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Mexico: 30% Off

Best for Honeymooners

Base camp: Sayulita
Just as drug wars were forcing already cheap Mexico to slash prices to keep tourists, swine flu hit. To fill empty beaches, hotels and airlines are piling on deals, even to the area near Puerto Vallarta known as Riviera Nayarit ($300 flights from L.A.). A surfer’s mecca and fishing village, Sayulita dead-ends at a white beach with two breaks — the Right is slow and steady, good for longboarders and beginners, while the Left rolls fast and high for shortboarders — and the bottom is all sand. For the best fish tacos outside of Baja, try Sayulita Fish Taco Restaurant, which also boasts more than 300 rare tequilas ($2; sayulitafishtaco.com). Stay in a private ocean-view villa with your own staff and pool ($100; sayulitalife.com), or drive 15 minutes to Punta de Mita, where many luxury resorts are throwing in a third night free ($279; starwoodhotels .com/stregis). Come from June to February, when volunteers free thousands of olive ridley and leatherback turtle hatchlings from their nests (project-tortuga.org).

Excursion 1: The waters off Nayarit offer amazing blue-water spear and deep-sea fishing ($980 for four nights; puntamitaexpeditions.com).

Excursion 2: Sierra Madre
Mountain biking this jungle’s singletrack reveals rare birds, deserted beaches, even jaguars ($50; wildmex.com).

Can’t Get It at Home: Intricate, handmade silver jewelry, sold by weight ($14 per ounce).

Read Before You Go: Gringos in Paradise by Barry Golson
A retiring editor and his wife try to build their dream house in Sayulita.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

Ireland: 35% Off

Best for Seafood and Surf

Base camp: Galway
The humbled Celtic tiger has thrown out a welcome mat, with $400 flights from New York to Shannon Airport in the West Country — the Ireland of song, with green mountains, deep lakes, great whiskey, and a jolly middle finger to the capricious weather. Galway is all cobblestones and bright-colored buildings, where old-world rooms at the Hotel Meyrick are a short stumble from your favorite pint (from $134; hotelmeyrick.ie). Sample some of the planet’s freshest seafood at O’Grady’s on the Pier (ogradysonthepier.com), and be sure to buy a round for the musicians singing of seafarers and shipwrecks during a musical pub crawl along Shop and Quay streets. During the annual Oyster Festival (September 24–27, galwayoysterfest.com), 30 pubs offer free oysters to anyone who downs a pint of Guinness.

Excursion 1: Surfing Aileen’s
First surfed in 2005, Aileen’s Wave is a monster barrel with a consistent winter break off the stunning Cliffs of Moher. Rent a car, take the N6, N18, then N67, and follow signs for the Cliffs (60 minutes). Too advanced? Take a class nearby ($55; lahinchsurfschool.com).

Excursion 2: The Aran Islands
The craggy rocks at the mouth of Galway Bay are the best spot around for deep-sea fishing ($85; galwaybayfishing.com). Ferries from Rossaveal take 45 minutes ($35; aranislandferries.com).

Can’t Get It At Home: Burren Smokehouse’s hot-smoked salmon
Dill and honey make Ireland’s famous salmon a world-class gift ($16; burrensmokehouse.ie).

Read Before You Go: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
A comic tale of a working-class preteen hooligan in Dublin.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

Vietnam: 35% Off

Best for Golf Addicts

Base camp: Dalat
The Communists may have won the “American War,” but Vietnam has fallen to the ultimate capitalist weapon — golf — with nearly 20 world-class courses now open. Rounds are very affordable (often less than $100), as are a crop of fine hotels and restaurants. The country’s oldest and best layout is Dalat Palace Golf Club, 50 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, in the center of a mountaintop city built by the French in the 1920s, which plays up and down hills and along a series of lakes with lush, New England–like bent grass ($90; vietnamgolfresorts.com). Live like a French colonist at the grand Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel ($200) and its authentic restaurant, Le Rabelais. (Try the wild boar.)

Excursion 1: Hoi An
The narrow cobblestoned streets of Hoi An’s Old Town are lined with centuries-old houses built when this was a trading center. Stay in the laid-back Life Heritage Resort ($120; life-resorts.com), and don’t miss the “eclectic fusion” cuisine of Mango Rooms, where Texas A&M alum Duc Tran is renowned for his Exotic Dance (prawns wrapped with beef). The new Montgomerie Links course, designed by Scottish scowler Colin Montgomerie, offers 18 meticulous holes over gently mounded terrain featuring lakes and stretches of sand ($88; montgomerielinks.com).

Excursion 2: Ba Vi Mountains
Like politicians everywhere, Vietnam’s bosses love golf. The best game in Hanoi is at Kings’ Island resort in Dong Mo Lake, accessible only by boat ($80; kingsislandgolf.com). Its Mountainview course is dramatic, with vistas of the Ba Vi Mountains, also a great area for hiking and biking (adventuretours.vn). To taste the French influence on local cuisine, try flower crab ($10), or any fresh fish, at chef Didier Corlou’s La Verticale (verticale-hanoi.com).

