A real mix for me, with city, small town, city, small town, etc. all thrown in.

Born in Canton and lived there until 12 on NE side, so I'll call that city.  Then to Westmont, a suburb of Johnstown, PA, so suburb.  Then westside Columbus, followed by German Village Columbus, followed by far south side Columbus, so that is city.  The far south side then was more country than city, but it was within the city limits.  Then to the Netherlands, lived in Tilburg, a city of about 200,000.  Then on to Spijk, a town that at the time had around 200.  That was a real culture shock!  After that back to Columbus, around OSU = city.  Then on to Orange County--one huge suburb. I hated every second in the big OC. Back to Columbus for a year or two in Victorian Village, then back to the Netherlands to Spijk.  What was I thinking???! Too hard at that time to get resident alien card, so came back to US.  Didn't want to be an illegal alien, or work off the books.

Then to LA, a city with many suburban characteristics.  Finally to San Francisco, which is very much a city, with all the quirks and oddities associated.

In between times stayed a few months in different cities but wouldn't call it "living" in them.  All cities, no small towns anymore, and certainly no more suburbs!

Born in Cleveland.  Raised in Cleveland (Old Brooklyn).  I now live about 45 minutes north of Milwaukee in a small town called Port Washington.  It's tiny, but it's got a nice little downtown right on Lake Michigan.  I live in an apartment building a couple of blocks outside of downtown and can't wait until I graduate next May and can move back (God willing) to Cleveland. 

Born in Kokomo (IN), raised in Worthington, OH (suburbs), and hoping to move a few miles south in the next couple years or so.

I wasn't sure which option to vote for.  I was born in Sandusky ["the big city" as my parents call it  :-D ] and lived there for about 12 years.  My dad was always the outdoors/rural type........so he purchased a few acres near Norwalk.  I guess you could call it exurban......but (mentality-wise) I don't consider my family exurbanites........just small-towners. Anyway I lived there for about 10 years but my parents will be there forever and the 44857 will always be home! 

 

Oddly enough, I went to school in the Chicago MSA.......but where the university was located was in an area very similar to where I grew up.  Due to my degree and line of career choice, I will always need to live close to a city.  Right now, I live on the edge of Rockford, Illinois.

City of Akron my whole life except for a 2 year stint in my early 20's in the suburb of Oak Park, Il. I was roughly across North Ave. from Chicago though...

Lived for 11 years in the 1960s and 70s in the white ghettos of Highland Heights on Cleveland's east side. When traffic got too crazy, we moved in 1978 to then-rural Bainbridge in Geauga County where rusty pickup trucks parked next to Mercedes and Cadillacs. Then sprawl bloomed and traffic got crazy by the mid-1980s. By then, I was off to college at Kent State, but returned to my parents' Bainbridge home to finish my schooling downtown at Myers. After school, I moved in 1993 to Berea (inner-ring suburb), and then to the Gold Coast area of Lakewood -- one of the urban, cosmopolitan neighborhoods of Greater Cleveland. That was 12 years ago and I'm still happy.

Spent my early years in Golf Manor (suburb, I guess), then we moved to Walnut Hills (city), a few years in Clifton after college, short stop in Detroit near Clark Park (city), most of my adult life in Alexandria, Va. both Old Town (city) and the King & Quaker area (no driveway, so I'll say city.)  Ended up in a small city in Utah (Ogden) to be close to skiing.

 

I cannot fathom cutting grass or shoveling snow.  I didn't do very often as a kid and I will not do it now!

 

My current yard and driveway are my first since Jr. High.  What was I thinking?  Oh, that's right, I wasn't.

Born in the city, raised on a dairy farm, moved back to the city at age 19, but 50 years later I still don't have all the manure off my boots.

 

I still go back regularly and enjoy the fields and the woods and antique farm machinery.

 

Born in Avondale, live in North Avondale. About to move to a significantly larger city for work.

