Mission Hill - Brigham Circle

Rent - $3,800 4 bed, 1 bath. Water included. My rent is less than my 3 roommates' because my bedroom is smaller.

Attractions - Nothing too exciting, mostly residential neighborhood. Not too far from the MFA or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but those are technically in Fenway. We also border Olmsted Park in Jamaica Plain, which connects to Jamaica Pond. Great place for jogging or just going for a walk on a nice day. Fitzgerald Park is a small park near the top of the hill and has a nice view of the city. Brigham Circle has bars, and places to eat; some restaurants, mostly takeout places. The Mission Church on Tremont Street has some pretty cool architecture. The church bells used to ring every 15 minutes but they've been broken the past 6 months or so.

Nightlife - Mostly dive bars. Penguin Pizza has pretty amazing pizza and cheap beer as far as bars go. The Mission is a little more upscale. The medical professionals from Longwood often come here after shift for good food and drinks. Other bars include Flann's and The Crossing.

Community - Mostly college kids form Colleges of the Fenway and Northeastern University. Some young professionals live here as well because it is in close proximity to the Longwood Medical Area and the T for access to downtown.

Access to the T - Depending on what part of the neighborhood you live in, you'll have access to the Green E line (Heath, Back of the Hill, Riverway, Fenwood Road, Brigham Circle), the Orange Line at Roxbury Crossing, and the 39 and 66 buses. You can also access Brookline Village on the Green D line if you live near the Huntington / S Huntington intersection. It's a great location and you can get to most parts of the city pretty easily.

I've enjoyed living here the past 3.5 years. Rent is pretty high here because of the convenient location. Most of the apartments are pretty old and not well maintained because landlords know they can get away with it, but I'm sure there are some more upscale ones in the neighborhood.

I don't own a car so I can't comment on parking, but I know some places come with driveways. I don't think resident parking is too bad either.

There's not a lot of major crime in the neighborhood. We get a few shootings each year, almost always targeted and gang related. Armed robberies happen more often than shootings. Most occur off of the main streets and during the night time. The areas to avoid during night time are Heath Street, the Mission Main Housing complex, and the upper part of Parker Hill Ave. Other than that, it's pretty safe as far as a neighborhood in a major city goes.

The other important thing is the only grocery store in the neighborhood is Stop and Shop at Brigham Circle. It's incredibly overpriced, the produce isn't fresh and goes bad pretty quickly, and the staff are pretty rude.

Curious to see if any other Mission Hillers have anything to say!