What is it REALLY like living in the Boulder bubble?

David, I would ask you to consider: do you really want to come back to the States at all? New Zealand sound pretty ideal from everything I hear.

HughCwrote:

Oh and the potholes - what in the actual fuck happens to money ear marked for roads in Boulder is a mystery to me. All that tax base and yet potholes that will swallow small children and screw up your alignment.

The money is being spent on Vision Zero traffic installations a/k/a "chicanes" to make the roads even more undrivable.

Cheiftan Mewswrote:

I have never dealt with such self-centered people in my life as I have in Boulder. Lots of people walk around like they are God's gift to man. Most of the climbing community is cool. though. 

Lots of positives and negatives. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the past few years and I've boiled it down to this: If you have money and weekdays off, it's worth it. 

I have described it as like living in a whole foods. It's been that way for decades though, a strong element of "I live an ethical life: I shop at all the right stores". Very performative.

It's beautiful, and a lot of the folks there really do practice what they preach. But consider that Boulder has been a miniaturized version of San Francisco for a *very* long time.

LL2wrote:

David, I would ask you to consider: do you really want to come back to the States at all? New Zealand sound pretty ideal from everything I hear.

I've heard cost of living is going crazy there and any avaliable jobs don't pay enough, so ever since Covid travel issues were eased up there has a large exodus of mostly younger people from New Zealand.

wendy weisswrote:

Hey, Erika, I'm not judging you. Will meet for coffee, lunch, or a marg any time.   

Boulder has changed a lot in the 46 years I've lived here, and not for the better. It's lost its small college town funkiness and become much more upscale, though it was always comparatively expensive. I find the people (climbers and otherwise) to be mostly friendly and maybe making a bigger effort to smile and say hi since the plague hit. My current pet peeve is the city planners whose self-righteous hostility to cars keeps making the traffic situation worse.     

Ha! I deserved that! Would love to connect Wendy. I’ll also add that nearly all of my friends live in Boulder (they are the ones who judge me out loud). Perhaps I’m just jealous? :) I have lived here my entire life (how do you know someone’s a colorado native? Wait 5 minutes and they’ll tell you) and yeah, the entire state has changed so much with the influx of people.

I considered moving to Boulder a couple of times when I was younger, but when you can get housing for 1/3 of the cost 20 minutes away, didn’t seem worth it. Those numbers may have changed somewhat since the whole housing market has gotten crazy. 

wendy weisswrote:

The money is being spent on Vision Zero traffic installations a/k/a "chicanes" to make the roads even more undrivable.

wendy weiss, are you saying that Vision Zero (0% substance / 100% virtue signaling) also exists in Boulder?
So far I assumed that this was a local Toronto invention.

Yurywrote:

wendy weiss, are you saying that Vision Zero (0% substance / 100% virtue signaling) also exists in Boulder?
So far I assumed that this was a local Toronto invention.

Boulder could not pass up such an opportunity to snarl traffic and waste money. So far the only zero is measurable results, but that just creates the opportunity for endless tweaking and data collection. I thought Canadians were more sensible. 

wendy weisswrote:

So far the only zero is measurable results ...

I wish results were zero.
Traffic congestion leads to more emission and worse air quality with corresponding impact on health of local population.
Thus overall results are negative.

wendy weisswrote:

I thought Canadians were more sensible. 

You need to limit your exposure to fairy tales of Michael Moore.
There are some sides of a Canadian life that are more sensible (e.g. lack of federal control of education and health care) and at the same time we have a lot of areas (e.g. politics) where Canada is well behind the US.

Yurywrote:

You need to limit your exposure to fairy tales of Michael Moore.
There are some sides of a Canadian life that are more sensible (e.g. lack of federal control of education and health care) and at the same time we have a lot of areas (e.g. politics) where Canada is well behind the US.

Given our current situation, with another trump candidacy waiting in the wings, can you really say that?

