The Boston area is actually rather surprising. I live in a small Republican town and it has the same outgoing friendliness that I remember when I was growing up in Chicago. LA and NY felt isolated, with people not meeting your eyes. In Chicago people constantly met your eyes and smiled and you never felt alone. Our MA town is like that. Summer concerts on the common every Sunday, and frequent town and church fairs. Wouldn’t move from here for anything.
MA is funny. Most towns are actually Republican but we always lose the cities. The voting districts are gerrymandered so that the Demonrats will always win, like my 2nd district with McGovern.