Can’t Get It At Home: Bargain Bespoke

The custom-made shirts and suits in Hoi An are high quality-and unbelievably cheap ($8 a shirt; try Yaly or Thu Thuy).

Read Before You Go: Shadows and Wind by Robert Templer
A fascinating, nuanced postwar history of a misunderstood nation.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

Maui: 30% Off

Best for Relaxing on the Beach

Base Camp: Hana
As Hawaii’s most accessible vacation island, Maui is chock-full of resorts desperately discounting in the recession, and flights are as low as $450 from Los Angeles. But how do you find solitude in paradise? Fortunately, the 617 white-knuckle switchbacks and 56 one-lane bridges on the road to Hana keep most tourists away. With dozens of spectacular waterfalls and secluded red-sand beaches, this cliffside jungle village with little more than a general store actively discourages development, with bumper stickers that read KEEP HANA HAWAIIAN. Rent a private home (studios from $600 per month; hanamaui.com) or, for a bit more luxury, stay at Hotel Hana-Maui, whose island craft–adorned seaside bungalows, built from native woods in the 1940s as the spring-training home of the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals, make it the most quietly beautiful hotel in the entire state — and $200 cheaper than a year ago (from $495, hotelhanamaui.com). For a delicious bargain meal, simply head out on the Hana Highway, which is dotted with plate-lunch trucks selling fresh-caught seafood ($5) and smoothies ($3) made from fruit right off the tree. Still not convinced this is paradise? Hana is also home to Hawaii’s best nude beach.

Excursion 1: Gliding over the waters off Hana
An ultralight airplane is little more than a motorcycle with wings — all the exposure of a hog with the grace of a bird — but it’s the best way to get close to stunning waterfalls and cresting humpback whales. At 10,000 feet, your instructor will cut the engine and glide on gentle winds to the remote Hana airstrip (from $220 per hour, hangglidingmaui.com).

Excursion 2: Haleakala
This dormant volcano dominates the island; you can make a three-day trek to the crater and back by camping or booking cabins in Haleakala National Park. Take the Hana highway south, then follow signs to the park ($5 fee plus $75 for a reserved cabin; nps.gov/hale).

Can’t Get It At Home: An Authentic Gyotaku

Intricately detailed prints, made from the fresh fish you just caught, and framed in Hawaiian koa wood, by local artist Naoki Hayashi ($100; gyotaku.com).

Read Before You Go: Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
Surviving a watery superrace.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

Turkey: 35% Off

Best for an Anniversary

Base Camp: Istanbul
If you love the tumble of city life for a steal, then East/West ancient/modern Istanbul is the place to be. The Turkish economy has crashed some 5 percent this year (worse than the annual rate during our Great Depression), and flights now cost 20 percent less than a year ago. You can live like a king and queen in the jail from Midnight Express, now a Four Seasons, and arguably Istanbul’s finest hotel ($500; fourseasons.com). Or enjoy a bargain at the Naz Wooden House Inn, built on the ruins of an eighth-century Byzantine palace, with views of Istanbul’s Blue Mosque ($100; nazwoodenhouseinn.com). Cross the Bosporus to Asia for Turkey’s best restaurant, Ciya Sofrasi, so seasonal there’s no set menu; brave the intestines stuffed with lamb ($8, ciya.com.tr). After haggling for spices you’ve never heard of at the Spice Market, have a beer under the Galata bridge ($2) and watch the flickering lights of the Old City while leathery fishermen reel in their catch.

Excursion 1: Cappadocia
Take a one-hour flight to Kayseri ($130; thy.com) to explore the sci-fi moonscape of Cappadocia. The ultrasoft volcanic tufa rock has worn into minaret-like pillars, which early Christians carved underground churches into. Stay at Serinn House, a stylish five-room cave hotel ($150; serinnhouse.com).

Excursion 2: Troy
Ruins from the city of antiquity, as well as the bloody battlefields of Gallipoli, are a half-day’s drive away.

Can’t Get It At Home: Raki
This elegant anise-flavored brandy is the national drink.

Read Before You Go: Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk
The Nobel winner explores the city’s hopeful melancholy.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

Argentina: 25% Off

Best for Horses, Steak, and Wine

Base camp: Buenos Aires
Argentina’s capital is a lot like Paris, only much cheaper, with better weather (highs of 60 to 80 degrees year-round) and even more innately elegant women. Thanks to the newly recollapsed Argentinian economy, there are dozens of great neighborhoods with cheap lodging, but Recoleta is the most beautiful. (It boasts the extraordinary Recoleta Cemetery, which has blocks of towering tombs and Eva Perón’s final resting place.) Save more cash by renting an apartment with your own kitchen for $230 a week (baapartments.com.ar). Soak up the country’s love affair with horses at the timeless racetrack Hipodrómo Argentino de Palermo ($3;palermo.com.ar); opened in 1876, it still feels like something from another era. Argentines eat more steak per person than anyone in the world; learn why at Cabaña Las Lilas (laslilas.com), where you can gorge on some of the most delicious beef you’ve ever tasted for $20, preferably around midnight, when most locals have supper.

