Melrose

Ell Pond is located in Melrose's center and helps round out its image as a quaint New England town. (Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe/File 2007)

THE GOODS: Residents like to think of this compact city seven miles north of Boston as self-supporting. It has a handful of good restaurants, including Stearns & Hill's Bistro, which reopened after major renovations last year, and the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, in its 91st season, the oldest continuing volunteer orchestra in the country. (This city likes music: There's also a local men's a cappella group, a Beethoven Society, and a choral society.) Downtown Melrose, with stately brick Memorial Hall - built in 1912 as a monument to veterans, now home to orchestra concerts and veterans' breakfasts alike - has the feel of an old city. The commuter rail stops three times in Melrose, and interstates 93 and 95, as well as Route 1, all run nearby, making the commute less painful than that of other more far-flung suburbs. The Middlesex Fells Reservation and other open space form a kind of "green belt" around the city.

PROS: Melrose is filled with old Victorian houses, many of which are now being rehabbed by young professionals priced out of other suburbs. About 40 percent of the town's housing stock was built before 1900, and the market abounds with front porches, sharply pitched roofs, and ornate wood trim. Entry-level homes tend to be old houses that need work, tiny bungalows, or split-level houses, or condos in bland, rectangular buildings. Further from the city center, the streets turn more suburban.

CONS: Although the town has some good restaurants, the nightlife is sleepy here by more urban standards. And housing prices, which are lower than those in more westward towns, tend to reflect the reputation of the schools, which have lower MCAS scores than other pricier suburbs. The schools, however, have strong parental involvement and a nonprofit group raises money for programs beyond the school budget.

KATHLEEN BURGE