StreetAdvisor Blog

The best of what's new in Australia

At StreetAdvisor we don't mind if your reviews of streets and cities are positive or negative, beautiful or ugly, as long as they share something genuine and original about the place. Fortunately, many of the recent reviews in Australia have been very positive, and people seem to be enjoying their homes and their local areas. Here's a sample of the latest great reviews from around Australia.

At Closter Avenue, Nunawading, Victoria (Street Rank in Nunawading #2, Overall Score 87.72), closteriscool says:

Closter Avenue is a gorgeous little street just of Springfield Road. Springfield Road is a really useful thoroughfare but not a horrible, noisy street by any means. Closter Avenue is in a quiet location with lovely tree lined pavements especially down the end towards Springfield Rd where there is a little bend.

There is lots to do nearby with great access to walking, running and bike trails and within easy walking distance of Blackburn Lake. Nunawading Aqualink is also nearby which has a great gym and huge pool. Awesome for aspiring Olympians and little kiddies doing their swimming lessons.

Blackburn North shopping centre is fantastic with 2 supermarkets and everything someone needs at short notice. There are heaps of great little restaurants, the Blackburn Hotel nearby and fabulous little Asian takeaway and pizza places.

At Wolfe Street, Jamestown, South Australia (Street Rank in Jamestown #1, Overall Score 84.38), Giraffian says:

Lovely little street, nice people, nice and wide. There's no through traffic down it despite a recycling centre at the end of the street - people take a different route to get to it. So the only cars that come down the street are from people who live on the street.

The most interesting feature of the street is one perfectly symmetrical house built on Mannenarie road has been built at an angle just to LOOM down Wolfe St. You can't miss it!

At Lockrose Street, Mitchelton, Queensland (Street Rank in Mitchelton #1, Overall Score 80.18), Pauly says:

Just off Samford Rd and 8kms to the city this great street is built with quality standalone townhouses and executive homes. It has parks, kids playground and good walking and cycle paths. You can hear the whipbirds and see the bush turkeys running around during the day. It's a very peaceful and quiet area, around the corner is Brookside shopping centre and the Blackwood Street Cafe Precinct even closer!

At View Street, Peppermint Grove, Western Australia (Street Rank in Peppermint Grove #1, Overall Score 90.00), jamesp101 says:

Peppermint Grove sure is an exclusive suburb - in fact the smallest one in WA. - and View Street, which is the only street that runs from one end of the suburb to the other, is lined with manicured gardens and a bright and happy street presence, shaded by the blooming Peppermint trees which give the suburb its name. But it's not only the look of the road and verge that set this street off. Also, like the rest of Peppermint Grove, the classic federation homes - which were built by wealthy West Australians many years ago, and often passed down through generations - line View Street as well as new mansions which are like no others in the state.

At Acacia Street, Cabramatta, New South Wales (Street Rank in Cabramatta #1, Overall Score 71.29), az1 says:

Acacia St is just across Cabramatta Rd from the main shopping street. The housing in this street is mainly units and townhouses. The units are 2 and three storey walk ups.

Due to the proximity to the shopping center parking tends to be an issue particularly on the weekends. The council is now assisting and paroling the area to ensure that footpath parking is eliminated. Just at the end of the street is Cabramatta Police station which is the area headquarters.

These are the stories of contented neighbors enjoying life in their streets and cities. What story do you have to tell about where you live? Log in to StreetAdvisor.com.au today and write a review, post a forum topic or comment on the reviews and topics relating to places near you.

What do you love about your San Francisco Bay area neighborhood?

In my last post I wrote about exploring the San Francisco Bay area. StreetAdvisor is receiving lots of reviews in the area, and these are some of the comments StreetAdvisor community members are making about what they love about their neighborhoods.

At College Terrace, Palo Alto, California (Overall Score 72.00), swtbabydoll126 says:

College Terrance got its name because its right next to Stanford University. My friend goes to school at Stanford, and rents a house here in this neighborhood with a few roommates. I have stayed over night before with her, and there isn't a problem at all with the noise level.

At Crocker Highland, Oakland, California (Overall Score 83.95), mwg says:

We moved here in 1992 based on it's easy access to I-580 in order to commute to Silicon Valley. At the time, there wasn't much to do in the shopping district and we didn't have kids. But now! The area has been so revitalized!!! This neighborhood has a very strong and active community involved in improving the area. There is now an incredible Farmers Market at Splashpad, right off the freeway, every Saturday.