Excursion 1: The Paraná Delta
Roughly 20 miles outside of Buenos Aires, five rivers come together to form a mix of grassland, swamp, and forest, with hundreds of islands begging to be explored. Catch a 60-minute train to Estación Tigre ($1), and walk one block to Estación Fluvial, where you can hire a boat for a tour (from $4). Or just stick around and go swimming, kayaking, wakeboarding, and sculling in a place that feels a world away from the city.

Excursion 2: Parque Nacional Perito Moreno
Barely 1,000 visitors a year dare to visit this remote, often bitterly cold — April through October is particularly rough — and utterly magnificent park in the mountains of Patagonia. Fly Aerolíneas Argentinas to Aeropuerto El Calafate (from $270), rent a car ($70; milletrentacar.com.ar), and drive National Road No. 40 until it intersects with No. 37, which takes you to the park. Be sure to stock up on supplies in advance (including extra gas), as you’ll be staying in your ride or camping. The payoff: plenty of breathtaking glacier-topped peaks (Cerro San Lorenzo stands 12,100 feet), metallic blue lakes, wildlife like condors, pumas, and foxes — and virtually no people.

Can’t Get It At Home: Dulce de Leche Empanadas
Separately, real Argentinian empanadas (small pies stuffed with meats, cheese, etc., from street carts) and dulce de leche (a caramelized sauce of milk and sugar) are delicious. But a warm empanada with this sweet filling? Addictive.

Read Before You Go: El Diego: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Footballer by Diego Maradona. He’s no Borges, but in his rise from poverty, Maradona casts a sharp eye on social strata.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

Iceland: 50% Off

Best for Hiking and Soaking

Base Camp: Reykjavík
Iceland has long been a pipe dream for those traveling on a budget — until last fall, when economic meltdown left the nation with $200,000 of debt for every citizen. Take advantage of Iceland’s half-off sale at the Hotel Reykjavík Centrum, within walking distance of the city’s bustling bars and harbor, complete with a glass-enclosed, ninth-century Viking archaeological site ($150; hotelcentrum.is). To get a feel for the world’s northernmost capital, meet dirty joke–prone Jonas Thorsteinsson for his free daily walking tours (meet at Adalstraeti 2 by 1 pm, goecco.com), and join the line of locals at the red Baejarins Bestu street cart for lamb hot dogs with mustard, remoulade, and fried onions ($3). Be sure to leave time for a visit to the Blue Lagoon, the famous pool of milky blue water set in crags of volcanic rock ($50 for bus and entry; re.is).

Excursion 1: Thorsmork Nature Reserve
Named for the god of thunder, this park, surrounded by glaciers and peaks, requires four-wheel drive to navigate boulder-strewn roads and swollen rivers. The best bet is a chauffeured trip with Iceland Excursions: Hike through a mossy gorge to a cave with a waterfall ($130; grayline.is). If you can’t bear to leave, camp or rent a cabin (from $7; hostel.is), or get a bit of luxury — and a hot tub under the northern lights — at the four-star Hotel Ranga ($200; hotelranga.is).

Excursion 2: Vatnajökull National Park
It’s tough to find any spot on Earth that feels this far from home. Founded in 2008, Europe’s biggest national park, a full 11 percent of Iceland, is five hours from Reykjavík (stop at the black-sand beaches of Reynisfjara on the drive). Hike an hour to Svartifoss, a waterfall whose basalt pillars resemble a pipe organ, then to the Skaftafellsjökull glacier (rent crampons on-site). The Hotel Skaftafell is a bit basic, but boosted by delicious lamb and a bar that looks out to glacier-capped mountains ($140; hotelskaftafell.is).

Can’t Get It At Home: Brennivín
Affectionately dubbed Black Death by Icelanders, this aquavit-like 75-proof schnapps is flavored with cumin.

Read Before You Go: Independent People by Halldor Laxness.
This tale of a stubborn sheep farmer won Laxness a Nobel.

This article is part of our See The World — at 50% Off package.

How to Make the Perfect Omelet

Return to the Cook Like a Man table of contents

Manny Howard demonstrates the fine art of omelet perfection — while breaking only the required number of eggs. 

