When I was in college, some of the other students were what I would call “Technology Carpetbaggers”. They would form groups of homo buddies (no girl friends) and systematically steal ideas from professors and other students, then try to start little companies to develop and sell the ideas. It seemed like their goal was to make enough money to more to Boulder, as many did. I’ve never been to Boulder. It must be horrible.
It’s not horrible......it’s a lovely town, quaint, upscale, expensive, historic, at the foothills of the Flatirons
You say Boulder must be horrible. Boulder is in fact one of the most beautiful towns in America. The problem with Boulder is the people who live there. Condescending elitists hypocrites. Yet, if you don’t have to talk to any of them, you will find Boulder and the Western section of the Boulder Valley to be an incredible place to visit. Boulder Creek, Ebin G Fine Park, Settlers Park, Pearl Street Mall, The Flatirons, the Mork and Mindy house and the surrounding neighborhood, seriously the place is awesome. It is just the attitudes of the snobs who live there. Otherwise, the town is close to perfection.
It is a liberal utopia.
We visit Boulder regularly, since our son is there. It's not a horrible place at all. It is in a beautiful setting, and it has all the virtues of a prosperous community. It is clean, offers excellent educational and medical services and excellent shopping for many things. I'm not a big shopper, but I like shopping there for outdoor recreation.
The downsides of Boulder are somewhat political, and ultimately economic. It is a very liberal community, due in good measure to the university. There are also a lot of people migrating from California and the east coast. Boulder is heavily anti-2nd amendment. If it weren't, perhaps the shooter at the King Soopers grocery would have been stopped sooner. We'll never know. Gun ownership in Boulder involves local restrictions and is generally frowned upon by many locals.
Although the views are gorgeous, air quality can be poor due to wildfires in the state and further west. They get smoke from California fires. There are lots of dead trees in the Rockies due to pine beetles. You can drive past miles and miles of standing dead timber. The thought of being there during a lightning strike is pretty sobering. They're not done with wildfires. Boulderites are very serious about climate change and tend to attribute many things to mankind's depradations upon nature. If you're there, it doesn't pay to debate these issues.
Boulderites embrace the outdoors. That's a really nice thing. I like it too. Boulder has a commitment to outdoor recreation. They have a lot of open space for recreation - also a nice thing. There is a green belt (brown during drought) around Boulder so that everyone has ready access to bike paths, hiking, dog walking, etc. Nobody can build in the green belt. Building heights are restricted so that everyone in Boulder can see the mountains. Also very nice. The problem with all these nice things like green space and building restrictions is that it drives up the cost of housing. Boulder has one of the highest real estate markets in the nation. People still want to live there, so the areas outside the green belt are getting heavily developed. (Last night some of those places burned.)
If our son stays in Boulder after the stresses of wildfires and having his grocery store shot up, we'll still visit. I don't see us ever moving there. It's too expensive and too restrictive for our taste. It is beautiful though, in a planned community sort of way.
I avoid it. My band played shows there once in a while in the 80s/90s but it always sucked.