Best and worst places you've been to or lived in

[bagelman]

Not based on politics (unless that seriously made you unwelcome) but lifestyle, quality of life, ability to find work etc.

[Badger]

A slum in Akron for about year after taking the bar. A boarding house for $125/month, utilities included. Even in the mid 90's that was below cheap. You can only imagine the other types who lived there.

[angus]

haha.  That's pretty bad.

Worst place I ever had was the first two months I lived in Boston when I lived with two old Italian women.  One was really old and crotchety, and the other, her mother, was even older, and I suspect--though I don't know for sure because she could speak no English--that she was even more crotchety.  They had a dog that pissed all over the floor in all rooms, and it stank to high heaven.  Nasty.  The landlady, Helen Frank from New Zealand, didn't have any manners either.  She'd bust in any time, day or night, even when I was masturbating, without so much as an apology, just to ask a question or to offer tomatoes or cucumbers from her garden.  God bless her, those fruits were just the thing in those days, when I was far between paychecks.  The whole building stank, and it was loud.  Sirens out on the street all night.  (It was near the Roxbury Crossing station on the Orange Line)  And every time I walked down the sidewalk this fat Hatian woman made me dance with her before I could pass.  Still, it was 225 per month, on the spot, no questions asked, and a roof over my head with running water while I looked for a better spot to hang my hat.

The best place, of course, was the very next place I lived, and where I lived for five years.  It was four miles north of downtown Boston, and probably not very posh, but the owner was easy-going, quick to respond to problems, and after that first hellhole any place seemed like paradise by comparison.  Also, the two women with whom I lived there were very clean, and paid their bills on time.  They had even been trained, I assume by previous boyfriends or male roomies, to leave the toilet lid up.  A rare enough quality in women, and having two such women flatmates at once is an exceedinly rare treat.  Also, at 300 per month with no increases for five years, the price was right.

[muon2]

The Boston area had some of that for me, too. When I first moved to the area for grad school I shared an apartment in West Newton - nice quiet neighborhood, but relatively far from campus and expensive (my share was over $200 after the three-way split). The next year I cut the distance in half finding a place on Moody St in Waltham, the cost to me was more like $150, but it was noisy and the maintenance was poor. Midway through my second year I got an opening in an old 4-flat two blocks away down a quiet side street by the old watch factory. It was a spacious 4-bedroom on two floors, and the landlords were an older couple who lived in the building and took care of the building. On top of that they thought students should get a break and my share of the rent was $70 (1980)! I stayed there for the next 6 1/2 years.

[exopolitician]

Best: Providence, RI and Northwest Florida (Hometown)

Worst: Dallas, Texas and Richmond, Virginia

[VPH]

Best: Plateau Mont Royal neighborhood, Montreal, CA (I've spent a good 9 months here total); Burlington, VT (just visited a few times)

Worst: Prichard, AL (Used to live in a neighboring city and knew it was awful from driving through)