It's not the best town in the area, no.

It's not like rampant crime, but it's pretty lame and scummy in a lot of areas. But it's no worse than most cities/towns people tell you to stay away from.

There was a pretty decent French restaurant there, not sure if it's still open

Edit: typo

Lived in Whitinsville (Northbridge) as a kid after leaving Fitchburg and everytime my best friend would come and visit he would tell everyone he was going to "White-mans-ville" it was hilarious and he wasn't exactly wrong either

Mazda gang don't play

Glue

only real option I can think of would be house shows. A lot of the collective houses used the have to odd punk/hardcore show. the Vernon is the best place I can think of for punk, but if you aren't 21 that kills that idea.

also take all of this with a grain of salt, as my days of going to every show in the city are a couple years behind me so the entire scene could have completely imploded for all I know, but I doubt it