Sides of Atlanta (Lawrenceville, Snellville, Jackson: live, suburbs, rated)

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by youngMichaelJackson

I feel you and I respect your viewpoint. But to me places like Lilburn, Actworth etc... are not Atlanta, they are their respective cities.

What about places like Vinings or Mableton. Or East Cobb? There is no city present in those areas, just the county.

FWIW, I either say I live "in Mableton" to folks familiar with the Atlanta metro, or that I live "in an Atlanta suburb" if I think the person wouldn't know.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by iudiehard

Because those suburbs exist because of Atlanta and are products of Atlanta. Not to mention, most people that live in the suburbs work in Atlanta.

Most people in the suburbs do not work in Atlanta proper.

Do the numbers yourself ... there are far more people working in the Atlanta metro area than there are jobs in the City of Atlanta.

The offices in the Perimeter area, Cumberland, etc., are all in the suburbs, not within the city, and there are thousands of businesses scattered throughout the Atlanta metro area.

[jeffreda30238]

But honestly, all those outside counties are referred to as "The Greater Atlanta Area" so is that where we should say we're from? I say I'm from Atlanta even though I first lived in East Point and ended up in Jonesboro...should I stop saying I'm from Atlanta under those circumstances?lol...

[BringBackCobain]

It also may be due to Atlanta's size relative to Chicago. If Atlanta was the size of Chicago, many more places would probably be within the city limits. In Atlanta, if you say youre from the "East Side", people think youre talking about the Eastern Suburbs because the "East Side" of Atlanta is a realitvely small area. Most people from the "East Side" of Atlanta probably just say "I live a little east of Downtown."

[Radley]

It's even funnier when a TV sportscaster will reference an athlete or person from say Dunwoody, Marietta, or Duluth. People outside of Georgia prolly have no idea that is basically Atlanta.

They kept referring to Melanie Oudin from Marietta in the US Open.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by Radley

It's even funnier when a TV sportscaster will reference an athlete or person from say Dunwoody, Marietta, or Duluth. People outside of Georgia prolly have no idea that is basically Atlanta.

They kept referring to Melanie Oudin from Marietta in the US Open.

But they also called Melanie Oudin "The Toast of Atlanta"...and used other references to Atlanta as well as mentioning that Marietta is in suburban Atlanta.

It's kinda like any city anywhere...if you have never lived there you really aren't familiar with the names of most of the suburbs. I would venture to say that most people who live in the suburbs of a big city will usually say that they live in that big city, and not in the unknown suburb where they actually live - unless they are talking to someone from the same area.

[Ben Around]

I agree with the posts re: it's easier than saying some obscure suburb name no one has heard of. But I'm gonna offer another reason why this might be so: Some of these people are probably orginally from the city, or their parents were and they feel some roots there. When people move to the burbs in US cities, more often than not they move in a linear direction away from the city (e.g., from the east side of the city to an eastern suburb, not from the east side of the city to a western suburb.) They have an affinity for their "side" of the mtro area, whether it is the city proper or the adjacent suburbs. Whattaya think?

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by youngMichaelJackson

I feel you and I respect your viewpoint. But to me places like Lilburn, Actworth etc... are not Atlanta, they are their respective cities. They are in the metro area, but to tell someone that you live on the northeast side of Atlanta, but yet you live in Lawrenceville is misleading IMO. The northest side of Atlanta stops right before you get to N. Druid Hills on I-85, it does not go all the way up to Lawrenceville. People in Chicagoland from say Schaumberg wont tell you they are from the NW side, they will say the NW suburbs. People in the LA metro from say Compton dont say they are from LA, they say they are from Compton. What is the difference between Schaumberg or Rolling Meadows in Chicagoland to areas like Lawrenceville or Lilburn in the metro Atlanta area?

Are you sure? In my experience, the people I've met from the LA area say they are from "LA". When you drill down you find out many actually live in burbs like Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Venice, Torrance, Compton, etc. I'm guessing they do this because most non-locals haven't heard of places like Torrance, W. Hollywood, Compton, Venice, etc.

[bayarea-girl]

I'm ok with people from Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Venice, etc. saying they are from LA because they are referring to the county they belong to and not the city of LA. Most people from LA have moved around throughout many other cities every other year so it is not a big deal but they pretty much stay in the LA county.

Anyways, I personally can't stand when people say they lived in Atlanta especially when they have had a bad experience and say things were slow and boring, racist, and that people shouldn't move to Atlanta only to find out that they lived in some far off suburb which is not reflective of Atlanta at all. Most of the metro burbs don't have the flavor Atlanta has.

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by youngMichaelJackson

I'm in Chicago right now and I noticed something, people here who live in the suburbs dont say that they are from the northside, southside, etc. I met a nice young lady from the Rolling Meadows area up in the NW suburbs of Chicago and when I asked her what part of Chicago she was from she didn't say the Northside or Northwest side, she said the Northwestern suburbs. Why is it some people in the metro from say Roswell or Alpharetta will tell you that they are from the northside, or people from Lithonia will say that they are from the eastside?? When someone says they are from the eastside I think of Moreland Ave, L5P, Candler Park etc...when someone says they are from the northside I think of Mt.Paren, Tuxedo Dr etc....Why is that people who live in the metro area in Atlanta, but dont live in the city itself, say they are from a particular side instead of the actual area they are from? Not all in the metro do that, but there is a sizeable portion of folks who live in the metro who do this. Can anyone shed light on this?

Why doesn't anyone ask "The Housewives of Atlanta" this?