Charlotte and Raleigh from a national perspective... (tallest, rail, live)
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Charlotte was a pretty boring city for the most part and felt more like disorganized and overgrown suburb. I've never been to Raleigh except the airport.. With all that being said, Charlotte has potential, but they need to build some neighborhoods that have strips of stores, restaurants and bars and make the city more walkable. For example, in Seattle you have Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Fremont, Belltown, etc. In Denver you have Lodo, Rino, Baker, etc. You can spend all day just in these neighborhoods. In Charlotte, you literally have to drive to 10 different neighborhoods to go to all the different places you want to go in that city. The layout was atrocious. Do you want to go to a cool bar after you ate at a restaurant? Most likely the bars nearby you already been to, so you will be driving 15 minutes through zig zag streets and traffic. Then, if you want to go to next bar you will have to maneuver through all the sprawl and zig zag roads again to get to the next neighborhood that could be another 20 minutes. It's not like you can pick a day to be in one neighborhood like you can even here in Denver, Seattle or Portland. There is just small chunks of businesses in each neighborhood intermixed with residences and sometimes even industrial. The city makes no sense.
With all that being said, I found Charlotte to be a much more beautiful city than Denver. It was lush, green, lot of flowers, plants and the skyline of the downtown looked much nicer than downtown Denver which is kind of bland and generic.
People also don't realize how expensive CHarlotte has become and the prices are about the same as Denver , but with lower pay.
I will say Charlotte's beer scene I feel is superior to Denver's, even if there is not as many breweries, I was very impressed by the quality and actually very disappointed by many of the breweries in Denver. There are gems in COlorado, but overall I felt your average brewery in Charlotte was better than Denver.
As well, the restaurant scene in Charlotte blows Denver's away. There may not be as much fine dining, but they have all those local BBQ places and there just feels to be a local flavor to the food and an identity. I really miss Pinky's BBQ so much and if I ever go back to North Cackalacky that will be my first stop if I am in Charlotte Forget about Mexican food though in North Carolina, it was horrible. However, the local food, greek, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc were 100 times better than here in Denver and even could rival Seattle.
Charlotte was a pretty boring city for the most part and felt more like disorganized and overgrown suburb. I've never been to Raleigh except the airport.. With all that being said, Charlotte has potential, but they need to build some neighborhoods that have strips of stores, restaurants and bars and make the city more walkable. For example, in Seattle you have Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Fremont, Belltown, etc. In Denver you have Lodo, Rino, Baker, etc. You can spend all day just in these neighborhoods. In Charlotte, you literally have to drive to 10 different neighborhoods to go to all the different places you want to go in that city. The layout was atrocious. Do you want to go to a cool bar after you ate at a restaurant? Most likely the bars nearby you already been to, so you will be driving 15 minutes through zig zag streets and traffic. Then, if you want to go to next bar you will have to maneuver through all the sprawl and zig zag roads again to get to the next neighborhood that could be another 20 minutes. It's not like you can pick a day to be in one neighborhood like you can even here in Denver, Seattle or Portland. There is just small chunks of businesses in each neighborhood intermixed with residences and sometimes even industrial. The city makes no sense.
With all that being said, I found Charlotte to be a much more beautiful city than Denver. It was lush, green, lot of flowers, plants and the skyline of the downtown looked much nicer than downtown Denver which is kind of bland and generic.
People also don't realize how expensive CHarlotte has become and the prices are about the same as Denver , but with lower pay.
I will say Charlotte's beer scene I feel is superior to Denver's, even if there is not as many breweries, I was very impressed by the quality and actually very disappointed by many of the breweries in Denver. There are gems in COlorado, but overall I felt your average brewery in Charlotte was better than Denver.
As well, the restaurant scene in Charlotte blows Denver's away. There may not be as much fine dining, but they have all those local BBQ places and there just feels to be a local flavor to the food and an identity. I really miss Pinky's BBQ so much and if I ever go back to North Cackalacky that will be my first stop if I am in Charlotte Forget about Mexican food though in North Carolina, it was horrible. However, the local food, greek, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc were 100 times better than here in Denver and even could rival Seattle.
I mostly agree with the analysis of Charlotte's layouts and neighborhoods, but Center City is pretty connected. Center City = Uptown, South End, NoDa, Dilworth, Elizabeth, Midtown, I'd even include Plaza-Midwood. It is possible to live and play in central Charlotte and do everything you need to, as all the neighborhoods are linked, but the city outside of the center is widely spread and can be difficult to navigate!
Do people nationally look at Charlotte or Raleigh as a major city? No I don't think so. People have heard of them, Charlotte more than Raleigh. But not viewed on the level of Atlanta or Dallas at all. Sometimes people are not sure if Charlotte is the same thing as Charleston. Lol! I won't say that's the majority view but I've heard that a couple times. Those that do know about Raleigh are aware of the colleges and tech industry. Raleigh is viewed favorably but not as a major city.
Do people recognize any cultural output from either? No they don't. Nothing in particular comes to mind when people think of those cities. There is no food, landmark, or musical style, etc. that people readily associate with either city. Even Nascar is more associated with Daytona than Charlotte by the uninformed.
I enjoy visiting Charlotte to see my relatives. It's very beautiful and pleasant. Like a quiet Atlanta. I haven't been to Raleigh and have no desire to, but I think it's a good place to live from what I've heard.
