Darien versus Greenwich?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts about Fairfield ?

Greenwich is in Fairfield county.

The prior poster is clearly asking about Fairfield the town (which is in Fairfield County).

Probably an hour with traffic to Stamford unless you can walk to the train station. It’s a lovely town either way a great downtown. nice college.

[Anonymous]

Wilton was always the cheapest of those nicer towns.

[Anonymous]

At the end of the day Greenwich will always be Greenwich [Insert Darien or New Canaan or Westport] will always be fighting for second fiddle.

Why? Better downtown. Closer to NYC. Lower mil rate. Higher valued homes. I hear the public school argument, but only marginally so. Plus most people in Greenwich send their kids to Brunswick, GA or boarding school. I went to boarding school, class of ~80 I was only one from New Canaan, had 1 from Darien, probably over 20 from Greenwich. Point being if you’re moving to Greenwich you don’t care if your public schools are 8/10 and Darien/New Canaan/ Staples are 9/10.

Darien/New Canaan/Westport embody 1st/2nd generation New Money. Greenwich is more 3rd/5th generation. They’ve moved past the need to flash and generally speaking more concerned with future generation wealth preservation, even at the expense of the current being “cheap.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day Greenwich will always be Greenwich [Insert Darien or New Canaan or Westport] will always be fighting for second fiddle.

Why? Better downtown. Closer to NYC. Lower mil rate. Higher valued homes. I hear the public school argument, but only marginally so. Plus most people in Greenwich send their kids to Brunswick, GA or boarding school. I went to boarding school, class of ~80 I was only one from New Canaan, had 1 from Darien, probably over 20 from Greenwich. Point being if you’re moving to Greenwich you don’t care if your public schools are 8/10 and Darien/New Canaan/ Staples are 9/10.

Darien/New Canaan/Westport embody 1st/2nd generation New Money. Greenwich is more 3rd/5th generation. They’ve moved past the need to flash and generally speaking more concerned with future generation wealth preservation, even at the expense of the current being “cheap.”

This will trigger many, it’s entirely true though. Rich people in London and Paris may have heard of Greenwich CT because it’s a luxury brand. Darien isn’t, it is ex DIII lax dads coaching little league after their second DUI and fourth sales job in as many years. It’s not the same.

[Anonymous]

Westport's downtown is superior to Greenwich's IMHO; equal-or-better restaurants plus the Saugatuck riverfront. New Canaan's is also lovely. (Darien's is a little bland and highway-afflicted but then again that's also true for much of the rest of Darien)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day Greenwich will always be Greenwich [Insert Darien or New Canaan or Westport] will always be fighting for second fiddle.

Why? Better downtown. Closer to NYC. Lower mil rate. Higher valued homes. I hear the public school argument, but only marginally so. Plus most people in Greenwich send their kids to Brunswick, GA or boarding school. I went to boarding school, class of ~80 I was only one from New Canaan, had 1 from Darien, probably over 20 from Greenwich. Point being if you’re moving to Greenwich you don’t care if your public schools are 8/10 and Darien/New Canaan/ Staples are 9/10.

Darien/New Canaan/Westport embody 1st/2nd generation New Money. Greenwich is more 3rd/5th generation. They’ve moved past the need to flash and generally speaking more concerned with future generation wealth preservation, even at the expense of the current being “cheap.”

I agree with this bottom line assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day Greenwich will always be Greenwich [Insert Darien or New Canaan or Westport] will always be fighting for second fiddle.

Why? Better downtown. Closer to NYC. Lower mil rate. Higher valued homes. I hear the public school argument, but only marginally so. Plus most people in Greenwich send their kids to Brunswick, GA or boarding school. I went to boarding school, class of ~80 I was only one from New Canaan, had 1 from Darien, probably over 20 from Greenwich. Point being if you’re moving to Greenwich you don’t care if your public schools are 8/10 and Darien/New Canaan/ Staples are 9/10.

Darien/New Canaan/Westport embody 1st/2nd generation New Money. Greenwich is more 3rd/5th generation. They’ve moved past the need to flash and generally speaking more concerned with future generation wealth preservation, even at the expense of the current being “cheap.”

