The cultural capital of Montana, Missoula has a long-standing reputation as the state's most progressive city. Located along the banks of the Clark Fork River, at the base of Mount Sentinel and at the hub of five valleys, Missoula is a typical university town: it serves as home to the University of Montana and boasts more than its fair share of writers, artists, and Ph.Ds. What really makes the city unique, though, is its eclectic population mix: intellectuals, East Coast transplants, and blue-collar workers, plus international students and Laotian Hmong, Russian, and Tibetan immigrants all make Missoula their home. Old hippies and young hippie wannabes congregate at Missoula's coffeehouses, and movie bugs get their foreign-film fix at the Crystal Theater. And just about everyone takes advantage of the immense outdoor recreation possibilities by fishing the Clark Fork River or hiking and skiing in the nearby mountains. The city of Missoula was founded in the 1860s as a regional trading center for nearby timber communities and nicknamed the Garden City—with a moderate elevation of 3,500 feet, produce matured earlier here. Today Missoula's raison d'être is the university, which serves 11,000 students and is the cultural lifeblood of the area. Missoula is also headquarters for the Forest Service's Northern Region and home to numerous environmental groups. Often compared to Boulder, Colorado, before the BMW invasion, Missoula has managed to remain refreshingly unpretentious in the face of tremendous growth. Telecommuters, retirees, and urban refugees are flocking to Missoula, and the results can be seen in the subdivisions surrounding the city, the increasingly high housing costs, and the heavier traffic. Still, these problems remain relatively small, and most Missoulians feel their city offers such an unusual balance of cultural and recreational opportunities that they're willing to give up high wages to live here. Where else can you hike in prime black bear and elk habitat by day, then catch a ballet or jazz concert by night? Missoulians know a good thing when they see it. With any luck, they'll figure out how to keep it that way.