college towns s/d

some are definitely too small, like hanover (dartmouth). can't imagine spending 4 years in a place like that w/o becoming a raging alkie. at least it's pretty.

boston: DUD
williamsburg: DUD

Of the ones I've spent any amount of time in...

Champaign, IL:
Tremendous DUD. It was actually pretty decent in the early 90s, but by the end of the decade the area around campus had become a veritable ghost town as businesses fled for the sprawling developments on the north and south fringes of the town. The campus town area is coming back, but not in a good way. It seems to be styled as a mini-Lincoln Park these days, with all the expensive boutiques and horrible bars you might expect.

Ann Arbor:
Mostly classic, but maybe that's because I've yet to actually live there. My wife grew up there so I've had plenty of opportunities to visit over the last 4 years. Sure, it gets as "frat-y" as any other Big 10 campus, but there are lots of great independent shops and a decent vibe if you know where to look. I love that the community really interacts with the campus, which was not at all the case in Champaign.

Madison, WI:
Classic, but this is only based on a handful of visits. Nevertheless, I've always had a great time and I'm looking forward to go back again soon.

Lawrence, KS:
I was surprised how much I liked this town. Had to spend a long weekend there for a wedding last year and I was kinda dreading it. But I ended up having a great time. We stayed in this great renovated old hotel (that I forget the name of), did lots of record shopping, ate tons of good food, and drank some great local brews.

There are some great record shops in Lawrence.

i love madison but try to stay away from the college scene.

bloomington, IN seemed like a much smaller, lamer madison.

I really liked visiting Northampton/Amherst, MA when my sister went to school there.

i've found redeeming qualities in pretty much every one I've visited, but i'd say destroy:

Starkville, MS (MSU) - positively the worst college town ever. just mind-achingly desolate. and fucking cowbells.

New Brunswick, NJ - not nearly as bad as S'ville, but I was rather taken aback at how comparatively lame it was. Rutgers is like a hueg, respected uni (a "public ivy", no?), but NB seemed kid of like a cultural wasteland. Maybe because it was summer when i was there?

The cultural life of New Brunswick is found in its many basements.

We saw ferrets in the pet store over the weekend, and I thought to myself, "Boy am I glad I don't live in a college town anymore."

max = college threads as bell_labs = grad threads

i am a huge fan of Arcata, CA. Humboldt State is located there. i'm about the furthest thing from a hippie but i just feel comfortable in arcata. the ocean's 3 miles away, the redwoods are right there, the downtown has a great town square and lots of old buildings and the usual college town trappings-organic groceries and a decent record store and bookstores bookstores bookstores. i'm thinking of driving down there this weekend.

i grew up in city suburbs though so it's easy for me to think college towns are these perfect little places.

madison has the rep as #1 college town i think

these places seem to work best when theyre close to a big metro. area like princeton or the college is huge... i hear that ithaca, ny is dire

Ithaca's not bad.

A buddy of mine from college opened up a pretty cool bar in Madison WI called Brocach. It's right next to the capitol, if I remember correctly. He just opened up a second one in Milwaukee.

i have eaten scotch eggs at both of those

ALBANY, NY = DUD

college towns ive been to:

tallahassee, fl: this was oookay, lots of dilapidated parts where students lived that did not look fun even in a college way, okay enough downtown, mostly because of it being the state capital i think, thought it was cool but nothing really spectacular

gainesville, fl: the best college town i've ever been to. the town centers completely around the school (all the restaurants have some blue/orange motif it seemed like) and its kinda fun to get caught up in that for a few days. it was pretty navigable by car or foot. also awesome public transportation, which is good for being drunk late at night. great places to eat around campus, which is a key. always wanna go back but never found the time.

columbia, mo: really small and boring, it gets by cuz there are lots kids, but there is nowhere to eat, the record stores suck, etc. don't dislike it per se but just wish it was more of a College Town

also i live like 20 mins away from the univ of miami, which is like 20 mins from downtown, 30/40 from south beach with decent public transport. if you don't have a car you might be kind of fucked in terms of getting around the immediate area, also you have to cross US1 and like one kid every year gets killed doing this.

Columbia MO was pretty classic when I was there but sounds like it's gotten a lot more dud-ish based on the CoMo thread

xpost - and there ya go ^^^

There are good things about Columbia. There are a few good places to eat.
The guy who started Ragtag (Paul 5turtz, not Dav1d W1lson) got elected to City Council this year, and I think that could mean really good things for the first district. The True/False doc fest is pretty awesome.
I've lived here for eleven years and I'm sorta stuck here for now, so I try to make the best of it.

Athens, GA: Total classic for an indie kid in his late teens. Great music scene, great cafes and bistros, cheap hotels within a block of the 40 Watt. The frat aspect wasn't too bad either, considering they tended to stick to one end of the town at night and the 40 watt, the caledonia, etc... were at the other end. Back in the day Low Yo-Yo records would stay open until 2 or 3 in the morning, which was ruinously expensive for me but still great. Worth the 6 hour drive once or twice a month (lol cheap gas).

