Interesting article on living and leaving Boulder (Denver, Longmont: real estate, house)

[TCHP]

Yet Boulder continues to be included near the top in pop cultures surveys of best places to live in CO. Thus perpetuating the myth to non residents that it is the best place to live for nearly everyone.

[Thoreau424]

I again visited Boulder last weekend, and once again saw no justification for the hype. Is it the Pearl Street "mall" area? If so, whoopy-doo. I've seen the same in many cities. I know the college is there, but if you're done with that chapter, that will have no draw.

The roads are repressed as to flow, and the constant stops for pedestrians are asinine. There seems to only be two groups there: the exercise-obsessed jocks, and the people in awe of their utopia.

PR and myth-making must be the only things fueling the hype, and keeping people thinking the city is uber special.

[Sean Kellogg]

People clearly want to live in Boulder. It has nothing to do with PR and myth-making, it has everything to do with people willing to pay large sums of money to live here. If it were such a terrible place then nobody would want to. Stop visiting if you hate it so much.

[Thoreau424]

Originally Posted by Sean Kellogg

People clearly want to live in Boulder. It has nothing to do with PR and myth-making, it has everything to do with people willing to pay large sums of money to live here. If it were such a terrible place then nobody would want to. Stop visiting if you hate it so much.

Yeah, but why? What is it specifically that draws people there other than hype? Saying people want to live there, and pointing to people moving there does not explain anything or give reasons.

I never said I hate Boulder, so you are failing in your assumptions. It's an okay place to visit, but also bit of a yawn and a bore. It's more of a little town trying to parade itself in big clothing. Maybe that's what it's all about; people fooling each other. It's hilarious to observe though. That's worth a visit

[Sean Kellogg]

Reasons people love Boulder has been done a million times in this forum. Use the search feature and you'll find plenty.

Every city isn't for every person, so what resonates with people willing to spend $1 million+ on a dinky house in Boulder might not resonate with you. There was a time I _loved_ living in NYC, when I was in my early 20s, but now you couldn't pay me to live there. That doesn't mean NYC is "hype" or "crap," it just means it's not for me at this point in my life. Obviously lots of people love it and want to live there. I do miss the pizza, though. Boulder pizza is crap comparatively!

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by Sean Kellogg

Boulder pizza is crap comparatively!

I pretty much agree, but give Audrey Jane's Pizza Garage a try. It's actually good!

[LostSailor4326]

My wife and I bought a condo in Boulder about 7 months ago, and I can give my take on why I did it and what's keeping us here.

Biggest draw for me is the trails (yes, typical). I guess you can peg me under the "exercise obsessed jocks" although I consider myself more of a "dirtbag trail runner" if we're going to generalize. The extensive and varied trail system within city limits that still provides urban amenities is hard to match. I can ride my bike to over a dozen trailheads, run through one of the most visited state parks in the state past 100 rock climbing routes, have over 100 miles of trail at my feet, run up multiple peaks, and get in 2500 feet of elevation gain with some great views. And I get to do this every day. Then when I'm done, I can cycle to work on an some solid bike paths past dozens of businesses/restaurants/retail while my wife takes a bus to work at a pretty cool college. It's a combination of rural and urban that you don't see very often. On my off days, I can easily get to real mountain trails with about an hour car ride or a much longer bike ride. I suppose for me it's accessibility.

I'm not going to get into my philosophy on running, but I don't run races, I don't do groups, and I don't really follow any sort of "idiots guide on running". I'm just a guy that likes to run up and down mountains/trails, and I live in one of the best places for it. It's ingrained in the culture here; you can take what you need and leave the rest.

And just miles away from all the trails, there's a core area of amenities/shops/restaurants that mingles with the outdoor scene along with a bunch of like minded people that have similar views on outdoor recreation. There's a live and let live attitude here if you look in the right places for it. I enjoy the laid back, crunchy, throwback to the hippy era vibe around town, though I believe most will say it's diminishing.

Yeah, you've probably seen Pearl St mall look a-likes everywhere. But how many of them have iconic, unique sedimentary rock formations that create peaks looming 2000 feet above them?

I put about 500 miles a month on 1 vehicle that wife and I share. Driving is a little different out here, the key is to do it as little as possible or during the right time. We don't mind the traffic because we avoid it.

We're not trust funders, we have some college debt, live frugally by nature, and definitely aren't affluent. But our 1 bed condo is more than enough for us, even though we could have gotten a 3 bed house 30 mins away with the same price tag. So because of the accessibility, we're totally willing to compromise.

I would hate to pay 1800/month for a 1 bedroom luxury studio in downtown Denver, but plenty of people see value in it, and are doing it.

Boulder is known for the outdoor recreation and accessibility. Yeah it might have hints of art, culture, music, and typical "city" bullet points but the outdoors always comes out on top. If outdoor recreation isn't your thing, then yeah, it's not going to make sense. When in Rome???

[margo62145]

The guy said he was headed to Zurich. ZURICH???? And he thinks Boulder is expensive??? LMAO

[HatchChile]

I loved Boulder while I lived there from 2010-2014. I lived in South Boulder and used to bike everywhere. I never really spent much time in the downtown area... never really cared for stores, etc. But, I did like the restaurants there. What I loved about Boulder was the open space. I lived right by the big open space and my partner, dog and I used spent so much time running, walking, biking, swimming (the doggy only haha). The views were just breathtaking everywhere in Boulder.

We decided to move from Boulder because at some point we discovered Denver and how absolutely cool and slightly gritty it was. Plus, we totally missed diversity. Boulder likes discussing diversity over a glass of organic wine... but as a foreign, non-white person myself, I kind of got tired of not seeing more people like myself. Denver is different in that regard, of course, it is not as diverse as other big cities, but much diverse than Boulder. I work with so many different people... not just race but socio-economic class, views, etc... which Boulder lacks. Everyone is dressed in Pata-Gucci and discussions are mostly about hiking, skiing and how they are more liberal than everyone in this party because of XYZ... it's a kind of monolith.

Plus, in early 2014 I bought a house in a pretty cool neighborhood in Denver, for the same price we would only get a condo in Boulder. When I miss Boulder, it's just 30-45 min away. But, I can walk to Bluebird and do not worry that I have to drive back to Boulder after 11pm.

People move for various reasons, but, I do not think they are wrong, whatever works for them.

[41Willys]

Boulder is 25.7 square miles surrounded by reality.