As well, you’ll never want for a donut.
I used to work in Stratton (W20) and I went to school at that other uni in Cambridge. The one that MIT doesn’t like to mention by name.
I moved to Boston from Houston for my first stint and from Atlanta my second. I took my car - it was old when we moved up, and got progressively older as the years passed. Plenty of rust and dings on it. But I’ve been driving since I was 16, and it’s my instinct to drive… I did get better at the public transport thing, but sometimes you need to get to campus in 10 minutes, or go to the 24 hour Shaw’s in Fenway… only your own car can do these things. We also did a lot of area trips, some planned, some on a whim. I will admit that I had a mountain of parking tickets, but I just started budgeting about $40/month for parking - sometimes I was ahead, sometimes not.
As many have said, rents in Cambridge/Boston are ridiculous. Transportation is quite good, so I wouldn’t be afraid to check into housing options in Watertown, Somerville, and Medford. I lived in Watertown for 6 years and we really liked it - close enough to bus, bike, or drive in, but not immediately next to campus - which might get old very quickly. You’ll be spending plenty of time around 77 Mass Ave; why do you want to live so close? For example, we paid $1550/mo for a two bedroom apt with a half basement, parking spot, and deck with yard in Watertown. Our landlord was a pro athlete and he wanted stable, non-crazy tenants, so he kept the rent stable for our entire time there. We had at least 1000 square feet, if not more. You’re more likely to find a deal with a landlord who wants good tenants outside of Cambridge - and from my door, I could get to the Alewife T station in less than 10 minutes by car, and about the same by bike. My wife rode the bus into Cambridge and could get to Longwood Medical in about 30-45 minutes.
One other thing - there are no closets in traditional Boston area apartments. You have no idea how much stuff you pitch in a closet, but that’s now going to be out in the open. Get rid of all of your clutter now! They have “closets” that are basically doors that can house a drawer’s worth of clothes on hangers sideways. You’ll probably make many trips to the Container Store in Chestnut Hill.
Kendall is in the midst of a revitalization - lots of high rises going up, so I imagine rents will climb there as well. There is a great indie cinema there, and the Cambridgeside Galleria is within walking distance. But I think you can find better deals without losing too much by moving out a little. As I said, you’ll be surprised how convenient the T, even the Red Line, is to some places that you wouldn’t even have considered - Arlington and Belmont, for example.
Farmers’ markets - there is one in front of the Charles Hotel in the summer. It’s pretty small, though. You would be best off going to the Haymarket with small bills - you can get some awesome deals if you’re willing to deal with the crowds and haggle a little.
The alcohol sales thing is mostly true. Some supermarkets cleverly build a Gordon’s Liquors inside the store, which is a good way around it. There are certain supermarkets that are licensed to sell liquor as well - the Star Market on Mt. Auburn Street on the Cambridge/Watertown border has a really expansive section of wines and liquor as well as the run-of-the-mill beer.
So true, so very, very true. We have one proper closet in the apartment. It’s in the kitchen. And no, it’s not the pantry, we have one of those too.
One should note that this is not limited to the Boston libraries. It applies to ALL libraries in the state. One of the things (one of the few) that I miss about living in MA is the FANTASTIC library system, with the ability to go to other libraries on your ‘home town’ card.
MIT subsidizes the T-pass (29.50) if you don’t have a parking space.
zipcar is very good for occasional car needs. We use it for grocery shopping and weekend day trips. I think MIT has some sort of deal with zipcar. Reduced annual fee for MIT staff and grad students.
Very few undergrads live in apartments. Pretty much all the undergrads live in MIT or MIT-related (fraternity/sorority) housing. Graduate Students are a different story. But as you are one, you can just look at yourself for the timing issues. But you are right to wait until June. If I recall my apartment hunting days correctly, no one is even remotely interested in talking with you until you are at least 2 months away from moving. Most landlords don’t even know their tenants are moving out until that time.