Men’s Journal Survey Sweepstakes Rules

The Best Neighborhoods in America: Central

Urban Perks, Outdoor Access

EAST HIGHLAND / DENVER, CO

Denver has long struggled with a cow town inferiority complex. Upscale restaurants feel out of place alongside taquerias, and it’s tough to tell if neon beer signs signify dive-bar irony or square-state interior design. But in burgeoning East Highland, Colorado’s capital finally has its own Brooklyn. Overlooking the downtown skyline, E-Hi’s brick brownstones, row houses, and modern condominium complexes are bringing in single professionals who party like grown-ups, couples who aren’t quite ready to settle down, and young families who are looking for a little more color than they might find in the increasingly beige neighborhoods of Cherry Creek or Washington Park. Up the 15th Street hill is the neighborhood’s core, where unique restaurants and bars are multiplying at such a clip that the area has already established itself as the destination district for the rest of the city. While Mexican grocery stores and cheap, tasty taquerias flourish, Vita’s rooftop terrace is usually packed with the city’s smart set (but without the attitude), and high-end Mexican place Lola offers up a new twist on tacos, with an excellent view of the downtown skyline. Locals know oddly shaped Little Man Ice Cream as “the giant milk can,” and Root Down, the city’s most interesting new restaurant, is a rehabbed gas station with a mod-retro vibe. Some would argue that it has taken Denver this long to find its city sensibility because the Rockies are all about Eddie Bauer and not Hugo Boss; but even if you ask the city’s outdoor obsessives where they¹d most like to spend their downtime, they’ll say it doesn¹t get much more convenient than this neighborhood notched between I-25 and I-70. A-Basin is about 90 minutes away, door-to-door, and the South Platte River Greenway, a five-minute downhill spin from the center of East Highland, offers the best urban biking in town. For a midweek fix, check out the 45-foot-high climbing wall at REI’s massive flagship store, housed in an impressive century-old brick building. Or, for those who prefer escaping farther into the city, a new pedestrian footbridge handily links East Highland to LoDo (Lower Downtown) high-rises and nightclubs, along with Coors Field, the city’s beautiful retro ballpark.

- Luc Hatlestad

Median Home Price: $270,470
Cost of Living: 2% higher
Sunny Days: 245

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12-hour Test Drive: Lone Star Bohemia

CHERRYWOOD / AUSTIN, TX

While there’s plenty of culture here, this is a tight-knit corner of Austin with a small-town Texas feel—instant APBs are issued when a neighbor’s dog or cat goes missing. 8 am: Start with coffee at Clementine; the lime-and-tangerine-colored building will wake you if the caffeine doesn’t. The post-WWII concrete and stucco houses in the area are painted colors that would worry any HOA. 9 am: For breakfast go to Cherrywood Coffeehouse for a taco: El Sol, piled high with eggs, cheese, and chorizo. 11 am: Head over to Mueller, a mixed-use urban development, and get lost in the vast expanse of parks (140 acres’ worth). 4 pm: Check out the Blanton Museum of Art on the nearby UT campus. 7 pm: Grab dinner at the Eastside Café, which grows its own veggies out back and offers fine dining in a beautiful old house.

- Spike Gillespie

Median Home Price: $165,200
Cost of Living: 5% lower
Sunny Days: 229

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My ‘Hood: A Big City in Big Sky Country

SOUTH MISSOULA / MT

Until I moved to Missoula (pop. 64,000) from my home in the backwoods—to which I’ll return after our daughters finish up at their excellent Missoula high schools—I had heard the comparisons to Paris and assumed they were overblown. I don’t think so now. The food’s as good, the arts scene is about as vibrant as you can stand, and there’s even a kind of Left Bank/Right Bank thing happening on respective sides of the Clark Fork River. While you’ll even find arrondissements, each with a distinct personality, on either side, mine hasn’t picked up a cute name yet. It’s sort of a neighborhood between neighborhoods, near the university and Pattee Canyon in the south of the city. After half a year I’m learning my spots: the incredible bakery Great Harvest, where a free sample takes me through lunch, and Dan’s Barber Shop, where there’s never a wait and for $10 I get the number 2 razor to shear what little hair I have left. You couldn’t ask for a nicer place to wait out the responsibilities of parenthood. Music at the Badlander, a burger at the Missoula Club, a croissant at Le Petit Outre, a fundraiser to elect a local fishing guide to state office, and the week’s gone. With so many opportunities it’s hard to even establish a routine. I look forward to my return to the woods, but in the meantime, it¹s as great a place to suffer as any.

- Rick Bass

Median Home Price: $186,250
Cost of Living: 2% lower
Sunny Days: 158

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Four More Neighborhoods

Santa Fe, NM

The railyard district in this mountain and arts paradise offers superquick access to the myriad hiking and biking trails that wind their way around Atalaya Mountain. Its new pedestrianized collection of shops, galleries, and restaurants is within walking distance of the city’s downtown plaza and is still a primary gathering place for locals.

Minneapolis, MN

America’s second-biggest bike-commuting city now has the country’s best new bike trail. The Midtown Greenway, a 5.7-mile path that follows a railroad corridor, connects Midtown¹s affordability with the best culture and recreation in the city. New condo developments—such as the stunning 364-unit art deco Midtown Exchange—have brought it all together.

