Few places are defined as much by intellect as the city of Cambridge. To folks across the river, it’s where the “smaht kids” are. To scholars around the world, it’s equivalent to academic excellence. University culture permeates the axis of Massachusetts Avenue, which runs roughly from Harvard University to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (universally referred to as MIT) and is awash in bookstores, pubs, and cafés.

At even the grungiest bar you are apt to find earnest patrons debating Friedman and Keynes. Despite the high-powered intellectualism, however, the populace of Cambridge exudes a more relaxed vibe than the business chic of downtown Boston. Flannel and jeans outnumber suits, and even the fine-dining restaurants have a whimsical or downbeat feel.

Cambridge justly has a reputation as one of the country’s two “people’s republics” (the other being its Californian soul sister, Berkeley), and the city has been a hotbed of student activism on issues from the Vietnam War to anti-globalization.

As rents have risen over the years, however, many say that the real spirit of Cambridge has drifted north to the more proletarian Somerville, a working-class community that has picked up the slacker overflow, especially in the neighborhood of Davis Square.