Best Town Evah?

It's not exactly a small town, but I do love Pasadena.

What are we looking at population wise?

Denton

My late cousin loved it too r1. I've only been once but I stayed at their vintage California craftsman bungalow, a simple house loaded with character on a nice street with more of the same. All well-kept. Nice gardens with fruit trees, and amenities close-by.

It had that suburban town-turned-urban residential neighbourhood feel.

Summit, NJ.

Northampton, MA

But it's too fucking c-c-c-cold.

Ashland, Oregon

I’ve heard that Bend, Oregon.is wonderful and has idyllic weather.

Tucson

I grew up in Mystic, CT and always wished I actually lived in the town from Mystic Pizza

Sheboygan, Mi

Ogunquit, Maine

I said that to myself when I saw Lamplight Lane by Thomas Kinkaide for the first time.

West Covina

Sebastapol, CA

There are certain areas on Maui where I would be content sitting at the edge of the water every night watching the sunset.

Truth and Consequences, NM

Annapolis, MD

Sonoma, CA

r15 SebastOpol.

R17 Truth OR Consequences.

Healdsburg, CA

Continuing the Northern California trend, I'd pick Mendocino. The weather is perfect, the views are awesome. I like to drive up from SF by myself, through the Redwoods and out to the Coast along the Navarro River and then up to Mendocino.

Also, the town in which I was born and raised and live to this day -- Northport NY, a quaint village on the north shore of Long Island.

Ukiah isn't bad.

Altadena is a pretty nice town, but a lot of it burned down recently.

Durango, CO.

Petosky, Michigan

Harbor Springs, Michigan

Los Alamos, NM

Dornoch, Scotland

The Land in Hart Township, Michigan

I've thought that about these towns when passing through/there for a few days, fully aware that it's just a tourist's impression:

Walla Walla, Washington (based on nostalgia for my Eastern Oregon roots and the charm of a college town)

Erfurt, Germany (cute, mini-Prague)

Pontresina, Switzerland (spectacular scenery + cosmopolitan amenities)

Bar Harbor, ME

Hanover, NH

Beaufort, South Carolina

Newburyport, MA.

Rutland, VT.

Booth Bay Harbor, Maine.

Blue Ridge, Ga.

St. Marys, Ga.

Sea Island, Ga.

Jekyll Island, Ga.

St. Simon's Island, Ga.

St. Augustine, Fl. (if only it wasn't in Fla.)

Twin Peaks

Menton France

Tenby, Wales

Wallace, Idaho

Mission, Kansas

Lucerne, Switzerland

Thomasville, Georgia

Cascais, Portugal

Kyoto, Japan

Ojai

Amherst, Massachusetts.

Now you know this list needs Bogalusa.

Gordo, Alabama

R36,

Amusing to see Mission KS posted here.

How ‘bout that cursed mall site eh?

(I’m familiar with that suburb although I don’t live in its boundaries).

Hooterville

Bar Harbor was lovely, but there wear about a million tourists there when we went there (including us).

It’s not well known or a tourist attraction, but Bristol, RI is about as an ideal American small town as you can get. Google image it for yourself

Hootersville!

Concord, Massachusetts; Carmel, Calif.; Rhinebeck, NY

Wellfleet, MA

Naperville

Small towns get old - I'm reasonable enough to know that your time on a vacation does not equal what it's like to live there.

I live in the city that's perfect for me - San Diego. Year-round great weather, big enough to have a lot going on and things to do - plus close proximity to LA where any entertainment you want is available, very chill people, good vibes, beach culture, etc.

it's just too damn expensive.

Agreed, R48. I lived in a wonderful tiny town called Aptos, CA but ultimately it was just too small without enough of anything (especially when they got rid of the one movie theater)

r20, my bad. And I live next door, in Santa Rosa.

Edgartown, Manchester-by-the-Sea and Cohasset, MA.

Beach towns.

[quote] Booth Bay Harbor, Maine.

It’s Boothbay Harbor.

Yes, Pasadena is a lovely, fragrant town.

No towns in Pennsylvania? The West isn't all that. Still vote for me though.

Chatham, Massachusetts

I remember going with my roommate to his hometown of Mill Valley, CA several times (in the '90s) and being completely blown away at how charming it seemed and how beautiful the location was. Peaceful (but not too sleepy) and obviously close to SF if one ever felt "stuck."

Greenville, North Carolina

Charlottesville, Virginia

Boonesboro, Maryland

Klamath Falls and Bend, Oregon

Lambertville NJ, just across the river from New Hope.

Hey, another Summit NJ fan. Great downtown area and a famous diner.

Monterey, CA

Savannah

Santa Fe

Olivaar!!!!!!

Menton France

Montreux Switzerland

I'm [italic]from[/italic] a small town in PA, R54.

No thanks.

And when did Savannah become a small town?

Ithaca New York, Villefranche-sur-Mer France, Wexford Ireland, Locarno Switzerland

R31, one of my favorites. We're about to visit a 5th time in September.

I love northern California, but it gets too much rain. Those towns north of SF get more rain than Seattle.

I second Petoskey, Michigan.

r66, just a wild guess: you're from SoCal.