Solon --> Dayton (college) --> Solon (grad school - CSU) --> NYC

Born in Ironton, Ohio. Moved to Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA, then moved to New Jersey in a suburb of Philadelphia PA. I've lived here for 12 years and I'm getting ready to move back to Ohio but to the Lakewood area where I'll be working in Cleveland.

bump

raised in the burbs of CLE but my first crew base was NYC..... got a smashing apartment... I'll never leave

raised in the burbs of CLE but my first crew base was NYC..... got a smashing apartment... I'll never leave

 

You say that now.  I have to go home to cleveland to detox. I'm like a vampire, who needs his coffin.  I need my bed in Cleveland to recharge.

 

I just need to get away from the craziness that NYC is.

raised in the burbs of CLE but my first crew base was NYC..... got a smashing apartment... I'll never leave

 

You say that now. I have to go home to cleveland to detox. I'm like a vampire, who needs his coffin. I need my bed in Cleveland to recharge.

 

I just need to get away from the craziness that NYC is.

 

Well I've been there 24 years.  I have a place in Sausalito, CA for my downtime tho I agree that CLE is a great place to re-charge

raised in the burbs of CLE but my first crew base was NYC..... got a smashing apartment... I'll never leave

 

You say that now.  I have to go home to cleveland to detox. I'm like a vampire, who needs his coffin.  I need my bed in Cleveland to recharge.

 

I just need to get away from the craziness that NYC is.

 

Well I've been there 24 years.  I have a place in Sausalito, CA for my downtime tho I agree that CLE is a great place to re-charge

 

well damn, you have more places to lay your head then I do.  Nobody better tease me about that again!

raised in the burbs of CLE but my first crew base was NYC..... got a smashing apartment... I'll never leave

 

You say that now. I have to go home to cleveland to detox. I'm like a vampire, who needs his coffin. I need my bed in Cleveland to recharge.

 

I just need to get away from the craziness that NYC is.

 

Well I've been there 24 years. I have a place in Sausalito, CA for my downtime tho I agree that CLE is a great place to re-charge

 

well damn, you have more places to lay your head then I do. Nobody better tease me about that again!

 

LOL...  laying your head is about all you can do.  it's a small, intimate place but it has a fantastic view. 

raised in the burbs of CLE but my first crew base was NYC..... got a smashing apartment... I'll never leave

 

You say that now.  I have to go home to cleveland to detox. I'm like a vampire, who needs his coffin.  I need my bed in Cleveland to recharge.

 

I just need to get away from the craziness that NYC is.

 

Well I've been there 24 years.  I have a place in Sausalito, CA for my downtime tho I agree that CLE is a great place to re-charge

 

well damn, you have more places to lay your head then I do.  Nobody better tease me about that again!

 

LOL...  laying your head is about all you can do.  it's a small, intimate place but it has a fantastic view. 

 

Well we like pictures

I was born in Corvallis, Oregon. I lived there until the tender age of four when my parents moved to Monmouth, Oregon (then population 2,800). I lived there until 2005 when I had my midlife crisis and moved to the Cleveland area. In the fours years I have lived here I have been in four different spots:

 

Quail St, Lakewood (First six months)

Baltic Ave, Cleveland (next six months)

Roycroft Ave, Lakewood (3 years)

Gifford Ave, Cleveland (I bought it I'm never moving again)

 

On that note... anyone looking to rent? I have a 1000 sq ft lower half available for rent. $500 a month is all i am asking :)

After reading a few threads that involved race, I wonder what the racial breakdown is of thoses who moved from the 'burbs to the city?

Raised in Adams County Ohio and now live in Maysville, KY. Stayed around the general area for the most part with the exception of a couple years spent in Jersey with the AF. Hopefully will be moving as close to downtown Cincy as possible.

 

Gifford Ave, Cleveland (I bought it I'm never moving again)

 

 

There's an UO member that lives a couple blocks from you!

 

Feel free to add your thoughts and observations in the Old Brooklyn thread.

Another 'burb to city vote here.

 

Born and mostly raised in Beavercreek. Couple of other 'burbs in the middle, although technically in a civic sense one of them was "city" because it was on the island of Oahu, all of which is part of the city and county of Honolulu. Then small town (sadly being transformed into exurb) Delaware, Ohio for college; then on to Madison, Wisconsin (city); and now Cambridge, Mass.

