Metro West for dummies

December 26, 2005 8:13 AM

I may be moving to the Metro West area of Massachusetts (east of Boston, west of Worcester). What's the coolest town in this area? Or, what are some resources that could help me make this determination for myself? Such as an equivalent to the NY Times' Real Estate Column: "If you're thinking of living in..."
posted by ericbop to travel & transportation (25 comments total)

oops. strike that. reverse it (west of Boston, east of Worcester).
posted by ericbop at 8:14 AM on December 26, 2005

How far west of Boston? Do you consider Cambridge/Somerville to be Boston? Also, what is your rubric for coolness?
posted by rxrfrx at 8:25 AM on December 26, 2005

our eastern border would be I95, with the center of our radius being I495. coolness = walkable downtown, diverse population, strong sense of community, an indie bookstore/theater wouldn't hurt.
posted by ericbop at 8:33 AM on December 26, 2005

I live South of Worcester in a decidely uncool town, but if I were moving Metrowest and money was no object, I would move to Norwood.

I used to live in Attleboro, which is a bit outside of your geographical range, but they have commuter rail to Boston. I was a librarian there for a few years and consequently got involved with folks from the schools, art museum and some community organizations. Living here in "letsletthedowntowndieville" I realize what a great place it was.
posted by Biblio at 8:41 AM on December 26, 2005

so, what's the "decidedly uncool town," bibio, so we can cross it off our list? I promise, we're not spies from your local civic association.
posted by ericbop at 9:00 AM on December 26, 2005

Norwood.
posted by cribcage at 9:09 AM on December 26, 2005

What is your budget? Weston and Wellesley are green and lovely but pretty pricey. Ditto Concord, Lexington and environs. Tell us a little more about your requirements, wants, and budget we can probably help you further.

I am a fan of northwest versus southwest or due west of Boston, to generalize broadly.
posted by killdevil at 9:55 AM on December 26, 2005

Urggghh, Norwood? Or as the natives call it, "noahwood?" Yuck.

Westwood has a nice little downtown, actually.
posted by killdevil at 9:57 AM on December 26, 2005

More options... Maynard, Sudbury, Wayland, Acton, Dover, Hopkinton (where the Boston Marathon starts). Avoid Stoughton, Sharon, and spots to the southwest -- I find them relatively characterless, though I'm sure some will disagree with me.
posted by killdevil at 10:04 AM on December 26, 2005

Last I knew, Maynard had a good movie theater, and lots of nightlife. Compact business district. It was once distinctly blue-colar, and some of that thankfully remains, but being the headquarters of DEC changed things. It's not the most accessible town in the area.

Acton, just north of there is pricier, has more highway access, and a great children's museum. Scattered shopping (strip malls), rather than a business district.

Concord is pricier still (excepting maybe West Concord). More upscale are Lincoln and Wellesley.

Farther out are places like Chelmsford and Westford. Those two are largely bedroom, with good schools. Nearby Lowell is an urban melting-pot, but I would not recommend living there.

Where will you work? Do you have kids? School systems vary widely in quality.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:26 AM on December 26, 2005

Framingham has some bad parts but it's a very diverse area with a lot of good ethnic restaurants, for a 'burb.

Natick is known for The Malls but they're confined to one corner of the town. It's a very family-friendly town with a beautiful, thriving downtown area, an arts center, some new restaurants, and within a couple of years, a new rail trail. The train to Boston goes through the downtown and if you're near the center, it's very walkable. "the country" is just a short bike ride away. It's not a very diverse town though, unless you're counting different shades of white. It's still more diverse than the surrounding towns, other than Framingham.

Maynard is like Somerville with trees. I almost ended up living there but I'm very glad I didn't.
posted by bondcliff at 10:40 AM on December 26, 2005

wow - thanks, k & k! lots of towns I have to gmap now. any thoughts on how to research these communities further?

here's some more info on my situation: I'd be working in westborough, and would be looking at houses at about 600k or below. school systems are a big factor, too (we have a kid of preschool age).

sounds like Norwood, like the eponymous Bills kicker, has missed the mark. Lowell might be cool, if only for the Kerouac factor...
posted by ericbop at 10:42 AM on December 26, 2005

The Boston Globe's Communities page may help. They occasionally do a "community snapshot" which I think will be useful.

I'm not sure how diverse most of the towns in that area will be. They may be more diverse religiously than racially.

I think Natick wouldn't be a bad choice. I wouldn't really call it cool, but I'm not sure which town I'd call cool.
posted by jdl at 11:10 AM on December 26, 2005

Here is a Website that lists MA communities and gives profiles. There are a feww gaps, but it looks pretty comprehensive.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:00 PM on December 26, 2005

Easiest way to research these communities further: plan a trip up here. You're apparently in NYC, so the drive is only a few hours. All of the communities we've mentioned are within a short drive of one another, so getting a feel for a few that seem of interest would be easy by car.
posted by killdevil at 1:16 PM on December 26, 2005

I just want to throw in for Waltham -- it's literally between Boston proper and I95, and has a Landmark cinema for indie films, incredible and diverse dining and it seems more and more young people are moving into town, though I have no facts to support. 15 minutes to Boston via the Mass Pike, less than 10 to shopping in Natick if the Pike's moving decently, and 20 minutes or so to Walden Pond, the DeCordova museum and the Maynard/Acton/Concord area.
posted by VulcanMike at 3:37 PM on December 26, 2005

Second for Waltham. I lived there for 10 years in the late '70's, and loved it. And then moved to Lowell, and after I got to know it, loved it too. These are both built as "company towns" around central works, and the rivers. In Waltham, the Charles river sited the watch and clock factories which drove the early development of the town. In Lowell, the Merrimack River provided power for the cloth mills.