This will trigger many, it’s entirely true though. Rich people in London and Paris may have heard of Greenwich CT because it’s a luxury brand. Darien isn’t, it is ex DIII lax dads coaching little league after their second DUI and fourth sales job in as many years. It’s not the same.

LOL. That is quite spot on. You forgot to mention that they are all in head to toe Vineyard Vines with their banker wanna-be vests on. Also note that it tends to be lower tier DIII - these aren't Williams/Amherst alums.

As a Jew my only choice of these is Westport. We aren't welcome in the other towns.

I am not as familiar with the nuances here as others but the one thing to note from what I know (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Greenwich has larger segments of po folk than the others.

I do know a few older money (and bigger money) families in New Canaan.

[Anonymous]

If job is in Stamford, New Canaan is the clear choice. Easiest commute and great town with a little town center. Greenwich HS is huge and Darien traffic is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Jew my only choice of these is Westport. We aren't welcome in the other towns.

We were in Wilton, and while I wouldn't say we were unwelcome per se, there weren't a lot of other Jews (each of my kids would generally be That One Kid In The Class Who Celebrates Hanukkah) and the politics among other Wilton Jews were Zionist to a degree of militancy that made us extremely uncomfortable.

(now we live in NYC and literally every white kid in my daughter's middle school class last year was Jewish)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Darien and went to high school in Greenwich. Darien was a lovely place to grow up in the 70s and 80s, but honestly, I would not want to live in either place now (and the feeling is mutual among my siblings). They are lovely towns from an aesthetic standpoint but the vibe is so pretentious and vapid it would be difficult to be happy there as a normal person. If you're into that though, I suppose you could be happy. As a bigger town, Greenwich probably isn't quite as bad, as I imagine there's more diversity in perspectives. I go back often to Darien but haven't spent a ton of time in Greenwich as an adult.

The commute from New Cannan to Stamford is short. Wilton is longer, but not too bad.

The vibe of Greenwich is the opposite of vapid.

I'm the other poster who grew up there (Greenwich). It is definitely a very superficial place and there are a LOT of vapid people. So I agree with poster 1 not poster 2 in this.

I grew up in Fairfield County; I would never live in Darien, Greenwich, or Westport. Superficial and gross obsession with money. I guess if you are in finance like Wall Street, you know the type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Jew my only choice of these is Westport. We aren't welcome in the other towns.

We were in Wilton, and while I wouldn't say we were unwelcome per se, there weren't a lot of other Jews (each of my kids would generally be That One Kid In The Class Who Celebrates Hanukkah) and the politics among other Wilton Jews were Zionist to a degree of militancy that made us extremely uncomfortable.

(now we live in NYC and literally every white kid in my daughter's middle school class last year was Jewish)

Sorry - I wasn't including Wilton in the consideration set but sounds like it still largely applies.

How many white kids are there in your daughter's middle school class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Darien is a small town. Lots of people who live there also went to high school together. Greenwich is more diverse.

I love Greenwich. What PP wrote above has been our experience too. Less diverse and more insular. Greenwich has 64K people, so more anonymity. Taxes are very low and amenities are very good. Also closer to the City. Decent to pretty great public schools (elementary schools vary by geography) and good private options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Darien is a small town. Lots of people who live there also went to high school together. Greenwich is more diverse.

I love Greenwich. What PP wrote above has been our experience too. Less diverse and more insular. Greenwich has 64K people, so more anonymity. Taxes are very low and amenities are very good. Also closer to the City. Decent to pretty great public schools (elementary schools vary by geography) and good private options.

We are Jewish and find Greenwich to be fine. There are conservative and reform temples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Darien is a small town. Lots of people who live there also went to high school together. Greenwich is more diverse.

I love Greenwich. What PP wrote above has been our experience too. Less diverse and more insular. Greenwich has 64K people, so more anonymity. Taxes are very low and amenities are very good. Also closer to the City. Decent to pretty great public schools (elementary schools vary by geography) and good private options.

We are Jewish and find Greenwich to be fine. There are conservative and reform temples.

This. There are a lot of Jews in Greenwich. Temple Sholom is practically the second Junior League.

[Anonymous]

The fact that more people have heard of Greenwich would be a con to me. I grew up in Westport and am thankful fewer people have heard of it than Greenwich. Although I still say that I am from Fairfield County or "an hour outside NYC", just like people who went to Harvard say they went to school in Boston.