Yo try excel fitness in west hartford, my friend is a personal trainer there. But i take personal training there too. Great trainers. Small gym but it’s open till 2pm. Emphasizing again great staff and cool owner.

Yeah totally seen this guy as well. Nothing to add beyond that, but curious as well.

You should check out the app Meetup, lots of local events to meet new people

It's not that bad. People always find a way to bad mouth Hartford: "it's too quiet", "it's too dangerous," etc. As another poster said above, "Hartford has some things but they're not really concentrated in any one area."

And don't trust what people say about West Hartford. It's a big suburb that fought integration for years and years until progressive politics became trendy for white suburbanites. It's not that freakin' great—especially for someone moving from a big city.

Give Hartford a chance!

There's still quite a bit of live music in Hartford. If you like Jazz, there's Black-Eyed Sally's on Wednesdays and Hog River Brewing Company on Sundays. Maybe still something at Parkville Market on Mondays?

For rock, funk, soul, etc, there's Arch Street Tavern on the weekends, Wednesdays and more. Infinity Hall has good stuff too.

Black-Eyed Sally's also does Blues on the weekends usually.

Semilla is also a great place to see live music, especially R&B, Neo-Soul, etc. Never know what's going to happen there!

In the summer, there are a lot of festivals all over the city lots of music.

I don’t know but it sounds like he’s living his best life. More cowbell.

Hope you can get back to Georgia soon, my dude

And the urban trails are amazing

Lemme know if you want to get up. I’m on twitter: Lilcoqui84. I can show you everything beautiful about the city. Parkville market is where you begin for lunch!

If you’re into improv at all, the crowd at Sea Tea Comedy is very friendly. There’s also a Connecticut Hiking and Outdoor Adventures FB group where I’ve noticed a lot of people connect with new hiking buddies. If you like to ski, the weeknight ski groups at Sundance can be really friendly and social, though they are probably about half way over by now.

What gym you go to? Bar trivia? Semilla Cafe + Studio got cool vibe!

Thank you for including Hartford by the numbers. I can’t stand the constant comparisons to cities that are six and 20 times our size (Boston and New York). It’s apples and oranges.

I have been wondering this as well! He drives down Main Street every day around 5 PM. Windows open, cowbell banging in time with the tunes. I have observed him personally at street level, he is alone in the car (black SUV, Ford I think). Living his best cowbell dreams.

Very well put.

Yes, the hub is centralized in terms of "city life". Correct, the rest is residential.
The closest city vibe we offer would be New Haven - I love that city.

I've lived in Toronto and all the NY boroughs except The Bronx, so I get what you're after.

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I saw the busy center of West Hartford and it’s pretty cool. What’s the rest like? Residential?

I live in West Hartford. Hartford is a ghost town. It's eerie.

For comparison purposes, Hartford has a population of 120,000 and is 18 square miles.

Philly 1.6 million, 141 sq mi. NYC 8.5 million, 300 sq mi. I’ve lived in Philly and NYC and now love living in Greater Hartford. Plenty to do in the area but takes some searching and is not concentrated in one spot. Hartford is by all means a small city (not a decent size one).

Probably not commutable to your job, but you might prefer New Haven, which actually has a night life and much bigger cultural/arts scene. But, if you need to be in the Hartford area, the West Hartford square does in fact have the best night life scene in the area. Hartford has some things but they're not really concentrated in any one area.

Yeah, probably better off going somewhere else.

I'm from Jersey and spent plenty of time in Philly in my life. If youre looking for a big city, Hartford is not it.

Also from New York and there is not much going on in Hartford. If your looking for a lively restaurant and bar scene Hartford doesn’t really have it.

Not much in the downtown area itself. The social scene has mostly moved to West Hartford. Also, hope you have a car.

I think your first impression was correct. It is a very quiet city. Not much is open late.