I’ll also vote for looking around Kendall Square. The area is undergoing quite a bit of additional building. I’m not sure if the new housing are condos or apartments, but I think there are a bunch of them going up near Kendall. Although, the pets might make those options infeasible.
Central isn’t so bad in my opinion. I avoid Central late at night (after midnight), but otherwise have no issues walking through Central. There is some MIT-related housing along Massachusetts Avenue (must be MIT affiliated to live there), but is not part of the MIT housing lottery process. I don’t fully understand the rules and processes as I never lived there, but I have friends who did.
Hmm, we would be looking in late May/early June for move in Mid June - July First. And depending on this new job for Mr. Jeeves, we may not even wait that long.
Thanks for the points about the closests. Hopefully we will be getting rid of all that junk before we move. If Mr. Jeeves goes out early and leaves me to pack, I will be brutal, and pare it down to what can fit into the smallest van I can find.
I dunno. When we lived in Norwood, AFAICT we could only access other libraries that were part of the Minuteman network, and that was mostly other small-town libraries (and some third-tier academic ones). But this is a hijack; Jeeves & Co. will be living in Boston proper, it seems like, so they’re good to go.
Advice from one California transplant to a snowy area:
Before the first snowfall, get some boots that will give you good traction, and a warm coat. I was a lot less miserable in the winter out here after I got those things, which I hadn’t needed in CA. I went to Lands End and LL Bean online to look for them- they have good winter weather stuff.
If you come directly into your apartment from outside (as opposed to coming into a hallway first), you will want a durable, easily-cleaned rug to put inside the entryway, as well as a doormat outside. The doormat won’t get all the snow off your shoes or boots, and tracked-in snow will mess up the floor. I got an indoor/outdoor braided rug from LL Bean for this purpose. It’s nice-looking, reasonably soft, and can be cleaned by hosing it off (though we of course don’t do this during the winter).
How are the cats as travellers? And how many cats are there? Our Luna does not like riding in the car. She is a Siamese mix, and can make sounds loud enough to make drivers in other cars look over, even when the windows are closed in our car. Five days’ worth of that didn’t appeal much. We had movers take our stuff, and flew out with the cats. We stayed with my parents, who live about 2 hours drive from Pittsburgh, while we waited for our stuff to get here. The cats did pretty well on the plane, though we did have to pay to carry them on, and it only worked because we only have two- the airlines generally only allow one carry-on pet per person.
An outside doormat is not permitted in my building. Neither are shoes, umbrellas, extraneous furniture, or anything else. It’s a violation of fire codes.
Well, in that case, you’d definitely want some kind of rug for just inside the door.
I am a senior at Boston College living in Brighton, and I really love it here. For a young student, Boston has a great mixture of urban and suburban. Brighton has a nice small city vibe to it and is also near a bunch of great parks. The median age is very young. Like NYC, different parts of Boston have very different attributes. Other than Brighton, I really like Cambridge. The people there are the friendliest in Boston IMO. In general, I don’t know if I’d recommend Boston for an older couple, or even for raising children (b/c I have 0 experience with it, and the people here CAN be cold), but for a young scholarly family, Boston’s great.
On the edit, you came to Boston and didn’t alert us dopers? For shame! We have a great crew of dopers up here including Just Another Geek, tdn, bbs2k, CalMeacham, Peppermill, Millical, Robot Arm, Shagnasty, lorene, ummm… me… and I’m sure I forgot some >_<
I’m sure Boston’s older residents find things to do other than go to The Kells, Purple Shamrock, Black Rose and Cask & Flagon. In all fairness though, you do have a point. Once I finished B-school (at one of the “B” schools) I was about 28 and definitely felt older when my friends and I were out. The whole scene feels very “college bar”. So I don’t really know what kind of night life Boston offers for people in their 30s and 40s.
You forgot me. 
But I don’t go to Dopefests. 
Thanks for all the advice! I am really looking forward to moving there. We will find out later this week if Mr. Jeeves needs to move up there right away, or if we can wait a little longer. But I think that no matter what, we will be there by July first. Which means I better get started packing!