College towns / "Hippy-dippy" towns

[trinacriabob]

I went to a Jewish wedding in Santa Cruz CA on Saturday. I got there about 1.5 hours early and needed to change into a suit, so I hit Starbucks and lounged around for that time. In addition to having a weird culture to begin with, UCSC is located here. It is the only campus in the famed UC system that does not give letter grades. It's an absolutely gorgeous locale with the ocean, mild weather and lush vegetation; however, God are there weird people there!

Other weird college towns:

Eugene OR - California-hating Oregonians and earthy-crunchy frumps galore

Bellingham WA and Olympia WA - more of the same; also, lots of Subarus - what saves Bellingham is that it's closer to Vancouver Canada than to Seattle -- a mere 22 miles from the border check.

Other not as weird college towns:

Berkeley CA - at the wedding yesterday, I was told it is now too expensive to be weird. Heck, one might even find a Republican or two.

Chico CA - now, I like Chico. Why? It's a college town without the college town weirdness. It's also in an eerie location at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada but too low to see any snow. It's a toaster during the summer.

None of the college towns in So Cal qualify as weird. They are all too suburban, hedonistic and conservative.

ADD SOME MORE WEIRD COLLEGE TOWNS.

I've been to Burlington VT while in Montreal. It was SORT of weird, I guess. I know the Northeast has a handful of them.

Edited May 1, 2006 by trinacriabob

[ToniCipriani]

Um...

Waterloo, ON...

[Flybrian]

Gainsville, Florida. Besides FSU, there is nothing there and the closest attraction would be the town of Starke, home to Florida's electric chair.

[CSpec]

Amherst, MA. Home of UMass Amherst, Westfield State College, and Amherst College. The first is OK, the middle one is awful, and the last is the second-best liberal arts school in the country. However, it's in the middle of freaking nowhere and UMass is officially the most violent college campus in the country.

[Croc]

Bloomington, Indiana. Go IU!! Very eclectic...lots of people there. Great party atmosphere. Kinda quirky though with the very short divided street with the grass and water in the middle...and the cops are schizophrenic there with their enforcement.

[tmp]

Also in Amherst: Hampshire College, possibly the most earthy-crunchy place in the universe. Right next to it, in South Hadley is Mount Holyoke, and across the Connecticut river in Northampton is Smith, making it the Lesbian capital of the eastern USA.

Edited April 30, 2006 by tmp

[trinacriabob]

Bloomington, Indiana.  Go IU!!  Very eclectic...lots of people there. 

Have friends that went there and visited it. Every college town has a couple of bohemian shops. Aside from a couple of those in Bloomington, it's pretty darn conservative. As far as the Midwest goes, I think Madison Wisconsin is reputed to be the most liberal of those towns.

[trinacriabob]

and across the Connecticut river in Northampton is Smith, making it the Lesbian capital of the eastern USA.

Yep. I think 60 Minutes or 20/20 once did a show on the prevalence and clout of the lesbian population in Northampton MA. So, it kind of beats to the same vibe as Eugene/Olympia/Bellingham. Why do lesbians like these funky college towns, anyway? Edited May 1, 2006 by trinacriabob

[ocnblu]

Um... hot young chicks?

[regfootball]

northfield, MN a lesbian and hardcore liberal's delight!

[trinacriabob]

northfield, MN a lesbian and hardcore liberal's delight!

But is it a college town? Which one is there?

[mustang84]

University of Iowa. If I remember hearing right, they have the largest percentage of students with AIDS out of any college in the country. U of I is also a lot more liberal than ISU...here we have a mix of liberal and conservative due to our school's agricultural and engineering background, but over there it's almost exclusively liberal. They're also our biggest rival...so of course they're all a bunch of Hawkeye-worshipping weirdos.

Sadly, my sister is joining the dark side by going there next fall...

[Croc]

Have friends that went there and visited it.  Every college town has a couple of bohemian shops.  Aside from a couple of those in Bloomington, it's pretty darn conservative.  As far as the Midwest goes, I think Madison Wisconsin is reputed to be the most liberal of those towns.

