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As unique as New Orleans is, there are elements similar to it in other parts of the country. For example there are clear parallels between the Garden District and Charleston SC (City Market would be Charleston's counterpart to the French Market). While New Orleans Creole cuisine and South Carolina Lowcountry cuisine are very distinct, there are parallels between them especially with the seafood and the French and African influences. Certain elements of the Quarter especially Bourbon Street bears some resemblance to Key West and Duval Street. The industrial suburbs like the Westbank, the massive industrial landscapes in parts of the city and the aging infrastructure (like some of the freeways) reminded me somewhat of the Northeast. In fact areas like Westwego certainly have their counterparts in the Baltimore suburbs. While the Northshore suburbs have a Sun Belt vibe to it. I think the thing that makes New Orleans truly unique is the combination.
NOT my hometown...but the more I travel the more I appreciated my current town.
It was just a small rural town in the early 1980's when I traveled there on business. It had a good local record store, no chain stores, and lots of brick which is unique in the west.
The only unique thing I noticed was the local radio station had THREE call letters, not four. Those into radio will know the significance of that.
When I moved here in 1985, I was stunned at the "high tech" aspects of the community. I guess there was a reason the town had a three letter radio station.
In 1985, I could sign on to the library computer bulletin board and order library book which would be mailed to me with a postage paid return parcel for me to send the book back!! The bulletin board had the USENET feeds as well as local groups.
After I moved here I learned that the local community, in the 1930's, asked the "out of town" utility that owned a local hydro dam to provide electricity to rural residents. The utility refused. So the community condemned the dam and created their own public utility and started providing electricity to rural residents.
At the turn of the this century, everybody wanted fiber-optics. So the community asked the telecommunication companies to provide fiber to the valley. They refused. So the community built their own fiber optic system using only county resources. Even went up against the LIBERAL Governor of Washington that didn't think municipal broadband was proper!!
More examples, but you get the drift. As I travel across the US I run into communities that complain about their bad fortune.
Makes me much more impressed with this community....where they JUST DO IT themselves.
Ways I've realized Chicago is more normal than I thought growing up:
- Diversity
- Crime
- How good/well-known/rooted-for our sports teams are
- How bad our public schools are
Ways I've realized Chicago is more distinct than I thought growing up:
- Population density (specifically, how much farther apart houses are in most places and how much barely-developed land is in their city limits)
- Segregation
- COL (for its size)
- Age of buildings
- Population decline (many core cities did in the '50s-80s, but the fact that we're still experiencing it)
- Public transit
The biggest thing any ex-Chicagoan will immediately miss/realize was special about Chicago is the food. You don't realize how good you had it in the Chicago area with the hot dogs, pizza, Italian beef, and overall excellent variety and diversity of food. Moving away, I immediately missed Chicago food, and realized how much I took it for granted living there. This is certainly true of many different cities/regions that are known for food (New York, Philly, Kansas City, Memphis, Houston, etc.). Where I moved to, the only good food happened to be a bunch of big chains, with only a few good local places.
After moving away I have found my hometown Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC is a diamond in the rough.
-Very diverse employment center
-Excellent public schools especially by southern standards
-Highly educated (second only to Boston per capita I think I read)
-Highly integrated demographics
-Very few areas of blight
-Low Crime overall
-Accessibility to Mountains and beach both at or under appx. 3 hours drive
The only real ding I think is transportation - Light rail can't be built fast enough.
Growing up in LA, I grew up believing we were very unique in that we had wide freeways with multiple junctions, that we had a particular set up downtown with unique skyscrapers, and that our suburbans are layed out like no other place in the nation however the more I traveled to cities like Phoenix, Houston,Atlanta, Dallas; I quickly saw that there was a common American urban layout thru out the US (West of Chicago and South of DC).
