Good US Cities to Live?

[Shepherd]

My wife and I were planning on going to France to live in a year or two, but we're thinking of bypassing France and going straight back to the US. We're looking for a city that'd be good to live. All we must have is a good cooking school and a good university (with a good English PhD program), but other things to consider:

Cost of living
Public transportation (I prefer not to have to have a car)
Cool stuff around
Cool people

And so on.

We're considering:

Boston
Portland
New York (although it might be cost prohibitive).
Somewhere in California
Chicago

But we're open to anywhere really. Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

R

[Hollingsworth]

Avoid LA. It sucks major ass.

Portland has a very good culinary school from what I recall. Very nice city to live in other than the weather.

You can see the average cloudy days per year in various US cities here:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/htmlfiles/westcomp.ovc.html

As you can see, Portland has 222. I lived there 9 years and finally had enough of that. Seattle has largely the same weather.

San Francisco is where I'd go if I went back to the West Coast.

[Shepherd]

Avoid LA. It sucks major ass.

Portland has a very good culinary school from what I recall. Very nice city to live in other than the weather.

You can see the average cloudy days per year in various US cities here:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/htmlfiles/westcomp.ovc.html

As you can see, Portland has 222. I lived there 9 years and finally had enough of that. Seattle has largely the same weather.

San Francisco is where I'd go if I went back to the West Coast.

Cloudy days I can live with, sucking major ass I couldn't. Hye Sook (my wife) is considering a place in LA, but I already wasn't too keen on moving there. What's the rent like in Portland?

R

[Hollingsworth]

Cloudy days I can live with, sucking major ass I couldn't. Hye Sook (my wife) is considering a place in LA, but I already wasn't too keen on moving there. What's the rent like in Portland?

R

It was cheap when I was there, but I left in 2002. I hear it's gone up a bit. But, the weather keeps it a bit lower for sure. In 2002 I was renting a 2 bedroom house in close in SouthEast in a very good neghborhood (45th and Division) for $750, but that was unusually low.

Don't move to LA. It's fucking horrible. Filled with assholes and traffic.

Portland IS very nice. By cloudy days, I mean 100% cloud cover. It gets depressing. But otherwise, it's a very nice place to live.

[Shepherd]

It was cheap when I was there, but I left in 2002. I hear it's gone up a bit. But, the weather keeps it a bit lower for sure. In 2002 I was renting a 2 bedroom house in close in SouthEast in a very good neghborhood (45th and Division) for $750, but that was unusually low.

Don't move to LA. It's fucking horrible. Filled with assholes and traffic.

Portland IS very nice. By cloudy days, I mean 100% cloud cover. It gets depressing. But otherwise, it's a very nice place to live.

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. It's one thing to look up stuff online and another thing entirely to get advice from people that have lived places.

R

[Hollingsworth]

LA does have it's benefits, but the bad things are so bad that they overwhelmed the good for me. And I know a lot of people who feel the same way. It's very multicultural, which is a major plus. But it's hard sometimes to take advantage of that by going out for any distance because of traffic. If you're one of those people that doesn't mind traffic, then it can be okay. But there's just too damned many media people there too. I think everybody knows someone who is a person who likes to be the center of attention. A very self centered person. Someone that always has to be in every picture taken. Someone who's gotta be the center of the party. Someone who's very fake. Now imagine an entire city filled with those people. Fuck that.

I was just there for 2 weeks in December and hated it as much as I remembered. I got stuck in traffic one day for 3 and a half hours in a row. Fucking horrible. Saw more of those spiritually deep people who nonetheless have cosmetic surgery.

Portland's got much better people. Lots of hippies too, though. Loads of great restaurants and the best selection of beer in the United States.

[copypastepuke]

portland is a hip young town. i know more people moving out there than any other city.

[ThisSpaceForRent]

Providence definitely has its charm. There's a great cooking school here (Johnson & Wales) and Brown is down the street with a decent English program. Close to Boston, NYC.