Chicago, IL

With century-old homes, an old-school vibe, and proximity to the river, Pilsen stands out along a largely high-rise-developed South Loop. It’s a haven for young artists, with lofts springing up between colorful murals depicting scenes from Mexican history and houses that survived the 1877 fire. Check out new art at the galleries on Halsted near 18th Street, or for something a little more lowbrow, grab authentic Mexican and then football at nearby Soldier Field.

Boulder, CO

The city is surrounded by mountains, so sprawl is limited, which forces the rediscovery of old neighborhoods—and soaring rents. NOBO (North Boulder), however, is a great option for those looking for a way in. Coffee shops teem with road bikers before they tackle steep Highway 36, and residents enjoy sweeping views and a straight shot along Broadway to downtown.

*All statistics according to Bestplaces.net

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This article originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

The Best Neighborhoods in America: West

A Great City’s Gritty Oasis

DOGPATCH / SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Hemmed in by water on three sides, San Francisco has nowhere to sprawl. Sometimes it manages to expand from within, but with only seven-by-seven miles of real estate to work with, great new neighborhoods only really happen about once a decade. So when locals rediscovered historic Dogpatch, an area characterized by a polished grit left over from its former life as a haven for Hells Angels and shipyard workers, they found a striking aesthetic like nowhere else in this city known for its colorful Victorians. The dozen or so square blocks surrounding the intersection of 3rd and 22nd streets, reputedly named for the pack of strays that used to case the neighborhood’s meatpacking plants, have quite a hard-knock past. The aforementioned motorcycle gang still has its original city clubhouse at 23rd and Tennessee, dockhands still drink in the 80-year-old Dogpatch Saloon, and the most popular place to work out in the neighborhood is the famous 3rd Street Boxing Gym. But these days, Golden Gloves train right alongside the cubicle crowd; the grand old brick industrial buildings that survived the 1906 earthquake have been converted into live-work lofts and studios for local designers; and UCSF’s new uber-gym, with indoor b-ball courts, a rooftop pool, and a climbing wall, offers an alternative workout. Dogpatch owes much of its rebirth to AT&T Park just up the road. The slick new home of the San Francisco Giants was a formidable enough development to actually shift the center of the city slightly southeast, and the formerly neglected bay-front warehouse district is becoming as sought after as high-end artsy tech-gulch South Park just north of the stadium. It may also be the city’s best-connected neighborhood, surrounded by freeways that deliver you to jobs in the South Bay (30 minutes), the surf at Ocean Beach (15 minutes), and downtown (five minutes). And San Francisco’s waterfront, which is being revamped right up to Dogpatch’s doorstep, is one of the best after-work runs—or kayak launches—anywhere.

- Andy Isaacson

Median Home Price: $747,210
Cost of Living: 83% higher
Sunny Days: 260

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My ‘Hood: SoCal’s Last Sleepy Surf Haven

LEUCADIA / ENCINITAS, CA

Owning a home in a Southern California beach town had always been a dream of mine. The reality? Nearly everything south of Point Conception has been subdivided and converted to accommodate the superwealthy, the ocean reduced to a backdrop for their evening chardonnay. Ironically, most of us who actually spend time in the ocean have always settled for the life of a renter, willing to forgo a real estate portfolio for before- and after-work surf sessions. So when my wife and I moved from San Diego 25 miles up the coast to Encinitas six years ago, we figured we’d have to rent and assumed we’d always be renters in a town known for its over-the-top multimillion-dollar beachfront property. Then we found Leucadia on the north end of town. It just may be the last bastion of houses deemed by rich folk almost too funky to be worth fixing up. There are few, if any, sidewalks in town, and I have a septic tank out back. Dogs run free, people keep chickens as pets, and there’s a local flock of wild parrots. We feel a thousand miles away from the Botoxed folks up the hill in Encinitas Ranch. The surfers here don’t just drive around with boards strapped to the roofs of their cars; they surf. In fact, this is a blue-collar surf town: My neighbors shape boards for a living, and it’s mostly firemen and carpenters bobbing around in the lineup at Swami’s, a right-hand point break, beneath the golden dome of local icon Swami Yogananda’s self-realization fellowship. But our favorite discovery so far has been the chicken soup at La Especial Norte right on the Coast Highway. It really can, as it says on the menu, bring you back to life when you feel dead. During a particularly nasty flu bout, the matronly owner told us to come down with our biggest pot so that she could fill it up for us. Sure, the houses in Leucadia might be a little pricey, but the surf will always be free.

