Originally Posted by
Blumie
After having lived in the Back Bay/South End vicinity for the previous three years, I have now been in Mid-Cambridge, smack in the middle of Central and Inman Squares, for the last 15 months and cannot recommend this neighborhood highly enough. Central and Inman are both short walks, and Harvard and Kendall are not much further. Great proximity to restaurants, bars, highways (Mass Pike, Sturrow, Rte. 2), and public transportation. And it's affordable and has a great neighborhood feel.
+1 ^ I think Inman Sq and parts of East Cambridge fit your bill pretty well. Lots of restaurants/bars, but it's not a crazy college party scene or anything. Just lots of fun locals.
I'm not a fan of Central Sq. area...still a little sketchy to me. (And I really haven't seen much improvement over the years...still see the same bums that I saw 10 years ago.)