This is how it goes. The historic downtown is surrounded by a ring of freeways and the arteries then branch out to the suburbs. The further away you get from the core the less dense it gets and vise versa. All these cities would have their own secondary skylines (Buckhead, Century City). The exurbs being swallowed up alive by the ever expanding metropolitan area right in front of your eyes. Many similar copy and paste skyscraper designs. Wide Blvds of endless strip malls. Even the newer nicer most desirable suburbs have the same exact malls. (Ontario Mills, Katy Mills).
I could go on but my point is that making me more well traveled made me seem the lifestyle in the rest of the country isn’t much different for the most part. LA just happened to be lucky and positioned in a desirable climate and mountainous environment with slightly more interesting and dense strip malls. Going to Houston was like being in an alternative universe version of LA picked it up and placed it in Texas (taking away the mountains and weather), less denser, and 1/3rd less populated.
You get my point. Anyone else feel the same about their home city?
Quote:
Originally Posted by I Love LA
Rules to keep in mind before you summit your response.
All cities get their unique geographic characteristics away. So no mountains, no special trees, no waterfront, no river flowing thru the city’s core. Just landlocked with nothing but flat green prairie from hundreds of miles after you exit the metro area.
I have no idea how to answer your question. Some of it doesn't even make sense to me, especially the second part.
The more I travel the more unique my hometown of St Louis seems.
The more I travel the more I find other cities just as enjoyable although different.
The more I travel the more midwestern I become and realize that St. Louis is the smallest msa I am willing to live in. Some cities are great and fun but not livable.
I've been to ~35 states and many cities. I came to realize that San Diego's neighborhoods are pretty generic suburbia, especially post WWII housing. The materials might be different (no brick), but the majority of neighborhoods had the same boring feel as most other sprawling metros.
However, I did find San Diego unique in that the city just feels a lot safer and cleaner and well maintained (other than roads). The poorest neighborhoods of San Diego are far nicer and pleasant than the no-go areas of most U.S. metros. I think being sandwiched between LA and Tijuana already made most of us aware that San Diego was different in this regard, but I didn't think it would apply to most of the country.
The biggest thing any ex-Chicagoan will immediately miss/realize was special about Chicago is the food. You don't realize how good you had it in the Chicago area with the hot dogs, pizza, Italian beef, and overall excellent variety and diversity of food. Moving away, I immediately missed Chicago food, and realized how much I took it for granted living there. This is certainly true of many different cities/regions that are known for food (New York, Philly, Kansas City, Memphis, Houston, etc.). Where I moved to, the only good food happened to be a bunch of big chains, with only a few good local places.
I feel the same way about New Orleans and Louisiana in general. There is no place in the country that can beat Louisiana for its local cuisine. Texas would probably be second. Even other places that are proud of their seafood like Baltimore and Seattle really pale in comparison to New Orleans and Cajun country.
I feel the same way about New Orleans and Louisiana in general. There is no place in the country that can beat Louisiana for its local cuisine. Texas would probably be second. Even other places that are proud of their seafood like Baltimore and Seattle really pale in comparison to New Orleans and Cajun country.
I don't know about this. While I love New Orleans and the wonderful seafood there, I don't consider it the best after traveling so much since my first visits. I lived in Florida for many years and go back regularly, and theirs is up there, as well as the West Coast. But in my honest opinion, no place beats New England. It's consistently the best I've ever had.
I don't know about this. While I love New Orleans and the wonderful seafood there, I don't consider it the best after traveling so much since my first visits. I lived in Florida for many years and go back regularly, and theirs is up there, as well as the West Coast. But in my honest opinion, no place beats New England. It's consistently the best I've ever had.
At the risk of incurring a ****storm, I think NOLA's food scene has been resting on its laurels for a long time now. The last chef from there that I can recall to receive national recognition for their inventive style and skill was Susan Spicer, and that has been a while. It's still home for many of the great traditional chefs, but chefs from cities like San Diego, Nashville, Charleston, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Austin, DC and Atlanta have been stealing the spotlight for a while now (NYC, LA, Chicago and the Bay Area are a given). I don't think NOLA holds the US monopoly on haute cuisine anymore.
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