Owls Head, Maine. Scenic beyond belief. Crime rate: 0 (well, maybe not, but close to it) No traffic, no noise, never a search for parking and 20 minutes from any store you’ll need.
And a pretty neat lighthouse.
OK this is too weird.
Boulder’s been mentioned a few times already.
I’ve only been to Boulder, CO twice (for two days each time) but I’ve always said if I were to leave Chicago, Boulder would be where I’d go. I like Denver too though, that would be nice (I’ll NEVER go back to Golden, anyone who likes Coors would spit it out if they went to Golden).
My favoritist place I’ve ever lived is Naples, Italy. Despite the noise and pollution and crime and insane drivers, it’s a lovely place to live.
Fresh produce year round, the greatest food you’ll ever eat, the best espresso you’ll ever drink (I believe the secret is the sulpher in the water from Vesuvius), some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. A rhythm of life that is easily adapted to.
People still travel by train in Italy and it’s fairly inexpensive and a fun way to access the rest of Europe.
Capri, Ischia, Procida and Sorrento are only a ferry boat ride away.
You are living in the shadow of a volcano that is over-due for an eruption and influences how people live their lives.
Washington, D.C. also gets a nod, we were Capitol Hill/Eastern Market area folks. Lovely to walk to Eastern Market on the weekends for the farmers market and flea market. Great restaurants.
DC also has a fairly reliable mass transit system which is a big plus as I see it for any metropolitan area. (Especially one that has more people than parking spaces.)
You have museums, history and art. You have theater and symphony. You have a nice but beleagured zoo (love the prairedogs). You have a broad selection of ethnic restaurants, neighborhoods, and groceries.
The mountains are only an hour or so to your west and the beach not too far to your east.
Baltimore is a short drive away - a choice of baseball teams now and of course, a choice of football teams to cheer on also.
On the down side - DC is a bit on the pricey side and apartments are not very big regardless of how many room it may have.
Fond of Norfolk, Va. too.
Boulder, again.
I’ve lived here for 15 years now. It has definately changed in that time, from an earthy, liberal college town to a wealthy, liberal college town. But I’ve changed during that time, too. I can’t say that the changes have bothered me too much (other than the period in the mid 90’s when the trust fund babies took over city hall - we are just now getting the hotel on 9th & Broadway).
We still have the Flatirons to look at every morning, trails to hike, cool shops to visit, great restaurants, a live-and-let-live attitude of the citizenry - what’s not to like?
Of the places I’ve lived since my teens, I’d rank them this way:
- Boulder
- Madison, WI
- Alexandria, VA
- Canberra, ACT, Australia
If it were anywhere but Canberra in AUS, it’d likely rank higher.
That’s interesting. Canberra would be my second favourite after the one I posted earlier, Wellington.
Yes, interesting. Canberra would rank as the second most “sterile” place I have ever been, after Salt Lake City. Wellington (been there twice for a day each time) seems far more beautiful and interesting than Canberra.
I was with you until you got to this line, really. This is all a joke, right? Right? You’re just trying to make me think you liked all these places? Right? :eek:
Seriously, though, what did you like about NORVA? I’m guessing you were in Naples and many of these other places with the Navy, and the anti-squid bias in Norfolk was a sour bile upon my whole time there. I didn’t know anyone on my ship who liked the Tidewater area. Being in port? Hell, yes! Family time. But, Norfolk itself? No way. I’ve never listed it on my worst places to live lists, because Jersey City just wins on so many levels, but you couldn’t get me back there without a gun to my head.
Whidbey Island. I’ve lived in 5 of the 8 ‘cities’ labeled on the map. Magical place.
Hey, Same here! I live in Westover, which is almost like a small town within Arlington. Sure we live in nearly identical brick colonials, but the schools are great and there’s Lebanese Taverna & Lost Dog just a block and a half away. We’re just a 15 minute drive to downtown DC or The Mall. We are also 90 minutes from Shenandoah National Park, 3 hours from the beach (I’m not a fan of the beaches here, though, except for Chincoteague/Assateague)
Also, it’s only about a fifteen minute drive to work, (except for yesterday, as some of you DC dopers might have also experienced).
A lot of people think the DC area is some kind of urban wasteland, but au contraire! You can find lushly forested peacefulness in any number of parks here.
Plus, and this is a big plus: Arlington is very solidly Democratic, so you don’t see much bible-thumping, flag-waving, bellicose asshattery.
Oh, and you can see good live music (like, ahem, the band in my sig) in a few places in the Clarendon area, like Iota and the Galaxy Hut.
I haven’t lived in very many places yet, but so far, my favourite is right here in Ballard.
Everything I need is walking distance, the people are very friendly, we’re very near the water. I love to walk to the Locks to watch the boats, and to Shilshole Marina and watch… more boats 
And to look at the mountains (the Cascades, I think?) and hang out around Golden Gardens. And i can’t wait until they finish that new big library! And the Nordic Heritage Museum is nearby… lots of things to do.
I’m in love with Ballard.
Well, the Pentagon is in Arlington, so I reckon I should partially retract that statement. :smack:
Gosh, I think I may have to move as I sound really boring. I have only lived in three places and they were all in Ohio. I liked Aurora, Ohio but at the time I lived there (88-91) it seemed miles away from anywhere but Geauga Lake which could create quite a bit of noise in the summer months. I lived in Wickliffe, Ohio for about 10 months when my grandfather died and we needed to live in the house to fix it up to be sold. Other than that I was born and raised in Bedford, Ohio and I still live there.
Now I have moved to 11 different houses/apartments, does that count? If it does then I would have to say that the 3rd house I can remember living in as a child was the best place I have lived 
Downtown Toronto, not too far from the University.
I have never loved living in a place so much as I did there.
I’d give almost anything to be able to just move myself and everything up there.
Charleston, SC
I lived in El Cerrito, CA (just north of Berkeley) for a year, and I loved the location. It was a block from a bowling alley, two blocks from work, and three blocks from the BART station. The street was quiet and treelined and the weather was great.
I used to live
in Ormond Beach Florida (next town north of Daytona Beach). You can see the building from the beach with the tree palm trees in front of it.
It was a two story building with a realestate office and a hair salon on the first floor and the second floor was entirely mine.
It had a garage, two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, living room, family room, dining room, formal dining room, kitchen, and laundry room all for $600 a month.
It also had a deck that ran the entire lenghth of the building over looking the ocean that was all mine and
I was a bachelor back then 97’-01’ and would spend most of my time swimming, surfing, jogging on the beach, rollerblading down A1A, or having huge parties with my local friends and/or girls from spring break.
Now I’m married and living in suburban Minneapolis. Don’t cry, i’ll be okay.
Santa Cruz, CA.
Weather, vibe, food, people, etc. Plus, one of the world’s greatest longboard breaks.
I’ve only lived in two places, Albany and New York. I guess I’ll go with . . . oh, gee, I don’t know . . . New York?
Near the corner of California and Fillmore Streets, Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California.
Had me a rent-controlled apartment there that was bigger than the suburban house I live in now. It had a remodeled kitchen, 12-foot ceilings throughout, it opened up onto Fillmore Street . . . good times, good times.
The only hassles were the parking and the one bathroom, which had to be shared with my two roommates.
Canmore, Alberta. 45 minutes to Calgary, ten to Banff, and the most beautiful place anyone could ever want to live. I wouldn’t have left if I hadn’t become engaged to be married to someone who lives in Baltimore.