26 Year Old Couple Moving from CO (New Orleans, Baton Rouge: apartments, to rent, house)

[IndyWeasel]

Hello everyone:

My boyfriend and I are 26, no kids, and are considering a move from Ft. Collins, CO to the Baton Rouge area. He just earned his Master's degree in bio and will be working at LSU and I will be looking for work in marketing/HR.

I keep hearing that moving from CO to BTR will be a huge culture shock. If you all could be kind enough to let me know what the major differences are, preferably if someone has made the move from Colorado to LA. I've never been to the south, let alone lived anywhere where it was warm year round. What are the people like? We like to play pool and go out to bars sometimes, is there a downtown area to do this? Would it be safe for us to walk home if we did go out at night? Any recommendations of neighborhoods we should check out (we are wanting to rent a 2 bedroom home with a fenced yard)? How far is New Orleans and is there much to do there?

Any advice for us Coloradoans would be great. Thanks!

[MetroBTR]

Well, I don't know much about Colorado. For one thing, you have to get used to the presence of poverty and the fact that every city in the south has a "bad side" of town. You will watch the news and hear about shootings and other crazy things happening in North Baton Rouge and in Gardere, but those are the places that you are smart enough to avoid. Thankfully, there is little reason to have to go to those parts of town unless you live there.

I don't know what traffic is like in Colorado, but traffic in Baton Rouge gets pretty hairy, especially on the interstate at rush hour. I suggest you start studying a map of Baton Rouge so you will be able to avoid the interstate whenever possible.

You might like living in the Garden District, Southdowns, Spanish Town, or Beauregard Town. These are older, well-established neighborhoods...each with its own rich history.

You like pool? Great! Pool is popular around here. Downtown has third street, which has some good places like Boudreaux and Thibodaux's and the Roux House. If you live in Beauregard Town, then you are within walking distance of the downtown nightlife. There are several other hang outs around town, though, including, but not limited to: The Varsity, The Caterie, Clicks, and Tigerland.

New Orleans is about an hour-hour 1/2 drive from Baton Rouge.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by IndyWeasel

Hello everyone:

My boyfriend and I are 26, no kids, and are considering a move from Ft. Collins, CO to the Baton Rouge area. He just earned his Master's degree in bio and will be working at LSU and I will be looking for work in marketing/HR.

I keep hearing that moving from CO to BTR will be a huge culture shock. If you all could be kind enough to let me know what the major differences are, preferably if someone has made the move from Colorado to LA. I've never been to the south, let alone lived anywhere where it was warm year round. What are the people like? We like to play pool and go out to bars sometimes, is there a downtown area to do this? Would it be safe for us to walk home if we did go out at night? Any recommendations of neighborhoods we should check out (we are wanting to rent a 2 bedroom home with a fenced yard)? How far is New Orleans and is there much to do there?

Any advice for us Coloradoans would be great. Thanks!

First off, welcome to BR ! Let me attempt to answer your questions one by one:

(1) Major differences between Colorado and Louisiana - (a) Warmer, more humid, and swampier climate than northern Colorado, (b) flat terrain (at least from BR on south), (c) hurricane season - from time to time, it's something to be aware of, (d) the potential of street flooding throughout the year, which ought to be something you want to consider as you look for housing, (e) education (outside of the LSU environs) is not held in high esteem here, (f) the friendliness of most Baton Rougeans as long as you don't come in with an attitude, (g) LSU sports (esp football) is a big deal here.

(2) play pool/bars/walking There are some decent bars downtown, near the Perkins Road overpass (Perkins at I-10) as well as near LSU. There is also a good pool place (Clicks) about 10 minutes from LSU. In general, we're not a walking kind of town, although there are some developments (Town Centre, Citiplace, Perkins Rowe, Perkins Overpass) that are within walking distance of retail establishments.

(3) New Orleans is about 70 miles away, and there's lots to do. But until you're familiar with that city, I would not advise straying from the French Quarter and/or St Charles Ave. The dangerous areas are literally blocks away, and if you're not careful, you can end up in one or more of those areas.

(4) And now, the biggie - where do I live ? Since you have no kids, and your husband will be working at LSU, I'll give some general and more specific recommendations:

General Stay south of Florida Blvd and Government, east of Park Blvd and north of LSU. Within this remaining region, I would avoid (a) Blvd De Province, (b) Gardere/GSRI, (c) apartments on the other side of the Albertsons on Perkins at Essen.

More specific With your husband's LSU job, I'd recommend starting with an area (assuming age of the house is not an issue) approximately bordered by Park Blvd, Government, S Foster/College, and Highland. I think you'd probably like the Perkins Road overpass area (Perkins at I-10) because it's near some decent bars, as well as the LSU Lakes and LSU itself. I will tell you that personally I'm not really crazy about areas between Park Blvd and Acadian because of their proximity to some not so nice areas. But I AM recommending this area so you can be near retail and not have to deal with the nastiest BR traffic when dealing with an LSU commute.