I"m only leaving at some point because I hate the cold. Phoenix move happening in a year or two.

[Shepherd]

Providence definitely has its charm. There's a great cooking school here (Johnson & Wales) and Brown is down the street with a decent English program. Close to Boston, NYC.

I"m only leaving at some point because I hate the cold. Phoenix move happening in a year or two.

Sounds pretty good. How's the public transportation and cost of living? I wonder if I could actually get into Brown.

R

[changingshades]

If you move to chicago, we can snuggle more

[Amos Moses]

Okc.

[Shepherd]

If you move to chicago, we can snuggle more

I think I'd be fine in Chicago. I like Chicago, too. My only hesitation is that I don't know if I want to live in the midwest again. I think I may have had my fill.

R

[Shepherd]

Okc.

ODB?

R

[Run-BMC]

Just moved to Portland... as someone who recently lived in LA for three years plus, I have to agree with everything Hollingsworth said. Just moved from the Bay Area, which is VERY nice, but also very expensive.

PLUS, if the missus is wanting to go to LA because of the Korean population (shoot, I haven't been back there for alomst a decade, but still look for a good Korean population if only for good soon doo boo), Portland and in particular Beaverton has a very decent minority population. Hawthorne though, was completely hwaat from what I could gather from the three minutes I was there.

If she doesn't like the PacNW weather, she could try the four major cities in Texas.

[gibbEy]

Okc.

ya?

[Black Roman]

OKC = Oklahoma City. :lol:

Pre-Katrina I would have said NOLA 100% . . . hell even after I'd still say it about 40% of the time. But I'm biased. :D

[changingshades]

I think I'd be fine in Chicago. I like Chicago, too. My only hesitation is that I don't know if I want to live in the midwest again. I think I may have had my fill.

R
Well I'm currently living in Florida and it's not bad. You could always give the St Pete area a shot.

[Thommy Melanson]

Minneapolis is a very nice city.

Worth googling.

[Black Roman]

Minneapolis is a very nice city.

Worth googling.

If you can handle sub-freezing weather, go for it. I hear it's nice up there.

[Shepherd]

Just moved to Portland... as someone who recently lived in LA for three years plus, I have to agree with everything Hollingsworth said. Just moved from the Bay Area, which is VERY nice, but also very expensive.

PLUS, if the missus is wanting to go to LA because of the Korean population (shoot, I haven't been back there for alomst a decade, but still look for a good Korean population if only for good soon doo boo), Portland and in particular Beaverton has a very decent minority population. Hawthorne though, was completely hwaat from what I could gather from the three minutes I was there.

If she doesn't like the PacNW weather, she could try the four major cities in Texas.

Yeah, one of the reasons she's interested in LA is the Korean population, so that's good to hear about Portland.

A certain former board member, whom I miss, has been contacting me about Texas after seeing this thread. Sounds like a good option too.

R

[Black Roman]

Two cities I personally really like are Houston and Orlando. I've enjoyed my time in both cities.

[Blastbeat Science]

camden, nj

[Shepherd]

Well I'm currently living in Florida and it's not bad. You could always give the St Pete area a shot.

Old people? Humidity? I don't know...

R

[changingshades]

Old people? Humidity? I don't know...

R

St Pete isn't too humid except in July and august but most every where in the US is shitty in July and August. And the old people are fine. Just throw some werthers out in the street and watch them run out after it and get hit.

[Shepherd]

Minneapolis is a very nice city.

Worth googling.


If you can handle sub-freezing weather, go for it. I hear it's nice up there.

Personally, the weather wouldn't bother me, but I don't know about the wife. She seems to complain a lot when it's even just a little cold.

R

[gibbEy]

To try and offer some help, of the cities you listed, I've been to New York, and Boston...

Boston is really cool, but there's something about New York that I just dig....it's my favorite place. :)

I've not lived there, however...just visited a few times, but I love it.

[changingshades]

Actually, as much as I hate most of their sports teams, Boston really is a cool place to live. I know a few guys that went there for college and loved their four years there.