Many of these characterizations are overblown, other than the housing prices, which are through the roof (average single family home is in excess of $1.1MM). But that is a function of the fact that Boulder has height limitations on its buildings, and the Open Space which has been acquired over several decades is almost three times the size of the City itself. Can't have it both ways. As far as people go, I have found it to be much like other cities: some folks are idiots, some are excessively self-centered, but most are good people. I often climb at Movement, where I have never heard an adverse comment, despite my status as one of the worst climbers in the place. I have been able to find good climbing partners, some of whom are friends, and good friends outside of climbing. 

Like most places, Boulder is what you make of it. If you focus on the bad behavior of the overly wealthy, the overly entitled and those who believe they have been given divine dispensation to act like morons, you will not experience the better qualities of the place. But that is true of any place in which those types of individuals congregate (NY, where I lived for almost 40 years, San Fran, L.A., etc., etc.). Boulder is no longer a quaint mountain town; it is now a high-tech, finance and entrepreneurial hub with some decent restaurants (although not as good as most locals think) and not a slice of pizza worth looking at. But it has its virtues if you look for them. However, unless you have the money to play in this residential real estate market, looking at Lafayette, Louisville and Longmont are reasonable alternatives (and they also have views). 

But forget the hype, both good and bad. If you come here ready to dislike it, you surely will. But if you enjoy what it has to offer, and ignore what deserves to be ignored, you might find it a very nice place to settle down for a while. 

Isn't bouldeRado mostly east coast transplants? be honest now

The great divide for me is whether you are here renting or if you’ve bought in.  Roughly 60% of residents are renters.  Most of the homes they live in are the least cared for, often over-occupied and often with distant landlords who are basically parasites making money off their better kept owner occupied neighbors.  Their tenants - less than parasites - they don’t even exist - they’ll be gone soon and more will come in their place - like background noise.  However, if you buy a place and pull some weeds out of the front lawn, you’ll meet everyone on the block very quickly.  Night and day.

The worst aspect of culture here is the materialism.  Lots of trust funders with fake careers, however they don’t dominate the culture.  More commonly - I think many come here as if it were the obvious choice after reading all the reviews on Amazon.com or some-such.  They’re not community builders or even participants - just consumers far more likely to whine and leave a bad review than to commit and put something back into the place.  They leave soon enough too, though.

2 biggest drivers of the culture here, IMO.

James Wwrote:

The great divide for me is whether you are here renting or if you’ve bought in.  Roughly 60% of residents are renters.  Most of the homes they live in are the least cared for, often over-occupied and often with distant landlords who are basically parasites making money off their better kept owner occupied neighbors.  Their tenants - less than parasites - they don’t even exist - they’ll be gone soon and more will come in their place - like background noise.  However, if you buy a place and pull some weeds out of the front lawn, you’ll meet everyone on the block very quickly.  Night and day.

You know it's easier to just say "I hate poor people" 

Dan Dwrote:

You know it's easier to just say "I hate poor people" 

That wasn't what he was trying, badly, to convey. 

He's making a statement about property owners in Boulder being bourgeoisie. He just didn't phrase it well. 

THERE'S NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF BOULDER BEEN A DECENT RESTAURANT. 

Bruce's Brats in the 80's was the high point. 

Nepalese vegan food isn't food.

I'm also the direct descendant of the owner of Howard's Cafe and Restaurant, which was at 1412 Pearl from 1921 to 1959.

I really don’t get the premium that people pay to live there. I come from NYC (and originally China) and 

1) Boulder is essentially NYC price, but if you drive 20 min out of Boulder houses/rents are 50% cheaper.
2) I found it substantially harder to find good climbing partners (and make climber friends) than NYC. Maybe it has something to do with the snobbish culture as well as lack of diversity. 

Surround yourself with the right people and Boulder/Front Range is awesome

Lived in Boulder/Golden and now have 1 year old baby. Access is awesome and has something for everyone 

The Boulder Bubble is all hype. People are super nice there and the crowding isn’t that bad. 

Super easy to find partners and other people stoked on the outdoors in Colorado. Majority of people are transplants that had moved there specifically for the outdoors and are stoked! Most Colorado locals don’t take advantage of the area in my experience and even if you meet them they are far and few in between.