Well, Deb answered your question, Zen. Lowell is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the US. It's been through many re-inventions, always on the verge of being a "cool" place. There's lots of lofts and condos and artist's studios, but still a lot of hard core down on their luck residents. There's a large Cambodian population, as well as a significant Puerto Rican contingent. Lowell was originally settled by French Canadian and Irish immigrants, and many of them have stayed. When I moved back to MA in 1990, my DH worked for Wang Labs, which played a large part in revitalizing the city after decades of poverty, when they built their headquarters there. When Wang went bankrupt, in the '90s, 2 guys in their twenties bought the towers where the company was located for less than I bought my house for and leased it out to companies and put in a movie theatre. They sold the building a couple of years ago, and made like a 2 million dollar profit!
The best thing, is that it only takes me about 35 minutes to drive there, mostly over the same beautiful back roads I ride on and right past the local x country ski center.