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I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. You West Coasters are such drama queens. I was born in Western Colorado, Grand Junction to be exact, and grew up in Denver for a big chunk of my childhood. The Rocky Mountains are taller than any other mountain range in North America, with Colorado having the highest elevation of any state. Other than the landmark/directional aspect large hills and mountains provide, I have no clue what you people are talking about. I've never experienced vertigo or grown disoriented due to a lack of elevation.
It's more of a strange feeling than a physical effect. I've never fallen on the ground because I've been so disoriented in a flat city before, but dizziness is the closest word I can come up with to describe the feeling.
Last edited by CaseyB; 12-23-2009 at 10:16 AM..
Reason: off topic
The first thing I noticed when I went to the biggest city on the west coast, LA is how it seemed very flat and stretched on for miles and miles. Sure, there are mountains in the background but you spend 99% of your time on flatness.
I lived in both plain and hilly cities , I can assure the OP , after a while you'll get used to a plain city and start to "think flat" that is to create a mental grid in your mind , you start to find ways and directions based on other landmarks than hills such as buildings , great avenues , parks , rivers , bridges , stadia , a railway line , skyscrapers , that's not difficult at all , it just take a bit more mental training.
The big down point for flat cities imho is the lack of diversity of scenery , it's boring.
To me the best place is a city on the foohills , you have the flat area but also the slowly rising districts , it's perfect , a city that is too hilly would hide some of its part , it will prevent you from getting the bigger picture of a city so it's not that good.
I was not talking about backdrops (i.e. mountains in the background), I was talking about the city itself being hilly, which creates distinct neighborhoods, more vista points, better orientation as someone said.
Hills carve and construct the city in a certain way that allows you to "look in" in a way that you can't do in flat cities (like Chicago, which I think is a great city, btw).
If that is what you meant, then I disagree with your notion that most East coast cities are flat. Boston, for example, is quite hilly:
The entire area was carved and scooped out by glaciers. There is hardly a flat spot anywhere. The most famous section of the Boston Marathon is even named for a hill: Heartbreak Hill, which breaks your heart because it is yet another hill after a series of several hills on that part of the course.
I will agree that most East coast cities lack a dramatic mountain back-drop ala Los Angeles or Seattle, but then, so do some West coast cities. San Francisco, for example really doesn't have that feature.
These sudden changes are frequent out West near development too. My city is at around 400 feet, about 7 miles from the ocean. Just six miles north of our house is a 5,689 foot mountain, so the mountain literally looms over the city because it is so close and so sudden of an increase in height.
Great post, and I recognize Saddleback, which would be a significant mountain in the east, yet only known to locals in California. I grew up in that area and I still manage to climb Santiago peak just about every year. The Holy Jim trail knows no rival where I live now.
When I visit family in Louisville, I don't have that luxury. I feel lost and completely dependent on street signs to find anything. Without hills I really don't know where anything is and I could be in the completely wrong side of town without realizing - it is a very bizarre feeling and a little disorienting.
This is more likely an indicator of familiarity. I don't need street signs in a city I know, because I just recognize where I am. Whether it is buildings or natural features, if you know it, you know it. Whereas if you set somebody down in the middle of Portland without context, he won't have any idea how to get from A to B.
Are you kidding? The far western suburbs like Golden and Morrison are in the foothills, but for the most part the terrain in the city of Denver is flatter than it is here in Milwaukee.I agree about LA. It didn't strike me as being very hilly or rugged. Sure you have gigantic Mt. Wilson off in the distance, but the places where people actually live are pretty flat.
This is absolutely correct! The funny thing is that many who have never been to Denver reflexively think of it as a mountainous city. The actual opposite is true: it's mostly flatter than an ironing board.
It's more of a strange feeling than a physical effect. I've never fallen on the ground because I've been so disoriented in a flat city before, but dizziness is the closest word I can come up with to describe the feeling.
Would claustrophobic be a more accurate description? I've heard many westerners say they felt trapped in a box when they've been out east. I actually have the opposite problem, I feel like I'm totally exposed when I'm out west because there are no clouds in the sky or dense tree canopy overhead. Obviously the PNW doesn't suffer from that problem, but the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states sure do.
Maybe some people out west feel a void and try to fill it with ideas of montain grandeur. I (and I am sure there are others) try not to generalize about an area or people. There are cities in the east, south, midwest, and west that I enjoy for what they are. Try driving from Vermont to Maryland on the backroads and tell me there aren't mountains. The entire way is up and down, around and around. They may not have the height (hint: size queens) of western mountains but they are greener and more user friendly.
I'm not seriously concerned about whether or city is hilly or flat..But it is a little weird going out to the Midwest or some places in the East and not seeing mountains on the horizon. Coming from growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sierra Nevada of California(and having lived since than on the edge of the Siskiyous and Cascades in Oregon), it's just a different feeling. While the Central Valley and Willamette Valleys are fairly flat, even there you always have the sense and view of large mountains being just a short drive away.
I mean don't take it personal...I wouldn't be concerned about the relative flatness of a place like Chicago or New Orleans or Miami if I were to live there...but as far as living in some flat Mid-Western town or city over a days drive from any sort of mountains; that just sounds extremely boring--not for me. It's more so being in the middle of the Great Plains that feels somewhat disconcerting--the vastness of the flat landscape and the distance from any type of topographic variation or ocean, gives me a weird almost agoraphobic feeling. Never felt that way on the East Coast really, with the ocean and hills always fairly close by.
There are some boring small towns out West that are made somewhat tolerable due to their proximity to mountains. Growing up on the West Coast you just get accustomed to having mountains nearby as a sort of relief valve.. You start taking the landscape for granted.
West Coast drama queens? Sounds about right..But I you know how many times I've had to listen to transplanted Northeasterners work themselves into a tizzy about how they can't find any proper pizza or bagels on the West Coast..
Last edited by Deezus; 12-23-2009 at 11:37 AM..
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