 

I have a hard time defining a city/suburb relationship for Boston and Cambridge, but functionally most of Cambridge is basically part of the central city if you ignore municipal boundaries. And if it's not that, it's more of its own (smaller) city than a suburb. So, "city" it is.

Born and raised in Strongsville, Ohio.  Spent 5.5 years in college between Valparaisio, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio.  Owned a house in Parma Heights for 9 years, and currently reside in Medina, Ohio with my wife and four kids.  Sure, the track record of my living locations may not be urban, but I enjoy being around the city....just don't choose to live in it.  We as a family do however love walking around the shops in downtown Medina, along with caterring to the local restaurants.  Medina seems to have a Hudson and Chagrin Falls visual feel, but a more middle class mindset.  I feel at home there.  I guess, its a poor mans Hudson!

 

Bring on my bashing guys.  This is probably the worst place to say you live in the double exurbs. 

(bash bash bash)

 

 

Born and raised in Strongsville, Ohio.  Spent 5.5 years in college between Valparaisio, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio.  Owned a house in Parma Heights for 9 years, and currently reside in Medina, Ohio with my wife and four kids.  Sure, the track record of my living locations may not be urban, but I enjoy being around the city....just don't choose to live in it.  We as a family do however love walking around the shops in downtown Medina, along with caterring to the local restaurants.  Medina seems to have a Hudson and Chagrin Falls visual feel, but a more middle class mindset.  I feel at home there.  I guess, its a poor mans Hudson!

 

Bring on my bashing guys.  This is probably the worst place to say you live in the double exurbs. 

 

Bash?  You've intentionally taken all the fun out of it!

Born and raised in Strongsville, Ohio. Spent 5.5 years in college between Valparaisio, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio. Owned a house in Parma Heights for 9 years, and currently reside in Medina, Ohio with my wife and four kids. Sure, the track record of my living locations may not be urban, but I enjoy being around the city....just don't choose to live in it. We as a family do however love walking around the shops in downtown Medina, along with caterring to the local restaurants. Medina seems to have a Hudson and Chagrin Falls visual feel, but a more middle class mindset. I feel at home there. I guess, its a poor mans Hudson!

 

Bring on my bashing guys. This is probably the worst place to say you live in the double exurbs.

 

Bash? You've intentionally taken all the fun out of it!

 

I know!  That's why I included the bash.  I have opened it up for symethetic comments for my desire to live in suburbia.

Born and raised in Strongsville, Ohio.  Spent 5.5 years in college between Valparaisio, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio.  Owned a house in Parma Heights for 9 years, and currently reside in Medina, Ohio with my wife and four kids.  Sure, the track record of my living locations may not be urban, but I enjoy being around the city....just don't choose to live in it.  We as a family do however love walking around the shops in downtown Medina, along with caterring to the local restaurants.  Medina seems to have a Hudson and Chagrin Falls visual feel, but a more middle class mindset.  I feel at home there.  I guess, its a poor mans Hudson!

 

Bring on my bashing guys.  This is probably the worst place to say you live in the double exurbs. 

 

Bash?  You've intentionally taken all the fun out of it!

 

I know!  That's why I included the bash.  I have opened it up for symethetic comments for my desire to live in suburbia.

 

Damn you suburbanites! :whip:

Born and raised in Strongsville, Ohio. Spent 5.5 years in college between Valparaisio, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio. Owned a house in Parma Heights for 9 years, and currently reside in Medina, Ohio with my wife and four kids. Sure, the track record of my living locations may not be urban, but I enjoy being around the city....just don't choose to live in it. We as a family do however love walking around the shops in downtown Medina, along with caterring to the local restaurants. Medina seems to have a Hudson and Chagrin Falls visual feel, but a more middle class mindset. I feel at home there. I guess, its a poor mans Hudson!

 

Bring on my bashing guys. This is probably the worst place to say you live in the double exurbs.

 

Bash? You've intentionally taken all the fun out of it!

