OT: Favorite College Town

[HuskyHawk]

Portland, ME is a cool little city but how is it a college town?

To me a college town is a place that has lots of character and things to do but that wouldn't have any of that if the college wasn't located there. For example, would Ann Arbor or Chapel Hill be more than little hick towns without the state universities there? What would Amherst/Northampton, MA be without the colleges there? Boston and Philadelphia would still be very big cities without the colleges there.

I mostly agree. Ann Arbor would be pretty big without U Michigan, but it is still dominated by the university and college students. Minneapolis and Seattle aren't dominated by U Minnesota and UW respectively. Boston and Philly have so many colleges the do have a college culture in part, but still not like a college town.

 

[Waquoit]

Going back to the OP, I spent a night in Missoula and it was certainly nice with the Big M over on that mountain. Drank Moose Drool at the couple of bars we hit. One thing I remember is that every place had a bank of slot machines and not once all night did we see anyone play them.

 

[ZenConn]

Just like anyone else for the great views - Tempe, AZ.

 

[Excalibur]

Forgot about Salve Regina. I still don't think of Newport as a college town.

That's because it's not . . .

 

[Waquoit]

Just like anyone else for the great views - Tempe, AZ.

I remember reading "If Disney had a Collegeland it would be ASU."

 

[upstater]

I've lived 2+ years in each of these 3 places: State College, PA; Ann Arbor, MI; Providence, RI; 1 year in Padova, Italy; have spent 3 months in Boulder, CO; have spent weeks at South Bend, IN; Coral Gables, FL; grew up in New Haven, CT; and...

Boston beats all of them with Padova a close second.

Then...in the following order:

Boulder
Providence
Ann Arbor
Coral Gables
New Haven
State College
South Bend

 

[Guapo]

I've lived 2+ years in each of these 3 places: State College, PA; Ann Arbor, MI; Providence, RI; 1 year in Padova, Italy; have spent 3 months in Boulder, CO; have spent weeks at South Bend, IN; Coral Gables, FL; grew up in New Haven, CT; and...

Boston beats all of them with Padova a close second.

Then...in the following order:

Boulder
Providence
Ann Arbor
Coral Gables
New Haven
State College
South Bend

This is a painfully Yankee answer.

 

[Conndog]

It’s not exactly a college town, but I used to visit a buddy at College of Charleston every year and I’ve always loved that city. I still visit a few times a year, and it was an awesome time at the tourney earlier this past season, great turn out. Chuck town is prolly my favorite beach town in the Southeast.

As far as other college towns, I always loved Chapel Hill/Carrboro. Really nice campus and I prolly would’ve loved living there as an undergrad. Still a place I can picture myself living, they did a nice job with that town.

Missoula is at the top of my list of places to visit. Ideally catch a good show there one day and trek it over to Glacier. One day after the world opens up again..

Edit: forgot about Boulder, CO, tough to top that with that kind of scenery. Prolly plenty of other mountain town/college campuses im missing similar to that.

I was in Missoula years ago and had a delicious Huckleberry Ice Cream Shake

 

[Fore!]

The college towns/cities I've been to that I put at the top of my list: Ithaca, Cambridge (Boston metro), Santa Barbara (just plain beautiful city and location). College town I haven't been to that I'd rank right up there: Williamsburg, VA.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

US City: Boston
International City: Florence and Barcelona

Best Town: Ann Arbor

Honorable Mention: Auburn

 

[Guapo]

US City: Boston
International City: Florence and Barcelona

Best Town: Ann Arbor

Honorable Mention: Auburn

@krinklecut you’re from Auburn, right? How would you say it compares to Athens?

 

[HooperScooper]

Ann Arbor would be pretty big without U Michigan, but it is still dominated by the university and college students.

I went to grad school at University of Michigan. It's 50 miles west of Detroit. I used to ride my bike a lot around the area and there was nothing in the towns right outside Ann Arbor. This was 30 years ago though. Don't know what is there today. I really don't believe Ann Arbor would be much of anything if it wasn't for the school and the associated hospital. Everything revolves around the school. It truly is a college town although it's a big college town because there are so many non-students living there. But that is what happens with a big state school. There are hundreds of professors, administrators and the hospital employs a lot of people. But again, none of that would exist without the school.

Take a similar school, University of Wisconsin in Madison. Madison is a very cool town that revolves around the school, but not as much as Ann Arbor. It's also the state capital. It would exist and be a smaller sized city without the school.

 

[8893]

IIRC the same guy who designed the downtown area in Ann Arbor also designed the downtown Burlington, VT area. Or something like that.

 

[krinklecut]

@krinklecut you’re from Auburn, right? How would you say it compares to Athens?

Not from auburn but wife grew up there and I lived there a few years.

Auburn is...fine. Probably much better for a weekend visit over living there. A few bars that fill up with good ol' boys every weekend. Not much counter culture like you get in Athens. You run out of things to do very quickly. There's a surprisingly decent food scene, though. We found our scene one town over, in Opelika.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I was in Missoula years ago and had a delicious Huckleberry Ice Cream Shake

I've had a huckleberry shake twice in my life, and both were outstanding. One was in Montana, but not Missoula. It was Cooke City, just east of Yellowstone NP.

 

[UConnDad]

US City: Boston
International City: Florence and Barcelona

Best Town: Ann Arbor

Honorable Mention: Auburn

Oh yeah Florence is a great pick for a college town. I was just thinking U.S.

 

[CTBasketball]

Fairfield CT
Burlington VT
Northampton/Amherst MA
New Haven CT
Storrs CT
Providence RI
Ithaca NY
Hanover NH
Murfreesboro TN
Chatanooga TN
Boca Raton FL

My list of places sucks.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Btw...a few AWFUL ones....

South Bend, IN
Baton Rouge, LA
Syracuse, NY
Orono, ME

Co-signed on South Bend. Another road trip when we beat ND in 4 overtimes in front of Touchdown Jesus. The campus is nice and all but the bar scene was pretty terrible.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Does Boston count?

Bet at least half the population are between 18 and 24, but the city isn’t exactly built around a given university like a Columbus

Looking forward to checking out Charleston eventually

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Best college town in Italy is Bologna.

Underrated American college down: Davis, CA.

Sentimental favorite: College Hill, Providence.

 

[HCCForever]

University of Washington is beautiful as is Madison in the summer. I spent time in Tempe AZ and Santa Cruz in my twenties and wondered why I didn't choose to go to school in one of those places although I enjoyed Storrs a bit too much. Pepperdine is another beautiful campus in Malibu and I agree that Santa Barbara is a cool town as well.

Missoula would be another one. Reminds me of a quote by Steinbeck. “I'm in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it's difficult to analyze love when you're in it.” Just a gorgeous state especially Glacier National Park and Yellowstone. I could live there seasonally as well.

 

[8893]

Best college town in Italy is Bologna.

Agreed. Best food, too. And great university.

 

[upstater]

IIRC the same guy who designed the downtown area in Ann Arbor also designed the downtown Burlington, VT area. Or something like that.

It's a grid though, so... basically just squares except when you get near the creek.

Honestly, we had our choice to stay in AA. We chose Buffalo instead.

 

[upstater]

This is a painfully Yankee answer.

Why?

I have the northeast at #1, #4 and #7.

I chose a midwest place, a southern place, and a western place ahead of 3 northeast places.

I mean, State College and South Bend are not great places to be.

 

[upstater]

Best college town in Italy is Bologna.

Yes, for sure.