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This whole topic is interesting yet subjective at the same time. Everyone has a different definition of "cool." I'll give my honest assessment in 6 months living here full time along with sporadic visits for over 20 years. My definition of "cool" and "uncool."
What's cool ?
1) An outdoorman's dream
2) Unique scenery (saguaros and other vegetation)
3) Access to various geographic and climatic zones inside of 2 hours.
4) Socially a "live and let live" vibe. Mind your business and show respect.
5) Gun Laws. Kind of like prohibition. When you pose restrictions, the radical few that challenge the system will pose more harm than if it is accessible to all non felons.I lived in NY my whole life. Saw it firsthand.
What's uncool?
1) Lack of identity. The lack of natives naturally creates a shallow culture. That is for those who care about "deep rooted" cities like those back east. For me being an outdoorsman, I could give a bleep about "culture" in The Valley of The Sun.
2) A Baby LA. It's bad enough LA teams have stood in our way in recent years from sports championships. It's even worse when our appearance is often compared to the Ontario to San Bernardino corridor. Not exactly a compliment.
3) People who are content with redundant strip malls and casinos as their source of entertainment outside of work.
What's cool? Tempe's nightlife, light rail connection between Phoenix and Tempe, the future skytrain, professional sports, lots of smooth wide freeways to drive on, the variety of shopping and restaurants, lots of grocery chains, mountain views, sunsets, fresh air after a summer thunderstorm, the newness of just about everything.
What's uncool? Nickelbag Joe Arpaio, the ultraconservative wingnuts in the state government, ranking near the bottom in education funding, summertime heat, duststorms, crush hour traffic.
What's cool? Tempe's nightlife, light rail connection between Phoenix and Tempe, the future skytrain, professional sports, lots of smooth wide freeways to drive on, the variety of shopping and restaurants, lots of grocery chains, mountain views, sunsets, fresh air after a summer thunderstorm, the newness of just about everything.
What's uncool? Nickelbag Joe Arpaio, the ultraconservative wingnuts in the state government, ranking near the bottom in education funding, summertime heat, duststorms, crush hour traffic.
With Phoenix you have to take the good with the bad, it really depends on age/marital status/income level. Phoenix has a decided lack of corporate headquarters for a city of it's size and as such relegates itself to a tier 3 type of city as far as opportunities. There are MANY small businesses though which makes up for the lack of major employers. Our top employer in the state? Walmart.
I have lived here 24 years after my family moved here in 1988. There have been many changes over those years with development of desert areas, the building all the way out to areas of the desert you NEVER visited, redevelopment of downtown (and the stalling thereof)...we can address a few things.
There is a very large amount of people here that were not born here. Phoenix is a very transient city, people come here from everywhere...CA, MT, CO, NM, lots of Northerners (MN, IL, MI) especially in the winter (snow birds) etc. But many of these people have been setting down roots here and transforming the "coolness" of the area. I have to agree with the earlier post that there are many Libertarians here although a lot of them consider themselves conservative. Most people come here with the idea of the Wild West, freedom and wide open spaces and seek to enforce those aspects in their way of thinking and daily lives.
Arizona enjoys the distinction of being the only state that has all the major climate zones represented, from desert to tundra...if you want to get out of the desert and get into pine trees...Payson and Flagstaff are only a couple of hours away. Unfortunately this close proximity also leads to people destroying these natural areas with trash, human waste and dirty diapers.
Arizona has a very vibrant Hispanic community and most people incorporate their cooking and food styles into their lives. We are also one of the largest funnels for drugs and human smuggling from the Mexican border, many of those aforementioned small businesses prey on the illegal labor while the politicians point at the issue as pulling resources from citizens. Either side of the debate you are on...it exists and will continue to exist until the Federal Govt decides which avenue they are going to take.
Arizona enjoys the distinction of being the 46th WORST place to raise kids. We continually rank in the lowest echelon in school spending and performance. But we also have some of the top performing schools in the nation in the Chandler and Scottsdale school districts as well as private schools in the form of Xavier, Brophy and Notre Dame Prep.
Phoenix is hot in the summer and gorgeous during the winter. We have had a record high of 124F, the summers bring huge dust storms, some flash flooding, humidity and searing heat. We have had snow storms in the upper elevations of the valley (Scottsdale/Cave Creek/Carefree) during the winter although they melt off as fast as they showed up and the next day will be in the 70s. Freeze Warnings are normal in December/January. The saying goes you never make the decision to move out of Phoenix in the summer...everyone wants out of the heat and most AZ residents will head to San Diego or Orange County for vacation in the summer.
For a Red state...our State Government seems to do better with a Democrat as Governor (my observation) and as mentioned before, Mesa/Gilbert is Salt Lake South, leading to a large conservative base in the East Valley. I would say that the amount of Independent voters are growing with most being Fiscally Conservative with a Socially Liberal slant. It is all about managing our money while still providing for those that are less fortunate.
As far as nightlife...Tempe and Downtown Scottsdale come to mind. Tempe is going to be more of your ASU college crowd, Downtown Scottsdale is a mixture of Young Urban Professionals/Trust Fund Babies/ $40k Millionaires and Girls looking to hook up with a Sugar Daddy. Check out thedirty.com and pull up Scottsdale. I don't know the West Valley all that much, historically if you lived in the East Valley you didn't go west of I17. They did build the sports complex in Glendale which makes it a pain to go see the Cardinals play from the East Valley.
That brings us to sports teams...Diamondbacks, Suns, Cardinals and the Coyotes. I don't really have much to say about this except that the Coyotes and Cardinals are in Glendale and DBacks and Suns are downtown.
Don't know if any of this helps but....there it is
I, personally, would describe Arizona as definitely un-cool. We have a lot of old people, crazy/angry politicians, it's dirty/dusty, and it's hot....
