Submitted by Ok-Recommendation556 t3_y2z6k2 in StamfordCT

Does anyone else feel like harbor point is a little boring? I love the area it’s beautiful I love my building but It feels a bit boring. Especially if you are new to the area and don’t know many people. There’s only two restaurants that are filled with people on the weekends that clearly don’t live in the area. What do people in their late 20s early 30s do for fun around here I’m getting so bored.

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so_dope24 t1_is5ovin wrote

The problem with that area is its mostly just apartments with nothing else really going on or any type of interesting culture.

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Eastsurfer100 t1_is5l9pa wrote

bedford street during the week. I lived in harbor point and felt the same way.

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_is5lf7i wrote

It’s just unfortunate to have to go all the way across town to do anything slightly fun there really needs to be more to do down here

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OffloadComplete t1_is77pxl wrote

I just moved here in September and I don’t know anyone. It’s a bit boring.

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Athrynne t1_is5v8nb wrote

Turnover is really high down here - I've lived in the area since 2016 and I'm pretty sure we're the longest tenanted residents in my building. Heck, I've seen 3 leasing companies in my building since I moved here. So it's pretty hard to make connections with people.

I agree that it would be nice if there were more casual hangouts, there used to be more, but a bunch over by me (Le Pain Quotidien, the restaurant that predated Taco Daddy, Dinosaur, heck even Fairway) closed before and during covid. There's Third Place now, and that is a pretty cozy shop.

BLT keeps the rents high and it does seem to keep businesses from coming down here. I agree that it's pretty boring - we usually go elsewhere to go hiking or bicycling, which are our non nerdy hobbies.

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Lavenderfieldsforeve t1_is6eyce wrote

I mean it is kinda in its own area. I live in Belltown and never really go to harbor point. But with regards to night life, there isn’t really much of that going on in Stamford compared to other cities. Besides the downtown bars and all.

I dunno, I kind of like that about Stamford. It’s a city and it’s not a city all at the same time.

In my opinion, North Stamford is the nicest area.

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ruthless_apricot t1_is7z5mc wrote

Ridgeway-Bulls Head heading up into North Stamford is the best area, agreed! Definitely where I would choose to buy in Stamford. Especially with the new Whole Foods opening in Ridgeway, it's got everything.

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ruthless_apricot t1_is5v9n7 wrote

I'd learn the free bus schedule and use it all the time to get rides into Downtown! Harbor Point is pretty but extremely dull as you say. You're close to Third Place however, which is one of the best spots in Stamford, so it's not all bad!

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[deleted] t1_is5msyy wrote

Used to live there. The residents tend to be entitled/rude. Their mostly the kids of wealthy fairfield county/westchester county parents. It’s almost like a gated community for rich 20 somethings, hence the lack of substance. Sheltered white people arent gonna have much culture outside of going to taco daddy lmao

Bedford St. isn’t substantially better but you dont have to deal with as much entitlement. Much more diversity in bar/restaurant patrons. I personally live pretty close to Bedford st now. So much better than Harbor point

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_is5mzgz wrote

I mean I love It down here I just think my problem is there’s nothing to do?

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7n0ap wrote

There’s multiple parks within walking distance. Probably a ton of meet ups going on. Casual places to eat. What exactly are you looking for?

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_isb4s16 wrote

I guess just cool coffee shops and casual eats as well as shops and boutiques in harbor point

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[deleted] t1_is5nouz wrote

Spose the only thing 'to do' is go to sign and get wasted with your besties for a small fortune. Unfortunately, the only substance in Stamford, of which there isnt much, is usually downtown or on the west side.

Meetup is a good place to start if you want to find local happenings, but most of the time they wont be in Harbor Point.

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Eastsurfer100 t1_is5ovz4 wrote

agree but rents are to high and nyc commuters are boring because they wake up early to go to the city during the week. bedfords the spot its only 5 mins

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_is5p5ln wrote

I really don’t even care for bars that much. Like why aren’t there any shops or coffee shops or any nice places to sit down for a casual meals?

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Eastsurfer100 t1_is5rhe9 wrote

leases to expensive to run a business and make a profit. also nobody has equity in the neighborhood so it turns over every 2 years or so.

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ZoqY t1_is5y5th wrote

Yeah true. It's all expensive resteraunts and no coffee shops that you can just walk to and grab a coffee. Montreal had tons of those and that made it great

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Danimal_House t1_ismgqxn wrote

… you comparing Montreal with Stamford? Why?

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ZoqY t1_ismhpzr wrote

Montreal has a ton of coffee shops. Montreal is a bit like harbor point in layout and it maintains a sense of community by having a good amount of walkable coffee shops and breakfast places

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letsdofinance t1_is7dexa wrote

It’s Stamford… what did you expect?

