Utica

I was forced to go to Utica for a mandatory zoo lab at my college. Somehow we got lost, seems like signs heading to Utica aren’t existing in various places and such. Once we got there, dear god…there was absolute trailer trash working at one of the gas stations we visited. The whole place was just depressing to drive around, most of it was quite the ghetto.

However, the zoo was quite fun. :) I’d at least go there again!

I was born in Utica and moved from there a long time ago..The pastries cannot be found anywhere else. Especially the half-moons and pusties..they are not made the same anywhere else. I would definately suggest you go there and check The Florentine and Caruso’s bakeries out. They are all that is left to Utica.

BORING!!!
The best things- they have local dairies, so you can get fresh dairy products. They have some cool houses and buildings that are really old and cool to drive by.
The weather SUCKS- raining, snowing, ICKY all the time. I think the local sunshine record is like 16 days/year.
I would NOT recommend this place. There are so many better places on Earth to visit!

We’re having a baby in February, moving to Utica in March. We’re googling the place like mad trying to find a good school, the local food coop, best place to eat falafel, etc. We’d also like to know what the culture is like. If your three year old son drags a doll onto the playground, will that make you the village wierdo? If you use cloth diapers for your baby, are you a hippie? Can you find organic milk (expired doesn’t count) at the local Krogers? When you’re introduced to people, is one of the first questions they ask “Where do you go to Church?”? These things are hard to get a feel for on the internet just by Googling. I was hoping maybe some people here could tell us what life in Utica is like.

One of my best friends lives here, so one of these days I’m going back to the USA – and this time, I will meet her!

Helps if you know someone who knows the area. There is good mountain-biking to be had.

utica is my hometown. I moved away 15 years ago but I go back to visit my family.
there are one or two things about it that are pretty cool.
it’s the largest refugee relocation center on the east coast. there are people from all over the world living in utica and really revitalizing it. if you want to meet people from sierra leone, bosnia, haiti, vietnam, burma, russia, peru, etc. etc. with amazing (and often heart breaking)stories, you can do it in utica. i hear there are bosnian discos there now.
there’s also munson william proctor institute of the arts which is a really excellent gallery. it’s far better than the memorial art gallery in rochester and i personally think it’s better than albright knox in buffalo.
utica has a rich history and amazing achitecture is everywhere—sadly much of it decaying and disappearing rapidly.
the old psychiatric hospital (orignally the New York
State Lunatic Assylum) is amazing! i’m dying to get in it.
and the food in utica is pretty good. i don’t know anywhere else to get tomato pie!
housing costs are also very low. You can rent a 3 bedroom house with a yard for far less than a studio apartment goes for here in rochester. of course, there aren’t a lot of jobs.

...only worth visiting if you DO your homework, and probably only if you’re visiting someone. I lived here for five years, and there are a lot of great things here, but you have to LOOK. And look HARD.

It’s the closest major city to the Adirondack Park; good Italian food is to be found, and the surrounding area is quite lovely.

...to come with a healthy appreciation for watching paint dry.