 

I know! That's why I included the bash. I have opened it up for symethetic comments for my desire to live in suburbia.

 

Just curious, did the desire to have a "new' house have anything with the "suburban desire"?

Born and raised in Strongsville, Ohio. Spent 5.5 years in college between Valparaisio, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio. Owned a house in Parma Heights for 9 years, and currently reside in Medina, Ohio with my wife and four kids. Sure, the track record of my living locations may not be urban, but I enjoy being around the city....just don't choose to live in it. We as a family do however love walking around the shops in downtown Medina, along with caterring to the local restaurants. Medina seems to have a Hudson and Chagrin Falls visual feel, but a more middle class mindset. I feel at home there. I guess, its a poor mans Hudson!

 

Bring on my bashing guys. This is probably the worst place to say you live in the double exurbs.

 

Bash? You've intentionally taken all the fun out of it!

 

I know! That's why I included the bash. I have opened it up for symethetic comments for my desire to live in suburbia.

 

Just curious, did the desire to have a "new' house have anything with the "suburban desire"?

 

Not necessarilly a new house as I could have had that in the city or inner ring.  Most of it came from the large increase in taxes we began to pay in Parma Heights in addition to high taxe within Cuyahoga County anyhow.  I had become frustrated.  That in combination with all the levies for Parma School board that was pased in I believe 04.  Then they kept coming back for more.  My kids had very few kids to play with in the neighborhood as we were surrounded by empty nesters and very old couples and widows - ers.  Our church was loosing parisheners, and there were not new young ones coming in.  Pearl Road retail which I considered vibrant when we bought the house completely died by the middle of 2009 when we moved.  I felt like I was really risking staying there as I saw a hige shift in Parma Heights which sooner than later was going to effect my home value.  So, we got an offer in 2009 that was about 5k higher than we paid in 2000, so we moved.  Honestly, my taxes in Medina are $889 a year cheaper (obviously not that much), but our yard is over 6 times the size.  We also did want a little more room.  I personallt feel that we get alot more in Medina for our tax dollars, so I feal more comfortable there.  We did want to move to a town like Medina that had its own "image".  We definately did not want Columbia Station or Bainbridge etc. 

 

All in all, we felt we were getting ripped off where we were.  In addition, as Parma Heights become more and more vacant and run down, we really knew we were risking our home value which was a huge investment for us.  We loved the house and it brought tears to our eyes to leave.  All four of our kids were brought home to that house.  We built alot of memories there, but the decision came that it was time to move on.  I will admit, we do miss being as close to Downtown Cleveland as we were. 

I was just asking about the new house because it seems to be a very middle class suburbanite rite of passage. Grandparents move out of Cleveland proper bought a new house in Parma or Middleburg Hts, Parents built a new house in Strongsville or Westlake, our generation buy/ build a new house in Avon, Medina, etc.

 

I live in Lakewood and I know we are know for high taxes, but honestly it just depresses the housing prices. Basically I have poked around and it seems that my tax bill really isn't much different than most of Cuyahoga county on a $/sqft of house and actually Avon too.  I like where I am at and our housing prices seem to actually going up.

 

Funny that you mention your kids having nobody to play with. It seems like the 50's and 60's burbs like Parma Hts are really suffering from the graying of the original residents.  While the older inner rings like Lakewood and the Heights seem to have become pretty diversified age wise.

 

Well good luck in Medina and I'll stay off my soapbox.

 

I was just asking about the new house because it seems to be a very middle class suburbanite rite of passage. Grandparents move out of Cleveland proper bought a new house in Parma or Middleburg Hts, Parents built a new house in Strongsville or Westlake, our generation buy/ build a new house in Avon, Medina, etc.

 

I live in Lakewood and I know we are know for high taxes, but honestly it just depresses the housing prices. Basically I have poked around and it seems that my tax bill really isn't much different than most of Cuyahoga county on a $/sqft of house and actually Avon too.  I like where I am at and our housing prices seem to actually going up.