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SolarPunkYeti t1_is6yids wrote

We made lots of friends walking our dog in the park by crabshell, lots of friendly people there. Also voluteering at local events like the honey bee festival or things like that are fun too and you meet lots of cool ppl

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_is78ppr wrote

That’s another thing I feel like if you don’t have a dog you can’t make friends lol it kinda stinks

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Pinkumb t1_is7hzk2 wrote

Building management tends to have highly restrictive contracts for any new businesses in the spaces available. For example, Sally's Apizza on Summer Street was a BLT building and had similar management as everything down in Harbor Point. You may be thinking "Sally's is the exact kind of thing I want!" Well, not really. Those locations can include stipulations like the lease being guaranteed through other income — which is another way of saying it has to be a chain. Sally's could open in Stamford only because they were already a super successful business elsewhere in the state. It's also not merely having multiple locations, but other locations that are so profitable they can pay for downtown/harbor point leases in addition to operating their original business.

Effectively, the building management has selected out for any creativity. They're not in the business of innovators. They're in the business of incredibly reliable tenants — which just so happens to be incredibly boring, overpriced, and dull establishments. You can hem and haw about the management, but they won't respond to those arguments.

Ultimately, the most persuasive argument would be to allow for zoning changes that allow for housing/commercial that's somewhere between high-rise luxury apartments and crappy single-family homes. These — of course — are things the local board is consistently against for a bunch of bad arguments (parking, water drought, "character" of our neighborhood), and etc. Honestly, they were against BLT too but they just had no grounds to oppose it and BLT had the gumption to take on legal battles to get their buildings built.

Some might say this is why Stamford is a cultural hellhole...

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7n987 wrote

Can’t believe you actually linked to that trash article by a kid who has never had a real job.

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Pinkumb t1_is7nqc7 wrote

Seethe townie.

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7o16r wrote

Lmao. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life but never thought townie would be one of them. I’m actually gonna take the W and stop here.

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Pinkumb t1_is7wre0 wrote

Give us all the W next time and spare us your juvenile comments.

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7x3g9 wrote

Only thing juvenile was that kids article. And given he’s a nobody and yet you’re caping for him, I assume he’s you.

Seethe townie is just the kind of cringe try hard slang an activist nobody would use.

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Pinkumb t1_is7xa1v wrote

What happened to "stopping here?" Guess you can add coward to your list of names.

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7xhhw wrote

I was going to but then I changed my mind. Like Arthur and his 32 freelance 9 month jobs.

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7xs16 wrote

Actually legitimately curious though. What’s the link between “coward” and continuing to mock you? I can think of a lot of insulting names to call that behavior but coward I can’t quite follow.

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CocoMilk410 t1_is9tuoj wrote

Thats what happens when BLT shows insane greed with their properties. I looked into taking over the old world of beer spot down there and they wanted over 18k a month for something thats been empty for 5 years and never cleaned up. Its asinine, they'd rather have things empty than a viable business that the people living there would enjoy.

On top of that, I lived in the building for like a year and the amount of self importance some people who live in that community feel is ridiculous. A persons dog could pee on your leg and somehow it is your fault.

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stuffseaker t1_is7j88w wrote

I live at anchor point and go to harbor point some nights. Very boring lol

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7l0cj wrote

Life is trade offs. You can live in NYC and get culture but no greenery, more expensive and less safety and less space. You come out to CT and there are things you gain and things you lose.

It’s like the old adage, cheap, fast, quality… you can choose two.

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Veryexpensiveggs t1_isa57ym wrote

Harbor point is filled with turn and burn apartments. They consistently raise rent YoY with no added amenities, and people are starting to wake up to it.

The free trolley that runs through harbor point and also through downtown was supposed to bridge the gap between the awkward distance of downtown night life and their cute area by the water, but I swear I rarely see people riding them.

I feel like harbor point is only nice if you really like walking dogs and paying for overpriced views.

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coolguy9025 t1_isvmuhp wrote

I feel like it’s meant for people in their early 30s are in a relationship. They don’t need the constant hustle and bustle but they also don’t want pure quiet. If you’re in your 20s and single and ready to party it’s not for you

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_isvn8kr wrote

Well I’m definitely not looking to party I’m over that I just need substance which harbor point lacks

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The-Magic-Sword t1_is68ibn wrote

I'm 28, lived here my whole life and I legit have no idea.

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Jimalo69 t1_is65804 wrote

Sorry to say and its gonna sound discriminatory but its what I see imo. There is no other people living there besides young white professionals. If they had different types of backgrounds and different people itd be way better.

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Ok-Recommendation556 OP t1_is66ug6 wrote

I mean I’m not white by any means and neither is my partner or my neighbor so that’s not the problem it’s just sad to see there’s no fun shops food places etc race has nothing to do with this

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Enderthe3rd t1_is7n2s4 wrote

Every person I know who lives in Harbor Point (half dozen) is East Asian.

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