R59 - Great suggestion. Cozy, chill town on the bay - next to Pebble Beach and Carmel. Big Sur is just south of there. Santa Cruz isn't too far.

But it can be a bit too laid back and dull. If we're talking about towns only - then that's a great suggestion.

You really can't beat Azuza.

I love Savannah!!!

Strangford, County Down, and Portadown, County Armagh, in Ulster, with the glorious Strangford Lough and a refreshing ferry ride between them.

Chapel Hill, NC Athens, OH Missoula, MT Eugene, OR

[quote]You really can't beat Azuza.

And you can't spell it.

Monterey is now full of Magats and has an increasing homeless population

College towns are usually nice.

OK, but Savannah is not a [bold]town[/bold]. It's a city.

As far as I'm concerned, if people all over the country know the name of the place you live in, it's no longer a town.

Trust me when I tell you, if I told you the name of the town I grew up in, you wouldn't recognize it or be able to find it on a map without Google's help.

Savannah, OTOH...

Saint-Tropez is a small town and people all over the world know it.

I'm at a my summer place about 35 minutes outside Savannah. I'm out in the middle of nowhere on the Ogeechee River, but in the Statesboro metropolitan area. Statesboro is a great little town, at least when the 20,000+ college students aren't in town.

Savannah is a small city, and yes, bull of history and beautiful places and loads of things to do. But the throngs of tourists make it somewhat hard to enjoy if you are a resident.

However I agree Savannah is not a small town that fits OP's criteria. It's a LARGE town. Or a small city.

Jim Thorpe, PA

Milford, PA

CRWTE, ILLILLINOMS

IT WAS WONDERFUL.

Bend, OR is now a city. It's no longer the idyllic small town near where my great grandparents ranched.

Guilford,CT

Bend, OR has the best weather in the US. It's located in the High Desert.

I would love to live there, because of the many gorgeous hiking areas. Unfortunately, I've heard that it's gotten very expensive.

Lot of places on Cape Cod and the Maine coast--and they deserve to be there.

College towns? Not really, esp. if they are home to big schools like UNC or UVA. Charlottesville has character but not atmosphere. I used to enjoy going to Ann Arbor but then I became something beyond a student.

Savannah is probably too big and doesn't live up to its hype.

I too thought about Ann Arbor, R86, but I figured that didn't qualify as a small town. But that's another place that's frigid 7+ months out of the year. I loved it when I spent a grad school summer ('94) there studying advanced statistics. OTOH, I was so poor, at the end of the day, I'd buy four day-old bagels for $1 so I'd have something to eat.

Good times!

Kennebunkport; Maine; Lexington or Concord, Mass.; Portsmouth, N.H.

r85, FYI, Bend is freezing cold throughout much of the year. Not a ton of snow falls in town, and it's dry and powdery, but you need snow tires because of the ice. Summers can have oppressive heat waves (yes, it's a dry heat, but still...) and the area is often smoky due to frequent forest fires. Like most of the Pacific Northwest, it's a beautiful area but has become particularly expensive, like another Aspen, Colorado. Great place to visit. Wouldn't want to live there. One side of my family is from Bend. They all hate it now, with the urban sprawl and heavy traffic.

[quote] Savannah is probably too big and doesn't live up to its hype.

You couldn't be more wrong about one of those claims. Take a guess which.

R90: Savannah is an overhyped cousin to Charleston.

Charlottesville, VA

Fredericksburg, VA

St. Augustine, FL

Cape May, NJ

Deerfield, MA

Pacific Grove, CA, my hometown

Lake Placid, NY; Edgartown, MA; Chatham, MA; Newport, RI; Cumberland, RI; Naragansett, RI; Santa Barbara, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Newport Beach, CA; Fredericksburg, TX; Ballard, CA; Saratoga Springs, NY; Stowe, VT; Traverse City, MI

I feel as though we it would be helpful to narrow the parameters. Town size - maybe 1000-30,000. Smaller than that is really a village, larger than that, it's really a small city.

OP could run separate poll for small cities - say 30,000-100,000. But Reno has already captured the motto of that category - the Biggest Little City in the World.

There are a ton of picturesque small towns in the Pacific Northwest that could qualify, and many have gorgeous scenery to boot (think of North Bend (Twin Peaks locale)) BUT - winters are consistently very dark, and very damp. East of the Cascades, it's drier, but it can also be very cool to very cold during winter.

The Southeast has lots of small picturesque towns that could be very charming in the winter, but that 5 month season of unbearable heat and humidity is a no-go.

So, high-elevation towns of the southeast might be ok - places like Boone, NC, or Sparta, NC, or Dillard, Ga are cooler in summer, not too brutally cold in winter.

In the West, someplace like Sedona would be hard to beat for weather and scenery. Guerneville has its charms too, besides being a gay town. But it's very prone to flooding on the Russian River. I've never been there, but some people seem to find Bisbee, Az very charming. Julian, in the mountains outside of San Diego has a lovely climate and is very picturesque.

Most of these places are quite isolated geographically, so they would not be appealing to anyone who needs to be near a big city for the cultural offerings - of the MEN

Longmont, Colorado

Boulder, CO, in spite of our family’s setbacks.

Compton