In Praise Of......Awesome Leftist College Towns

[marmar]

Berkeley


Ann Arbor


Madison


Austin


Chapel Hill


Cambridge

[armyowalgreens]

1. I wish Tempe was like that.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. Don't knock Tempe so hard

Harry Mitchell, D-Tempe, was city councilman 1970-78, Mayor 1978-94, AZ Senate 1999-2006, and unseated the despicable Limbaugh-wannabe J.D. Hayworth for US Congress AZ-5th district in 2006.


ASU/Tempe may not be a bastion of radicalism, but it's not all bad.

[Hissyspit]

11. delete - responded to wrong post

[armyowalgreens]

26. ASU is nice. But the city itself just isn't that great. Mitchell is a blue dog.

Mill ave is almost always full of psuedo-Scottsdale douchebags.

[sweetloukillbot]

34. You missed out on Mill Ave...

Greatest place in the Phoenix Area till the made Town Lake. The Gin Blossoms at Long Wongs,jazz at Beeloes, Edsel's Attic, Gibson's, Changing Hands Bookstore, Rocky Horror at the Valley Art. Coffee Plantation before it was sold. And back in the 80s Zia's was down there along with another great rock shop, Roads to Moscow. Before that was Bird's Records. The Tower at Mill and University was the best in town. When they created that lake Tempe decided to clean out the junkies and homeless and ASU bought a bunch of the property in the area and turned it into the gentrified plastic bullshit it is now. I avoid it like the plague now, although it sounds like the Centerpoint Theaters are kinda cool again.
I just went to Tempe Marketplace last night and realized that my fave club, Nita's Hideaway, sat where the Cost Plus does now. They condemned the land as a Superfund site and turned around and built a megamall there. Fuck Tempe now (Except for Four Peaks Brewery and some of the restaurants).

Roosevelt Row and South Grand Ave is where it's at in Phoenix now.

[Arugula Latte]

33. They wouldn't give Obama an honorary degree, either.

[sweetloukillbot]

36. How responsible for the Gentrification of Mill was Mitchell?

Honestly don't know if he started that process or if it was Guiliano. That's a big sticking point for me with either mayor, although both were generally good guys. Guiliano's president of GLAAD now.

[whoneedstickets]

39. oops, mispost

wrong spot

[bbinacan]

2. Ah Chapel Hill.

Where I went to college.

[Lancer]

10. Me, too. Class of '82

Loved it so much I moved back 5 years ago!

Go Heels.

[bbinacan]

13. Class of '86 here.

And yes, GO HEELS!

[CurtEastPoint]

23. Class of '72. A very, very special place. n/t

[patrice]

12. Met some AWESOME folks from Chapel Hill at a couple of the BIG Peace rallies in 2003-2005

One Chapel Hill group was street theater folk. I saw them on two occasions; they were doing some very powerful pieces from the perspective of the Innocents killed in war.

[Hissyspit]

14. I was there from '89-'92.

Grad school.

[bertman]

38. Let's hear it for Chapel Hill. But don't forget Carrboro, her sister community.

[Hissyspit]

43. I lived in Carrboro AND Chapel Hill.

:D

[Jim Lane]

42. Chapel Hill is Amherst without the snow

Me: Undergrad at UMass/Amherst, law school at UNC/CH.

Small town, most people brought there because of the institution(s) of higher education, lots of open space just outside town... both of them great places to live.

I had to adjust to moving to the South, but in many ways there was no adjustment at all.

[anonymous171]

3. How embarrassed are they going to be when their cooworkers at the hedge fund see these pics?

[Lucky Luciano]

18. LOL! At least one of them works for a hedgie! nt

[Bluzmann57]

4. Iowa City

University of Iowa. Some young people actually tried to place a citizen's arrest on rove.

[jwirr]

25. My college. I loved the liberal atmosphere there back in the 70s.

[Taverner]

5. Berkeley is there somewhere!!!!

[BlooInBloo]

6. Lots of small liberal college towns too! Like Bellingham, WA...

From a stop-loss protest:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/11757265@N00/536632804/


And Iraq war protest:



http://keithbolling.com/photography/photojournalism/WesternFront.php

[NC_Nurse]

7. I miss Chapel Hill...

:(

Don't forget Boone too. App State!:-)

[Itchinjim]

8. My two favorites:

Iowa City Ia. and Madison Wi.

[depakid]

15. Eugene, Oregon & Missoula, Montana

--------------

[omega minimo]

20. Missoula was just mentioned somewhere as one of the Greenest placest to live

think it might have been Sunset Magazine on livability. Covered Davis CA (also a college town) and Portland, OR.

[depakid]

29. Missoula's grown up a lot over the past 10-15 years

It has more in common with the Pacific Northwest than with most parts of Montana. They even brew fine beer!

