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Cities/Metros under 5 mil population, that is not tourist hotspot, that have the best nightlife/social scene, and culinary scene. I will exclude San Francisco as it gets lots of tourists, but include Oakland, and San Jose even though in the metro. I am excluding all of Southern California (San Diego too) and SoFla as it gets lot of tourist. Should I also exclude Seattle? LV is definitely excluded.
Basically I am asking which of the smaller cities/metros outside the top ten or 8 has the best social scene, nightlife, and culinary scene that relies almost exclusively on the locals, and not tourists from afar.
Boston will be excluded as well because it is basically a college town. It has so many within like BC, BU, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Tufts, UMASS Boston. Many of those students are from afar. Not sure I should exclude Austin TX, and Columbus OH too then. Both have a large flagship campus with people from elsewhere. Cincy has Uni but UCincy seems more for local kids. Omaha has a Uni but its not the flagship campus.
I have only really been to two such places: Cleveland, and Kansas City metro.
Cleveland seems really jumping when there is a local sports team playing at home. I guess a the reason for that is so many live outside the city and need a good reason to come to the core downtown. Cleveland could really use at least a USL Championship if not an MLS team. That way summers will not be only dependent on the Guardians. The Cleveland Monsters AHL team was playing the weekend I was there, and the turnout was pretty good and that is minor league.
KC seemed to shut down pretty early. I was in the downtown district or the Power and light district or the Crossroads Arts District, I think. I was on Main St. Many of the restaurants, or pubs were closed. Did I not go to the right place perhaps?
Can you elaborate more on what exactly you're looking for? Boise has a pretty decent nightlife and culinary scene that caters almost exclusively to locals/college students (https://visitboise.com/play/nightlife/). It's probably not the "best" but I have no idea how to define that because it's so subjective and personal.
Can you elaborate more on what exactly you're looking for? Boise has a pretty decent nightlife and culinary scene that caters almost exclusively to locals/college students (https://visitboise.com/play/nightlife/). It's probably not the "best" but I have no idea how to define that because it's so subjective and personal.
I guess I am talking about market capitalization. Which of these cities/metros is making the most money from their nightlife and restaurants without relying on tourists from far away? In other words which cities/metros has the most locals that eat out the most and patronize the local bars, and clubs the most. My issue though with some places is they have colleges that have people from all over as they are world famous, and I kind of think of them as tourists. I guess maybe one of the criteria can be not relying to much on college students.
KC, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Baltimore & Detroit are the first big cities that come to mind that fly under the radar of the “in” crowd
I don't think those cities fly under the radar. They still have levels of respectability to them. Cleveland and Buffalo flies under the radar with the "in" crowd.
I don't think those cities fly under the radar. They still have levels of respectability to them. Cleveland and Buffalo flies under the radar with the "in" crowd.
They have levels of respectably because they are at the end of the day still major cities.
All have massive stigmas surrounding them which severally dilutes their cultural appeal to the average American despite offering cultural experiences and or amenities that are on par with larger/more “hot” cities.
I don't think those cities fly under the radar. They still have levels of respectability to them. Cleveland and Buffalo flies under the radar with the "in" crowd.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joakim3
They have levels of respectably because they are at the end of the day still major cities.
All have massive stigmas surrounding them which severally dilutes their cultural appeal to the average American despite offering cultural experiences and or amenities that are on par with larger/more “hot” cities.
Regional tourism is a big thing in the Midwest. You'd be hard pressed to find any large city in the Midwest with "nightlife/social scene, and culinary" that doesn't have at least some reliance on tourism.
If we're talking about national draws, then yeah, I could see places like Cleveland and Kansas City being mentioned. If we're talking regional draws, every midwestern metro between 1 mil and 5 mil is a regional draw.
I guess I am talking about market capitalization. Which of these cities/metros is making the most money from their nightlife and restaurants without relying on tourists from far away? In other words which cities/metros has the most locals that eat out the most and patronize the local bars, and clubs the most. My issue though with some places is they have colleges that have people from all over as they are world famous, and I kind of think of them as tourists. I guess maybe one of the criteria can be not relying to much on college students.
Something to keep in mind is that a city/area can have a major college without being a college town. So, they contribute to the area for most of the year, but they aren't necessarily the sole drivers of the economy, if that makes sense. I say that as someone that lives in such an area.
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