And Goble is not alone--many of the neighborhood's residents, most who lived in the area for decades, would not trade its slow-paced style for any of the more cosmopolitan Cambridge districts.

Ruth F. Arone, who lives on Vineyard Street, has lived in Strawberry Hill for 68 years, and speaks glowingly of the neighborhood.

"I moved in here in 1932 and I'm still here," Arone says. "I would just die if I had to live away from here."

And according to the CPD, Strawberry Hill is "one of the safest areas in the city." It had the lowest amount of auto theft and malicious destruction during the period from 1991 to 1998, and ranked near the bottom in housebreaks and street robbery.

"It's very family-oriented, you know," Arone says. "It's quite a safe place. We don't have little, if any, crime around here."

And she is proud of the way the neighborhood has pulled together at times during her seven-decade stay.

At one point, she says, the city's plows stopped serving the neighborhood.

"Years ago, we were almost forgotten," Arone says. "Vineyard Street? Where's that?" she says, imitating a city worker. "We were very indignant about it."