Its Just something about Richmond... (Washington: transplants, lofts, high school)

[Va4Ever]

I've visited this site for about a month now (not as a member) just looking at threads seeing what people write about richmond and what I noticed is a lot of transplants usually from ny, just straight up bash richmond and sometimes Virginia as a whole. I was born and raised in the bronx, new york and most (if not all ) new yorkers have this mentality that theres no place greater.

I'll admit I too was one of them. I moved to richmond when i was 13 and thought life was over for me. I had no friends, i knew nothing about this place. When I started school in Highland springs high school it was like a culture shock. all these country accents, the school as whole was a school. pep rallies, all of that good stuff that i never experienced in ny.

then i learned how to drive at age 14 which is one of my proudest moments because in ny u dont really need a car, let alond learn how to drive. well from that point on I've just explored richmond by myself in my car, driving around just seeing how beautiful it is and by doing that it really open my eyes and my mind.

Its so silly to think or say something negative about a place if you've never experienced that place. Now im 23 yrs old and i live back in ny only because of my job but i plan on moving back to richmond jan 2011 and Viginia is all i think about.

I wouldnt want to live anywhere else. and for anyone planning on relocating to richmond please give it a shot. you just might ending up loving it like i do

[Nebat]

I absolutely love NYC and crave visiting it whenever I can, but I could never be happy living there because of how use I am to living around here. It's great that you love Richmond, as you said so many people bash the place. I personally have always liked Richmond and always liken it to a smaller Philly or Baltimore. Richmond is totally underrated in my opinion. I can understand if you came from a bigger city it might seem boring, but that's going to be the case with most cities especially with cities like NYC. Richmond has just about everything in a city I need on a local level. Yeah it could have more, but then I just head up to DC.

[htlong]

they tell me there is really dirt under the concrete in NYC........I dont believe it!

[CHIP72]

I've only been to Richmond about three times, and really spent time exploring the city (or at least part of the city) only once. Based on my limited exposure to the city, I thought Richmond was plenty alright. Except for the fact it has a stronger (but not overwhelming) Southern feel, it isn't that dissimilar to its larger brother cities to the north along the I-95 corridor. Like most of those cities excluding Washington, it seems to have a strong industrial history, and the fact it is a state capital makes a bit like Washington, albeit at a much smaller scale.

Let's put it like this - despite the frequent bashing Richmond seems to get on this site, it is a place where I'd be willing to live (though not near the top of the list), and there aren't that many places where I'd say that.

(As a point of reference, I'm originally from eastern Pennsylvania, and grew up about 70 miles north of Philadelphia and 85 miles west of New York. I lived just outside of Harrisburg, about 80 miles north of Baltimore, 100 miles west of Philadelphia, and 115 miles north of Washington, for almost 8 years, and have now lived just outside of DC while working in DC for just over 2 years.)

[Meme Implanter]

If Richmond can continue to make the city livable and not just a 9-5 office park things will get better. The immediate southside off of 7th is taking off little by little with Scoot Richmond, Legend Brewing, etc... More lofts and flats are on the horizon as well in the Bottom and more industrious types are replacing the layabouts who left Church Hill to crumble (gentrification is a city's best friend). Things are on the up and up and perhaps Richmond will become a truly livable river city like Portland, Oregon or even... Pittsburgh someday.

[Anders15]

A link to all those threads?