[RSVMILLE661]

Any Idea what its like?

[Rory McConoghy]

college kids and townies?

my friend lies right near the watch city brewery, he says its decent. ive puked in his parking lot while really drunk. it was quite scenic.

[benVFR]

Lots of great restaurants... Watch city brewery is quite good.

I am not so sure it is the best place to live if you want to get plastered on a daily basis but there is enough of that to go around.

I must like Waltham cause I've been here almost 3 years now.. that'll be the longest I've lived in one town since I got out of school.

What else do you want to know? One negative is the T does not come out to Waltham, but there are two commuter rail stops. Traffic can be bad in a couple places in town but the town overall has a pretty decent grid structure to the neighborhoods so it's not too hard to detour around traffic.

Last friday the town did a great job cleaning up the snow compared to neighboring towns. Luckily I have not ever had to call the fire department but I have called the police once. (Somebody broke into a car on my street) and they were pretty cool.

For some reason the college kids really don't dominate town.. they don't have much of a presence downtown AFAICT. I live right near Brandeis and I still don't see all that many of them out and about. Generally the crowd downtown looks like lots of 30 somethings.

[hessogood]

I have a bunch of friends that live there. Like any place, it depends what part you're going to live in. If you're searching for apartments in the greater boston area, give me a call.

[Half Squid]

SkiierX lives there along with BenVFR ( or did live? ) I lived there as a kid.

Great place to keep you close to Boston for work, overall the City is ok, it has been getting cleaned up very nicely over the last 10 years.

If you want something somewhat close to boston, buy my condo in Framingham ! only 20 minute drive to logan without traffic. 15-20 minutes to Copley area. 25-30 minutes to Quincy.

Originally posted by RSVMILLE661
Any Idea what its like?

[RSVMILLE661]

Thanks guys. A new job might be bringing me to Westboro everyday. I don't think I wanna make the hellish commute from Derry.

[skiierx]

Scotty,

I live in Waltham as Mike said and I also commute to Westborough for work a couple of days a week. It's usually a very easy 25-30 minute drive on the pike. I moved here from Northborough 3 years ago and love how close I am to everything. Like Ben said there are plenty of restaurants in the area. I live just off Moody St (where all the night life is) and love it. My street is pretty quite and I have noticed a few apartment vacancies. If you are looking to buy a place let me know as I can help with the mortgage. My good friend also owns a Real Estate company too. Feel free to call me with any questions you might have.

Jamie

[Half Squid]

I work in Westboro Scotty! Cool... Come on down.
I have a 10-15 minute drive in the morning with traffic from Framingham. It would be probably in the ball park of 30 minutes min to 45 minutes to Westboro from Waltham. fyi..

Originally posted by RSVMILLE661
Thanks guys. A new job might be bringing me to Westboro everyday. I don't think I wanna make the hellish commute from Derry.

[skiierx]

Originally posted by Half Squid
It would be probably in the ball park of 30 minutes min to 45 minutes to Westboro from Waltham. fyi..

The reason the drive is less than 45 minutes is due to reverse commute. Now with that being said, traffic can always throw a wrench into the commute and heading back into town can take longer if you leave at 5pm.

[bump909]

i work in waltham. the whole area is real nice.. belmont, arlington, etc.

[benVFR]

I was commuting Waltham -> Natick and it was easily taking me more then a half hour most mornings.

Out to westboro is probably pretty painful. But I worked on Rt. 9 so I was almost never taking the Pike. (The stretch of Rt. 9 between my Office and Rt. 495 always seemed to be pretty bad, especially by the mall)

However if you live in Waltham chances are you have to get on Rt. 128 South at a minimum 1 mile (exit 26, where I get on) to get on the Pike to go out to Westboro. In the morning the section of 128S that is north of the Pike is *always* a parking lot. I head North on 128 in the morning and it blows me away how much worse the road is going south.

I think I like Waltham better then Natick/Framingham but not having lived there I don't know as well as Mike. I think if I worked in Westboro I'd be moving out to Framingham, if I had been working in the Natick office indefinitely I'd have probably moved out there this fall.

[bump909]

don't i know it. i commute from lynn to waltham now. it sucks major ass. hit it anytime after 7am and you're fucked.

[chr|s sedition]

i had this idea of what Waltham was like (based on the band of the same name). it wasn't pretty. then I ended up working in Waltham for 2 years, and it totally changed my perspective of the place. however, it is also really contingent on what your looking for and what your expectations of 'home' are. the downtown area (Moody St) is actully pretty swank for a suburb. there are some decent bars, a ton of decent resturants, the bus and the communter rail run out there from the city (kind of a pain in the ass), and there are a number of cool parks in the area. they even have a decent skateboard park which i frequent....

[skiierx]

Originally posted by benVFR
Out to westboro is probably pretty painful. But I worked on Rt. 9 so I was almost never taking the Pike. (The stretch of Rt. 9 between my Office and Rt. 495 always seemed to be pretty bad, especially by the mall)

However if you live in Waltham chances are you have to get on Rt. 128 South at a minimum 1 mile (exit 26, where I get on) to get on the Pike to go out to Westboro. In the morning the section of 128S that is north of the Pike is *always* a parking lot. I head North on 128 in the morning and it blows me away how much worse the road is going south.

Ben,

How long have you lived in Waltham? There's a street called South St...you know the cross street next to your house by the 99 Restaurant. If you take that you will run right into the pike. You do not need to get on 128/95 at all. Some morning's I even take Moody/Lexington St (in Newton) to Rt. 30 to the pike...again no Rt. 128.

Now, traveling out the pike to 495 to rt 9 takes me 25-30 minutes traveling at 75mph. Now let me say I usually travel just after normal commuting times (leave at 9am ish). I hardly ever hit traffic. Now the commute home is a different item. It really depends on time of day and year (summer=sox games and traffic).

[benVFR]

Yah I know South Street, I live 2 houses from the corner of South St. and Charles St... remember when you brought your MTB over?

I know the "shortcuts" and they worked for going to Natick.. now I go to Burlington and it's way less clear whether I should take 128 or the backroads. Generally in the morning it's best for me to get on 128N, and in the evenings I take the backroads as 128S is much worse then 128N.

I never took the Pike to go to Natick anyway since there is a toll and it's only 10 miles. My office was also before the Pike, so I'd have to go to the Natick exit and then come back east.

[Teez]

Oh sure, just when I thought we had something special you're going to up and leave me

[RSVMILLE661]

C'mon baby, You know Ike still loves you. Aw now Anna Mae you see whatchu made me go and do.

Is Ken Home?

[Teez]

he'll be home Thursday afternoon