 

Funny that you mention your kids having nobody to play with. It seems like the 50's and 60's burbs like Parma Hts are really suffering from the graying of the original residents.  While the older inner rings like Lakewood and the Heights seem to have become pretty diversified age wise.

 

Well good luck in Medina and I'll stay off my soapbox.

 

 

Interesting post.  I think the heights and lakewood because of their diversity and city services lead to people coming and staying.

 

There are also a lot of diversity in home types in CH, SH, Lake. Starter homes, midsize homes, mansions, condos, apartments, etc.  So it's easy to "step up" and stay in those areas.

 

However, there are a lot of old folks that dont move in SH, CH and Lake.  When I was a kid, there were kids on the Parks.  Now it's mainly older folks like my parents, that is why Malvern elementary was closed.  The closer you get to Shaker Square, the younger it get and the more kids you see.

I was just asking about the new house because it seems to be a very middle class suburbanite rite of passage. Grandparents move out of Cleveland proper bought a new house in Parma or Middleburg Hts, Parents built a new house in Strongsville or Westlake, our generation buy/ build a new house in Avon, Medina, etc.

 

I live in Lakewood and I know we are know for high taxes, but honestly it just depresses the housing prices. Basically I have poked around and it seems that my tax bill really isn't much different than most of Cuyahoga county on a $/sqft of house and actually Avon too. I like where I am at and our housing prices seem to actually going up.

 

Funny that you mention your kids having nobody to play with. It seems like the 50's and 60's burbs like Parma Hts are really suffering from the graying of the original residents. While the older inner rings like Lakewood and the Heights seem to have become pretty diversified age wise.

 

Well good luck in Medina and I'll stay off my soapbox.

 

 

Fair enough.

 

I should also add that having the opportunity to sell last year, I just thought our money invested was safer in Medina than Parma Hieghts over the long term.  Can you agree or disagree with that?

MTS, that's a good point. I have gone from renter, duplex owner, Single family owner on a "desirable" street and now sometime realtor.com lurker for houses on Lake or Edgewater all within in the city limits of Lakewood.

Old Brooklyn>Baltimore>Tremont.

I should also add that having the opportunity to sell last year, I just thought our money invested was safer in Medina than Parma Hieghts over the long term. Can you agree or disagree with that?

 

I can't really argue with that reasoning. It will be interesting to see what happens to Parma Hts and like suburbs. Although I would have like to see you invest your money in Lakewood :)

 

Can I ask where you work. Just curious. I am just wondering how commuting factored into your decision. (And for the record I live in Lakewood, and commute to Akron. Although when I bought both of my houses I was working in downtown Cleveland. As I have posted on here before, that is a situation I hope to remedy))

I'm not sure that I exactly fit any of the categories for the poll. I guess it depends on your definition of suburb, exurb and small town. The house my parents lived in when I was a kid had a hay field across the street, and a corn field behind it and we regularly caught the neighbors chickens when they got loose into our yard. My parents weren't farmers, but we did raise the vast majority of our own food on those couple acres. So I guess that could mean I'm from the sticks, but we were a short distance from the edge of a small town. That small town has turned into a suburb over the years since as most of the manufacturing jobs left, the roads got widened so that traffic could get through and sprawl has taken over the few farms that were still around when I was a kid. I suppose even when I was a kid, most of the farms had sold off little plots for individual homes around the edges, though because it had taken place peicemeal, all the houses were unique. My parents house had been built in the late 30s, while one neighbor's house had been built in the teens or 20s, and the other had gone up in the late 70s. There was a 200 year old farm house about 5 houses up the street, and originally the owners of that property had owned the whole neighborhood. I suppose that technically counts as sprawl, though a very different experience than growing up in a subdivision.

 

I've lived in a little post-war suburb for the last couple years. An 1/8th of an acre is more than enough grass for me to cut. I'd kindof prefer to live in the city, but my wife grew up in the city and would rather live in the sticks now, so the suburbs are a compromise.

MTS, that's a good point. I have gone from renter, duplex owner, Single family owner on a "desirable" street and now sometime realtor.com lurker for houses on Lake or Edgewater all within in the city limits of Lakewood.

