I may have a line on a good job but it may require me to move to (or at least spend a great deal of time in) Natick MA.
Anyone been there? Live there? Is it obscenely expensive compared to the Chicago suburbs? Anything to do that doesn’t require driving to Boston? Any good restaurants or food scene?
Anything you can tell me is appreciated!
It’s shopping central, with the biggest malls in the greater Boston area. There’s some good food to be had, but nothing 5 star that comes to mind.
It used to be home to a Twinkie factory, but that’s long gone.
WOW. I knew this would come up but on the first reply?! Well done sir!
Seriously? No one knows the frist damn thing about Natick except Telemark?
Boston Dopers - lil help?!
I don’t know; it’s the gateway to Framingham, maybe.
That’s not completely fair. I think there is a town center south of Route 9, and I recall some nice, old Victorian houses nearby. But nothing to tell you whether it’s worth moving there or not.
You don’t have to drive to Boston for everything. My curling club is in Wayland, that’s the next town over.
Sure - use a park-'n-ride lot outside the city limits and take public transit to Boston.
This is assuming that your concern is that you don’t want to drive downtown or worry about parking in the city, of course. If you have no interest in ever spending time in Boston regardless of the means of transport involved in getting around, NM.
So basically sleep and work in Natick and go to Boston to do pretty much anything fun.
It depends what you want to do. There’s all the usual movie theaters out in the burbs; shopping and chain restaurants, too. (My favorite barbecue place is in Natick.) There are some good restaurants in Wellesley and other towns close to Natick. Minuteman Park is in Concord, which isn’t too far. There’s interesting stuff scattered around in different places. You’d need to go downtown for the nightlife, museum, and sports (mostly) scenes. For bars it might be hit-and-miss; I think some of the towns are dry (or the bars are just few and well-hidden).
I used tpo work there. Route 9 does, indeed, seem to be wall-to-wall malls for a while. Shopper’s World used to be a massive semi-indoor mall, but it closed, was bulldozed, and was reborn as a massive outdoor strip mall. The Natick Mall decided to go upper-crusty and renamed itself the Natick Collection, and tried to sell condos within itself. I observe that they’re ca;lling themselves the Natick Mall again, but they still aspuire to toniness, and don’t have anything as low as a K-Mart there.
there are a number of high-tech businesses. MathSoft is located there, and Boston Scientific. It’s got a dowbntown with a Commuter Rail station, although it’s not on the Subway system. I haven’t looked at housing prices, but I don’t think they’re exceptionally high – it’s not like Lexington, MA or Wellesley.
I ran through there a half dozen times in mid-April. Natick is roughly 10 miles into the Boston Marathon course. Never stopped there though.
Natick is just a suburb of Boston. There is no need to live there just because you work there. There are any number of very nice town within an easy driving distance. In fact, you could live in Boston or Cambridge if you wanted a nice urban lifestyle Or live in Newton or Wellesley if you want a nice suburban one.
Albeit one with a lot of shopping. I’m not really sure what you are expecting from the town.
Natick is perfectly fine for what it is - a large Boston suburb that is the beginning of the MetroWest area. The OP may be a little bit confused because most parts of the country aren’t set up the way they are in the Boston area. The suburbs and towns just all run together and aren’t all that distinct especially when it comes to Natick/Framingham. You can live in Natick but there is no reason to because there are literally dozens of other towns in easy commuting distance.
Natick itself doesn’t have a whole lot to distinguish it because it is true suburbia like you will find anywhere in the U.S. but it does have some pretty residential sections. However, it is also ideally located for a wide choice of living options. You could live in Boston proper and commute out if you wanted to. I used to do that and it is the reverse of the typical commute so traffic isn’t an issue. Some of the most desirable MetroWest suburbs are close by as well. Wellesley and Sherborn are super-nice but extremely expensive. However, you can go a little farther out and live in Westborough, Southborough, Ashland, or Holliston for example. Those are more like distinct smaller towns and quite pretty.
Prices probably will be more expensive than Chicagoland especially for housing. The Boston area is still one of the highest in the country for that. You won’t generally be able to find a reasonable house for less than $300K in that area although condos can be had for less.
Rex Parker coined the Natick Principle to describe a crossword that crosses one very unfamiliar word with another (especially proper names), and still uses “naticked” in his blog to describe this situation. The implication is that very few people have ever heard of Natick. On the other hand, I’ve found that Rex isn’t the best judge of what is and isn’t common knowledge.* In any case, living near Boston sounds fun, though I’m sure I’d freeze to death in the first winter.
I only go to Natick when I have no other choice. I grew up in Worcester and now live farther west but the distance isn’t what keeps me from going.
There’s a massive mall surrounded by I don’t even know how many strip malls and big box stores. The road signs suck and the traffic is nearly always miserable.
