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Paul Graham, the influential leader of seed investment fund Y Combinator recently wrote a very interesting article about cities and ambition, referring to the types of vibes that cities or areas such as New York, Boston (Cambridge actually) and SF and Silicon Valley emanate.  I think this observation is fascinating.  Observing and experiencing what I like to call the ‘vibe’ of different cities and even neighborhoods within cities is something I really live for.  Graham in his essay focused on more of an overall perspective between areas, mostly focusing on general feelings that you get from each area.  Since I don’t travel as much for work as I once used too, I’ve been fascinated with exploring the perspectives you get simply from the different neighborhoods of the same city.

Earlier this morning, I ventured back over the river to Allston/Brighton to visit Bagel Rising, which happens to be one of the best bagel shops in the world in my opinion.  What I found was the same old Allston, rather run down, busy with cars and the same old shops along Harvard Ave.  What struck me immediately was how much Allston’s vibe was different from Cambridge (where I now live after moving back from the Bay Area).  The vibe of Allston is all about the students.  The frequenters of cheap furniture stores, cheap pizza shops and dive bars.  This is what being a student is all about – and it’s a great time.

The vibe of Allston has been shaped by generations of college students doing their own thing, being independent, and not caring too much about anything (besides their homework perhaps).  But this morning, after being away from Allston for 3 years or so, I found myself saying: “Same old Allston – this place never changes”.  All the while being glad that I don’t live there anymore, and being surprised that I ever enjoyed it there (I definitely did).

Head over to Cambridge, and the vibe you get is almost wholly different – a little less eclectic and a bit more intellectual, though still with the same sort of student dominated population.  It’s as if there’s a collective effort within the two different places to shape their communities in the best way that’s going to benefit the majority of their populations. It’s the same thing in the Bay Area – head over to the end of Telegraph Ave in Berkeley and you get the same sort of student dominated attitude that you see in Allston, but head south down College Ave and it’s a different scene completely.

These vibes that we see and feel in certain areas of our cities are reflections of our collective attitudes, which is an obvious thought I suppose, but it’s still fascinating to observe.  Something we all face as human beings is to find our own personalities and attitudes – and a lot of that is shaped by the places we live, as we shape those places.  Many neighborhoods within cities speak of ‘gentrification’ or the updating of establishments within certain neighborhoods that may have gotten run down or depressed of late.  Essentially what that city is doing as well is changing the attitudes and the types of people that live and hang out in that neighborhood – an update in attitude goes further than the shops and restaurants.

But in the end, there always has to be a balance to a city – the places where the students and less affluent people hang out, the places where more of the young professionals live and the places where the wealthy live.  Each neighborhood is a village unto itself.  The diversity between these neighborhood villages is fascinating and the spots where they intersect are often times the most interesting places to be.