- Brad Melekian

Median Home Price: $646,840
Cost of Living: 106% higher
Sunny Days: 263

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12-hour Test Drive: New West Done Right

NORTH END / BOISE, ID

Boise may sprawl a bit, but the Boise you want has a pretty small footprint, full of bungalow charm, desert canyon ruggedness, renovated warehouses, quirky misfits, and exiled liberals from the countryside. 8 am: Wake up with a run on the Ridge to Rivers Trail System, and get lost on the 130 miles of paths that connect to the North End street grid in half a dozen places. The neighborhood is sandwiched right between trail-packed foothills and the Boise River. 11 am: Rent a cruiser and hit Goldy’s for a huge breakfast before joining the locals at the Capital City Public Market on N. 8th Street. 3 pm: For lunch hit Bar Gernika, where you might find yourself sitting next to the mayor—Boise’s still a town where it’s not uncommon to wait for the light next to the governor. 7 pm: Return to North End for dinner at Bungalow and then a walk in Hyde Park.

- Rick Overton

Median Home Price: $237,950
Cost of Living: 2% higher
Sunny Days: 210

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FIVE MORE NEIGHBORHOODS

SEATTLE, WA

Despite a decade of buzz, Ballard still feels unspoiled. The same dive bars host the same music; the tasty ex-brothel pizza joint still has tables open. And it¹s still got plenty of adventure: 16,000 square feet of climbing at Stone Gardens, and Olympic or Mount Baker national forest, each less than 70 miles away.

RENO, NV

Two hundred and fifty days of sunshine per year, skiing up the road, runnable whitewater in town, and an influx of creative types make Reno the new Boulder. One of its oldest neighborhoods, the Old Southwest, is its best, with quiet, leafy sidewalks near an up-and-coming part of downtown (at California and Sierra).

PORTLAND, OR

Mount Tabor is a low-key neighborhood with acres of trails at the foot of a 600-foot volcanic peak. Right next door is Hawthorne, a funky district with trendy shops, good eats, and lively nightlife. Our advice: Call Mount Tabor home and consider Hawthorne the fun uncle.

ANCHORAGE, AK

Locals know they’ve got a good thing with a strong economy, a vibrant downtown, and wilderness so close they can literally catch a salmon dinner after work. Just west, historic Bootleggers Cove is a walk away from the action but has the 11-mile Coastal Trail in its backyard.

OGDEN, UT

Once abandoned for gated communities on the city’s fringes, downtown ogden is in the midst of a comeback. Buy a bargain Victorian near galleries and restaurants, and still take advantage of nearby bouldering and whitewater. A commuter rail whisks you to Salt Lake City (for your day job) in an hour; Snowbasin is half that by car.

*All statistics according to Bestplaces.net

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This article originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

The Best Neighborhoods in America: Southeast

The Eccentric Throwback

WEST ASHEVILLE/ ASHEVILLE, NC

There are some residents of Asheville who aren’t just wary of suburban sprawl and unchecked development; they’re downright pathological about it. And for this very vocal slice of the population, the downtown revival, via a slick new Grove Arcade and pedestrian mall, was a worrying step forward. So they fled to West Asheville, set up a perimeter, and dug in. Brandon Mise, owner of custom letterpress Blue Barnhouse, pointedly refuses to recommend his favorite hiking trails to nonlocals, and no one seems all that ashamed of the vandals who did nearly a million dollars’ worth of damage to an under-construction Wal-Mart back in 2004.

With a population of slightly more than 70,000, growth in this city cradled by the Blue Ridge Mountains is hardly careening out of control, and it still retains the rough edges and cool factor it’s known for, but downtown’s reinvention cost it some character. After being priced out of the hundred-year-old homes encircling downtown in the 1990s, a few pioneering young professionals decided to cross the French Broad River and take this formerly run-down part of town from dangerous to desirable. And they had a unique vision: Even after nearly two decades of growth, West Asheville is still basically what downtown Asheville was like a decade ago, when it had four good restaurants instead of 12, and old-school drugstores and paint-chipped storefronts sat alongside clothing boutiques. Keeping it funky was a priority for a population young enough to not yet care about saving for retirement.

Just like downtown itself, there are side streets of attractive bungalows with deep front porches, and a single commercial strip, Haywood Road, where all the basics are within walking or cycling distance. Spots that would be considered unique and progressive in most cities of this size are a given in West Asheville, with its anchors being the Haywood Road Market health food co-op on the west end and the Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism and its al fresco front-yard yoga studio on the east. Between the two, equip yourself for your first kayak lessons at Second Gear, where the French Broad stink is infused in the spray skirts. Or go for a tune-up at Pro Bikes, which caters to commuters as well as fat-tire freaks. (Asheville is your base of operations for camping in the Pisgah National Forest, whitewater weekends in Hot Springs or Bryson City, and outdoor music at the biannual Lake Eden Arts Festival just east in Black Mountain.) And even though this is the Bible Belt, most West Ashevillians worship at the West End Bakery on Sunday mornings, before hitting the Lucky Otter for lunch.

No one expects to find everything he needs in West Asheville — the coffee shop is closed on weekends (no joke), and aside from funky-smelling thrift stores, forget shopping for clothes — but the locals have spoken: If convenience follows progress, they’re having none of it.

