Resolved observations of molecular gas in nearby galaxies lend insight into many of the processes involved in galaxy evolution; studies of the evolution of galaxies from high redshift to z=0, the evolution of spiral galaxy structure, and star formation within giant molecular clouds are all anchored on these observations. I will present and place in context recent observations of CO (J=1-0), the most commonly used tracer of molecular hydrogen, in the centers of four nearby spiral galaxies and the outskirts of a nearby early type galaxy, probing two very different regions of parameter space.