking everywhere, so you shouldn't have that much trouble. Resident parking is a pain because you have to get a resident permit, which means you'll have to change your registration/insurance, which nearly doubled my cost from the suburbs to the city, but again, it all comes down to what it's worth to you. The biggest issue with parking in brighton is getting a space around 5-7 pm. Brookline doesn't allow overnight parking on their streets, so a lot of people from brookline park in allston/brigton and walk/ride home.

If you do decide to bring one up, don't leave stuff in it. I lost a pedal board that way.

[Andrew.Glose]

Guys, thanks for the info.

For whatever reason, my friend (who already lives up there) informed me that he doesn't like Brighton. He's lived there once before and isn't very fond... I don't quite know why. When I visited, it looked like an alright place.

So now, it looks to be somewhere around Mission Hill.

Is it much different there?

Thanks for everything,

Andrew

[coreyfyfe]

Do not, DO NOT, live in mission hill. I've had way too many problems/friends with problems that have resulted from living in mission hill. It's cheaper, and closer to the orange and green lines, but, you get what you pay for, and the crime rate is about 1000x higher than brighton. Over the course of a year, I had a friend have her car stolen, some friends have their apartment broken into, and some friends arrested for hosting parties.

I do not recommend mission hill.

What are you looking for in terms of an apartment? Is there a specific location/institution you're trying to be close to? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post specifics in the forum.

[Andrew.Glose]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

Do not, DO NOT, live in mission hill. I've had way too many problems/friends with problems that have resulted from living in mission hill. It's cheaper, and closer to the orange and green lines, but, you get what you pay for, and the crime rate is about 1000x higher than brighton. Over the course of a year, I had a friend have her car stolen, some friends have their apartment broken into, and some friends arrested for hosting parties.

I do not recommend mission hill.

What are you looking for in terms of an apartment? Is there a specific location/institution you're trying to be close to? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post specifics in the forum.

Ok, here's the deal.

I've got a friend that lives up there already (Ben). He will be attending Berklee in the fall. Another person from my current location is going to move up in September, as well, and he's going to attend New England Conservatory in the fall (Dan). I'm moving up to get away from this place, so proximity to a school isn't important. We're looking for a 3, potentially 4, bedroom apartment. Currently, Dan (who's never visited) is all about Mission Hill apartments. But from what you said, I don't support moving there...at all. I've got expensive equipment....far too valuable to be stolen. In fact, both of my friends have valuable instruments, etc, as well.

It looks like we're trying to find a location that is close enough to those two school (which are very close to themselves) that are affordable and won't take an hour long ride to get to. I, personally, didn't see what the problem with Brighton was....

Your help is greatly appreciated,

Andrew

[coreyfyfe]

Brighton would have been alright. You could try the comm ave area of allston, you'd be right on the B line which would run you into kenmore/hynes so you'd be near berklee and the conservatory.

I lived in the fineberg apartments on boylston at one point, they're right at the intersection of boylston and charlegate/storrow so it would be a 5 minute walk to both berklee and the conservatory, but in that area you pay a ton and don't get much for space. Same goes for the hemenway/westland area.

There are some nicer places off of park drive and the fenway which would be good, but again those are prime locations for students, so they're a little more expensive than brighton, mission hill, etc.

Not everyone one is going to have a bad experience living in mission hill, but of the people that I Know that have lived there, the likelihood of having a bad experience is way higher than most other places.

Actually, I think I know more people who have lived issue free in JP than in mission hill. If you can find a nice place in JP, you could definitely save some rent and it would be down the orange line so you could ride up to ruggles or mass ave stops and be near berklee.

[notforrobots]

when i have a show or have to pick something up in boston i cry like a little girl the whole time. It seems like there is about 100000000 cars for every 1 parking spot.

[kcamsdog1387]

I did some looking around in Boston when I was getting my own place. Even just outside Boston is nice, fairly cheap, and its still easy to get into town. I ended up moving to Everett. It's just over the river from Charlestown and theres the T right in all the surrounding cities. When I gig we usually double park to load our stuff then drive to find parking. Anywhere near fenway park is notorious for lack of cheap parking.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by kcamsdog1387

I gig we usually double park to load our stuff then drive to find parking. Anywhere near fenway park is notorious for lack of cheap parking.

Yeah fenway parking sucks. My resident sticker is still good until june 2010 so I usually just grab an open resident spot in the area for school or to go to guitar center haha.