Anyway, best of luck to you/your husband !

[BRMan]

One more thing I'd like to add - you mentioned earlier that you like cycling. Along (1) the LSU Lakes (2) the levee between downtown and LSU, (3) Capital Heights are cyclling paths within town.

[darylwi]

The food. Food here is an art and actually tastes. After living here a while, nothing will ever taste as good as what you will eat here.

Just got back from New Mexico and I've been to Colorado a time or too. The people in both locales seem nice, so BTR may not surprise you much. I will say that in some instances, open racism doesn't seem so apparent out west. You will notice it in the south. But residences don't seem so segregated in the south like other places. You will see black/white/hispanic, rich and poor living next door to each other in the south. Trailers next to mansions on some rural roads and in small towns.

Definitely learn back roads because BTR traffic can be hell at times. But if you work at LSU and live within town, especially southdowns, garden district, traffic shouldn't be an issue except game day Saturdays. You will notice tons of people around the LSU lakes during the day and evenings. Watch the area along Stanford Ave though. It get's a little hairy with the pedestrians and the fast moving cars.
Downtown has good bars and I think the new Punchers has pool tables too. Same deal for the area around the Perkins Overpass. Of course, they aren't like NOLA bars, but I like the atmosphere here none-the-less. NOLA isn't far away, but traffic can be even worse sometimes getting there and around the city. It is very easy to get lost, as I've done it often when I was younger and I've been with people and heard of people getting very lost very quickly. And it doesn't take much to end up in a bad part of town down there, or have a brick thrown through your windshield (true story). Best advice, learn you way around through Google Earth and maybe ride down with some new friends first. Then you can go exploring on your own.

In Colorado, I was in Boulder. Very nice town. Maybe a little too pricey for me though.

[jcn1130]

FOrt Collins is one of my favorite towns! I lived in Denver, which is where I am eventually going to end up going back to now that hubby is gone his own way. I also lived in the Baton Rouge area and still have marvelous friends there. I agree with BRMan on the weather differences. Believe it or not, Colorado gets more sunny days that BR, however, the BR landscape is far greener long into the fall and winter. You don't have the spectacular autumns like in CO, but spring is stunning...everything is in technicolor.

You are definitely in for a culture shock. Some good, some not. Through the adoption process, I have some white children and some mixed, so they learned a lot in BR. They didn't have to think about race much in Colorado, but they became very sensitive to it in BR. Not always a bad thing, though. It was a learning experience in a lot of ways. We made some excellent friends there...you may have to find a church to find a social group. Poverty in BR looks a lot different than in Colorado...be prepared for that, but it isn't as scary as some make it seem. I worked around Southern University a lot and was never threatened or had any problems, but you still want to be smart. I was very nervous in Walker, though, when someone at a meeting went off on a racist rant and assumed that because I was white I would understand. I didn't, so I immediately became the enemy in the room. I prefer to glorify the wonderful, fabulous people I did meet and became lifelong friends with. Again...everyone goes to church, it seems, and I was often asked, What church do you attend?, right after being asked if I was married.

Food...Oh.My!!!! In BR everyone offers you a meal when you visit. I have never been fed so well. The restaurants are great...I know that Fort Collins has good restaurants, but WAIT UNTIL YOU VISIT BATON ROUGE'S OFFERINGS! Right now, I am imaging the gumbo at Chelsea's.

Entertainment is not what you're used to. You can go to a different play in Denver every night of the month, but not in BR. Every now and then a Broadway play comes through,but generally for concerts and first rate theater tours you will need to travel to New Orleans. If you are not a bar hopper, you can still find good live music...just ask the locals where to go. The crowds tend to be on the young side, though.

Traffic...about the same as in Denver. I did have to learn some back roads just to avoid the interstate, which is not wide enough to handle the traffic. Nothing like I-25. Bike riding is mostly in the LSu area, I found. My youngest child remarked that he thought it was funny that you just don't see many adults riding bikes...mostly children; whereas in CO, every adult seems to own a bike and there are bike paths everywhere. You will be car dependent in Baton Rouge, too. Unless you live in certain areas, you must have a car.

I truly miss CO. I have to move a lot because of my job, but will be quitting that and heading back up there as soon as I can.

PM me if you have any questions about the differences.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by jcn1130

My youngest child remarked that he thought it was funny that you just don't see many adults riding bikes...mostly children; whereas in CO, every adult seems to own a bike and there are bike paths everywhere. You will be car dependent in Baton Rouge, too. Unless you live in certain areas, you must have a car..

Yes and no. You do have a contingent of bikers/joggers in the City Park/LSU Lakes area. River Road (from downtown all the way to Iberville Parish) is pretty popular as well. And there are people who like to go biking up in St Francisville.

In New Orleans, you have additional options, like the 50+ mile Tammany Trace, and I've heard the levee is paved along the East Bank in Jefferson Parish all the way (or so I've been told) to Norco in St Charles Parish.