Ann Arbor: had a great time there the one day and night I spent there. Great independent shops and a nice sense of community. The people I was with probably had something to do with it as well.

Auburn, AL: DUD. A string of crappy college restaurants and bars and that's about it.

Westwood = now a dud. Too much traffic,too little parking. Everything is too expensive and not really geared to students on a budget; skews more toward the surrounding corporate business culture and chic westside yuppie crowd. Used to be classic but that was in the '80s! Too bad, great school.

*reps for atx*
denton, TX
bloomington, IN
madison madison madison

yeah man i liked denton, good ice cream place, shitty pizza joint, pretty buildings

columbus ohio sometimes classic other times dud. hope to get out of here in a hurry though, because sticking around where you went to school is like living w/ your parents, kind of. to me.

ithaca is pretty ok imo. i spent a couple of days there once on a business trip and there were good restaurants, some decent dive bars, very beautiful scenery. brutal winters tho : /

I've lived here for eleven years and I'm sorta stuck here for now, so I try to make the best of it.

hahaha, WELCOME TO COLUMBIA, MISSOURI.

Hey, there's a great farmers market.

ILX bringing me down today :(

just read the perfect party thread

wait, where is my relevant bookmark about this

here: top 20 most boring college towns:

http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_story_212221056.html?keyword=topstory

1. Tuskegee, Ala., (Tuskegee University)
2. Schenectady, N.Y. (Union College)
3. West Point, N.Y. (U.S. Military Academy)
4. Albion, Mich. (Albion College)
5. Newark, N.J. (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
6. Norton, Mass. (Wheaton College)
7. Springfield, Ohio (Wittenberg College)
8. Hempstead, N.Y. (Hofstra University)
9. New London, Conn. (U.S. Coast Guard Academy)
10. Troy, N.Y. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
11. Beloit, Wis. (Beloit College)
12. Terre Haute (Rose-Hulman)
13. Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Vassar College)
14. Greencastle (DePauw University)
15. Worcester, Mass. (College of the Holy Cross)
16. Durham, N.C. (Duke University)
17. Socorro, N.M. (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology)
18. Worcester, Mass. (Clark University)
19. Hartford, Conn. (Trinity College)
20. South Bend (University of Notre Dame)

Albion OTM

i liked ithaca a lot and was never really bored there, but then again the music scene was pretty bad and i'm not sure how i'd feel living anywhere near downtown if i wasn't a college student. but it was by far the most tolerable college town i've ever been in. nice setting, decent proximity to some larger cities, 4 hours to nyc, good bars, good restaurants, plus WINE COUNTRY.

Columbia, MO: I'm not sure how fun it would be to visit, but I had a great time living there. I miss it a lot. Shit, it's the best place in Missouri, what else do you want?

Ithaca, NY: I'm here now. Until May. I've been here for a year, but I still don't know what I think. The very first time I visited, to search/destroy houses to rent for the following year, I felt like I was fucked up the entire time. Strange children, angry busdrivers, blood on the back of my hotel pillow. That strangeness has persisted, but now I'm used to it. Living here feels like you were stoned 5 hours ago but now you're watching Cheers repeats, but you don't really care that much about it one way or another.

Boulder, CO: Someone drop a bomb on this place. Go to hell, Boulder, you're the worst. Boulder's atmosphere summed up: I'm at the Matmos show, and they've started out the show with a couple of slower ambient tunes. Then they bust into one that's a bit faster, and with more accessible beats. Stupid Boulder guy yells: "Hey, they finally started the show, hahaha" as Martin justifiably rolls his eyes. Soundtrack of Boulder = Sublime. A horrible shadow of what it apparently used to be. But the mountains are nice, gotta say.

Really though, any of these places on this thread could be really nice with decent friends. Shit, I could hang out at TJ Maxx all day if there was someone decent with me.

just read the perfect party thread
Yeah, cuz arguments about beer pong are totally gonna lift my spirits.

Socorro is not a college town

Albion = big old dud

I liked Ithaca a lot and wouldn't mind living there if I was a grad student with a girlfriend.

chapel hill's cool

i am a huge fan of Arcata, CA. Humboldt State is located there. i'm about the furthest thing from a hippie but i just feel comfortable in arcata. the ocean's 3 miles away, the redwoods are right there, the downtown has a great town square and lots of old buildings and the usual college town trappings-organic groceries and a decent record store and bookstores bookstores bookstores. i'm thinking of driving down there this weekend.

A high school friend of mine has lived there for 10 years now and I occasionally drive up to visit. Great town.

The police log of the Arcata Eye is a must read.

i want to hear more about madison

guys fwiw my living experiences in my life has gone from miami, fl -> to columbia, mo, so take it with a grain when i say that there is nothing to do there and i think its boring and there is nowhere to eat

I liked Ithaca a lot and wouldn't mind living there if I was a grad student with a girlfriend.

