Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Hampton Roads" isn't a city per se but a collection of nine independent cities located on a body of water also known as "Hampton Roads". The body of water is formed by the confluence of the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth Rivers and divides the cities north and south. The north side ("Peninsula") contains the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, and Williamsburg. The south side ("South Hampton Roads") includes the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Suffolk.
Although Virginia Beach is the largest city in Virginia, it is essentially a suburb of Norfolk. In fact, of the nine cities, only Norfolk (250,000 people) has the feel of big city that would be on (more or less) equal footing with the cities you listed. Personally I prefer Norfolk to either Charlotte or OKC, both of which I've visited.
The Hampton Roads cities are unique in that they are almost surrounded by water, most notably the James River, Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and dozens of smaller bays, creeks and inlets. Broad boulevards crisscross the area (e.g. "Military Hwy", "Mercury Blvd.", "Tidewater Drive") and numerous bridges and tunnels span the various waterways. As you noted, South Hampton Roads does have an almost subtropical feel especially in areas like First Landing State Park and the Great Dismal Swamp. This part of Virginia is well worth a visit.
Yes, I knew Hampton Roads was a collection of cities that together are a metro area. I'm comparing HR with OKC metro area.
Would you say Hampton Roads has better scenery than OKC? Seems like OKC is hillier. Or would you say that even somewhere flat can have great scenery?
New Orleans is also in one of the most conservative states in the country, but doesn't seem to have a bad reputation for that
New Orleans is also a unique place. It has a culture and an urban core replicated nowhere else in the U.S. When people say "New Orleans" what do they think of? Bourbon street, nightlife, cajun food, festivals, beautiful French-inspired architecture, and narrow streets packed with people. Jazz music. It's a world-renowned destination. What do people think of when they hear "Oklahoma City" other than tornadoes and the disasters that have happened there? Maybe the Thunder but that's hardly something unique that will draw people in. The Devon Tower is a point of pride for the city but it's just a glass skyscraper. The Bricktown canal could be an amazing attraction but after over 20 years, it's still heavily underutilized, still lined with surface parking and the less than handful of businesses that were there when it opened in 1999.
OKC really doesn't have anything that any other city doesn't already have. I'd say it's worth a stop if driving through on I-40 but that's about it.
Before I moved there, I also mistook VB as being a suburb of Norfolk. People that frequent sites like this have that impression, as VB as a city isn't yet 60 years old, and the history of the former Princess Anne County was suburban Norfolk. VB's youth combined with Nfk's history and renown/prestige within and outside of The Commonwealth, contribute to this misperception...
Once I actually lived there, you get an entirely different reality. I lived in The Beach and worked in Norfolk and had associations with people from both sides daily---->nobody on either side views Virginia Beach as a suburb of Norfolk...
As to the feel of the city, both Norfolk and Virginia Beach feel about the same size, which to clarify, neither feel like podunk towns, both feel "sizable", but neither feel like a "big city", so your correlation to OP's listing of cities in the Sacramento/Charlotte/Kansas City class (all of which I've been to, I'm from Sac, have lived in Clt and have family in KC) is way overstated. Nfk/VB combined still feel smaller than any of those cities, but you have to view Nfk/VB as a singular urban city. The cultural crossover between both is heavy...
And contrary to popular belief, outside of Nfk's ~6.7-mile urban core (in a 54-sq mile jurisdiction), the two cities aren't built much differently at all. There are rampant similarities across the board, with only a few unique quirks that only locals would recognize, for all intents and purposes, VB and Nfk are just two different sides if the same city.....kinda like Minny and St Paul, or the boroughs in NY...
There's nothing outside of some hallmark legacy institutions and events----which just highlights the age difference in that both developed as cities in different eras---that you can do in Nfk, that can't also be experienced in VB. And because they both bleed heavily into each other on a social and cultural scale, the distinctions between the two are insignificant on a macro scale...
