I have two friends who will be living in Indianapolis in January & February.
Any suggestions on which neighborhoods are good to live in?
They are vegetarians, she is a graphic designer and I’m not sure what exactly his career title is - he is working for Target managing some of their warehouse & distribution operations. They like to go to movies & plays & coffee shops. They’re a little bohemian, but not totally.
What are your favorite neighborhoods & restaurants & things?
Indygrrl can probably help you. I don’t go there much (i’m in Bloomington, 50 miles south) but I do know the west side is where all the mexican people live (west or east, I can’t remember) and all the street signs are in spanish. So I assume they wouldn’t want to live there.
As far as I know they don’t speak Spanish, so it might be a bit of a hardship on them. 
Theatre on the Square – neat little place, not sure if it’s still there. Has some very interesting plays.
The Lockerbie – another neat little place, smoky coffeehouse.
Circle Center Mall – urban, expensive, but pretty with movie theatres and an arts garden.
As far as neighborhoods are concerned, I would have to know more about your friends’ finances to say anything. Most of the people I know live in one of the suburbs, specifically to the west. There are some Mexicans that live on the very edge of Indianapolis on the west side, but it’s silly to say that no one speaks English. For instance, there is Speedway, 10th Street, Brownsburg, Danville, Avon, Plainfield, and other communities which are not ethnic at all. They are about twenty minutes from Indianapolis, which is not that far of a drive. I’m not that familiar with the east side of Indy, but I do know Greenwood and that area (south) and Carmel and that area (north).
It’s not a bad place to live. There are good neighborhoods and bad ones, like any city. The best thing for your friends to do is go and look around. Carmel is probably the most expensive while places to the east may be least.
Tell them to get the Friday edition of the Indianapolis Star. There is a Weekend section that is very good. It lists plays, concerts, blues and jazz, and other entertainments. When I was in college it was part of my weekly ritual to check out that section. Believe it or not, there is some good jazz in that city.
Broad Ripple is a great area for young people looking to rent and be close to the action. There are lots of bars and restaurants, and little to no urban sprawl. It’s a really fun area, if I was single and childless, that’s where I’d live.
Downtown is another great area to rent if you want to be around the museums, galleries, and theaters. It’s got it’s good and bad areas, but the friends I have who live there seem to love it.
A good place to buy is in Fountain Square, which is just southeast of downtown. It’s a bit trashy still, but people are buying up the properties and refurbishing them. It looks like it’s the future place to be.
If you have kids, I recommend Lawrence Township, which is just east of the city. That’s where I live. The schools are great, and you’re only about 10 minutes from anywhere you want to go in the city.
I would avoid anything south of downtown, unless you enjoy smalltown mentality and rednecks. Greenwood is nothing but urban sprawl and traffic jams coupled with unpleasant crowds of people. It’s like one big mall.
Broad Ripple sounds like the best neighborhood for them, or near Northside of downtown.
Broad Ripple reminds me of a college town, but no college is nearby. Lots of bars, funky shops and eateries, etc.
The near Northside and near Eastside are blighted areas being renovated. They’re more artsy than Broad Ripple, and have the added advantage of downtown nearby.
Irvington is a decent area for nuclear families. Most of the outer townships are Yuppie-family-commuter neighborhoods.
If they want to move into snooty, head north to Carmel
Also, that’s not true about the West side being all in Spanish. Sure, there are Spanish-speaking people, but the street signs are in English. I have several friends who live on the West side and they have no problems communicating.
I’m sure you’ll check out any area that you’re going to move into, so you’ll be able to tell a lot from just looking around the different areas.
I was going to suggest Broadripple but I forgot the name :smack:
Anyhow, count me in as an enthusiatic endorser of Broadripple
Thanks everyone for the responses so far!
Finances are not an issue for them, as they’re coming from a $1800/mo 2BR apartment. I don’t think they’ll bat an eye at just about any rental market short of NYC or San Francisco.
They won’t be buying, because they’re only there for 2 months.
They don’t have any kids yet, either, and no time to make any before they get there. 
Love the all the first-hand advice! Thanks!
I’ve lived on the west side going on 5 years now, and I have NEVER seen a street sign in Spanish.
I must’ve been in another part of town then.
Sure you were in the same country?
I will heartily endorse Broad Ripple as well (we lived there for three years). However, if he is working for the Target distrubution center, that’s on the west side (Washington Street & Girls School Road), so he’ll have a pretty crappy commute. Why? The one thing that Broad Ripple lacks is easy interstate access. It’ll take him a good 20-30 minutes to get to I-465 on the west side by way of 56th Street (or 71st Street, for that matter), and then he’ll be on the interstate for another 15 minutes (my brother lives further west on Washington Street and I used to drive the exact route I’ve just described once a month and it really sucked - even on a Saturday afternoon). So, I might suggest that they look oh-so-slightly west, unless they don’t mind the driving.
And BTW, “all the mexican people” are all over town (except Meridian-Kessler). And there are no Spanish-language street signs that I’ve ever seen.
Yuh huh. I remember all the stores had signs written in spanish.
Well, Butler is right down the road. Lots of Butler people head into Broad Ripple on weekend nights.
But yeah, that area has some excellent shops. I haven’t lived in Indy for about 4 years, but when I was down there last there was an excellent vaguely indie record store (Indy CD and Vinyl, I think it was called?). And one of the bars there - the Monkey’s Tale - was one of my favorite hangouts.
Down along Massachusetts Ave., there are great stores and hangouts too, my favorite being the Chatterbox jazz club. That’s near the Fountain Square area that Indygrrl mentioned, and I have a few friends who live in the Cottage Home neighborhood, which is much the same - buying and refurbishing. Pretty afforable.
There’s a really really big difference between a STORE sign and a STREET sign.
Yes I am aware, damn lack of an edit function.
You can find restaurants in Indy of many different national styles; Mexican, BBQ, French, Cajun, Carribean, Greek, Indian, Italian (northern and southern), Chinese, Japanese, and Thai. Local cuisine? We didn’t invent the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, but several places claim to have a famous one. Don’t miss the Mousetrap’s Hot Stews. Oh, yeah, babe.
The Slippery Noodle, downtown, is a happenin’ blues joint. It’s one of the two Indiana bars claiming to be the oldest bar in the state. The other is Bonge’s in Perkinsville.
I’m told that the east side is the part of town without a bagel shop. Why? I dunno.
Einstein’s and Panera bread have stores on the east side. But maybe you meant higher end bagels.
Indy is a pretty great place to live, except for the cold weather. We have a thriving music scene and plenty of arts and entertainment. As someone else mentioned, we have every kind of restaurant imaginable. And if you live in the city, it’s a close drive to any other part of the city. It’s like a big city with a small town feel. People are usually friendly and helpful, traffic isn’t bad at all.
If your friends are interested in music, have them check out www.indianapolismusic.net, and for artsy stuff www.nuvo.net.