Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns? • Hacker News Board

Plus it's a really relaxed and friendly place to be, more pubs/bars than days in the year (really) and the famous North and South Laines shopping areas for people who don't really enjoy the mall. Oh and some people call it BrightonCisco (http://presencelabs.com/2007/03/07/brightoncisco/).

There are many other reasons to be here and I'm sorry to any one if i've missed something really important out.

Kev

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#84

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 10:33 AM UTC

kevTheDev wrote: post #83

How about Brighton, UK? It's pretty small (around 250k people). It's by the sea. It's pretty hilly (For England) It's an hour from London. It's very hacker friendly - we have: 2 Universities: http://www.brighton.ac.uk http://www.sussex.ac.uk A thriving geek/entrepreneur community: http://www.brightongirlgeekdinners.co.uk/ http://www.brightoncodingdojo.co.uk/ http://fivepoundapp.com/meetup/10/ http://www.opencoffeesus…

[deleted]

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#85

Post by DanielBMarkham » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 11:16 AM UTC

Charlottesville, Virginia.

Lots of great outdoorsy things to do, great university, great cost-of-living, great quality-of-life, and fairly-easy access to Washington DC if you want to do the huge city stuff. (Plus there are things that DC has that you're just not going to find anywhere else) UVA has a huge medical college with all kinds of biotech. There is some startup activity in the area, but as you mention, you'll be taking a hit from places like SF.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#86

Post by DocSavage » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 11:34 AM UTC

luccastera wrote: post #52

May I suggest Charlottesville, VA. It's really a great city to live in with a good climate and with UVA there, plenty of things to do. It's only 2 hours from Washington DC and 1 hour from Richmond when you do have a need for the big city (airport, etc...)

Charlottesville is great but may be a little smaller than your target city. It has a little biotech spun off from UVa. The downtown mall is a great little area with a nice pedestrian mall.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#87

Post by DocSavage » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 11:37 AM UTC

ereldon wrote: post #80

davidw wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to live someplace I can get around by bicycle. Perhaps that's technically possible in, say, mountain view, but mountain view isn't really a town unto itself, but a suburb or exurb or something. For all practical purposes, all those peninsula towns are part of a big, urban area that stretches from SF to San Jose. I agree that it would be good in a lot of other ways, and it's a tough decision, but in terms of li…

i get around on a bicycle in mountain view, palo alto, and the other towns around here. you just need to figure out the bike routes.

Yeah, Palo Alto and Stanford are very bike friendly and very expensive :/ I got around for most of my first year on bike.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#88

Post by madmotive » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 11:37 AM UTC

kevTheDev wrote: post #83

How about Brighton, UK? It's pretty small (around 250k people). It's by the sea. It's pretty hilly (For England) It's an hour from London. It's very hacker friendly - we have: 2 Universities: http://www.brighton.ac.uk http://www.sussex.ac.uk A thriving geek/entrepreneur community: http://www.brightongirlgeekdinners.co.uk/ http://www.brightoncodingdojo.co.uk/ http://fivepoundapp.com/meetup/10/ http://www.opencoffeesus…

Don't forget the brilliant SussexDigital that brings much of this together: http://www.sussexdigital.com

... and groups like http://www.wiredsussex.com, http://www.projectbrighton.com and http://www.inuda.net (I'm the founder of that one)

.. oh and the weather today is amazing! : http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/brighton/clusters/beach-pi...

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#89

Post by NextNetNow » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 12:21 PM UTC

KB wrote: post #26

dfranke wrote: post #3

Somerville, MA fits the bill pretty well, for sufficiently small values of "decent climate".

I lived in Cambridge, MA (Harvard Square in particular) for two years and would say that Somerville, Arlington, and Cambridge are all good places to check out. Boston and the surrounding area has become one of the leading centers for BioTech research, so that would be a big plus for your wife. I currently live in Providence, RI which is about an hour south of Boston. Smaller hacker community, but at least there is on…

Here's a third vote for Providence. I'm moved here a couple of years ago from NYC largely because it has so much potential to be an startup/hacker hub. I'm very involved in two initiatives at the center of the city's info-tech/digital media scene. www.rinexus.com www.providencegeeks.com Feel free to drop a line if you like.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#90

Post by davidw » Fri, Feb 08, 2008, 12:43 PM UTC

ardit33 wrote: post #69

jey wrote: post #22

Why not live in the bay area, enjoy all of the awesomeness, and opt out of the "rat race"?

housing is insane around in here. 800k buys you a shack. Unless you were either 1 Rich, 2.Cashed out huge amount of option shares 3.Gettin in debt out of your eyeballs, it is hard to afford a decent house with a normal salary. I like Berkeley, and SF, but still, living around in here is very expensive.

I find that this has a big impact on the local demographics. One of the reasons I was so happy to return to Padova in 2000 is that it just feels more 'real' to me. There are rich people, poor people, and everything in between. Lots of old people, but plenty of young people and families as well.

The bay area, unless you're rich, seems to be more about "get in, make money, get out". We're a bit weary of moving, and would like to stay somewhere for a little while.