Favorite City or Town In Your Home State (or Territory)...And Why (live)

[Iconographer]

In my home state of Georgia it would be Savannah for me. Its historic and carefully preserved charm, its unique built environment centered on a series of park-like squares and the upbeat and open nature of its residents make for an incredible city.
Yours? Some that you name will no doubt be familiar to all, but I'm hoping to uncover some hidden gems as well.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

I've always found Southern Illinois kind of interesting, being from the opposite extreme (Chicago). Maybe Belleville or Centralia.

[SkyDog77]

For me it’s Telluride. I’ve traveled to most of the 50 states and haven’t found a place I find as breathtaking. We have lots of great mountain towns, but Telluride stands out from the rest for me because of its combined dramatic scenery and remoteness.

[woxyroxme]

Dayton for the party scene.

McArthur for the natural scenery.

[moshywilly]

I'd say Clinton, Hackettstown, Sparta, or Ramapo in NJ . These three towns are examples of the only areas in NJ that aren't crowded. They are located near nature and you can be outdoors. To me, the people my age in Sparta excite me. Ramapo has nice trails. These stores have stores you need, but you do have a bit far of a drive to get to the stores. I like that though, since you're driving through beautiful nature.

[mwj119]

Coastal: Nantucket/Newburyport/Provincetown- Beautiful downtowns, sandy beaches, active outdoor community, waterfront bars/restaurants abound
Suburb: Concord- History and old world charm, incredible housing stock, rivers and trails throughout the town and surrounding MetroWest
Western Mass: Northampton- Great downtown, cool music scene, at the foothills of the Berkshires, crafty/farm to table food and beer destination

[Count David]

I was born and raised in CA. Most cities/towns in CA have enough to hate to prevent them from being my "favorite", but just for sheer size/entertainment value/impact, Los Angeles is by far my favorite, but I enjoy visiting most established cities/towns across the state. Most CA suburbs, and most anything in Orange or San Diego counties bores me to death.

I've lived in WA, and within WA, Spokane is my favorite by leaps and bounds. Beautiful setting, spectacular weather, awesome people, great housing stock, trees, a fair amount of grit. It's just interesting as hell.

I have a hard time selecting one in CO (where I live now). I'll say Denver or Colorado Springs, but there is plenty I dislike about each one.

Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars

I've always found Southern Illinois kind of interesting, being from the opposite extreme (Chicago). Maybe Belleville or Centralia.

I've spent the last several days touring Southern Illinois. Stayed in Belleville on Sunday and Monday, loved the hell out of it. We must see the same thing. I too have been very interested in Southern IL because it is about as opposite as most people's stereotype of "Illinois" as it can get. Everyone, up to and including myself (prior to this trip) tends to link Illinois with Chicago, and not much else.

Open the spoiler below for more:

Spoiler

We saw as much of Southern IL as possible (we did do a side trip to Springfield), saw most of St. Clair County, Collinsville, Lebanon, I-64 to Mount Vernon, Rend Lake, Pinckneyville, Du Quoin, Murphysboro, Carbondale (spent the night there), Pomona, and on down to Cairo, then over to Metropolis, Brookport, Golconda, Elizabethtown, Cave-in-Rock, and departed IL finally at Shawneetown.

Still processing it, but I feel pretty blown away. In many ways it was better than I was expecting, but it also wasn't what I was expecting. My wife fell in love with Golconda, and I really enjoyed Belleville, and Metropolis/Brookport.

I hope to have a thread up soon somewhere, chronicling this trip through TN/KY/MO/IL/IN/OH (still in progress).