New Orleans!

I have always had a fascination with this town. I went once, as a child, and my only memory is of eating croissants in the French Quarter. New Orleans always seemed so un-American to me, much more like a European city than any other city I had been to in the states. Now that I am older, I realize that we hardly left the French Quarter on our vacation, and that the French Quarter is surely not representative of the rest of the city. Regardless, that is the memory I have, and for the time being it doesn't seem to bother me. I suppose I am also attracted to this city because of the food. I love anything spicy, but alas, the rest of my family deplores peppers and spices of any kind. I am fortunate to eat Cajun food once a year. The thought of having infinite numbers of Cajun restaurants at my very fingertips takes me away to a figurative food heaven. Mmm, I just convinced myself food will be one of the subjcets I cover tonight. Actually, it will be my first.

Food

Well, I didnt lie. If you deplore spicy food, the bad news is that this paragraph is dedicated to all things Cajun. A Google search of "Cajun food New Orleans" returns over 593,000 results. Hmm, where to start? Lacking a creative method to select a link from all these results, I chose the first one, Oliver's Creole Restaurant. A quick glance at the menu reveals many traditional Cajun delicacies such as crawfish etouffe, creole gumbo, catfish, and... Creole rabbit? Who knew? As indecisive as I am, I think the tasters platter at 21.95 is for me. It includes fish, shrimp, oysters, crab and salmon cakes, and creole gumbo; all battered and deep fried of course. The restaurant comes highly reviewed by Zagat and has even been featured on an episode of The Food Network. There's Mother Oliver to the right, whose recipes are still the foundation upon which this restaurant sits, so they claim. To the left is the main dining room. Nothing too fancy, but who wants to eat Cajun food in a pretentious atmosphere?

NASHVILLE

I have never been to Nashville, Tenessee nor have I really been interested in this city, but a friend moved there last year and has been praising the city ever since. With that in mind, I decided to do some research. There are 607,000 people living in Nashivlle, making it the second biggest city in Nashville just behind Memphis. Nashville has earned the reputation of being home to the country music indsustry and rightfully so, the four largest country music labels all have headquarters in this town. There is a lot more to the city than just country music, I was impressed by the art scene which I will go into further detail below, some have even gone so far to dub Nashville as the "Athens of the South" due to its impressive array of musems, galleries, and the like.

Recreation

I realize its cheezy and touristy, but if I ever make it to this city, I would want to tour their version of the Parthenon. This exact replication of the original sits in centennial park and is filled with replicas of famous Greek Gods and Godesses. I have always wanted to go to Greece and tour the ruins, but I think for now this building is as close as I am going to get. Now to make myself feel cooler, I think I need to profile a night club. This place is called the tin roof and looks like any bar we would find in Fort Collins. I realize the picture is small but if you look at it closely it really looks pretty similar to Tonys or Lucky Joes or any of the bars downtown in Fort Collins. Also, on certain nights they have live music. Here is a link to their myspace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=41692721

Miami

It is freezing in my house right now. My roommates have a strict no-heat in the house policy to save money on our heating bill so it is no wonder that I picked Miami for this week's city. Admittedly I have only been to Miami once, on a layover before going out of the country; although it made quite an impression. We were fortunate enough to stay the night in South Beach, one of the hipper areas in town. I was amazed by the art deco buildings and the abundance of neon lights. I believe it was a weekday night, yet the atmosphere was festive, I can only imagine what it must be like on the weekends. A large group of us went to dinner on famed street Ocean Drive. I remember seeing the most animated people I had ever seen, and I hail from LA where we have our fair share of the crazies. After dinner we walked around Ocean Dr. and it seemed that at almost every block there was a performer. The performances ranged from music and dancing to magic shows and everything in between. I hope to go back soon.

Some basics.

Miami is the second largest city in Florida, with a population just over 400,000. It definitely seems like a very international city. In my short stay, I remember hearing many different languages which attests to this fact. The city certainly holds many ties to Latin America. This is evident by the many Hispanic restaurants and clubs that line the city streets, which brings me to one of my favorite aspects of any city: FOOD. We ate at a Cuban restaurant on Ocean Avenue, here we are just outside the restaurant. While the name escapes me, it really is of little importance as there are hundreds of restaurants squeezed into a relatively small space. Make sure to sit outside if possible, the enjoyment of this dinner came from the people-watching almost as much as it did from the food. As we strolled the streets of South Beach after dinner, I could not help but feel like we had traveled back in time to 1950's Havana. The men wore linen pants and shirts and smoked the largest cigars I had ever seen. Also, those cool rounded cars from the 50's were out in full force that night adding to the sense of being back in time.

Residence

Miami compares favorably with other large cities in terms of rental rates. Before checking out apartments on craigslist, I assumed anything by the beach would be incredibly expensive, and well out of the reach of current college grads. Surprisingly, this is not the case. According to aparmentratings.com the average price for a 2 bedroom apartment in Miami as of 2007 was 1,274. http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/FL-Miami-Pricing.html I included the link because this website has information on different types of apartments so if you were truly interested, you could get a more personalized perception of what it would cost to actually live here. What is so great about Miami is that there truly is somewhere you would be happy to call home at every price level. This has not held true for many of the other large cities I have profiled in the past. Here we have a 2 bed/2 bath one the ocean that rents for 1800/month.

Split evenly, that's 900/month in rent, a lot of money! But, relative to LA or SF where 900/month will ( if your lucky) barely get you into a studio in a not-so-desirable part of town, that's not too bad. Fort the sake of getting a better perspective on the Miami apartment market I decided to look for apartments in the lower range.

