Possible move to Ohio (Toledo, Bowling Green: apartments, lofts, homes)

[Odytek]

Hello everyone,

I have an opportunity to relocate to Fremont Ohio for my career and i was hoping i could get some quality advice on the best place to live giving a few details about me and my interests. Considering moving to any city that is within an hr commute of Fremont.

I am an African American male in my early 20s and I have pretty much lived in big cities most of my life. Graduated from UW madison (Wisconsin) in 2011.
I am very much a people person and enjoy going out as much as the next person. I enjoy listening to jazz, blues, hip hop, r&B (some pop). Not particularly interested in country or any kind of rock. I can sit in a bar with good food, drinks, and music but i also enjoy getting on the dance floor.
Main thing i enjoy doing outdoors are sports. Love playing, volleyball, basketball and football. Also into ping pong.
I like unique apartments with trendy designs/amenities that gives me room to create the perfect living space and not just a unit that resembles everything else..

Knowing this much i was hoping i could get some insight on where to live. right now I'm guessing somewhere in Toledo? but i don't know if someone would recommend downtown, campus area, or an entirely different city. Few questions:

- Best place to meet new people. And in general are people in Ohio friendly or stand offish?
- Best area to live in considering age, racial diversity, and safety
- Best apartment building to live in in that area
- Best place to have a gym membership
- Best area/bars/clubs to have a good time

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Rebek56]

I can't comment on the more hip apartment buildings, but the Basin Street Grill in West Toledo has a blues jam every week.

[rrtechno]

You are aware that it is roughly 40 miles from Toledo to Fremont and you could plan on roughly an hours drive time each way, every day, aren't you?

[Odytek]

Yup, i commute about an hr for work now and i do not mind the driving.

[Tobias C]

It's not even an hours drive. If you chose to live in Downtown Toledo, or Perrysburg, you could be home in 45 mins. I made that drive up 53, and down the turnpike everyday for a couple years.

When you say 20s I don't know if you're like young 20s and into college kid stuff, or mid to upper twenties and into actual cool people stuff (like me). For starters, the only cities worth your time are the Toledo metro area, and maybe Bowling Green, or Sandusky perhaps. The most options for your social life will probably be in Toledo so that's my recommendation. The most unique apartments you'll find in my opinion are in the big old Victorian homes in the Old West End, or any of the newly renovated loft apartments in the cool old buildings Downtown. If your coming from living in big cities, you'll find Toledo a very affordable city. As far as entertainment, nightlife, etc goes, there's little pockets of bars/clubs in different areas of the city. I don't know what the best options for hip hop are as I don't tend to hang out at such places. Obviously a lot of bars in the hood will have that but you might want something better than that. My guess is the best places for hip hop and dancing would be the bars around the UT campus as well as in downtown Bowling Green (only like 15 mins away from Toledo, smaller college town). Blues and Jazz can be found pretty easily. I go to Manhattans on Adams St downtown (Uptown) to see blues bands every so often. It's a good place as far as diversity goes, more older folks, bit probably an even 50/50 black and white mix, but there's usually at least a few young people hanging out. The Old West End neighborhood is adjacent to Downtown too so its close enough to the happenings downtown. Both downtown and the OWE are fairly diverse.

I can't really tell ya much about gyms. I know the Urban Active gyms are probably the biggest and nicest ones.

Downtown, some good apartment buildings (your style in mind) would be....on the cheaper end like 500ish: The Hillcrest, Riverview Apartments. Medium price like 600-800ish: Commodore Perry, LaSalle Bldg, Standart Lofts. Or high price 1000-1400ish: Bartley Lofts. ....those are all big buildings with lots of units. There's plenty of other cool smaller buildings with neat apartments, and if you really dig around, you can find cool lofts above a lot of business storefronts.

That's all I got for now. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions! Welcome to Toledo!....that is if you decide to live here

[Odytek]

wow, thanks that helps a ton. Really into more blues and jazz if i had to pick but the outlets i have around me currently are all hip hop which i do like as well.

It is pretty much 100% that i will be moving to toledo now so one other question i did have was about internet providers and cable. Pretty much which is the best to go with in that area?

And to answer your other question, i am going to be 24 this year, so i am pretty much done with the "college scene"

[SonnyDaze]

Originally Posted by Odytek

wow, thanks that helps a ton. Really into more blues and jazz if i had to pick but the outlets i have around me currently are all hip hop which i do like as well.

It is pretty much 100% that i will be moving to toledo now so one other question i did have was about internet providers and cable. Pretty much which is the best to go with in that area?

And to answer your other question, i am going to be 24 this year, so i am pretty much done with the "college scene"

Buckeye Cablesystem

[Tobias C]

Originally Posted by CincyExpert

Buckeye Cablesystem

Agreed.