OT: - Favorite College Town | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT: Favorite College Town

Pgh2Storrs said:
Columbus is so large that I have a tough time calling it a “college town” but it is a sneaky great town to visit for sure. It’s only about 3 hours from Pittsburgh, but I only went over for the first time a few years ago when we played at OSU. Incredibly fun time. I try to head out at least once a year either when the Pens play the Jackets or for a concert
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Funny that neither of us said Pittsburgh, but if we're talking about other big cities that happen to host campuses, gotta say that the number of bars/restaurants in the Oakland/Squirrel Hill area will stand up to pretty much anywhere, regardless if you're looking for dives and cheap eats or places you'd actually want to go as an adult. Pitt isn't the most beautiful campus, and neither is CMU (nor Carlow, although Chatham is pretty). Duquense and Point Park both suffer from location.
 
Mine is predictable, Lawrence, KS. Fantastic downtown, great bar and music scene and just the right size. Some cool breweries too. If Burlington, VT is a "town" not a city, it would be my #2.

For college cities, Boston/Cambridge, Austin, TX, Seattle, WA.
 
storrsroars said:
Funny that neither of us said Pittsburgh, but if we're talking about other big cities that happen to host campuses, gotta say that the number of bars/restaurants in the Oakland/Squirrel Hill area will stand up to pretty much anywhere, regardless if you're looking for dives and cheap eats or places you'd actually want to go as an adult. Pitt isn't the most beautiful campus, and neither is CMU (nor Carlow, although Chatham is pretty). Duquense and Point Park both suffer from location.
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I think Pittsburgh would be a great city in which to attend college. Definitely a great city to visit. Awesome sports culture, vibrant arts scene, good food and drink, easily walkable and interesting to look at. It's just a PITA to get there.
 
the Q said:
I really like Newport and Narragansett RI.

They would technically qualify even though they’re thought of more for summer touristy locations.
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Are there colleges in either place? I discounted Santa Cruz, CA because while UCSC is in the town, it's in the hills above the town proper.
 
storrsroars said:
Funny that neither of us said Pittsburgh, but if we're talking about other big cities that happen to host campuses, gotta say that the number of bars/restaurants in the Oakland/Squirrel Hill area will stand up to pretty much anywhere, regardless if you're looking for dives and cheap eats or places you'd actually want to go as an adult. Pitt isn't the most beautiful campus, and neither is CMU (nor Carlow, although Chatham is pretty). Duquense and Point Park both suffer from location.
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I was never a fan of Pitt’s campus and that has only been amplified now that I work in Oakland. The Cathedral/Heinz Chapel/Schenley Plaza area is nice but for the most part the campus is hard to navigate and a dump. That said, you’re 100% right about food spots/dives. If anyone ever has the misfortune of being on Pitt’s campus, Union Grille on Craig is a must-hit as a lunch spot.
 
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I've lived in 3 of the towns that have showed up a lot... Charlottesville, chapel hill and Boulder (just outside...boulder itself is stupid expensive)

Chapel hill was my favorite since there's a much better assortment of things to do. Cville is a bit stuck in the Jefferson era but they're slowly updating the city. Boulder is a fun town to visit because the mountains provide all sorts of outdoor activities which is more unique to a college area

Some of my least favorite visits were Maryland (college park) and Georgetown. College park is self explanatory and Gtown I just happened to crash with a friend who rowed crew and basically stayed in a crack house
 
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Btw...a few AWFUL ones....

South Bend, IN
Baton Rouge, LA
Syracuse, NY
Orono, ME
 
HuskyHawk said:
Are there colleges in either place? I discounted Santa Cruz, CA because while UCSC is in the town, it's in the hills above the town proper.
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Salve Regina (Newport)

URI (it’s close enough to Narragansett, most of the students technically live off campus there).
 
8893 said:
I think Pittsburgh would be a great city in which to attend college. Definitely a great city to visit. Awesome sports culture, vibrant arts scene, good food and drink, easily walkable and interesting to look at. It's just a PITA to get there.
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Depending where you’re coming from, yeah it’s not easy. We try to get up to CT for a Gampel game every few years and it’s always an adventure to connect into Bradley.

Amazing city, though. If you’re an out of town fan trying to catch your team play in a cheap-ish city with a ton of stuff to do, you really can’t go wrong with Pittsburgh. I was looking forward to having both the Yanks and Sox coming to town to play my belovedly hapless Pirates as those are always fun atmospheres, but obviously that is out the window.
 
My daughter goes to Wisconsin......great college town. Charlottesville and Chapel Hill are great as well.
 
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Pgh2Storrs said:
Depending where you’re coming from, yeah it’s not easy. We try to get up to CT for a Gampel game every few years and it’s always an adventure to connect into Bradley.

Amazing city, though. If you’re an out of town fan trying to catch your team play in a cheap-ish city with a ton of stuff to do, you really can’t go wrong with Pittsburgh. I was looking forward to having both the Yanks and Sox coming to town to play my belovedly hapless Pirates as those are always fun atmospheres, but obviously that is out the window.
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I was there for a work trip a couple years ago and it coincided with a Mets game, which was great for me because they are my team. It also happened to be fireworks night. We got great seats, relatively cheaply, and I was blown away by the fireworks over the river. Great scene.
 
Chapel Hill, NC is a great college town. Others are Madison, WI and Boulder, CO.
 
TRest said:
Northhamptom/Amherst is a frequent day trip for us.
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Love Northampton. While at UConn, Northampton was my regular place for live music. Now, I try to get up their annually.

Iron Horse, Pearl Street were regular spots for me. Off the top of my head, I saw The Slip/Surprise Me Mr. Davis (many times), Soulive, The Bad Plus, Charlie Hunter, Do Make Say Think...

Over the last five years, I saw Beach House play in Northampton twice, once at Pearl Street (it needs some sprucing up) and my first and only show at the Ives Theater (what a cool place to see live music!).
 
Waquoit said:
Never thought of Portland as a college town.
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I think there is a small art school in the center, and university of Southern Maine is in South Portland? So not really, but does have the right vibe.
 
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Travelman32 said:
Portland, Maine, though it is becoming too gentrified and hipster like and, thus, pricey.
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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.
 
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HooperScooper said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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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
 
upstater said:
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
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This is a painfully Yankee answer.
 
Fatroony5 said:
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.
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I was in Missoula years ago and had a delicious Huckleberry Ice Cream Shake
 
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.
 
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