[mike black]

Tampa hits all of those points except for Public Transportation. We're trying to work on that.

[Black Roman]

Tampa's cool too. Except for their Sports Teams. But I guess I can forgive them for that.

[mike black]

Old people? Humidity? I don't know...

R

All the old people are on the East Coast, man. The Tampa Bay Area (Tampa/St. Pete both ont he western side of the state) is a nice little area on the rise. It's cheap down here, there are tons of cooking schools, USF's here, and if you're into partying Ybor is pretty well known across the country.

I know for a fact there's a Korean church here in Brandon. So I would assume there's a sizable Korean population around. For some odd reason, I haven't run into them though. :lol:

In addition, you don't have to deal with the bullshit of Orlando. But you're still within 45-minutes to an hour from Disney, the Walk, Universal, and everything else. You have Busch Gardens here in Tampa.

It's about 4 hours from Georgia, 4 hours from Miami, and we never get hit with Hurricanes.

The only other place in Florida I could say would be cool is Jacksonville. But I haven't really spent enough time up there. Looks pretty cool, though.

[mike black]

Tampa's cool too. Except for their Sports Teams. But I guess I can forgive them for that.

I don't.

That's the major failing of the city - The Glazers.

[Black Roman]

I've been trying to convince my folks to move to Tampa. Since we've been thinking of heading back to Florida.

[lonesomefool]

Huh, I though/think Minneapolis sucks. What do I know though... ;)

BTW, stay the fuck away from St. Cloud...this town sucks on so many levels. Economy being the first.

[Nick Spencer]

New York.

You can find something you can afford, and then you have everything.

[Thommy Melanson]

...BTW, stay the fuck away from St. Cloud...this town sucks on so many levels. Economy being the first.

I played at a place there called The Java Joint years ago.

Doesn't the whole town close at 5 or something?

[mike black]

I've been trying to convince my folks to move to Tampa. Since we've been thinking of heading back to Florida.

The city's got a crackle of energy in the past few years. Like something's going to happen soon.

http://www.besthomesoftampabay.com/images/tampa_bay_area_map.gif

If I had to tell someone were the best places are to live, it would easily be Brandon/Riverview/Valrico, Temple Terrace, Carrolwood, Clearwater, or Pinellas Park.

Stay away from Lakeland, though. It is really up and down. Half of the town is UBER rich, and the other half is a White Trash crack haven.

[gibbEy]

New York.

You can find something you can afford, and then you have everything.

How is your recent move going, btw?

[changingshades]

The city's got a crackle of energy in the past few years. Like something's going to happen soon.

http://www.besthomesoftampabay.com/images/tampa_bay_area_map.gif

If I had to tell someone were the best places are to live, it would easily be Brandon/Riverview/Valrico, Temple Terrace, Carrolwood, Clearwater, or Pinellas Park.

Stay away from Lakeland, though. It is really up and down. Half of the town is UBER rich, and the other half is a White Trash crack haven.

Mike, I just wanted to say, one more time, how much you suck for not hanging out with me for the 2 years I was here.

[Thommy Melanson]

The city's got a crackle of energy in the past few years. Like something's going to happen soon.

http://blogs.nypost.com/movies/rudy.jpg

[Thommy Melanson]

Mike, I just wanted to say, one more time, how much you suck for not hanging out with me for the 2 years I was here.

You two don't have anything in common.

He gets laid, you cry yourself to sleep while masturbating.

[changingshades]

You two don't have anything in common.

He gets laid, you cry yourself to sleep while masturbating.

that's not sex?

Jesus lied to me

[Black Roman]

Hmmm, maybe I should research some of the available housing in Tampa just out of curiousity. :?

[Thommy Melanson]

Jesus lied to me

He wasn't crucified for nothing, you know.

[mike black]

Mike, I just wanted to say, one more time, how much you suck for not hanging out with me for the 2 years I was here.