At East End, Alameda, California (Overall Score 78.55), Alchemist says:

The banks of the San Leandro Channel provide for great fishing and catching the cool breezes that can't be found in the middle of the East End.

At Central East Castro Valley, Castro Valley, California (Overall Score 90.00), urbantrend says:

Central East Castro Valley is a trendy and modern neighborhood in the Castro Valley area. The apartments sort of resemble modern and upscale Euro style apartments with a touch of sophistication.

At Temescal, Oakland, California (Neighborhood Rank in Oakland #2, Overall Score 64.09), idonttwitter says:

If you want to hang out in the newest areas of Oakland then you need to head over to Temescal. Temescal offers easy access to the Groove Shafter Freeway (24) which makes it quick and easy to come or go. Telegraph Ave is the best street in the Temescal area in my opinion. The street is lined with new shops that are bursting at their seams with retail goods.

At Hayward Park, San Mateo, California (Neighborhood Rank in San Mateo #3, Overall Score 55.57), andrewlglass says:

I lived in Hayward Park for about 2 years, but decided to move back to the city life. I have to say that if you want to raise a family, this place wouldn’t be a bad choice. It is quiet, mostly friendly people and lots to do outdoors. One of the things I loved the most about Hayward Park is that the grocery stores are very environmentally friendly. Instead of using countless numbers of grocery bags from the store, they allow you to bring your own bags.

At South Shore | Shoreline, Alameda, California (Overall Score 81.96), Gooberthemighty says:

Some people who have lived in Alameda gripe about South Shore because of the construction and traffic, but what you're really getting is small town living with nice, suburban amenities. You can walk on the beach or go windsurfing, or just enjoy a picnic at the Crab Cove park.

There's obviously lots to like about neighborhoods in the Bay area. What do you love about where you live? Log in to StreetAdvisor today and tell us about it!

Exploring the San Francisco Bay area

There's more to the Bay area in California than San Francisco itself. While landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge capture the hearts of tourists, for current and potential California residents the issue of finding an affordable and enjoyable place to live is probably more important.

Despite its fame as a city, San Francisco itself does not score very highly as a city (San Francisco, California, City Rank in California #60, Overall Score 65.14).

San Francisco is ranked similarly to smaller cities in the Bay area like Sunnyvale, California (Overall Score 65.45) and Redwood City, California (City Rank in California #61, Overall Score 63.41).

Scores and ranks for the neighborhoods in these areas are starting to fill out. For example, the third best neighborhood in Redwood City is Oakwood, Redwood City, California Neighborhood Rank in Redwood City #3, Overall Score 63.28).

Scores are lower in the area immediately south of San Francisco, such as San Mateo, California (City Rank in California #77, Overall Score 49.19), Daly City, California City Rank in California #81, Overall Score 45.34) and South San Francisco, California (City Rank in California #83, Overall Score 41.27).

In the east the scores are mixed. San Leandro, California (City Rank in California #79, Overall Score 47.55) is at the low end and Oakland, California (City Rank in California #78, Overall Score 54.78) is not much better. The high end is dominated by Alameda, California (City Rank in California #4, Overall Score 84.07).

Scores are generally higher in southern part of the Bay area, also known as Silicon Valley. Mountain View, California (City Rank in California #30, Overall Score 74.52) scores the highest, followed by Santa Clara, California (City Rank in California #49, Overall Score 68.66) and Palo Alto, California (City Rank in California #51, Overall Score 67.40).

What do you think of these scores and ranks? How does your neighborhood or city rank? Contribute your own reviews, comments, forum topics and lists to StreetAdvisor today and influence the scores and ranks of these places.

StreetAdvisor adds private messaging

You may have noticed a new feature in your StreetAdvisor user account. We have added an email function to allow private messaging between users, and for users to send emails to people outside StreetAdvisor.

As well as using the 'Share This' feature let people know about your favorite StreetAdvisor content, including your own reviews, you can now email people to let them know about anything on StreetAdvisor (or anything at all).

We're making it easier for you to share information with your neighbors and friends. Now you can message or email, write reviews and comment on them, write forum topics and reply to them, and share anything with neighbors in StreetAdvisor or in the real world.

So log in to StreetAdvisor today and share some great local content with your real or virtual neighbors and friends.

Small towns in Australia

Most of the time we write about streets in big cities because that's where most people live. It's fascinating when we receive reviews from more remote places, such as these reviews from small towns around Australia.

