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I currently live in OKC, but haven't been to Hampton Roads. Went to D.C. and NoVA last June and loved it, though.
Based on what I've heard, Hampton Roads has beautiful beaches, the First Landing State Park with a nice cypress swamp and some Spanish Moss, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, as well as a very lush, subtropical landscape in general. And you're only 90 minutes from Richmond, with all its Confederate History and whitewater rafting on the James River.
OKC is no slouch either--it's got the Devon Tower, Scissortail Park, OKC Thunder, the streetcar, the Osteology Museum, the Oklahoma History Center, the OKC National Memorial/Museum, the Boathouse District, Bricktown, and the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman. It's only 90 minutes from Tulsa, too.
Both can get cold, but not too cold, during the winter. I think if anything, OKC would get more cold and snow than Hampton Roads, but barely. Both get hot during the summer. OKC is very hot and somewhat humid, Hampton Roads is less hot but more humid and more rainy. OKC has tornadoes but Hampton Roads has hurricanes.
Both are mostly flat, although I think Greater OKC is hillier than Hampton Roads.
As great as OKC is for a metro area of 1.3 million, I'm going to go with Hampton Roads on this one. I love the subtropical greenery and muggy weather of the South; OKC doesn't have that. The beach and the history are two more reasons going for Hampton Roads over OKC, too.
I'm pretty sure OKC gets tornadoes a lot more than Hampton Roads gets hurricanes. I don't even know when they were last directly hit by one; it seems that when they do get hit, it's usually by a weakened tropical system moving up that way from the Carolinas where it made landfall and did the most damage.
I'm never seen so much hate for a city that actually isn't THAT bad. OKC has a lot of work to do, but the way people completely dismiss it on her is pretty unfair. It's a decent city with a lot of potential. Can't speak on the Hampton Roads but I do like the idea of being near the beach.
1. Why is OKC or Hampton Roads better, in your opinion?
2. What would you consider Hampton Roads' peer cities? Sacramento? Charlotte? Kansas City?
"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.
I'm never seen so much hate for a city that actually isn't THAT bad. OKC has a lot of work to do, but the way people completely dismiss it on her is pretty unfair. It's a decent city with a lot of potential. Can't speak on the Hampton Roads but I do like the idea of being near the beach.
I think OKC wouldn't get as much hate if it wasn't for it's awful weather, boring natural scenery, and being the capital of one of the most conservative states in the country. Indianapolis suffers from the same problem, though it's a little more respected because it's a larger city and is considerably more urban than OKC. Still, it tends to be unable to shake a reputation on City-Data for being dull and boring.
I think OKC wouldn't get as much hate if it wasn't for it's awful weather, boring natural scenery, and being the capital of one of the most conservative states in the country. Indianapolis suffers from the same problem, though it's a little more respected because it's a larger city and is considerably more urban than OKC. Still, it tends to be unable to shake a reputation on City-Data for being dull and boring.
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
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.
Wrong in a couple ways...
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...
Last edited by murksiderock; 03-05-2020 at 03:27 AM..
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