31–40 of 154 posts
Having been to all these towns, I have to agree with him that Seattle has the best beer scene in the US.
And yet, the best beer in the country comes from Kalamazoo, Michigan. http://www.bellsbeer.com/
Whenever someone talks about how dirty SF is, you know they confined themselves to SOMA, TL, the Mission and maybe North Beach. The rest of the city is about as clean as any big city in the US. There's nothing particularly dirty about the Sunset, Richmond, Pac Heights, Cole Valley, Parnassus, Diamond Heights, West Portal, Forrest Hill, Russian Hill, Glen Park, or the other neighborhoods that make up most of San Franc…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet, the best beer in the country comes from Kalamazoo, Michigan. http://www.bellsbeer.com/
I'm a huge fan of Bell's (and am currently missing it terribly), but to be fair I feel there are better breweries out there - granted, not many, but they do exist.
Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…
+1 for Minneapolis i live here and love this city, lived in other cities with better tech scenes, but imo this town has alot to offer. yellowblkpk i'm assuming you live in the twin cities too, do we have good meetups tailored to an HN like community here? i haven't found anything good yet.
We are here, come find us:)
I organize PyMNtos
Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…
The main con for a hacker is that the tech scene is grim. The jobs are very boring and the salaries in general are pretty bad. In addition, the jobs that do exist are usually really out in the burbs. Every so often I go through the motions of creating a cost of living spreadsheet and even with the cheaper cost of housing, when I factor in car ownership and utilities I still seem to come out behind with the lower salaries. On the other hand, the bar seems to be pretty low for getting a home loan. I have a college friend who is an unemployed music instructor who "owns" a home in Powderhorn, and the person who cuts my hair in Brooklyn actually lives in Northeast and makes enough to money cutting hair 5 days a month in Brooklyn to cover her mortgage.
I don't agree that MPLS has great nightlife but there is a much better local music scene than any other place I've ever lived. The reason is that you can afford to rent a house with a basement in which to practice your drum kit on a drummer's salary. I also would not say there is great public transportation. The bike friendliness is awesome, though.
It's a little odd to put the whole north midwest into one group, each of those towns are hundreds of miles apart from each other. The culture can be quite different. I never felt MPLS had much in common with Chicago, for example.
Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…
+1 for Minneapolis i live here and love this city, lived in other cities with better tech scenes, but imo this town has alot to offer. yellowblkpk i'm assuming you live in the twin cities too, do we have good meetups tailored to an HN like community here? i haven't found anything good yet.
What are your guys' opinions about LA? Coming from Singapore it's a huge step up, but I'm sure SF is far crazier.
LA is okay. Probably is between 3rd-10th position of tech hubs. If you really like the culture, weather, nightlife, or have ties to the city, then you'll do fine staying. You could probably start a decent company. USC, UCLA, and CalTech have fine CS depts. The entertainment and aerospace industries are strong here. That's why MySpace (originally social for musicians) and SpaceX (a new space-vehicle startup) work well…
What about Caltech?
Some of my fav cities in the world are those I least expected to be awesome.
[1] not a scientific study but exhibit A: Los Angeles
Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…
I'm from MN and my family still lives in and around Minneapolis. It's a great area, if you can handle the winter. The main con for a hacker is that the tech scene is grim. The jobs are very boring and the salaries in general are pretty bad. In addition, the jobs that do exist are usually really out in the burbs. Every so often I go through the motions of creating a cost of living spreadsheet and even with the cheaper…
Nitelife, music scene, etc. are all criteria I pulled from Joe's article. I'm not particularly into the "bar scene", but I do know that entertainment (theater, music, etc.) is top notch.
I agree that bunching all of these cities together is kind of dodgy, but I get the feeling that most everyone that writes posts like Joe's are from the edges of the country and I personally would love to see the middle of the country represented more here. So I grouped the entire middle together. :)
Having been to all these towns, I have to agree with him that Seattle has the best beer scene in the US.
I think he does sell San Francisco a bit short in the beer department. While the city itself isn't known to produce a huge amount of widely known brews, there are a couple good breweries in the city limits. Additionally, some of the best beers in the world are all made within a half-day drive of San Francisco (Russian River, nuff said).