One of the most remote places to be reviewed in StreetAdvisor is Eromanga, Queensland (Overall Score 63.68). swampyro says that:

Power is costly, and we have many 'outages' Ergon always says there is nothing wrong, but they don't live here, they only account for outages over a minute long, so we may have 30 in an hour that are less than a minute long. Most people have a back up Generators left over from before we were connected to the 'grid'. Eromanga only got power in 1987.

The Local Quilpie Council is great, they have done a lot for this town, at present they are sealing our old dirt Air Strip.

It's hot and dusty in Summer, and freezing in winter. But in between times its lovely, plenty of places to go and camp and fish, nature walk, all that sort of stuff.

We love it out here. All the best to our visitors, we get lots of tourists, so many that we got a computer at the museum hooked up to the internet for them.....

At Wilmington, South Australia (Overall Score 86.94) Firey56 says:

Having been raised in Wilmington South Australia and also I lived there for about 33 years - it is a good place to live. My grandparents lived there all their married life-raised 5 children including my father who was well known as the mail contractor. He used to do the mail run from Wilmigton to Orroroo for many years. My mum also was involved in many local organisations. Myself, I belonged to the local EFS/CFS until I shifted to WA many years ago. Wilmington is a good place to visit-live and enjoy.

At Lobethal, South Australia (Overall Score 79.97) Roland explains that:

Lobethal is a pleasant 38km drive from the Adelaide City Business District and is known as the 'Valley of Praise' so named by German Settlers in 1842. It offers a relaxing rural lifestyle with all the conveniences of the city only 35 minutes away. Located in the Adelaide Hills Council district and in particular near to the townships Charleston, Mt Torrens, Woodside, Lenswood, Balhannah, Oakbank, Cudlee Creek and Kenton Valley.

At Womboota, New South Wales (Overall Score 49.02) jawjar says:

If you like peace and quiet then this is the place for you!!!! With only a handful of houses you are guaranteed isolation. I would not recommend this "town" for families or couples and definitely not for singles!! However if you are newly retired and looking for a change (challenge) then this would suit you to a tee! Expect to find cheap houses/land. Rentals are hard to come by and are by word of mouth only!

About 15km south/east you will find Deep Creek Marina. Continue a further 15km and you will find Echuca/Moama.

At Myrrhee, Victoria (Overall Score 72.00) MikeW tells us that it is:

A quiet place, access to bush walking, vineyards, forests. I found it a great place for inspiration for my painting, a good variety of buildings, creeks and geographical features.

There's a lot going on in small towns around Australia, and StreetAdvisor.com.au is a great place to share your stories.

The StreetAdvisor guide to the 5 boroughs of New York City

In StreetAdvisor we classify the 5 boroughs of New York City as cities. In descending order, the 5 boroughs hold the following ranks among cities in the state of New York.

New York (Manhattan), New York (City Rank in New York #12, Overall Score 63.30) is the highest ranked borough in NYC.

The top neighborhood in Manhattan is the Meatpacking District, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #1, Overall Score 87.75).

The second highest ranked borough in NYC is Staten Island, New York (City Rank in New York #16, Overall Score 60.69).

The best neighborhood in Staten Island according to StreetAdvisor community members is Huguenot, Staten Island, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Staten Island #1,Overall Score 85.49).

Next is Brooklyn, New York (City Rank in New York #18, Overall Score 58.65).

Brooklyn's best neighborhood is Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Brooklyn #1, Overall Score 79.51).

Queens, New York (City Rank in New York #22, Overall Score 54.18) does not score quite as well as Brooklyn.

However, the best neighborhood in Queens scores almost as well as the best neighborhood in Brooklyn: Neponsit | Belle Harbor, Queens, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Queens #1, Overall Score 78.00).

The lowest ranked borough is The Bronx, New York (City Rank in New York #31, Overall Score 43.47).

The best neighborhood in The Bronx is Country Club, Bronx, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Bronx #1, Overall Score 69.71), which would not even place it in the top five neighborhoods in most of the other boroughs.

As you can see, there is huge diversity in the borough and neighborhood scores in New York City. How does your neighborhood rate? What do you think of the different ranks of the boroughs? Log into StreetAdvisor.com today and let the world know.

The StreetAdvisor guide to Boston neighborhoods

While the top ranked StreetAdvisor neighborhoods in other cities regularly score in the high 70s and even the low 80s, the top ranked neighborhood in Boston only scores 73. Why so low? Perhaps the residents of Boston, Massachusetts (City Rank in Massachusetts #3, Overall Score 68.07) are fussy or difficult to please.