Virginia Beach and Norfolk are two different sides of the same city. Both are mostly suburban and built mostly the same. Norfolk is the more urban of the two, but is much more suburban than people on here realize, and the most urban parts of Norfolk aren't hyperurban; Virginia Beach is the more suburban of the two but is more urban than people realize, 96.5% of residents live in the upper 145 square miles of the city, as the lower 100 square miles is rural and agricultural as designated by city ordnance...
And as with most places, within the habitable 144.7 sq miles, there's variance in degree of urbanity. The more urban areas of VB are surprisingly urban and wouldn't be known to tourists or casual visitors because a trip to VB doesn't give you a tour or real feel for the city. I'd been to VB and Nfk at least a half-dozen times before I moved there. The visitor's experience to this joint city hides a ton of culture and character about both that you have to live here to recognize...
I went to school in the HR area (Peninsula side) and I don't really agree with most of this. Norfolk is clearly the more urban city and the heart of HR as a whole. Norfolk has a real (and growing) downtown and even though you're correct that the city as a whole is suburban, it definitely has a much more urban feel than Virginia Beach overall. Virginia Beach is so big that it does include a few urban nodes, but is mostly suburban in its development patterns. There's nothing like the Ghent in Virginia Beach, for example.
With that said, those two cities overall have the most to offer in Hampton Roads imo. And getting back to the OP, after having been to OKC probably ten times in the last few years, I'd definitely take Hampton Roads over it (though it wouldn't be at the top of the list of places I'd want to live long term either, FWIW).
With that said, those two cities overall have the most to offer in Hampton Roads imo. And getting back to the OP, after having been to OKC probably ten times in the last few years, I'd definitely take Hampton Roads over it (though it wouldn't be at the top of the list of places I'd want to live long term either, FWIW).
Why? Was OKC always quite sweaty hot when you were there with very unattractive neighborhoods noticed?
1. Why is OKC or Hampton Roads better, in your opinion?
Hampton Roads wins for me. I think Norfolk is a passable urban center and I think the beaches and proximity to places like the Eastern Shore, Richmond, and even DC and the Northeast give it a leg up. Certainly no knock against OKC which I think gets some undue scorn, but I still give the edge to Hampton Roads. I would say that OKC has the best single urban neighborhood between the two though. Bricktown surprised me the first time I was in OKC. I didn't expect anything like it. It's like a mini San Antonio Riverwalk meets a light version of 6th Street in Austin or Broadway in Nashville. Pretty cool place.
2. What would you consider Hampton Roads' peer cities? Sacramento? Charlotte? Kansas City?
Hampton Roads doesn't really have a counterpart in my opinion. I don't know of any metro that's so decentralized or spread among multiple similarly sized urban centers (vs. one clear primary urban center) in the same way. The Research Triangle is the closest I can think of. Maybe Winston-Salem/Greensboro too. On a smaller scale, Ft. Myers/Naples isn't really all that dissimilar either.
They're obviously not peers, but Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa also has some commonality in that regard as well. Of course Phoenix is the clear principal city there (more so than Norfolk is for Hampton Roads), but the metro area is spread out amount multiple urban centers and less centered on Phoenix than, say, metro Philly is around the center of Philadelphia.
I have family in Virginia Beach and they definitely get less snow/cold than OKC and they don't really get the ice storms. It's cooler in the summer too. The ocean moderates the climate. Outside of hurricanes, it's a more typically pleasant climate.
I actually prefer the urbanity of OKC. There isn't really a central downtown in the Hampton Roads area.
Obviously the ocean is a nice plus for the Hampton Roads area, but I prefer the scenery of the Plains over the wooded swamps that surround the Hampton Roads area.
Why? Was OKC always quite sweaty hot when you were there with very unattractive neighborhoods noticed?
I meant no disrespect to OKC, I apologize for how that probably came across. OKC is just a bit slow-paced for my tastes, and it's actually really cold in the winter, moreso than some might expect. Hampton Roads is also quite slow-paced (arguably moreso than OKC), but I like the weather and scenery more there, the beaches, and the fact that its closer to more places I enjoy visiting (DC, Charlotte, etc.)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