Yeah.... :lol:

In my defense, I've been in a pretty crushing state of depression during that time. I was also supposed to hang out with Goodman when he lived here too.

I suck ass, what can I say?

Additional Tampa info:

The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data showed an average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000 residents per year. Between 2000 and 2006, the combined Tampa Bay and Sarasota region (comprising eight counties) experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4 million to 3.9 million and hitting the 4 million mark on April 1, 2007 in the continuous Tampa Bay urban area.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater MSA consists of the following ethnic demographics:

* White (Non-Hispanic/Latino)- 1,821,955 76.0%
* Black - 248,058 10.4%
* Hispanic - 248,642 10.4%
* Asian/Pacific Islander - 57,235 2.4%

Arts and culture make a big impact in Tampa Bay. In a single year, the economic impact of the cultural institutions in the Tampa Bay area was $521.3 million, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study. In 2004, 5.6 million people attended plays, musical performances, museum exhibits and other cultural institutions in Tampa Bay, supporting 7,800 jobs.

Long established communities, particularly those near the bay such as Cuban flavored Ybor City, contain historic architecture. Fresh seafood and locally grown produce are available in many restaurants. Sports attractions include many professional quality golf courses, tennis courts, and pools. The area is highly noted for its beaches and nightlife as well. Other attractions include Busch Gardens, the Salvador Dalí Museum, the Florida Aquarium, Museum of Science and Industry, the Florida Holocaust Museum, Lowry Park Zoo and Weeki Wachee Springs.

Major League Baseball Spring training teams in the area

Spring training in Tampa Bay has always been a favorite pastime of both residents and tourists alike.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays of Major League Baseball play spring training games at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg.
* The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball play spring training games at Legends Field in Tampa.
* The Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball play spring training games at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater.
* The Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball play spring training games at Knology Park in Dunedin.

Also playing in the Grapefruit League in the Tampa Bay Area are the Cincinnati Reds, in Sarasota; the Pittsburgh Pirates, in Bradenton; the Cleveland Indians, in Winter Haven; the Detroit Tigers, in Lakeland; and the Boston Red Sox, in Ft. Myers.

[mike black]

Hmmm, maybe I should research some of the available housing in Tampa just out of curiousity. :?

Off the top of my head, you can land a pretty nice 3 bedroom apartment here in Brandon for around $800 - $1000 a month.

http://tampa.craigslist.org/apa/

I have to say,t hough, if you have money - buy a place in Historic Ybor. People are making TONS of money out there.

[Black Roman]

Off the top of my head, you can land a pretty nice 3 bedroom apartment here in Brandon for around $800 - $1000 a month.

http://tampa.craigslist.org/apa/

I have to say,t hough, if you have money - buy a place in Historic Ybor. People are making TONS of money out there.

:shock: QFT! Oh yeah I totally have to get them thinking about Tampa.

[mike black]

:shock: QFT! Oh yeah I totally have to get them thinking about Tampa.

Yeah, just to give you an idea of how cheap housing is down here, this is one of the big new Downtown apartment buildings (like the Trump tower being built...)

http://tampa.craigslist.org/apa/545691334.html

http://www.postlets.com/create/photos/20080119/103207_skypoint_lounge.jpg

[Black Roman]

1300 a month?!?!! FOR THAT?! WOW!

[Taxman]

Boston
Portland
New York (although it might be cost prohibitive).
Somewhere in California
ChicagoI think cost of living concerns pretty much knock this list down to just Portland.

[The Afroman]

Austin, Tx

Simple as that. colder then Miami in the summer. Hotter then most other places in the winter.

Very liberal city. It's a very green, liberal, indy, artsy place to live.
Lots of things to do for the film buff, comic buff in you.
austinbooks.com
sxsw.com
drafthouse.com

Thats all you need man. anywhere else is just not the same.

Also cost of living is cheaper then that whole list. Plus your in the middle of everything.. not on a coast.

[lonesomefool]

I played at a place there called The Java Joint years ago.

Doesn't the whole town close at 5 or something?