- Britta Waller

Median Home Price: $131, 810
Cost of Living Compared to Rest of U.S.: 15% lower
Sunny Days Per Year: 212

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12-Hour Test Drive: The Triangle’s Quiet Corner

WATTS-HILLANDALE/ DURHAM, NC

Chapel Hill gets more press, and Raleigh has more heft, but Durham is where sweet tea sidles up to espresso. 8 am: Stroll down Ninth, the strip serving Duke University, and stop at Elmo’s Diner. It’s great for gossip and a heaping plate of biscuits. 11 am: Clear your arteries with hoops in Oval Park, and note the park bulletin board’s for-sale-by-owner houses. Plenty of early-20th-century bungalows change hands this way because of the locals’ DIY ways. 6 pm: Head downtown for a Bulls game. Since Bull Durham the team has gone Triple A and gotten a swish stadium.

- Timothy Gray

Median Home Price: $161,710
Cost of Living Compared to Rest of U.S.: 2% lower
Sunny Days Per Year: 217

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Inner City Mash-Up, Revived

OLD FOURTH WARD/ ATLANTA, GA

Think downtown Atlanta is tall, sleek, and shiny? Not where I live. The Old Fourth Ward, right next to downtown, is none of those, and history is why. Ever since the ‘96 Olympics brought throngs back to the city center, the old “intown” neighborhoods filled in with condo towers, and 90-year-old bungalows were remodeled and sold for twice the price. The Old Fourth Ward, on the other hand, is a neighborhood whose identity, people, and architecture are too jumbled for it to ever become trendy.

During segregation, it was both industrial and residential. Martin Luther King Jr. grew up and preached here, and families have occupied the same shotgun houses for generations. But there’s also industry here — a commercial laundry, a welding shop, a heavy equipment yard – which gives it a look of mild clutter and commotion. There’s even a southern food spot with a Japanese sensibility.

And well after the last of the dirt and funk is cleaned up, if it ever is, we’ll still have our edge. If the industry gets pushed out, the huge variety of housing types and sizes means there will always be different kinds of households. There may not be much new paint, but there’s plenty of promising energy.

-Jonathan Lerner

Median Home Price: $223,530
Cost of Living Compared to Rest of U.S.: 1% lower
Sunny Days Per Year: 217

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FIVE MORE NEIGHBORHOODS

Little Rock, AR
Arkansas’s capital has a practiced charm and an easy embrace of new ideas. Historic Stifft Station is diverse, filled with cheap Craftsman-style bungalows, and is a walk or bike away from unique local cuisine (from whole hog to haute).

New Orleans, LA
The winding waterway where picnickers lounge on grassy banks and kayakers paddle their way up to Lake Pontchartrain creates a pastoral backdrop for Bayou St. John’s bungalows. It’s all within shouting distance of NOLA’s top art museum, a huge city park, and the barbecue shrimp po’boy at Liuzza’s By the Track.

Nashville, TN
For a century the Gulch was just a barren railroad corridor, then redevelopment brought it back from the dead. It also created the first LEED Neighborhood Development certification in the South — all while preserving some history. Don’t miss the Station Inn, the mother church of bluegrass, now flanked by new condos and sushi bars.

Charleston, SC
Left-leaning Park Circle, in the north, has long flown under the radar in the state, and while development tends to change a place, its recent housing boom has left its liberalism intact. Sure, there are lots of new residents, but they seem to have the same unique, character-driven, fun-loving attitudes as the pioneers.

Charlottesville, VA
UVA lends this mountain town its cultural cachet — but that doesn’t mean you want to live next to frat row. Safely tucked away from campus hoopla, eclectic Belmont boasts its own diverse dining hub and fast access to biking and kayaking in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

*All statistics according to Bestplaces.net

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This article originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

The Best Neighborhoods in America: Northeast

Beantown’s Cool Outlier

Jamaica Plain/ Boston, MA

Jamaica plain is a weird place, but it’s a good weird: an eclectic, humming neighborhood where its triple-decker-house-lined streets out-grit any Southie block, yet the Queen Annes near the Jamaica Pond reflect the neighborhood’s country past; Dominican kids run in the streets alongside yuppies returning from work; and even two decades after its rebirth it’s still viewed by some as undesirable, the last four stops on the still-dangerous Orange Line.

The reality is that J.P. was one of the first Boston neighborhoods to gentrify, nearly 20 years ago, but, because of its inability to coalesce into a Good Will Hunting stereotype, it remains disguised as a fringe ‘hood. This may have something to do with its reputation for big-city crime statistics, but it also owes a lot to a community that fiercely fights off chain-store development. (A proposed Kmart got beat back a decade ago.)

