Atlanta or Boston?

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by tmac9wr

Wow, some of you either have skewed perceptions of Boston...or are stuck in the past. I apologize in advance for reviving a dead thread (the reason I'm doing so is because it was referenced here), but I had to comment.



Either you've never been to Southie, or you haven't been since the 1970s/1980s. Today Southie still holds onto its working-class roots, but it has seen a massive influx of young professionals. If you're a young, recent college grad and plan to move into the city then Southie or Allston/Brighton are the places to be.

Does this look like a Redneck habitat?

Contrary to popular belief, there is no "redneck habitat" that is easily identifiable. Rednecks don't all live in the same neighborhoods or flock to the same establishments - they are mixed in with everyone else.

My rednecks comment wasn't about the condition of the buildings in the area or how appealing/unappealing it is...and I wouldn't be able to judge any area from seeing one photo anyway. It was about the people who live there.

In the 70s I was in elementary school and in the 80s I was in high school/college. I didn't travel to Boston until I was in my 30s.

[Archan]

I think that Southie has gone through a big change much the same way that Midtown has changed here in Atlanta. The change has been more recent. Of course Southie is not like Midtown, but then Boston is not like Atlanta. The South End was a hotspot, but has become very expensive for younger people. Younger professionals are now starting to head to Southie.

People from Boston who came to Midtown 20 to 30 years ago probably don't have that good of an impression of Midtown.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by tmac9wr

I've never witnessed that...especially not towards a woman with a bunch of younger girls. And even then, if something like that happened I would expect it to happen between two idiotic drunk guys, one with a Sox hat and the other with a Yankees hat.

I'm sorry for the bad experience, but I can assure you it doesn't represent the majority of Bostonians.

I hope you won't base your opinion of our citizens off that single experience though.

That, of course, was a single experience...because I would NEVER take my girls to Fenway again after that. However, since my DH was a rabid RS fan I accompanied him there many times, and I always found the milieu to be offensive in the presence of women. Call me old-fashioned, but I simply don't cotton to that.
My point is, don't try to frame Beantown in this picture of a rarefied, intellectually superior ivory tower. I know better. And that is not to say I don't love it. But let's be honest.

[mike7586]

Atlanta

[MAniacTHW]

Atlanta. Nothing is more annoying than a Boston accent and nothing is worse than their egos.

By the way, tell your team Tampa says thanks for the spot in the world series .

[tmac9wr]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

My point is, don't try to frame Beantown in this picture of a rarefied, intellectually superior ivory tower. I know better. And that is not to say I don't love it. But let's be honest.

I wasn't trying to frame Boston in "picture of a rarified, intellectually superior ivory tower"...I was just saying most Bostonians don't walk around calling women C****, and telling them to do explicit things with hot dogs.

Originally Posted by MAniacTHW

Atlanta. Nothing is more annoying than a Boston accent and nothing is worse than their egos.

By the way, tell your team Tampa says thanks for the spot in the world series .

Another fine post.

[fifthstate]

I've lived in Boston for just over 4 years now, after graduating college. I would have to agree that Boston sports fans (Red Sox) in particular are absolutely obnoxious. I wouldn't put it past many of them to heckle some fans from another team, complete with obcenities, in front of kids. Despite that, Boston is a great city. With only about 600,000 people it's a good in-between size. The city has a lot to offer young people, with many bars, clubs, museums, sporting events, and shopping. And there isn't anything like bar hopping with friends and realizing you're experiencing a part of the architecture and history of Boston. I've lived in Southie and Dorchester. Southie is a dynamic area that is home to not only the blue collar types, which seems to be the dominant vibe, it has a young urban professional crowd as well as a growing minority population. That picture of Andrew Square that tmac9wr posted is almost identical to the view from my old apartment, just two or so stories below! I lived behind The Junction and my roof deck overlooked the square.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by fifthstate

I would have to agree that Boston sports fans (Red Sox) in particular are absolutely obnoxious. I wouldn't put it past many of them to heckle some fans from another team, complete with obcenities, in front of kids.

Well, I'm a die hard Red Sox and Patriots fans, as are most of my good friends and my wife's entire family in MA. While there are some fans who take things too far, I've actually been to Fenway many, many times and have only heard what you mention on rare ocassions in the bleachers, and certainly not as the rule. You can be thrown out of the park, and they will remove you.

What I will say...hands down...is that sports fans in Boston, NY, Chicago, and a few other cities have passion and follow their teams in good and bad. Here in Atlanta and in much of the south, the world seems to end with college football. There is a lot of passion for college football, but many are apathetic when it comes to the NFL, MLB, NHL, and the thugfest known as the NBA.

While you do run into some passionate Braves and Falcons fans, the atmosphere at games (and I've been to several in Atlanta over the last 28years) is a bit subdued. That is NOT the case in Boston and it adds to the deep sports culture. The Red Sox are a tradition in New England that you just can't understand if you've never lived there.

[Homer12]

Red Sox fans are ridiculous, I currently live outside of Boston, but was raised on Long Island, NY. I am a huge Yankee fan and a Huge Sports fan. While in NY you NEVER heard people talk about the Red Sox the way people up here talk about the Yankees, it is beyond ridiculous how jealous they are up here of our history. They spend more time talking about how much they hate the Yankees than how much they like the Red Sox, this includes all of the Sports Radio Stations as well. The Sports Radio station absolutely SUCK if you want to hear what is really going on in sports, all they ever talk about is New England Sports Teams and how they hate the Yankees. Real Sports fans want to know what is going on everywhere, not just local. That leads to another point, most all of these die-hard fans up here have no clue. They know about the Local Teams, but know nothing about the Sport or other Teams, but try to pretend they do, it is comical. Obviously I said most so I am not referring to all, but more times than not this is the case. Boston fans turn on their Team so quickly it is ridiculous. They think the Patriots need to fully rebuild just because they haved not won a Superbowl in years. They try to compare Brady to Peyton Manning, I fing that very humorous, Brady should not even be in the same sentance as Peyton.

Back on the subject, if you come up to Boston I hope you are a die-hard Liberal, this is Liberal nation up here. People up here are very rude, they have no manners, and this is coming from someone that grew up in NY. When ever I have guests up they all notice this, my wife would be pushing a stroller with our twins in it and the person in front of her would let the door slam on the stroller 85% of the time, you really can not make this up, it is crazy. I have lived in many different places around the United States and none were like this.