[JohnnyLib2]

16. How is Ithaca (Cornell) these days? Strong history, but I've lost touch.

Will appreciate any current report.

[Gabi Hayes]

17. anybody else wondering what an example of an awesome right wing college town would be like?

Berlin, ca. 1936?

[truedelphi]

19. Thank you, Marmar

[silverweb]

21. Santa Cruz, California!

Demonstrating against Prop 8, for starters:



_more_

[MindandSoul]

28. Yep!

I just saw your post. . .one minute after I posted mine!
Yes, Santa Cruz is at the top of the list. . .or should be!
Viva the Banana Slugs!

[silverweb]

37. Go Slugs!

[leveymg]

45. One of my favorite places on Planet Earth. Lighthouse Point.

Lived close by on Sunset.

[MindandSoul]

49. Santa Cruz, California

Yes, Santa Cruz is a special place! West Cliff with Lighthouse point is amazing! But it is the spirit of that city, with the energy brought by the University on the Hill (UCSC) and even the Junior college in Aptos (Cabrillo College) that makes it special!

Why did I ever leave there! I'll never know (except maybe the cost of housing!!!!). But I sure miss it, and especially the people and the diversity, and the open mind and acceptance!

And. . .their FABULOUS Halloween parties on Pacific Mall!

[leveymg]

52. "Spirited" political discussions at The Poet & Patriot.

The "No Guns" contribution jar for Sinn Fein on the bar. The Santa Cruz Express Weekly, and Buzz, my chain-smoking editor. All those wonderful, funny, progressive friends. The storms that came howling and crashing in from the Pacific and the wind that whistled through the walls in that flimsy beach house. My painter friend who rode with me in a VW van from Boston to Santa Cruz. She went back East again after the house burned down. Yes, a special place.

[bigwillq]

22. K and R!

:bounce:

[Tesha]

24. What? No Burlington, Vermont???

(Although the picture of Berkeley could practically be Church Street
in Burlington.)

Tesha

[MindandSoul]

27. Best college town with a social conscience!

Great. . .
But you forgot at least one! Santa Cruz, California, home of the banana slugs. . .and University of California in Santa Cruz!
One of the most progressive, socially conscientious, earth friendly, diverse town in the whole USA!
UCSC is listed among the top liberal colleges in the USA!

Proud to be a slug!

[Initech]

30. No mention of San Diego?

I had some awesome times down in Pacific Beach. That is a major leftist / hippie area.

[bevoette]

31. i knew my AUSTIN had to be there! :)

[Ron Green]

57. However, I didn't see MY Austin.

When I was there the skyline was the Capitol and the UT Tower, and that was it. Jeez, it now looks like Dallas.

I guess you can't go home again.

[Arugula Latte]

32. Love my Berkeley.

Gawd, what a place that was to live in as a young person. Purely magical.

[Blue_Tires]

35. where's Lawrence, Kan.?

[whoneedstickets]

40. Ann Arbor..

And Madison, I love the big-10 college towns.

[Mari333]

51. yep. nt

[Stardust]

41. Gainesville, FL, home of U of F was a liberal oasis...I hope it still is.

[leveymg]

44. Good Gawd, how could you forget Boston?

[marmar]

46. There's a reason I chose "town".....I don't think of Boston that way.

And I did include Cambridge.

[leveymg]

53. My bad.

Went to BU, so I think of it as a town - a bunch of small towns from Back Bay to Newton to Southie on the left bank of the muddy waters of the Charles.

[Enthusiast]

47. Rec! Athens Ohio...nt

[Botany]

58. and how!

[Enthusiast]

59. Funny!

:hi: :fistbump:

[mike_c]

48. Arcata, CA!

[XemaSab]

55. There's a reason why you live in Blue Lake, Mike

:P

[newtothegame]

50. I'm from Iowa City, as liberal as it comes but also a total dump. Epic homelessness & inefficiency.

[Cal Carpenter]

54. Ann Arbor? Leftist?

Have you been there in the last 30 years?

I prefer to call it

Ann Arbor: Where Bumper Stickers Matter (my apologies to John Roos)

or

Ann Arbor: Hotbed of Cold Feet

Or how about

Ann Arbor: Where (D) stands for Developer

Ann Arbor: Where no one blinks about a new $35 million cop shop but we gotta beg for half a million in human services...

Leftist my ass.

I guess if a large number of gourmet grocers per capita qualifies as 'leftist', maybe...

[UrbScotty]

56. Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

[Kickin_Donkey]

60. Yeah, Berzerkeley!!!

The grandaddy of all leftist college towns.

And we just got our 21st Nobel Prize, too!

[PVnRT]

61. Bloomington, Indiana

[cyclezealot]

62. Luv college towns.

It's one place where details and the world's complexity is not found to be boring. It's one of the few places in America where I feel at home protected from the dumb azzes.
. Ann Arbor is awesome.. Ashland , Oregon merits attention also..