Below is a 2 bedroom that rents for 1175/month. This unit is about 450 sf smaller than the previous apartment, and the pool is certainly not as chic. However, I refused to sacrifice location, as this unit is blocks away from the beach. At just around 585/month, I think this apartment is a good value. Last year I paid 515/month for my apartment in Fort Collins which really puts this Miami apartment at 585/month into perspective.

Well, I am sold; I'm moving to Miami! With its affordable housing, great food and beaches, and diverse group of inhabitants, Miami definitely moves to the top of my serious consideration list for cities to move to after graduation.

Charleston, South Carolina

Sorry my last post only provided you with mere seconds of reading material, it was a hectic weekend. For this post, I decided to go outside of my comfort zone and profile a city I have never been too, Charleston. Not only have I not been to this city, but I have never been to the South, or East Coast. What this means is that you will get an incredibly objective profile of the city because I will be unable to input my own experiences/recollections like I have been able to do with the previous posts... I think thats a good thing.

When I think of Charleston, I think of the old South. I think of kind, well mannered people, large estates and weeping willows. The Charleston of 2007 holds onto its historical roots, but is still a very modern and liveable city. Charleston has won the award for "best mannered city" for the past 12 years according to Marjabelle Stewart, Americas most renowned etiquette expert. Don't get the idea that this city is full of people attending balls and being overly polite though; Charleston has a lot of appeal for young 20-something year olds as well. Take for example, The Torch Velvet Lounge http://www.torchvelvetlounge.com/about.html

Their website claims, "Torch is a cool haven for relaxing in a sexy yet subtle envirionement. Torch Pays homage to NYC and London's sexiest lounges in this casual urban chic atmospher accented with multiple semi-private rooms." This photo, which I got of their website, neither seems relaxing or subtle, I guess definitions are relative. If you do make it to the website make sure you make your way to the gallery tab, which includes many pictures similar to this one, most of which I would be nervous to publish on this blog.

Well, after a long night at the bars your going to need somewhere to retire to. Charleston has an attractive housing market that at the moment is favorable to buyers/renters. As of 2005, the median home price was 211,000, which is almost identical to Fort Collins. That means you can expect to pay rent similar to here. Of all the cities profiled on this blog, I think Charleston offers the most for the money. Here we have a newly remodeled 2 bedroom in downtown that rents for 1,500.

Tucson, Arizona

Its hot. Its the desert. There are a lot of college kids.

Week 5: Arcata, California

For some reason I have been reluctant to leave the West Coast, and this week's entry is no different. Arcata has a population of 16,500 and is located in Humboldt County in northern California. The city is home to Humboldt State University, and is like Fort Collins and Eugene, a serious college town. As you can see from the picture, Arcata is on the Pacific coast and boasts some truly spectacular scenery. The city is quite proud of its "hippy reputation," various reggae festivals take place here every year and it seems as if one out of every two people is at least sporting some tye-die. I found a great description of the city by a group of self proclaimed hippies at: http://www.hippy.com/review-14.html. According to this website, the city in the last year passed a law that allows women to walk around the central plaza topless. The central plaza of which they speak is a grassy park-like area in the middle of town that is surrounded by shops and restaurants. So if after spending four year in college living under constant deadlines and pressure you just want to get away for a while and relax, I would certainly recommend Arcata, California to you.

Week 4: Eugene, Oregon

It occurred to me that until now I have only been profiling large cities. I realized that some of you might be interested in moving somewhere where the pace is a little bit slower. This week I'll be profiling Eugene, Oregon. I have always considered Eugene to be the "Fort Collins of the West." Eugene's population of just over 137,000 means it has almost exactly the same population as Fort Collins. Additionally, Eugene is home to the University of Oregon meaning the college town vibe is alive and well in this city. As you can see from the map, while not on the coast, Eugene lies fairly close to the Pacific Ocean. As with the rest of the Pacific Northwest, it rains a lot in this town. With an average annual rainfall of 50" Eugene receives over 14" of rain a year more than Portland.



Recreation
Due to a wealth of easily accessible hiking trails, rivers, and mountains, it should come as no surprise that Eugene is a town that is crazy about outdoor activities. Bicycle riding seems to be one of the most popular pastimes in this city. Debbie Williamson, a writer for the Lane County, where Eugene is located, magazine has this to say about Eugene's trails, " Lane County, Oregon is a cycling paradise for both road and mountain biking. Within a half hour’s ride from Eugene, cyclist’s encounter vineyard covered hills reminiscent of France and flat stretches of scenic byways resembling Holland. " With this imagery even the most hardened enemy of bicycle riding would be tempted to give it a try. Besides outdoor activities Eugene is also known for its performing and visual art scene. The Hult Center for the Performing Arts, pictured here, is home to many performances and houses a concert hall, theatre, amphitheatre, and several art galleries. Additionally, there are a large number of live theatre groups that perform here including the Willamette Repertory Theatre and the Actor's Cabaret.


Jobs
Locating a good job is probably the most important consideration of any move to a new city. In Eugene, the largest employers are the University of Oregon and The Sacred Heart Medical Center. Interestingly enough many large multinational corporations got their start in Eugene including Nike and Adobe. Following are links to job boards for the city and the university.

City of Eugene
http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=244&PageID=0

The University of Oregon
http://hr.uoregon.edu/jobs/classified.php
and
http://hr.uoregon.edu/jobs/unclassified.php?subtype=administrative


The abundance of art, outdoor activities and natural beauty make Eugene an appealing place for some. For those who love the small town vibe of Fort Collins but want a change of scenery Eugene should remain a serious consideration. Additionally, Eugene is a college town which means the live music and underground film culture should be alive and well. Check it out.