The top neighborhood is Fenway | Kenmore, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #1, Overall Score 73.15).

Second is Central Boston, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #2, Overall Score 69.82).

Third is South End, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #3, Overall Score 69.27).

Forth is South Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #4, Overall Score 66.62).

Fifth is Back Bay | Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts Neighborhood Rank in Boston #5, Overall Score 66.46).

What do you think of these rankings? I think these rankings are a bit tough and some Bostonians should show their city some love. Log in to StreetAdvisor.com today and tell us what you think about Boston.

The StreetAdvisor guide to the neighborhoods of Los Angeles

Los Angeles (City Rank in California #63, Overall Score 62.02) is an amazing city, or rather a collection of cities in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Los Angeles is receiving lots of street and neighborhood reviews in StreetAdvisor, and the scores and ranks for the neighborhoods are filling out. These are the top five neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

The top neighborhood is Beverly Crest, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #1, Overall Score 81.87).

The second is Rancho Park, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #2, Overall Score 78.91).

Third is Century City, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #3, Overall Score 78.70).

Forth is Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #4, Overall Score 76.50).

Fifth is Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #5, Overall Score 75.15).

If living in LA proper is not your scene, perhaps you prefer somewhere by the water or in the suburbs. The rankings of the cities in the LA area vary considerably.

Pasadena, California (City Rank in California #4, Overall Score 84.32) ranks much better than most LA neighborhoods. Glendale, California (City Rank in California #23, Overall Score 75.86) also ranks well and so does Santa Monica, California (City Rank in California #34,Overall Score 73.36).

What do you think of these rankings? Where does your neighborhood rate? Log in to StreetAdvisor.com today to find out!

The StreetAdvisor guide to Manhattan neighborhoods

With so many streets in New York City already reviewed by StreetAdvisor community members, it is not surprising to discover that almost all of the 43 neighborhoods in Manhattan not only have a score but also a rank.

In fact, even most of the smaller neighborhoods already have both a score and a rank. For example, look at the Meatpacking District, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #1, Overall Score 87.75).

The scores and ranks for Manhattan neighborhoods continue to rise and fall as new street and neighborhood reviews are submitted. Here’s sample of some recent developments.

Larger neighborhoods like Chelsea, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #21, Overall Score 67.28) feature many street and neighborhood reviews.

Kips Bay, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #18 Overall Score 68.32) is rising in the rankings and Midtown, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #5, Overall Score 77.94) scores highly.

The most northern neighborhood in Manhattan, Inwood, New York, New York, has the lowest score and rank (Neighborhood Rank in New York #42, Overall Score 38.09).

The Upper East Side, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #12 Overall Score 74.07) scores slightly better than the Upper West Side, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #15 Overall Score 70.77).

If you think the score or rank for a street or neighborhood is not accurate, write a review and explain why. Give your review a more realistic score.

To make it easy to find all the neighborhoods, we've made a complete list of Manhattan neighborhoods using StreetAdvisor's new Local Lists feature.

You get to influence the score and rank of every street and neighborhood by sharing your opinions about places on StreetAdvisor. Log in to StreetAdvisor.com today and start finding out more about your favorite places.

StreetAdvisor adds Local Lists to user profiles

StreetAdvisor has today released a fantastic new feature in its user profiles. Now community members can create, edit and share Local Lists of anything they want. You can make a list of your favorite restaurants or stores, places you visit regularly, or the special places you go to on vacation.

StreetAdvisor Local Lists have two special features. First, when you make a list it is automatically added as a forum topic for the city or state you locate it in, which makes it easy for you to share your list with friends and neighbors.

Second, you can map the places in your list and build you own map of favorite places! To create your own list, start in your user profile. Click the 'Local Lists' tab then click the 'Create a New List' button.

To map items in your list, first add some text describing the list item to an item box. A 'Map this item' link will appear below the item box. Click this link and it will open a floating map window.

In the search field type the street address of the place you want to map. When you're happy that the pin appears on the map in the correct place, click 'Save'. Alternatively you can simply drag the cushion to the exact location you are after.

Once you've finished mapping items, you can view the finished complete with map ready to share with your friends.

Below is a Local List I made of cafes in the hipster neighborhood of Fitzroy in Melbourne Australia.

And this is how a Local List appears in the Victorian forum page.

 

What's important to you in your neighborhood? Start using StreetAdvisor's great new Local Lists to collect and share your favourite things today.