Western Cities: Most overrated and Least Overrated (best, map, Los Angeles)
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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Pardon the title, meant to say Most Overrated and Underrated.
As a spin off thread of the Southern and Northern Cities, I'd consider the West any major city west of the Great Plains/Rockies (including Denver).
What cities get the most praise and why do they get so much? Is it deserved?
What cities either get bashed and is that deserved?
What cities fly under the radar that deserve more spotlight?
I'll Start...
Overrated: Los Angeles, I neither love nor hate it. I can enjoy it but it gets so much notoriety and hype both positive and negative and I don't think it lives up to either, and it's too big. I'd rather spend time in San Diego.
Underrated: Phoenix, yes Phoenix. This city is a whipping boy for C-D urbanites but it's actually an enjoyable place with some beautiful hotel resorts, good sports venues, trendy suburbs like Scottsdale/Tempe, great shopping, and many transplants have started up a vey decent culinary scene. It's modern, clean, efficient, and it has the best freeway system I've seen in any metro area. Also the light rail has started some infill in the core so it's improving there as well.
Overrated: Seattle, LA
Underrated: Phoenix, San Diego. A lot of people really don't know what they're talking about when they talk about Phoenix. They either landed at the airport or checked a couple Google Map Street Views and decided it was all suburbs. You have to explore a city to really know what it offers. San Diego is also rarely mentioned, I wonder why?
I've only been to San Diego, San Francisco and Newport Beach in California but Oakland and Sacramento seem like cool cities that don't get the attention the other West Coast cities get (or in the case of Oakland, mostly negative attention).
San Francisco. The hype is impossible to live up to.
Las Vegas. The novelty wears off quickly.
Underrated:
Denver. A wonderful mix of urban amenities with great outdoor recreation nearby.
Salt Lake City. People dismiss it as a land of nothing but religious fanatics. Like Denver, if you like both city and nature, it is a great place to live and visit.
Phoenix. I don't particularly care for the weather there but found it a very enjoyable place other than that.
Seattle. Yes, I know, Seattle gets a good deal of favorable press. Still, I see and hear people dismissing it unfairly. "365 days of rain must be so depressing!" "How can people live in a place that is so isolated!" Seattle is amazing. I just wish rent was cheaper there.
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