 

Most of my cousins in CH or SH bought starter homes/condos, then stepped up to a larger home.

 

I just can't see moving.  It's such a pain.

Its interesting how many people grew up in the suburbs but live in the city now. I grew up in the city but didn't appreciate it until I was about 18 and even then I had my doubts. Like everyone else, I thought the Westchesters and Dublins were paradise.

I was just asking about the new house because it seems to be a very middle class suburbanite rite of passage. Grandparents move out of Cleveland proper bought a new house in Parma or Middleburg Hts, Parents built a new house in Strongsville or Westlake, our generation buy/ build a new house in Avon, Medina, etc.

 

I agree with this, but think it's more middle upper than middle class.  I was on a very active local board for wedding planning back in the day, we were all getting married within a year or so of each other.  One by one they got married, bought or built a new house and had babies.  As we couldn't have babies, we eventually started losing touch with all of them as they were all parents and we had nothing in common.  We also never got the house as we didn't have parents who had a big amount of money they could give us for the down payment, unlike just about everyone else on the board, except for the few who were (or were married to) particularly big earnings like lawyers and could foot their own bill for a down payment.  Having gotten together with these ladies dozens of time, very few were middle class, almost nobody was lower middle, and I would characterize most of them as upper middle to upper. 

 

I don't think the "middle" class (what's left of it) comes from parents who have $20 or $40K to give their kid as a gift to put down on a house.  If anything, maybe the parents helped out with college, or with the cost of the wedding, but not usually both.

 

We never wanted a new house, I think they are so boring and they all look the same on the inside.  But we don't want a REALLY old one either, just one from the 60s or 70s in still good/sturdy condition with a good sized yard, a full basement, a WBF, 2 full baths and the ability to run gas into the kitchen, but the combo of things we want seems to be impossible to find so we just stay put.  At least we have free heat!

I should also add that having the opportunity to sell last year, I just thought our money invested was safer in Medina than Parma Hieghts over the long term.  Can you agree or disagree with that?

 

I can't really argue with that reasoning. It will be interesting to see what happens to Parma Hts and like suburbs. Although I would have like to see you invest your money in Lakewood :)

 

Can I ask where you work. Just curious. I am just wondering how commuting factored into your decision. (And for the record I live in Lakewood, and commute to Akron. Although when I bought both of my houses I was working in downtown Cleveland. As I have posted on here before, that is a situation I hope to remedy))

 

That also factored in here.  I work just south of Akron, and did cut my commute by about 14 miles, so that was nice.  However, if I was happy and satisfied in Parma Heights, the commute could have been dealt with.  I was doing it for a while, and it really didn't bother me. 

Its interesting how many people grew up in the suburbs but live in the city now. I grew up in the city but didn't appreciate it until I was about 18 and even then I had my doubts. Like everyone else, I thought the Westchesters and Dublins were paradise.

 

I hate the people in the suburbs more than the housing and enviornment.

 

I know there is a slim to no chance that I would ever move back to a suburb.

Its interesting how many people grew up in the suburbs but live in the city now. I grew up in the city but didn't appreciate it until I was about 18 and even then I had my doubts. Like everyone else, I thought the Westchesters and Dublins were paradise.

 

I hate the people in the suburbs more than the housing and enviornment.

 

I know there is a slim to no chance that I would ever move back to a suburb.

 

You hate the people in the suburbs.  That is quite a blanket statement.  Please embellish on that. 

Its interesting how many people grew up in the suburbs but live in the city now. I grew up in the city but didn't appreciate it until I was about 18 and even then I had my doubts. Like everyone else, I thought the Westchesters and Dublins were paradise.

 

I hate the people in the suburbs more than the housing and enviornment.

 

I know there is a slim to no chance that I would ever move back to a suburb.

 

You hate the people in the suburbs.  That is quite a blanket statement.  Please embellish on that. 

 

I hated the stuffy, uptight, snooty people in Shaker and CH when I lived with my parents.  I hate Byron, SHH.  The people annoyed the h ell out of me.