The Java Joint is closed now I think. Not sure, I never went since it wasnt my "scene" or my kind of music.

The town has a pretty good Bar scene what with the college being a couple blocks away, and some of the girls in town are pretty attractive, but it's just pure crap. The economy here is horrible, most of the girls are whiny and nagging and the drivers are horrible since we have a large Somali population, and they dont know how to drive in snow. I'm not saying that to be a racist prick, I'm not blaming them, but generally, they just dont know HOW to react to poor weather when they are driving. Same goes for most drivers period I guess.

It's a fine town to live in when you are young and wanting to get drunk and laid, but anything else is complete shit.

Oh, Canada.

[mike black]

Austin, Tx

Simple as that. colder then Miami in the summer. Hotter then most other places in the winter.

Very liberal city. It's a very green, liberal, indy, artsy place to live.
Lots of things to do for the film buff, comic buff in you.
austinbooks.com
sxsw.com
drafthouse.com

Thats all you need man. anywhere else is just not the same.

Also cost of living is cheaper then that whole list. Plus your in the middle of everything.. not on a coast.

Plus, SXSW.

[lonesomefool]

Plus, SXSW.

I totally plan on visiting and maybe moving to Austin somewhere along the line. I would KILL to just listen to the bands, Randy Rogers, Drew Kennedy, Wade Bowen, etc.

A musical orgasm for me :)

[mike black]

I totally plan on visiting and maybe moving to Austin somewhere along the line. I would KILL to just listen to the bands, Randy Rogers, Drew Kennedy, Wade Bowen, etc.

A musical orgasm for me :)

Plus, it's the home of the new Psychobilly movement in the US. (Yeah, LA, you heard me - Fuck you!)

[JamesV]

Austin, Tx

Simple as that. colder then Miami in the summer. Hotter then most other places in the winter.

Very liberal city. It's a very green, liberal, indy, artsy place to live.
Lots of things to do for the film buff, comic buff in you.
austinbooks.com
sxsw.com
drafthouse.com

Thats all you need man. anywhere else is just not the same.

Also cost of living is cheaper then that whole list. Plus your in the middle of everything.. not on a coast.

You forgot Austin City limits. As well as STAPLE!

Also (based on Shepherd's list):

The city is huge with public transportation. Multiple colleges, including a culinary academy.

[Sehestedt]

Aside from San Francisco (which is outrageously expensive), I don't know of any city west of the Mississippi with decent public transportation.

[PimpSlapStick!]

Atlanta, Georgia its the home of MLK and a great place for African Americans to gain wealth and power.

[PimpSlapStick!]

Aside from San Francisco (which is outrageously expensive), I don't know of any city west of the Mississippi with decent public transportation.

MARTA/CCT trans in Atlanta is good, just watch out for the SWATs area.

[Ryan_ZOOM_Turner]

Iowa City.

[The Afroman]

You forgot Austin City limits. As well as STAPLE!

Also (based on Shepherd's list):

The city is huge with public transportation. Multiple colleges, including a culinary academy.

Yep. Again more of a reason.. Austin, Tx is one of those places that people don't leave very often.

Austin City Limits
STAPLE!
and home to Staplepop.com (where is my 5 bucks?!) which is done by a few of our lovely board members including Lab-Rat :eek:

[Taxman]

http://blogs.nypost.com/movies/rudy.jpgJulie Annie

[Albert]

I live in Tempe, AZ. It's great!

[Black Roman]

Oh dear god That's GUILIANI!!!!! :Panic:

[ASHLEY!]

Move to Portland!!
I just moved here a few months ago and I absolutely LOVE it!
It's a beautiful city and the public transportation is great.

[A.Huerta]

San Fran for me

[Humphrey_Lee]

Not Pittsburgh...

[jess]

dallas (i would suggest north) has good public transportation, the cost of living is low down here, and the people are okay. the schools kinda suck but there is stuff to do, most of it really close to bus/train stops.