There are certainly nice parts to the city but I have no idea where they are and if getting there requires going anywhere near the Pike or Route 9, I’d rather do without.
With that being said, the Car Spa guys in the part of the mall garage near the swanky wing of the mall (yes, there is a swanky wing with an iPod store, a Coach store, etc.) does a better detailing job than anyone else I’ve gone to, their prices are nearly worth the hassle of getting there, and it saves you from having to find a parking spot while you shop.
If you are looking to work in or near Natick, just remember that you don’t actually have to live in, near or to the east of Natick. The T does go to Worcester and prices tend to drop drastically as you travel west. If you really like typical city life then the Natick-to-Boston part of MA should be good for you. If you like lower expenses, more quiet, and more of a small city feel, live closer to Worcester. If, like me, you detest cities and noise and high prices, live farther west (basically any town west of Worcester works).
You have got the wrong idea on that. Sure, if you live and thrive on big city life, you would need to go into Boston proper which isn’t very far but most people that live in MetroWest Boston don’t do that unless they work in Boston proper. Framingham is sometimes called the largest town in America and Natick essentially part of the same thing.
Like I said, the geographical size of towns in New England are unusually small by national standards and that part of the suburbs would be considered an affluent city anywhere else. There is plenty of stuff to do there but it suffers from the unique contrasts of its neighbors. To the east, you have Boston proper with a huge city feel and one I want nothing whatsoever to do with. To the west, it becomes much more small-townish with a typical New England quaint community appeal.
Natick and Framingham are just very American suburban and not in a bad way. They have everything you could want including lots of jobs and every retail outlet, restaurant and bar you could hope for. Unless you are aiming to eat at 5 star establishments or go clubbing a few times a week, you won’t be missing much. Much of suburban Chicagoland looks the same way.
Do not live in MetroWest without a car no matter what people say. It is firmly in driving territory and a near necessity.You can survive without one but that is about it and it will not be fun without one. The whole up for driving because the Massachusetts turnpike and Mass Route 9 run right through it.
South Natick is a separate, mostly residential, town and quite nice. The neighbors Wellesley and Sherborn are picture are picture perfect and super expensive. They have neighbors that almost as nice and still expensive but doable on professional wages. If you go a little bit further to the west even just a few miles you start to hit smaller towns and country and things become more affordable fast but you aren’t in the city or suburbs anyone. Marlboro is an example of a decent sized town that is within commuting distance to Natick (<30 minutes) that is more affordable and has lots of apartments and condos.
I personally think the MetroWest area of Boston is the best place to live in the whole metro region and I chose it purposefully over all others. There is a whole bunch to do from urban to rural but you have to pick the lifestyle you want because there are tons of options.
What are your preferences and expectations?
Yeah, I remember from my Boston days that all those towns along I-90, Rt 9, Rt 30 and Rt 20 all sort of run into each other. Most of those towns - Waltham, Newton, Natick, Framingham, Wellesley and so on all have little downtown areas with stores and bars and restaurants so you don’t always need to head into Boston.
By “fun” I suppose it depends on how old you are and what you like to do for fun. I was in my mid 20s in grad school when I lived there, so yeah, we pretty much always went into Boston to go drinking and whatnot.
I’m not that fond of Natick, but that’s because I don’t care for suburban life and I intensely dislike having to drive everywhere.
Natick wouldn’t be a bad place to live if you liked access to lots of big box stores and a wide variety of chain restaurants. There is no end of shopping to be had. We drive out to Natick a couple times a year when we need big box stores. I think the restaurant situation is not bad these days. There is pretty much any chain you want, plus quite a few non-chain (or v. small chain) places are popping up.
Really good ethnic restaurants (Thai, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Italian, German, etc.)
Really good ethnic groceries, Italian and Mexican especially but and Asian ones would be great as well.
Decent neighborhood bars, the kind where you can actually meet people from the neighborhood and frequently run into them on return visits. I’m really not into clubs with loud music.
An expat Chicago bar would be nice so I don’t have to watch the Bulls and Bears by myself or without getting my ass kicked
Maybe an upscale place or 2, a good steak place and a good French or American Contemporary would be nice.
As far as shopping, as long as I don’t have to drive an hour just to get some jeans or buy a present for my kids I’m OK.
I’ll just assume everywhere in America has movie theaters, ice cream shops and the like.
If I could find a little suburban place with all of that within reasonable distance I’d be happy.
I haven’t lived in the Boston area since 1993, so rely on a current resident to correct/update what I have to say. But based on what you are looking for, and my knowledge of the area from long ago, I think you’d be happiest living someplace like Somerville and commuting out. I used to do that, actually - I lived in Somerville and drove or took public transit to Wellesley and later Newton every day. It was lovely.