[allexcosta]

Here's my advice. Do NOT move to Boston. When you get your first 2 feet of snow or a trooper pulls you over in the Mass Pike so he can make up his monthly quote of fines you'll remember this post. Then there's the black ice, the heating oil bills, the unfriendly nerds, the unfriendly plow drivers, the unfriendly tow truck drivers, the unfriendly people at the motor vehicles, the houses made of thin wood so you can't even go to the bathroom at night without waking up the whole block. Not to mention the Big Dig, which ensures that every time you go to the same place you need different directions, even if you go there daily, and the GPS won't be updated that fast, so no help there. Then there's the 25 bucks fee that you pay every time you go downtown and you park in a no park spot but there's too much snow for you to see the signs. And then you will see the sign that says "Thickly settled" and you won't know what that means. Then you'll see the weather deteriorate after Halloween and the complete absence of insects, bugs or any other manifestation of life will drive you nuts and start wondering what's the best way of killing yourself. Than you'll probably become bi-polar.
Sorry, I just hate Boston...

[BurningSkies]

Originally Posted by allexcosta

Here's my advice. Do NOT move to Boston. When you get your first 2 feet of snow or a trooper pulls you over in the Mass Pike so he can make up his monthly quote of fines you'll remember this post. Then there's the black ice, the heating oil bills, the unfriendly nerds, the unfriendly plow drivers, the unfriendly tow truck drivers, the unfriendly people at the motor vehicles, the houses made of thin wood so you can't even go to the bathroom at night without waking up the whole block. Not to mention the Big Dig, which ensures that every time you go to the same place you need different directions, even if you go there daily, and the GPS won't be updated that fast, so no help there. Then there's the 25 bucks fee that you pay every time you go downtown and you park in a no park spot but there's too much snow for you to see the signs. And then you will see the sign that says "Thickly settled" and you won't know what that means. Then you'll see the weather deteriorate after Halloween and the complete absence of insects, bugs or any other manifestation of life will drive you nuts and start wondering what's the best way of killing yourself. Than you'll probably become bi-polar.
Sorry, I just hate Boston...

No, you hate all of the northeast.

[BurningSkies]

Another vote to stay away from Mission Hill, unless its gotten a lot better than when I was there. I had some good friends living there about 10 years ago...and I spent the summer hanging with them at their place. It was a hovel, surrounded by loads of crime, not to mention physical violence, gun play, drugs, and all of the usual stuff that goes with that. Their place was ground floor, and they couldn't open the windows during the summer because of unwanted visitors. That summer there were a lot of random drive bys too...people just shooting into front bay windows, so really we stayed away from the windows anyway!

Allston/Brighton is much nicer, and the parking situation IIRC (my sister lived on the A/B line for a few years) isn't terrible either. I could always find a place to park within a block or so.

[allexcosta]

Originally Posted by BurningSkies

No, you hate all of the northeast.

Oh, man... New England is even worse... I know your area. Driver's don't suddenly change lanes when they are 10 feet away from the toll booth in NY, no they don't. But I bet you still hate the I90, don't you? And I know you do get 2 feet of white s**t now and then. And you've never seen a "Thickly Settled" sign, have you?

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by allexcosta

Here's my advice. Do NOT move to Boston. When you get your first 2 feet of snow or a trooper pulls you over in the Mass Pike so he can make up his monthly quote of fines you'll remember this post.

The troopers are the fastest moving cars on the pike. Keep it under 85 and you'll never have a problem.

Originally Posted by allexcosta

Then there's the black ice, the heating oil bills, the unfriendly nerds, the unfriendly plow drivers, the unfriendly tow truck drivers, the unfriendly people at the motor vehicles, the houses made of thin wood so you can't even go to the bathroom at night without waking up the whole block.

99% of apartments within the city are natural gas, and almost anything in an apartment building, rather than a converted house, is going to include heat and hot water in the rent.

Originally Posted by allexcosta

Not to mention the Big Dig, which ensures that every time you go to the same place you need different directions, even if you go there daily, and the GPS won't be updated that fast, so no help there.

The big dig is done. Has been. The roads under boston and around the garden are awesome now.

Originally Posted by allexcosta

Then there's the 25 bucks fee that you pay every time you go downtown and you park in a no park spot but there's too much snow for you to see the signs.

That's called a parking ticket. Read the signs before you park, that's why they're there.

Originally Posted by allexcosta

And then you will see the sign that says "Thickly settled" and you won't know what that means. Then you'll see the weather deteriorate after Halloween and the complete absence of insects, bugs or any other manifestation of life will drive you nuts and start wondering what's the best way of killing yourself. Than you'll probably become bi-polar.
Sorry, I just hate Boston...

Thickly settled means a lot of people live in a close area, drive carefully.

[allexcosta]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

Thickly settled means a lot of people live in a close area, drive carefully.

You know that because you live there.
Just last month it took 30 minutes for me to figure out how to get to the new Guitar Center at Boylston St. because all streets around were closed. You haven't been around, man... Life is much easier everywhere else. And I didn't mention waking up 1 hour earlier to figure out where your car is and clean it from the white s**t. Then there's pneumonia...