[Shepherd]

Thanks for all the help. Looking into stuff in Tampa and Austin (Austin seems to have a lot of stuff we'd need). I'll check out Tempe later (I have friends that live out there).

By the way, we won't be dirt poor or anything. I just don't want to have to pay $1000 a month for an efficiency if I can help it.

R

[jess]

Thanks for all the help. Looking into stuff in Tampa and Austin (Austin seems to have a lot of stuff we'd need). I'll check out Tempe later (I have friends that live out there).

By the way, we won't be dirt poor or anything. I just don't want to have to pay $1000 a month for an efficiency if I can help it.

R

we're thinking about austin, also.

[Shepherd]

dallas (i would suggest north) has good public transportation, the cost of living is low down here, and the people are okay. the schools kinda suck but there is stuff to do, most of it really close to bus/train stops.

Yeah, James Michael tried to sell me on Dallas yesterday. I'm looking into stuff there.

R

[jess]

Yeah, James Michael tried to sell me on Dallas yesterday. I'm looking into stuff there.

R

try one of the northern dallas suburbs, like addison, some parts of plano or even frisco (frisco is more high end, and i'm not sure if the buses run out there).

[Special Agent Bachman]

Two cities I personally really like are Houston and Orlando. I've enjoyed my time in both cities.

Houston is my least favorite city aside from Baghdad. Austin, however, is my very favorite and still would be even if I didn't already live here.

[The Afroman]

Thanks for all the help. Looking into stuff in Tampa and Austin (Austin seems to have a lot of stuff we'd need). I'll check out Tempe later (I have friends that live out there).

By the way, we won't be dirt poor or anything. I just don't want to have to pay $1000 a month for an efficiency if I can help it.

R

OUCH! i pay $1000 for a 4 bedroom 2 story house. 2 car garage.
If you like austin check out the pflugerville area, and round rock area. it;s in north austin, but at the same time close enough to austin that you will not miss it.. i live in pflugerville. It's just north austin really.. but again i have a house for that price.

[The Afroman]

Houston is my least favorite city aside from Baghdad. Austin, however, is my very favorite and still would be even if I didn't already live here.

Ahem brother. I'm from Houston, born and raised.. and i am glad i'm out of there.. it's big, impersonal, crime-ridden, and not friendly.

Thats one of the things i loved about Austin when i got here, it's still a city (not some small hick town) but everyone is friendly. People smile and wave..

Now when i go back to houston, to visit family.. i always get this feeling i'm going to get shot.:mistrust:

[Adam Witt]

If you're interested in Chicago, you might check out the north and south suburbs. South's better on cost of living and transport, but tends to get slightly ghettoish.

North's nice all around, and usually closer to the trains, but the cost of living is higher.

[Run-BMC]

I think Austin is great, and it was the absolute mecca when I was at UT and I'd always maintained that I'd live there, but going back as a nearly 30-year old looking for a place to settle down, I didn't see a lot of advantages over a lot of other places. That said, I don't listen to live music anymore (although my favorite band period is an Austin band called pushmonkey), and I'd rather have a beer in a quiet place rather than Sixth St. on a Friday night. Plus (maybe relevant to Shepherd) there's like one good Korean restaurant in the whole city (on Anderson I think, right off Mopac, can't remember the name of it).

Oh yeah, and living in Houston blew. I lived there on the weekends from 2001-2003, and was so glad to be living in Madison, WI during the week.

[Justin.Strange]

Austin, Portland, and Seattle are tops at the list of places I'm considering moving to when I move in the near future...


If you're interested in Chicago, you might check out the north and south suburbs. South's better on cost of living and transport, but tends to get slightly ghettoish.

North's nice all around, and usually closer to the trains, but the cost of living is higher.

Correct. The nice northern burbs like Evanston, Wilmette, and Highland Park demand a substantial amount of flush cash. Even the shitholes like Zion and where I live in Waukegan are ridiculously overpriced in terms of rent and cost of living. But the north burbs, they're very close to the trains, which may or may not even matter depending if the 'Doomsday' scenario ever happens.