Well yes and no...The students aren't, but the people who live there are conservative...that's what makes it kinda weird...It's schizophrenic.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Berea, KY.

Berea College has a lot of -- how should I say this? Oh, yeah. Cross-dressers.

[Nick]

Chico CA - now, I like Chico.  Why?  It's a college town without the college town weirdness. It's also in an eerie location at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada but too low to see any snow.  It's a toaster during the summer.

Worst town I have ever had the displeasure to stay in for one night while on a trip up to Lake Almanor...It's like one of those creepy towns horror movies are filmed at. It was such a small town and I just got a creepy vibe from it...You'd never know there was a University there (I didn't even see it). I just didn't trust the place. I stayed up during the night and kept watch on our cars and all our stuff to make sure no funny $h! went down...

[Dsuupr]

Eugene OR - California-hating Oregonians and earthy-crunchy frumps galore

You've only touched the surface of that hippy town. During the Saturday market you get ugly women walking around topless, the smell of MaryJ, TONS of anti-American types, LOTS of Christian haters (for why they don't know), and on and on. Eugene is the home of the Anarchist / Anti-Capitalism groups.

There are two toyota dealers and only one Chevy Dealer. The Cadillac dealership shares the lot with the Chevy Dealer, but lexus, acura & Mercedes get their own seperate places. It is one screwed up place.

I grew up there, and will have nothing to do with it. One can't even go there without getting ticked at how bad they drive. My wife and I hate going there so much, we make my Parents and Mother-in-Law come up to Portland just to avoid Eugene.

If we are lucky, Eugene will be the first place to burn when the world ends.

Edited May 1, 2006 by Dsuupr

[bowtie_dude]

Berea, KY.

Berea College has a lot of -- how should I say this? Oh, yeah. Cross-dressers.

Yeah, well known fact that Berea College is a haven for the, um, alternative sexualities.

Union College in Barbourville, KY has lots of lesbos, too.

Though I think Lexington still has one of the largest per capita homosexual populations in the country.

[Enzora]

[regfootball]

But is it a college town?  Which one is there?

CARLETON

ST. OLAF

[Justin Bimmer]

Davis, CA- Home of UC Davis Population is around 70 grand and half of those are students and the other half are people who hate students.

UCSC gives letter grades now because the state makes them. They said that they needed a way to grade the students there compared to other schools.

Santa Cruz is a great place, I love to go there as much as possible. Watching people downtown there is so entertaining.

[trinacriabob]

You've only touched the surface of that hippy town.  During the Saturday market you get ugly women walking around topless, the smell of MaryJ, TONS of anti-American types, LOTS of Christian haters (for why they don't know), and on and on.  Eugene is the home of the Anarchist / Anti-Capitalism groups. 

There are two toyota dealers and only one Chevy Dealer.  The Cadillac dealership shares the lot with the Chevy Dealer, but lexus, acura & Mercedes get their own seperate places.  It is one screwed up place.

I grew up there, and will have nothing to do with it.  One can't even go there without getting ticked at how bad they drive.  My wife and I hate going there so much, we make my Parents and Mother-in-Law come up to Portland just to avoid Eugene.

If we are lucky, Eugene will be the first place to burn when the world ends.

I absolutely despise Eugene OR for many of the same reasons. Then there's the schizophrenia of being a twin city with Springfield OR which is about as redneck/Tonya Harding as it gets. With an undergraduate degree (with honors) from a Catholic university in Southern California and parents domiciled in Oregon which legally made me in-state, they denied me admission to a graduate program while more reputable schools like Univ of Mich., Univ of Ill. and Georgia Tech let me in. A lot of people told me that I would have been miserable if I had been admitted and actually went. My skin crawls when I happen to go through Eugene OR.

Edited May 2, 2006 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

UCSC gives letter grades now because the state makes them. They said that they needed a way to grade the students there compared to other schools.

I stand corrected. When did this change?

[tmp]

My skin crawls when I happen to go through Eugene OR.

I don't know, I sorta like Eugene. But I grew up in Northampton.

I have the same reaction to both; a small chuckle and the thought "aren't you quaint.."