So while it may not be the obvious choice, it is the locals’ choice. In 1988, Jim Koch chose Germania Street for his new Samuel Adams brewery, and Doyle’s, a pub and restaurant of legendary repute, has been right on Washington Street since 1882. A huge mural on its far wall depicts every famous Bostonian who has raised a pint there, including a young Ted Kennedy. You can actually walk between Doyle’s and the Sam Adams brewery along the Southwest Corridor, with its biking and running trails that roughly follow the Orange Line, the skyline always visible just above the trees. The trail is one of the city’s best-kept secrets and a beautiful walk in the summer. Whenever traffic is bad — and in Boston, the traffic’s always bad — it’s the most relaxing way to get to work.

In a city built on history, Jamaica Plain holds tradition dear but refuse to conform. If that just so happens to keep the Hollywood location scouts away, it just means the neighborhood has at least another 10 good years left.

-Paul Kix

Median Home Price: $422,600
Cost of Living Compared to Rest of U.S.: 58% higher
Sunny Days Per Year: 201

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Green Living on the Grid

Five Sisters/ Burlington, VT
The advantage to living in Five Sisters is that you’re near the action of this four-college town without being in it. 8 am: Wake up with a sweaty yoga class at Bikram Yoga Burlington on Pine, then pick up a coffee and local listings rag Seven Days at Speeder and Earl’s. 10 am: Head to the farmers market in City Hall Park, passing quaint bungalows, Cape Cods, and a smattering of Sears kit houses with welcoming front porches and backyards big enough for a vegetable garden. 12 pm: Spot young execs playing Frisbee with woodworkers as you cruise the lakefront on your way to rent a kayak or sailboat at the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center. 2 pm: Grab your bike, meet friends at UVM, and pedal south for a 60-mile round-trip over Ap Gap, one of the Northeast’s most challenging mountain passes. 7 pm: End up back in town for organic pizza at Bite Me on St. Paul.

-Berne Broudy

Median Home Price: $217,300
Cost of Living Compared to Rest of U.S. 9% higher
Sunny Days Per Year: 159

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Small-Town Vibe in the Big Apple

Cobble Hill/ Brooklyn, NY

When my girlfriend and I walk to the vegetable stand a few blocks from our apartment in Cobble Hill, we invariably bump into a person or couple we know. We enjoy this. Not the encounter, but the fact that it’s limited to one.

I’ve often heard residents in this part of Brooklyn compare it to small-town living, and I suppose that’s because the area — a pretty grid of tree-lined residential streets containing three commercial avenues packed with restaurants (trendy, but also an Atomic Wings) and shops (boutiques, but also a Target nearby) — offers the kind of neighborhood flavor that’s often absent in urban America.

But the small-town analogy totally misses the real gift of living here. In a small town everyone knows your business, there are two or three restaurants, and the guy at the hardware store knows whether your walls are plaster or drywall. Anonymity is a fantasy. The joy of Cobble Hill, and nearby Carroll Gardens, is that almost anywhere else this collective area would be a city unto itself — not a big city, but a city nevertheless.

So while I recognize many of the faces I pass, I haven’t met them, and I certainly don’t have to stop and make small talk with them when I really just want to get home to watch the Mets lose. Tony over at Tony’s Hardware has no idea what my walls are made of, and even though I have been getting advice on malbecs and aglianicos from Judy at the wine store practically every single night for five years, I have no idea if she recognizes me. I love that.

-David Katz

Median Home Price: $652,700
Cost of Living Compared to Rest of U.S.: 56% higher
Sunny Days Per Year: 232

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Four More Neighborhoods

Washington, DC
The Atlas District and the surrounding H Street corridor in Northeast DC is one of the city’s oldest commercial districts, but the 1968 riots left it in ruins. Today affordable housing, a farmers market, and a slew of hip drinking haunts are drawing comparisons to the Northwest’s U Street of five years ago.

Philadelphia, PA
Northern Liberties is all but devoid of the beer-brewing, textile, and ceramic industries that once thrived here, but in their place is a lively center for local artists and musicians. Minutes from downtown, plenty of gastropubs, art galleries, and music venues nestle between traditional row houses and historic properties.

Portland, ME
Without the tourist traffic (or kitsch) of Old Port, and away from the mansions of the West End, Munjoy Hill stands out in Maine’s biggest city. Resting on its perch overlooking the city and Casco Bay, it’s one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the state. It’s also gone from blue-collar to green scene with an explosion of locally owned restaurants and shops.

Cincinnati, OH
Northside, five minutes from downtown Cincinnati, brings a small-town look and mentality into the city, with its old-fashioned houses, farmers markets, independent shops, and strong community activism. It further sets itself apart with two hilltop nature preserves.

*All statistics according to Bestplaces.net

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This article originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.

Translation: Direct Drive Motor

A motor spins the platter directly, so it’s easier to cue a song: Find the beginning, rewind the LP a half rotation, then hit record. Belt-drive players don’t start right away, so it’s harder to cue tracks.

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