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To this foreigner St. Louis has the most identity of any Midwestern city after Chicago.
Definitely doesn't have more than Detroit does. I think Detroit might have the most culture "per capita" as the city's so small these days in terms of population.
Sacramento and Columbus, Ohio. Nothing comes to mind for most people when these cities are mentioned.
Ohio State University immediately comes to mind for Columbus, and would for any sports fan or academic.
I know nothing about Sacremento, and when I think of Sacremento, all I think of is the Kings and the fact that it is the capital of the state. Does that mean it lacks identity? No. What it means is I don't know much about Sacremento.
Ohio State University immediately comes to mind for Columbus, and would for any sports fan or academic.
I know nothing about Sacremento, and when I think of Sacremento, all I think of is the Kings and the fact that it is the capital of the state. Does that mean it lacks identity? No. What it means is I don't know much about Sacremento.
A university and it's sports teams aren't much of an "identity". I mean the city itself lacks identity. You (the average person) don't think of certain buildings or neighbourhoods when they think of Columbus. No obvious industry, event, etc. comes to mind.
A university and it's sports teams aren't much of an "identity". I mean the city itself lacks identity. You (the average person) don't think of certain buildings or neighbourhoods when they think of Columbus. No obvious industry, event, etc. comes to mind.
Short North
University Village
Brewery District
Scioto River
Arena District
Off the top of my head, these are the first five things that come to my mind for Columbus, OH. If I was cheating, I would look up the name of the building that is almost u shaped on top.
EDIT: I looked it up, Huntington Center is the building I was thinking of.
Are we supposed to all know about Short North? I doubt most people even know that Ohio State is in Columbus. Sure people know that it's in Ohio
The Midwest is full of cultural icons embodied in cities, though.
Chicago (Windy City), Detroit (Motown), St. Louis (Anheuser Busch), Kansas City (BBQ), Milwaukee (lots of beer there, ), Indianapolis (Indy 500), Cleveland
I think in the South, people can peg some cultural contribution to Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, New Orleans, Orlando, Miami, Charleston, Savannah, Richmond, Dallas, San Antonio
The North? Almost every city can be named: DC, Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, NYC, Boston, Providence
In the West LA, SF, Denver, Salt Lake City
For corporate or other contributions, then you can start including cities like Charlotte, Raleigh, Houston, Birmingham (arguably a cultural icon, too), Seattle, Minneapolis, San Jose, Hampton Roads
For "vibe" icons, people can peg an identity/vibe to Austin, Portland, Palm Beach, Phoenix, San Diego, etc
Just to name a few here. A few cities notoriously left all of those lists are Columbus, Cincinnati (can't peg anything to it beside P&G), Jacksonville, Tampa, Oklahoma City, etc.
Short North
University Village
Brewery District
Scioto River
Arena District
Off the top of my head, these are the first five things that come to my mind for Columbus, OH. If I was cheating, I would look up the name of the building that is almost u shaped on top.
EDIT: I looked it up, Huntington Center is the building I was thinking of.
Yes, to city geeks like you and I. But to the average person Columbus, Ohio would draw a big blank if they were asked to describe it.
Metro: 2.3 million, yet we have very little national recognition.
Why? SAC never has had a big name corporation as part of its identity.
Before anyone even knew of Fresno and Bakersfield, Sacramento took all the hits by LA and SF folks. In some cases we still are maligned; undeservedly so.
These days Fresno and Bakersfield are more well known than SAC because their reputations are so bad.
We have only one major league sports team(Sacramento Kings) and it has never been able to beat the LA Lakers to move on to the national NBA playoffs.
We have two major Colleges, one is very big (UC Davis) with a very good reputation but not known for sports. When people do recognize the name they associate it with the bay area, not Sacramento.
Sacramento has a ton of important Western American History. And, we were major contributors at one time regarding the Railroad (75yrs of manufacturing and servicing locomotives), aerospace (one big company designed & manufactured missiles and spacecraft components), and the military (2 big airforce bases closed in the '90s).
Some big name companies still here: Intel has a huge R&D facility in the city of Folsom which is in Sacramento County. HP had huge facilities (but downsized) in Roseville, a city in the Sacto Metro. Apple, Inc. -- they have been in Southern Sacramento since the 80's doing various things from manufacturing to marketing. Seimans, South Sacramento --- they manufacture san diego's and st. louis's light rail cars and cities across the world.
Sacramento is the Capital of a the 7th largest economy in the World - State Gov't and Politics is huge. But not necessarily a good thing, especially if you are from the bay area or southern cal. They blame Sacramento for all their woes when in fact they are the people who get those politicians elected because of their huge populations.
We are known as a western transportation, distribution, and regional headquarters for small business and a back office hub for Silicon Valley. But nothing to write home about on a national scale.
Unknown bragging rights:
Sacramento is just as close to World Class Ski Resorts (Sierra Neveda Mts) if not closer than Denver is to the Rockies.
Sacramento is just as connected to World Famous Wine Regions (namely Napa County) than SF, yet nobody knows that. Sacramento also has their own very productive high quality wine regions besides Napa, nobody knows that.
Our Weather is better than most places in the USA, except coastal California, but Coastal Californians tell everyone are weather is horrible. Nothing could be further from the truth, nationally speaking.
Ronald Reagan lived in Sacramento for 8yrs as Governor; Arnold flew back to LA every night when the Capitol bldg. closed for business.
Very interesting about Sacramento. I knew about the wine (it's just easier to associate with San Fran, sorry), but I thought it was even cooler that Sacramento was closer to the Sierra Nevadas than Denver was to the Rockies. Kind of shame on Schwarzenegger, though. Isn't Sacramento close to Lake Tahoe, too? My grandparents used to live in Marin County right up by wine country. Wish my grandfather kept his house there, because I have never even been to CA.
What's the weather like in Sacramento? Isn't it more "normal" (four distinct seasons) than the rest of California -- more like an East Coast city? That wins points for me.
Very interesting about Sacramento. I knew about the wine (it's just easier to associate with San Fran, sorry), but I thought it was even cooler that Sacramento was closer to the Sierra Nevadas than Denver was to the Rockies. Kind of shame on Schwarzenegger, though. Isn't Sacramento close to Lake Tahoe, too? My grandparents used to live in Marin County right up by wine country. Wish my grandfather kept his house there, because I have never even been to CA.
Yes, Lake Tahoe is the view you get from many of those World Class Resorts. On the eastern end of the SACRAMENTO metro you are 40 mins from the closest resorts.
We have a delta, flat waterways, a mountain fed large lake, mountain fed rivers flowing through the metro, mountain foothills (bigger than anything around austin or san antonio), 10,000ft alpine mountains, and the california coast all within 15mins to 2hrs away.
Marin County is beautiful; quintessential Northern California, redwoods, mtns, valleys, perfect weather, green, spectacular coastline....15-20 mins from the most urban city in the western USA.(SF)
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