In both, the original town plan was made for walking, and in both, you find a pretty diverse cross-section of humanity getting along together. Nothing pretentious about either of them, but a lot to discover, and their "cool" isn't pasted on.
posted by paulsc at 6:09 PM on December 26, 2005

So Norwood is ruled out because some joker posted, "Yuck, Norwood" without offering any substantive criticism*; and Lowell is a good option because you like something about its history, despite the absence of any discussion about its crime rate.

In light of your clarifications, I'd agree with Kirth Gerson that Waltham, Acton, and Chelmsford are worth considering -- and with that, I'll bow out. Being involved in local politics, I know a fair bit about the profiles of towns in this area; but if you're leaning toward relocating your preschooler to a high-crime area because some beatnik was born there 80 years ago, I doubt we have enough in common for my perspective to prove helpful. Good luck.

*An example of "substantive criticism," for the kids in the back row, would be something like: "Weston and Wellesley are stupid suggestions, because anyone who could afford to live in either town wouldn't be throwing darts at an online message board."
posted by cribcage at 11:44 PM on December 26, 2005

Lowell's karma for having produced Kerouac is offset by the fact that he was not liked there until he was long dead, and by the fact that the place also produced Ed McMahon.

My question about the presence of little bops is serious. Towns that have good schools tend to have higher property taxes and lower crime rates. Your boplets would be better off living in one of those. If there are no boplets, you might prefer one of the other places.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:52 AM on December 27, 2005

I live in Worcester and commute to Boston, the area you're looking at is pretty big and every town is very different. But cool is not what comes to mind when i think of any of them. If you really want to enjoy yourself stick to Boston, Worcester or Providence.
posted by paxton at 3:18 PM on December 27, 2005

Harvard, MA is a pretty town, beautiful countryside. not too far from concord. i lived for years in cambridge-somerville, which is too far if you are working in worcester. where are you moving from and where will you be working? providence is too far south, but all these places are easily accessible on weekends. towns like harvard, concord, acton are quite expensive for real estate, though cambridge even more so. but cambridge probably comes closer to your question re bookstores, "cool", walkable, diverse.
posted by madstop1 at 5:04 PM on December 27, 2005

Hopkinton might be in your ranges of price & distance.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:20 AM on December 28, 2005

Waltham is fun to visit, but I don't know if it's the kind of place you'd want to send kids to school in (just an impression I got working in that town, nothing to back it up). You don't mention whether you have kids or not to factor in there.

I live in an "uncool" town (Auburn) but I don't care about how cool the town is. If I want something cool to do, I drive 20 minutes to somewhere more "fun". If you're coming from NYC, keep in mind that public transportation outside of Boston is nearly non-existant, so you'll be driving everywhere anyways.

Lowell is an armpit of the state, and is pretty far away from Westboro (the newer spelling most people use). $600K buys a decent place in Westboro, but moving a little further west/north/south of it will get you way more bang for your buck. Most of the places west of 495 are small towns that are just bedroom communties. Marlboro and Waltham have "downtown" sections where you can walk around a little and have some interesting shops that aren't all chain stores.

If it were me and I had to move around the area, I would pick a town close to Westboro and just drive somewhere else when I want something to do. Westboro as a town to live in, is considered the furthest west of Boston you can live, and still drive into Boston for a job (about 60-75 minute commute depending on the time of your job) so you might want to consider that if you plan on staying in the area if this job doesn't pan out.

My wife's from Framigham, and I'm familiar a little with it and Natick, and I don't really recommend them. Lots of chain stores, and tons of traffic, high property values, etc. I hate shopping in that area. Outside of Joan and Ed's deli, I couldn't think of anything on the Route 9 stretch I can't find somewhere else in this state or any other. Probably be a quick commute to work in Westboro though.
posted by inthe80s at 7:45 AM on December 28, 2005

I grew up in Harvard, MA, and although it's pretty expensive, it's an amazing place to grow up. It also has a public school that's one of the best in the state. There's not a lot going on in town, but you can easily drive to activities.
posted by nekton at 12:00 PM on December 29, 2005

I live in Worcester proper, and I love it. It is not for the weak of heart, but if you love good and cheap and lots of it, and can handle a bit of danger (specifically Main South, where I live) it's a pretty interesting place. If you ever happen to look back at this month old thread, and you want more info, my email is in my profile.
posted by rollbiz at 11:07 AM on January 19, 2006