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Comment by fowkswe | Hacker News Reader

For people looking for that 70s NYC like experience, with proximity to NYC, I HIGHLY suggest checking out the Albany / Troy area.

Both are gritty little cities with a bunch of interesting people living there doing interesting shit, all for next to nothing. You can rent a townhouse for under a thousand / month. Shit, you can BUY a gorgeous 19th century townhouse for under a 100k - the same thing that would be 3 million in the Brooklyn where Patti Smith and Robert Maplethorpe lived.

I'm not going to go on about how much there is to offer there, because I could do that for paragraphs. You should just go check it out for yourself.

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I knew someone was going to be promoting Troy when I read the article :) Lived there for five years, basically the Twilight Zone. Last time I was up there I stayed in a boarding house, because that's still a thing. There are some neat things going on but there's a lot of scammy pseudo-startup stink to the area.

Also the really cheap parts of town are still pretty not-that-safe. It's gotten better but there are parts of Troy you don't want to be in if you're not of the current population. I expect that will change as Brooklyn continues to migrate to the area.

Beware with "cheap" properties bought off the city, the city comes around with their hands out once you've closed. I guess that's everywhere though.

But mostly go visit Trojan Electronics and get a few hot dogs at Famous Lunch. And remember at 10 *F in March you still go stand in line when the Snow Man opens. Go watch a burlesque interpretation of Ghost Busters at the Hangar.

I second Troy (I hate Albany but that is personal preference). They are also reasonably safe considering how improvised they have been in recent times. Prices in Troy are already starting to climb, so get while the getting is good.

One thing I will say is that both are very small compared to a NYC feel, and public transit is awful.

For sure, they are very small places.

But they are old, dense cities and are very walkable / bikeable. You can even ride between the 2 on a nice path that runs next to the Hudson (they are about 6 miles apart).

Isn't Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute around there?

Yes, RPI is in Troy. It would be one of the points on my list of assets. They have this amazing music venue called EMPAC...

Yep, there is also a pretty decent tech scene driven by a couple of local successes (mostly RPI affiliated):

Apprenda Commerce Hub Vicarious Visions etc...

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