Whether something is cool is a personal viewpoint.
Phoenix is cool.
Being old and vibrant is cool.
I'm one of those "old people". And one day, if luck is with you, you'll be one of those "old people". Then you'll be able to bristle every time you hear someone making disrespectful remarks about "old people".
Las Vegas and Nevada are libertarian. I see more conservatism here with libertarian principles sprinkled in. People here are fiscally and socially conservative.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LAX-PHX
Agree with everything you said except the part about inland SoCal with DFW in a mixing bowl. I think it's more like inland SoCal and the Mountain West in a mixing bowl. DFW has it's own culture rooted in the South which I don't think influences Phoenix at all. I think Phoenix is kind of like an LA-Chicago hybrid in a Vegas like environment. I don't see much of Texas at all in metro Phoenix.
Hmm, I disagree. I was looking at the DFW more as in the cultural context of big pickup trucks, country music, flashy, gun loving, conservative suburbs, and large Hispanic population. Mix that with the laid back, outdoor oriented, wide income disparity, mostly clean, generic strip malls and subdivisions of Orange County and the Inland Empire, and you have Phoenix.
Phoenix certainly has a lack of sophistication about it. Because of that, I don't think saying that Phoenix is a mix of SoCal and Chicago is very accurate. I don't really see the Chicago influence in Phoenix at all. Also I don't see Mountain West in Phoenix either. Denver, Salt Lake City, Boise, and Billings are all much different than Phoenix in my eyes.
Las Vegas and Nevada are libertarian. I see more conservatism here with libertarian principles sprinkled in. People here are fiscally and socially conservative.
Hmm, I disagree. I was looking at the DFW more as in the cultural context of big pickup trucks, country music, flashy, gun loving, conservative suburbs, and large Hispanic population. Mix that with the laid back, outdoor oriented, wide income disparity, mostly clean, generic strip malls and subdivisions of Orange County and the Inland Empire, and you have Phoenix.
Phoenix certainly has a lack of sophistication about it. Because of that, I don't think saying that Phoenix is a mix of SoCal and Chicago is very accurate. I don't really see the Chicago influence in Phoenix at all. Also I don't see Mountain West in Phoenix either. Denver, Salt Lake City, Boise, and Billings are all much different than Phoenix in my eyes.
PHX is certainly not as "authentic" in a SW context as Tucson or Albuquerque. Those cities have chosen to not have loops or beltways. ABQ has a defacto "loop" in Tramway BLVD/RD but I never see ABQ ever ruining the pristine landscape of that stretch.
PHX is a far larger population center of course but it does remind me of the Coachella Valley of CA. The Indio to Desert Hot Springs stretch from a scenery standpoint (although the San Jacintos are far more majestic backdrop). Some high scale McMansions to trashy mobiles scattered about along that stretch of I 10 which is like the East Valley especially from Scottsdale out to Apache Junction.
I'd say the Ontario to Banning stretch is also a fair comparison as well. Overall, PHX as others stated is still searching for an identity. I love the outdoors here and could care less about Arts and Museums that cities back East pride themselves in to offset looking like decaying dumps (Detroit,Cleveland,Buffalo,etc.). I have met a sample of 100 plus people in and outside of my job, I'd say only 25% are "Far Right". Meaning Religious people who love their hunting. I'd say 75% are Libertarian meaning they don't like "govt handouts" to the lazy abusers but we tolerate all walks of life so long as they are contributing to society.
Find it funny how a few here seem to take pride in CONSERVATIVE. Conservative in the purest form is something I doubt many have followed all their lives. Examples of TRUE conservatism.
1) No sex before marriage
2) No alcohol
3) No recreational drugs
4) No tobacco
5) Go to church every sunday
6) No sex outside of marriage
7) Never cohabitate unless you are married.
etc etc
Phoenix has a coolness about it, but it's different than the coolness of LA. The coolness here comes from being a large metropolitan area in the middle of a desert, our climate, our lifestyle, and the mix of political and cultural backgrounds here.
IMO, Phoenix is what would happen if you put the culture of inland Southern California and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in a mixing bowl. As others have stated, there is a definite west coast vibe to Phoenix that is similar to Southern California. However, that vibe is more of what you would find in the Inland Empire and Orange County than what you would find in the middle of LA. There is a undeniable conservative vibe to Phoenix. The anti-illegal immigrant (and just general anti-Hispanic), anti tax, and pro gun sentiment will let you know that that is not a progressive place.
Phoenix does have a modern, hip aspect to it. You can find the hipster population throughout many neighborhoods in Central Phoenix. We do have a growing number of independent restaurants, food trucks, high end shopping, and interesting cultural events. You might just have to look a little harder than you might prefer to find these aspects though.
I agree totally. The sentence I highlighted is scary, but true I think. If I am imagining correctly what the OP thinks of as "cool" it's not even the Southern California of Orange County, let alone Riverside County.
I suspect it's more the vibe of West Hollywood, Silver Lake, Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey, the highrises and big museums downtown, and/or Malibu. Movie California. It does exist. And it's nothing like Phoenix. Phoenix has way too many retirees, super-conservative politicos, and transplants from the Midwest to ever emulate those places. No offense Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc., you're great but many of your people leave for some reason.
Yes, downtown Phoenix is getting cooler. The central corridor has a lot of fun, young, creative people and places. But it's still not close to LA — and don't ever let anyone tell you that Scottsdale is like Beverly Hills. The metro area overall is still mostly a connecting set of near-identical suburbs with a center that's getting more interesting year by year and outer areas of majestic desert beauty.
Coolness to Phoenix? Not in July and August! I kid, I kid.
122 degrees, June 26, 1990
Okay okay...I stand corrected...it is still (to quote my wife) "Too freaking hot"
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