Both of my parents were from Ithaca and I've got an aunt who still lives there. Ithaca is *OK* but you really have to be on board with the city culture such as it is otherwise you'll go insane in just under a week.

btw its weird how many ppl on ilx went to mizzou

the record stores do suck though

thumbs up for Athens & Chapel Hill

yeah chapel hill is fun, used to road trip down there for shows when I lived in VA. also Austin's cool.

btw its weird how many ppl on ilx went to mizzou

I meet shitloads of mizzou people IRL too .... but I work in journalism so not exactly a shocker

Ha, same here. I get asked "Did you know [local news reporter] when you were at Mizzou?" and I'm like, "Oh, I don't think our paths crossed, no."

When I was in Columbia, you had The Whizz, Streetside, and Salt of the Earth.

You could also smoke in Brady Commons, there were no parking garages except for the one downtown by Shattered, and all the downtown streets were one-way.

Sunny, all you need to know about Madison is this shit:

http://www.hoofers.org/history/liberty/LibSaturday.jpeg

A high school friend of mine has lived there for 10 years now and I occasionally drive up to visit. Great town.

The police log of the Arcata Eye is a must read.

I could've written both these statements.

princeton was a great town to grow up in/around -- and a great place to raise kids. but new brunswick was more fun.

I liked Isla Vista, but I don't mind a hippie vibe. Next to the ocean, free buses (with student ID) into Santa Barbara, very walkable/bikeable.

I spent about 2 weeks in Warrensburg, MO for work without even finding the downtown area until pretty much the last day. The main strip next to my motel was just Walmart and fast food, and I assumed that was it. Turns out the older part of town was on the other side of that strip from where I frequented. Looked like it had potential but I never explored it. I couldn't believe a college that large (>10,000 students, I think) wouldn't have cool areas, but I guess I was just a dope. Oh, and the water there smells of sulphur.

yeah growing up in princeton is a real treat. i hated it at the time but in retrospect i could have been stuck somewhere far far worse...

Okay, damn you for that Arcata Eye link. I've wasted 45 minutes on it so far. That's great reading.

worcester makes it twice for holy cross and clark but doesn't make it at all WPI or the other 6 colleges there?

Oxford, MS is a cool place for a day trip or overnight trip. Dunno about living there, though.

I liked Isla Vista, but I don't mind a hippie vibe. Next to the ocean, free buses (with student ID) into Santa Barbara, very walkable/bikeable.

loved visiting my friend there

even college neighborhoods in or around large cities--like college hill in providence or cambridge

"large cities"

I <3 pvd though

you really have to be on board with the city culture such as it is otherwise you'll go insane in just under a week.

this applies to every college town

oxford , ms - good town, 97.3% appalling student body

I went to college at IU in Bloomington, Indiana. The town is great and I just visited in June, so that ain't just nostalgia talking.

Grew up in Charlottesville VA and it is too expensive now. Probably a decent place to go to college though.

Currently live in Eugene Oregon which is also a college town and I like it very much here.

I live in Madison which is justly lauded -- though I am in the "young married w/ kid" category and I'm not sure I think it would be as good for twentysomething singles as it is for us. Pros: pretty cheap, especially if you move there from the coasts; lots of good music; food generally good in all price ranges; Union Terrace possibly the most pleasant spot in the US. Cons: few direct air connections, no good Chinese food.

Other cities: I remember College Park, MD as being surprisingly bleak and dominated by US-1, but I haven't spent time there in 15 years. Charles Village, the area of Baltimore where Johns Hopkins sits, has a few charms but in general is less good than you'd expect. Columbus is underrated but doesn't really have an appealing college town center. I really liked living in Princeton but no one else I know did. Ann Arbor is almost indistinguishable from Madison. Cambridge/Somerville, MA and Berkeley, CA are ideal in all ways except for being calamitously expensive.

clinton, new york: classic
utica, new york: dud
los angeles, california: classic
seattle, washington: classic

what college is even in utica? SUNY-IT? i have only driven through it and it is #1 depressing place

utica college is there. it is possibly the worst town i have ever been in.

Lived in Ann Arbor for 10 years before moving to portland. I enjoyed it, but it got less fun from about 99/00 - onward.

what about minneapolis

i am interested in minneapolis

Minneapolis is NOT A COLLEGE TOWN unless Los Angeles and New York and Chicago also are.

yeah i was gonna say. seattle and los angeles are not college towns in the slightest

Parts of minneapolis and seattle are college towns but it's kind of like finding out an obscure talent that a great friend has - it's cool but they already had enough other things going for them.

Right now I live in what should be a pretty solid dud college town (Pullman WA) but it's really not bad in some boring adult type of ways and we have lots of friends who are in the same end-up-in-a-random-town academia situation. Perspective is key because I lived somewhere much smaller and more remote before here. That said, it's no Ann Arbor, Madison, or Eugene and I don't want to be here forever.

What about Richmond, VA?

Richmond's a pretty underrated town. Good food, good shops, rent's not too bad, and much of the city is very attractive. Crime isn't great, but it isn't awful, either.