I'm new to the area and also don't have a car. I've enjoyed walking around checking out new places. The Safe has comedy. Trivia and music bingo at Tremonte. The food at Mandarin on Market is good. Awesome house band at Warp. Still exploring the area as I've yet to check out any of the museums.

It says The Safe is temporarily closed, is that accurate?

The sign out front said recently reopened. My girlfriend and I popped in after dinner and they had an open mic comedy show that was pretty good. Dive bar/club but everyone was cool and friendly.

Downtown seems to fluctuate a lot, even before Covid. Covid definitely shuttered some businesses. But I’d guess in time you’ll see more businesses reopen or start up in downtown. Not sure since it wasn’t mentioned, but there is Mill#5 which is still DT in my book. Great place to grab a coffee, bite to eat, and shop locally.

Downtown Lowell is trash 🗑️… been from Lowell all of my life … and here’s some reasons :: commercial leases are expensive AF! So businesss hesitate to setup , the city doesn’t allow for dope modern aesthetic due to its “history “, the parking sucks, the cool places get shut down due to altercations - and truthfully Besides seeing a bunch ignorant college kids on a Friday night Lowell people barely frequent it.. There is some nice food spots and a couple bars … other than that now you have some answers . Don’t get me wrong it’s had it’s good times but that’s about 10 years back or so .

In addition the Influx of homeless And addiction definitely doesn’t help .

It’s always had 50% empty store fronts, fluctuating around. Vibes right now seem on par with 08 recession vibes.

Take the CR to Boston

>There's really only el potro, little delights, the ramen bar, and boba. Market st only has the book store, brewd, and warp and weft.

Downtown does not cater exclusively to your demographic. Businesses that don't appeal to you appeal to another demographic. For example, people who live downtown have easy access to 3+ dental practices. There are places where I can buy milk, beer and wine. There's a diner. There's a tailor. There's https://www.mochinut.com/

I hope that Downtown Lowell will never become a 'Spring Break Destination'.

Objectively Downtown Lowell is one of easiest places to live without a car https://www.walkscore.com/score/middle-st-lowell-ma-01852

The amount of dentist practices is crazy!

Mill No. 5, Four Sisters Owl Diner, at least three if not four used record stores, two(or more??) independent bookstores, a movie theater (free admission on Weirdo Wednesdays), restaurants of all types of food, National Park, Cornerstones ($$$$), three or four or five music venues, artist buildings with open studios monthly, reportory theater, townie but historic bars, three or four fairly cheap parking garages, all this steeped in literary history and art history. A little spread out but still easy to walk. I'd call it a win.

Just a few of the famous from Lowell - Kerouac Whistler Betty Davis Michael Chiklis Olympia Dukakis Scott Grimes Micky Ward Milton Bradley Demoulas brothers An Wang Ed McMahon

I will make sure to visit the dentist on Saturday night after buying milk and visiting the tailor

I don't know, man. I just walked to Mill City BBQ and everyone here is friendly and it smells amazing and I can't wait to take my dinner home. I'm as happy here as I ever was in Cambridge, Brookline, or Jamaica Plain. We all know downtown is a work in progress, but I'd rather stand with the folks trying to make it better than point out what it's not. Let's get a beer sometime at the Worthen House and talk it over. Panela.

RIP Lowell Burger Company…worst run restaurant in the history of restaurants, best burger in the history of humanity.

I think it's just sad to see a city with such potential and beautiful architecture to suffer. It would be nice for more businesses to move in to help bring more money into the city so that they can keep cleaning up litter, revitalizing canals, etc

I'm with you! Happy to talk sometime about how to make it all happen!

Dr. Isayev is my dentist, and I like that I can walk from home to get a teeth cleaning. I also like that I can wake up on the weekend and have a handful of choices within a 10 minute walk for breakfast/coffee or lunch. Not to mention, the library is not too far away.

On another note, how is Mochinut? I’ve walked past it a few times on my way to Nibbāna or Gormley’s, and it was super packed for the first couple weeks, but it seems to have died down. Is it any good?

What do you wish downtown offered, that it currently does not?

What are the 3-4 record stores?

I have lived here since 2004. Downtown is always in flux. I agree with Seajay, this isn’t it’s best vintage. I have heard that some of it has to do with how they redid Merrimack st. To make it two way and took away parking. That said, I still make my way downtown all the time. For restos, the theater (check out MRT), art, or just walking around. Really there is tons of stuff there if you look. Ever checked out the quilt museum? Or the textile museum? Boot cotton mill? The lochs? The Whistler house (fun fact, the upstairs is dedicated to a famous Russian artist and it’s mentioned in a recently published book by a Russian author who became an American citizen at the Lowell memorial auditorium). It’s there just might have to look a bit.

