I've recently been all over the US... (buy, movie theaters)
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...and really, I have to wonder why so many people hate Salt Lake City. I expected to hate it since literally everyone I've encountered says it's the worst place they've ever been, but I really liked it. Granted, I was only there for two days, but it's got beautiful scenery, great outdoors activities, many touring bands coming through (mainstream and underground), a huge number of movie theaters, Sundance, diverse food, low traffic, a sizable nightlife, nice architecture and a thriving underground beer scene (which is particularly of note as the private memberships are disappearing). I can understand being annoyed with Mormon beliefs getting in the way of politics, but the city has so much to offer. I MUCH prefer it to other cities in the region; Boise has a much better reputation but is filled with too many close-minded trailer park types and has much less to offer in terms of culture. Missoula is very nice but so much smaller and too much of a college town. Even Seattle, which is a bit further away, is so overpriced in comparison (and doesn't seem to offer TOO much more overall). What's so bad about Salt Lake City?!
*I almost posted this in the Salt Lake forum, but I'm more interested in why this city constantly gets put down while other, lesser (in my opinion) cities have much better reps (while also hopefully getting a less biased opinion).
Well, it's fairly remote from other cities, and it is in a long valley, which means that smog can get pretty terrible in both the winter AND summer despite the relatively small size of the metro area.
...and really, I have to wonder why so many people hate Salt Lake City. I expected to hate it since literally everyone I've encountered says it's the worst place they've ever been, but I really liked it. Granted, I was only there for two days, but it's got beautiful scenery, great outdoors activities, many touring bands coming through (mainstream and underground), a huge number of movie theaters, Sundance, diverse food, low traffic, a sizable nightlife, nice architecture and a thriving underground beer scene (which is particularly of note as the private memberships are disappearing). I can understand being annoyed with Mormon beliefs getting in the way of politics, but the city has so much to offer. I MUCH prefer it to other cities in the region; Boise has a much better reputation but is filled with too many close-minded trailer park types and has much less to offer in terms of culture. Missoula is very nice but so much smaller and too much of a college town. Even Seattle, which is a bit further away, is so overpriced in comparison (and doesn't seem to offer TOO much more overall). What's so bad about Salt Lake City?!
*I almost posted this in the Salt Lake forum, but I'm more interested in why this city constantly gets put down while other, lesser (in my opinion) cities have much better reps (while also hopefully getting a less biased opinion).
I agree with you completely. SLC is one of the most scenic big cities in the country, and it's a heck of a lot cleaner than pretty much any other big city in America. There's very little trash, graffiti, crime, or substandard housing in SLC. And while SLC doesn't have many high-rises, it's got a downtown that's full of life and that is very safe even in the middle of the night.
Also, when the Mormon pioneers were planning the city, they decided the streets needed to be wide enough for 12 wagons. This means that today there's very little traffic in the city because the streets are really, really wide. It also means that when the TRAX streetcars were built, the streets were already wide enough to accommodate them without adversely affecting vehicular traffic.
It's still en vogue in this country to make fun of the religious, in particular conservative Christian churches. This makes SLC an easy target for the millions of anti-Mormons out there who continue to perpetuate lies and half-truths about Mormons.
But, as you discovered, when visitors go to SLC they invariably find a gleaming, flowering city built in the middle of what used to be barren wasteland adjacent to spectacular mountains. It's easily one of my favorite cities in the country.
Been in SLC several times and am always impressed with it. While I generally don't like larger cities, SLC doesn't feel that way to me for some reason. It could be how clean it is, it could be how less congested it is compared to most other cities it's size, it even could be the attitude of the people I have run into there. I really can't put my finger on it, but it is a city that I like.
For me, it's not so much an SLC thing as a Utah thing. Anywhere I must drive 100 miles across the state line to get a decent beer is automatically downgraded.
I have never been there, but I have an friend who visited a long while back. He only had good things to say about it there, and kept talking about not wanting to leave. From what I heard, it sounds like a very scenic area with all the amneties one could want for a good life. If people don't like it, well I wouldnt know the reasons, but I do try to see the positives in life rather then the negatives.
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