[TRILL, THE CARBON BASED LIFEFORM]

Austin is very cool, and rents are reasonable but you need to consider the cost of living as compared to the average wages. You have more to worry about cost wise if you don't work in one of the high tech industries. Austin can be very yuppie oriented. Last I heard, Texas was one of the lower paid states for education careers. (You're a teacher, right?)

[Shepherd]

Austin is very cool, and rents are reasonable but you need to consider the cost of living as compared to the average wages. You have more to worry about cost wise if you don't work in one of the high tech industries. Austin can be very yuppie oriented. Last I heard, Texas was one of the lower paid states for education careers. (You're a teacher, right?)

Yep, teachy. I teach English (either writing or English as a second language).


R

[Whip]

Seattle (and its outlying cities like Federal Way -- there's a strong Korean population here)

[mike black]

Thanks for all the help. Looking into stuff in Tampa and Austin (Austin seems to have a lot of stuff we'd need). I'll check out Tempe later (I have friends that live out there).

By the way, we won't be dirt poor or anything. I just don't want to have to pay $1000 a month for an efficiency if I can help it.

R

If I didn't move back to NY, and was going to leave Tampa, it would definitely be for Austin.

[Brian Defferding]

My wife and I were planning on going to France to live in a year or two, but we're thinking of bypassing France and going straight back to the US. We're looking for a city that'd be good to live. All we must have is a good cooking school and a good university (with a good English PhD program), but other things to consider:

Cost of living
Public transportation (I prefer not to have to have a car)
Cool stuff around
Cool people

And so on.

We're considering:

Boston
Portland
New York (although it might be cost prohibitive).
Somewhere in California
Chicago

But we're open to anywhere really. Thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

R

Out of those, I would choose Portland in a heartbeat. Maybe northern California, but that's only because I'm a big fat wine-a-holic :p

I think Boston and New York are too cramped and expensive, Chicago's nice but also expensive and often chaotic. I've heard tons of great things about Portland, though.

I would also suggest Minneapolis. They have access to public transit (although it's usually slower than traveling by car), have plenty of cool and neat things to do. No clue on culinary schools there, though.

Austin is a great town, I love that city, but it's currently suffering from immense growth in a short amount of time, which has caused traffic problems.

[Rosemary's Baby]

Seattle can be pretty expensive, but you can get a nice one-bedroom for under $1,000 easily. As Whip said, there is also a large Korean population. Public transit is okay, could be better, but the bus system is reliable enough.

It definitely has a good university, but I'm not sure about culinary schools.

[ThisSpaceForRent]

Sounds pretty good. How's the public transportation and cost of living? I wonder if I could actually get into Brown.

R

Public transportation is pretty damn good. I had no idea until my car broke down. I took a while buying another one because you can get all over the state via bus. It'll actually take you to the tip of Massachusetts too (or you can take the commuter rail from Providence to Boston, etc).

Bus fare is $1.50 to anywhere in Rhode Island. Monthly passes were $45 I believe.

[Greenville 90210]

OKC = Oklahoma City. :lol:

Pre-Katrina I would have said NOLA 100% . . . hell even after I'd still say it about 40% of the time. But I'm biased. :D

New Orleans has TERRIBLE public transport.

[Greenville 90210]

Houston is my least favorite city aside from Baghdad. Austin, however, is my very favorite and still would be even if I didn't already live here.

Houston is a soulless collection of white concrete, bad rap, and assholes, I mean Texans. ;)

[PhilipClark]

I don't know why Hollingsworth is so anti-LA. I moved here, very reluctantly, from NYC about 1 1/2 years ago, and I'm finally enjoying it.

Of course, I'm a city person and an entertainer. But I'd recommend either NYC or LA.

[Rosemary's Baby]

Another great thing about Seattle is all the hiking options twenty minutes out of the city. They're basically endless.

[Greenville 90210]

I might be moving to Portland next year. How's the comedy scene?