More independent businesses like cafes, restaurants, stores, galleries for local artists to display work, small concert venue for local musicians since Lowell has so, so many, cultural center, maintenance of kerouac park

I appreciate the recommendations! Where is the whistler house?

243 Worthen st. If you are hungry before or after check out “Friends” across the street for awesome Portuguese food (don’t be put off by the bar vibe when you walk in. Super nice peeps and they have an actual dining room if not a bar person)

U Mass hockey games.

Garnick’s, RRRecords, Vinyl Destination. The three I can think of.

Also Gary's a short walk from downtown is great, especially for affordable drinks with friends on the patio by the river when the weather is nice. Food really good too but pricier. The river walk is great. For not having a car a lot of options to do, more than if you lived in many other towns and suburbs. Also the train to Boston is affordable for the occasional weekend exploration or activity. Ive lived in several states and abroad, in tiny towns and cities (Seattle). Really enjoyed Lowell, 2019 to 2023 just moved again though. Sure there could be more businesses, less empty storefronts, and more options for homeless and those struggling with poverty, maybe volunteer with some groups to help the community if you are bored and have time.

Lowell has 5 gallery spaces downtown for art: Brush Art Gallery, Gallery Z, Cncpt 6, Ayer Lofts Art Gallery, and Arts League of Lowell Gallery. Ayer Lofts is on Middle St, the others on Market St.

That's the heart of Lowell. That's the only place that has Hustle and Bustle

Yeah honestly, good spots to check out for the best of local bands is Taffeta or spots in Boston.

Nothing actually great about this city

Try The Keep for good drinks and karaoke

RIP Dharma Buns, open late with good beer selection and not a bar.

I was in court when this was happening. They were temporarily shut down because the former co owner found out that his name was still listed as manager which would make him liable for anything bad that happens there. And bad things have happened there. So they had to change the manager’s name and the current owner tried to put it in his son’s name and the court wasn’t having it because the son is never there. Imagine doing that to your own kids good name. Anyways it used to be a much cooler bar. They used to have music and art. It’s. A hole now but can be fun. The problem is people kept getting roofied right before the pandemic so I won’t go there anymore.

Is RRR open?

This thread from a month ago in r/Boston talks a bit about some of the challenges.

r/Boston thread

I think a lot of the challenge is that there's not enough people with disposable income that find Downtown Lowell a competitively convenient place to get to or live in. The walking infrastructure is terrible in many places with missing crosswalks, unreliable lighting, broken / missing sidewalks, large roads + highways with fast vehicle traffic (including lots of commercial trucks), insufficient market rate housing, and limited canal crossings which limit the pedestrian catchment area / market.

Lowell is also not ever going to be a competitive place for people to drive any distance to for simple things because the road network is poorly connected for actually visiting the city, in terrible physical condition, and poorly marked (they can't even manage to reliably paint lane lines). There are much easier places to drive and park, like Nashua. I can't imagine many people drive in to Downtown Lowell for casual discretionary errands / activities more than twice a week from anywhere really beyond the Lowell city limits.

I think comparing median per capita income - median rents also might help explain why Downtown and Lowell in general's commercial footprint is heavily focused on non-discretionary services like healthcare, social services, military recruitment, rehab clinics, and money transfer / cell phone shops. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/somervillecitymassachusetts,mobilecityalabama,lowellcitymassachusetts/PST045222

I don't think Lowell's business environment will change significantly without a massive influx of market rate housing inventory + some infrastructure improvements, or (regrettably) a wholesale gentrification of Downtown + the Acre.

I don't see any real political commitment or money going into market rate housing at scale in walking distance of Downtown Lowell.

On a positive note, check out Jimmy's Halal Fried Chicken. It's great, inexpensive, and usually open.

I used to live in Somerville and moved to Lowell because the rent is much cheaper. I would be happier and would rather live in Cambridge, JP or Brookline than Lowell. I appreciate your candor, but people I know and don't know would never choose to live in Lowell if they could live in Cambridge, Brookline and JP. There is more public transit, grocery stores that are walking distance, diverse in various ways, residents are civically engaged, Cambridge and Boston have property tax breaks if the unit is owner occupied, you are closer to the airport, amtrak and sports venues. I can go on and on...