I love Down Under. I’m not a fully time member, but I use classpass and probably go to Down Under 5-6 times per month.

Their instructors are super knowledgeable and run challenging classes where form is really emphasized. They have a nice mix of standard yoga, hot yoga, barre and mat pilates, etc. Highly recommend and my favorite of all the studios i’ve tried in the area

edit: typos!

- Brookline is absolutely a must-do. Head to Coolidge corner to grab a coffee and check out some of the local shops, but absolutely head off of beacon street to walk through the stunning streets full of historic homes.

- Similarly, I highly recommend heading to Harvard Square and then walking both along the Charles and down Brattle street. If you make it to the Mount Auburn cemetary that is also beautiful. another beautiful, historic area that's great to just enjoy on foot.

- Salem is a great day-trip. Fun activities like the peabody essex museum and historical sites, but another great area to spend a day exploring on foot. I'd avoid October and go from now through summer.

- Jamaica Plain! Go walk around Jamaica Pond and then down and through some of the surround streets. Very pretty, nice historical homes, and some great local businesses.

- You can take the Amtrak downeaster line to Portland, Maine. It's a little bit longer of a trip but certainty doable for a day trip. IT's beautiful and the food there is incredible. I'd recommend waiting til it's a little bit warmer.

- Concord is beautiful and the site of lots of US history! An easy trip on the train.

- Charlestown near the bunker hill monument is great to explore. A bonus if you go to the top of the monument for some fantastic views and/or do a tour of the USS constitution.

- Not one specific neighborhood, but in general the Emerald Necklace chain of parks is a really beautiful area and you could spend all day just walking down part of it.

- Arnold Arboretum in the spring! when things are in bloom there it is one of the most stunning places in the city. They have an app that does guided tours of both the history and all about the plants and trees there.

I would definitely explore the on campus options as much as you could. But if that doesn’t pan out, you should be alright in an apartment with roommates. You can likely find a room for around 1k within walking distance so you won’t have car expenses.

You won’t be flush with cash but I have a few friends who’ve been phd students in Boston/Cambridge and lived within a similar budget for years

The main branch of the Cambridge public library is open until 9 a few days a week. not sure if that’s late enough for you though!

Cambridge is incredibly walkable - my household only has one car which I personally do not use. It checks every box for a “15 minute city” - you’ll always be in walking distance of a grocery, restaurants, shopping and local businesses, etc. You’d likely be happy in any part of Cambridge, but I’d say the areas around central square, harvard sq, inman square, and porter square train stations feel the most convenient and walkable to me personally

Cambridge Brewing Company is great - big space, pretty bright, not too loud or anything, and they have both good beer and some solid food. I've done some larger group stuff there in the past and it worked very well.

Russell House Tavern in Harvard, 730 Tavern on Mass Ave, and Foundry in Davis might be some other good options

Not vegetarian only, but Oleana and Sarma (same owners) have fantastic vegetarian food options. I’m a vegetarian and have always found a ton to good options.

I also like Andala Coffee House, Punjabi Dhaba, and Dumpling House (fantastic vegetarian mapo tofu and vegetarian dumplings)

Thank goodness. those posts and comments were getting ridiculous

• Houston and Dallas BOTH have higher crime rates than Boston or Cambridge.

• the Boston area has significantly more biking infrastructure than Texas, fewer households have cars in Cambridge/Boston, and a much larger percentage of the population bikes regularly in Cambridge.

• “friendly” is relative, but I certainly haven’t found people friendlier in Texas when I’ve spent time there. And the politics of Texas means there’s a lot more active discrimination against certain genders and groups there, which I wouldn’t consider “friendly”

if you’re going to take such aggressive stances, maybe at least google it first

you do realize we can see your post history, which includes a bunch of posts complaining about the city of Boston.

You love Texas. That’s great. But posting repeatedly about your personal hatred of the city gets you nowhere and served no purpose.

Aren’t you the same guy who has been spamming the Boston area pages with rants about why you hate Boston and why Texas is so much better? go get a life.

First of all, if you don’t live here, why do you care?

Cambridge does not have a lot of crime - in general the crime rate is much lower than other urban areas. The Boston area has a fantastic job market for many industries and specialties. Yes it’s warmer elsewhere, but some people prefer the varied seasons and don’t love the heat.

A lot of people despise the idea of living in a suburban mcmansion and needing to drive everywhere. Everyone in Cambridge knows they could get a bigger home moving elsewhere - they value the walkability, diversity, proximity to industry and schools and cultural centers like museums, the culture, the public transit, etc.

MA has some of the best hospitals in the country. We also have some of the best public schools in the country.

Some people don’t like the Southern hospitality facade of niceties that often doesn’t translate to a deeper friendliness or good character. Some people also value living in states with leadership and laws that support them, support the LGBT community, support women’s healthcare, and aren’t trying to do things like ban books from schools.

Also, a big reason southern states have fewer homeless people is because their conservative leadership literally bus homeless people to other states to avoid responsibility. which is a pretty shitty and immoral way to handle the situation.

