admittedly, I'm not an Easterner, but just trying to think of places that meet all the stuff on your list, I come up with......
Boulder, CO (a bit full of itself, though)
Missoula, MT (the Moscow of Montana)
Austin, TX ("Moscow On The Colorado", a bit warm in the summer and some might call the hills nearby "mountains" ??)
Ogden, UT (despite the UT in there, you'd be very surprised about the entire Wasatch Front)
Seattle, WA (may be "huge" to you??)