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I spent too many years an hour or so outside a great city, and I'll never do it again. I loved the city, but I tired of suburban living. I'm much happier in a central location in a much smaller city. (And to me it's small and still great!)
Prime of a (very) good city!- That's where I am now. I mean, what are the "great" cities of the U.S.? NYC, L.A, Chicago and maybe Philidelpia and San Francisco, the next top tier are all excellent cities, but few would consider them great. And as others have noted living an hour away from any city is enough to make you rarely visit it except for special occasions as opposed to experiencing it daily.
Not just close to a real nice city, I'm walking distance to downtown, the bay and all its ammenities and still in a very pleasant, quiet but vibrant "village" neigborhood with a SFH, great garden and bordering canyon open space.
The ocean is just 8 minutes away, the mountains 30 and the desert an hour, so, easy enough to escape the bustle of the city when we need to. The only time when we are in the burbs is visiting those few friends that are unfortunate to live there or driving through. We always breathe a big sigh of relief when we come back into the welcoming downtown skyline. When we need a bit more big city urban experience L.A. is a two hour drive or the international airport is a $8, ten minute Uber ride away!
We have no plans on moving but if we ever did it would be to a real nice city, big or small with as close to this setup as we could replicate. Prime neighborhood, walking distance if not to downtown, at least to a great village area with plenty of shops, pubs and restaurants, library and some theater. And a quick Trolly, bus or Uber away to a larger metro. There are plenty of fine little cities that would fit that bill.
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