Seems like the many things that make Cambridge and Boston appealing to so many people are things you don’t care about. that’s fine. The things you value in life and where you want to live are probably places many people would find a living nightmare.

I mean, while I don’t have children, many of my fellow residents in my building/neighbors have small children and don’t own cars. it’s not that uncommon. My SIL doesn’t have children but is a teacher who bikes a few miles to work each day and works odd hours.

I have a good life and I’d like think i’m lucky to enjoy where I live and the people around me, but I don’t think that’s really tied to our choice to have previously lived without a car / currently choose not to use a car much of the time

Of course a car can be more convenient at times (I’d argue less convenient at other times!). The issue is this woman is so nasty is her comments about people without cats not having responsibilities or obligations, while many people who choose not to have a car or simply can’t afford one have a shit ton going on in their lives.

But also, this women is pretty crazy and says wild stuff about bikers, public transit, etc all the time and harasses people who post negative things about her business. This is just one nasty comment in a pattern of behavior and people are sick of her.

same here. Our household car is basically used for one job commute out of the city and groceries. Pretty much everything else in the metro area we do on foot or with the T.

yeah, she could have left it at a nice message about how walking is a nice option and it’s good to live in a walkable community. She just HAD to throw in a jab at people who don’t use a car.

On top of being obviously ridiculous as a whole, I’d bet many of the people unable to afford cars at all likely deal with more responsibilities and challenges than those who can afford one.

my SIL bikes to work every day here (doesn’t own a car). I commute solely on foot and by train as my SO uses our household car to get to work out of the city. We basically never use the car within the Camberville or Boston area…i’ve lived in Cambridge specifically for over 6 years and have never had an issue not having a car

>Cambridge St
Coffee: 1369 in Inman for mid-Cambridge. Any suggestions for people closer to Somerville?

Broadsheet coffee is very close to the old Darwins on Cambridge St and has fantastic coffee

>Putnam
>
>Hard because Putnam is very residential.
>
>Coffee, maybe Zinnekens or Andala. Although when I lived in Riverside I made the walk to Cicada almost daily.

1369 on Mass Ave and Barismo on Broadway are also some good coffee options in the general area

It's genuinely not that cold out, so you guys should be fine to do activities that involve some time outside. But also, what do you enjoy doing?

The Gardner museum is awesome (I recommend doing a tour) and the indoor greenhouse atrium is nice to visit during the winter months. the MFA is also a fantastic art museum.

Beacon Hill, the South End, and the public garden, and Back Bay are all beautiful areas you can wander around to enjoy the scenery and pop into cafes/ local shops.

There's great food all over, but knowing what you like and how fancy you want to go would be helpful.

A lot of the local breweries do tours if you're beer people.

Harvard campus / Harvard square is interesting to explore if you haven't been yet. The Harvard art museum and Harvard natural history museums over there are also great.

Chatted with the team at another friendly toast location - they said there’s been some red tape and probably will be around april/may

gee, why would ANYONE want to know when a restaurant is opening?

Could they maybe want to go there and get food???

I think it’s technically illegal for them to be there. But I personally don’t care if a well behaved dog is inside, especially when someone is just stopping in for 3 minutes to grab a coffee and then heading out.

The Cambridge library on Broadway and the Boston Public Library in Copley square are both great options. The Athenaeum in downtown as well. for coffee shops, Barismo on Broadway and Render Cafe in Columbus downtown are some go to places I go to work

• See shows - theater, improv asylum, shit faced shakespeare, the orchestra (tickets are around $25 if you’re under 40), concerts, etc. There are a lot of great local venues and shows that are lower cost.

• bar trivia has been a consistent activity for my friends and I during the winter and a ton of places around the city run it.

• Leading up to the holidays, Snowport, SOWA holiday market, and going to see the holiday lights in the common are all hits.

• Ice skating (indoor or outdoor), curling at the liberty hotel for winter sports.

• Bowling, boda borg, escape rooms

• museums! I especially recommend the evening events that they throw like ICA First Fridays and Harvard Art Museums at night. Also, I know a lot of people haven’t been to the Harvard Art Museums or their Peabody museum which I highly recommend.

• This is an “at home” activity, but my friends and I have done cooking nights like dumplings from scratch, hot pot, etc that are fun and more hands on. always been a hit.

• seeing movies at the local theaters like Coolidge Corner theater and Brattle theater. Beyond normal screenings and indie films, they often do screenings of classic movies, Rocky horror, and other fun things like that.

• Maybe an obvious choice to go out to eat, but we make an effort to try places we’ve never been in different parts of the city so we do a bit more exploring.

• Take advantage of days with (relatively) warmer weather and sun to go explore a different neighborhood with a hot chocolate.

Well they made very good vegetarian sandwiches/ breakfast sandwiches. A lot of places like delis have pretty shitty non-meat options so I'm pretty sad to see Darwins go.