It's kinda surprising how big Charlotte is considering how ignored it is compared to Atalanta and Miami since those cites are much smaller when talking about city size. Raleigh I can see why many feel it's a small city since it has about 250,000 people.
It's kinda surprising how big Charlotte is considering how ignored it is compared to Atalanta and Miami since those cites are much smaller when talking about city size. Raleigh I can see why many feel it's a small city since it has about 250,000 people.
The city of Raleigh has about 480K people. And city size doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things; why do you think El Paso isn't hyped up to be this big city compared to the likes of DC, Boston, etc? Because it's not.
Do people nationally look at Charlotte or Raleigh as a major city? No I don't think so. People have heard of them, Charlotte more than Raleigh. But not viewed on the level of Atlanta or Dallas at all. Sometimes people are not sure if Charlotte is the same thing as Charleston. Lol! I won't say that's the majority view but I've heard that a couple times. Those that do know about Raleigh are aware of the colleges and tech industry. Raleigh is viewed favorably but not as a major city.
Do people recognize any cultural output from either? No they don't. Nothing in particular comes to mind when people think of those cities. There is no food, landmark, or musical style, etc. that people readily associate with either city. Even Nascar is more associated with Daytona than Charlotte by the uninformed.
I enjoy visiting Charlotte to see my relatives. It's very beautiful and pleasant. Like a quiet Atlanta. I haven't been to Raleigh and have no desire to, but I think it's a good place to live from what I've heard.
But isn't that true for most cities? I've been to quite a few that were overhyped because of these associations. I think it's the quite opposite for both metros, primarily because people unfamiliar with both usually have lower expectations and usually leave with the, " you know what, I could easily live there".
Charlotte was a pretty boring city for the most part and felt more like disorganized and overgrown suburb. I've never been to Raleigh except the airport.. With all that being said, Charlotte has potential, but they need to build some neighborhoods that have strips of stores, restaurants and bars and make the city more walkable. For example, in Seattle you have Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Fremont, Belltown, etc. In Denver you have Lodo, Rino, Baker, etc. You can spend all day just in these neighborhoods. In Charlotte, you literally have to drive to 10 different neighborhoods to go to all the different places you want to go in that city. The layout was atrocious. Do you want to go to a cool bar after you ate at a restaurant? Most likely the bars nearby you already been to, so you will be driving 15 minutes through zig zag streets and traffic. Then, if you want to go to next bar you will have to maneuver through all the sprawl and zig zag roads again to get to the next neighborhood that could be another 20 minutes. It's not like you can pick a day to be in one neighborhood like you can even here in Denver, Seattle or Portland. There is just small chunks of businesses in each neighborhood intermixed with residences and sometimes even industrial. The city makes no sense.
With all that being said, I found Charlotte to be a much more beautiful city than Denver. It was lush, green, lot of flowers, plants and the skyline of the downtown looked much nicer than downtown Denver which is kind of bland and generic.
People also don't realize how expensive CHarlotte has become and the prices are about the same as Denver , but with lower pay.
I will say Charlotte's beer scene I feel is superior to Denver's, even if there is not as many breweries, I was very impressed by the quality and actually very disappointed by many of the breweries in Denver. There are gems in COlorado, but overall I felt your average brewery in Charlotte was better than Denver.
As well, the restaurant scene in Charlotte blows Denver's away. There may not be as much fine dining, but they have all those local BBQ places and there just feels to be a local flavor to the food and an identity. I really miss Pinky's BBQ so much and if I ever go back to North Cackalacky that will be my first stop if I am in Charlotte Forget about Mexican food though in North Carolina, it was horrible. However, the local food, greek, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc were 100 times better than here in Denver and even could rival Seattle.
I do remember your post from the Charlotte forum. You seem a bit all over the place then and even now. I truly hope you find that peace of mind and sense of place. The first step I think is making the best of where you are and stop dwelling on what a city doesn't have and key on what it does have. Stick it out a bit longer, all cities/metros have warts.
It's kinda surprising how big Charlotte is considering how ignored it is compared to Atalanta and Miami since those cites are much smaller when talking about city size. Raleigh I can see why many feel it's a small city since it has about 250,000 people.
It's not surprising at all. Charlotte has annexed it's way to becoming a "large" city. It's land area is about 300sq miles whereas Atlanta is 133 sq miles and Miami's is only 36 sq miles. At 300sq miles, Atlanta and Miami are much bigger in terms of population. Also, Atlanta and Miami have been contributing to mainstream or pop culture for decades whereas as Charlotte has yet to contribute.
It's not surprising at all. Charlotte has annexed it's way to becoming a "large" city. It's land area is about 300sq miles whereas Atlanta is 133 sq miles and Miami's is only 36 sq miles. At 300sq miles, Atlanta and Miami are much bigger in terms of population. Also, Atlanta and Miami have been contributing to mainstream or pop culture for decades whereas as Charlotte has yet to contribute.
Forgotten is how much land area in Charlotte is empty. It is a big mid-sized city.
Metro Population is generally a much better gauge. A city with big city limits can appear less dense on paper and a city with smaller city limits can appear smaller on paper in comparison to cities with larger populations.
Raleigh - I get the impression that Raleigh is more well-known, not for the city in its own right, but because it's a center of innovation, education and health. That makes it stand out alongside a good quality of life. Duke and UNC Chapel Hill are formidable institutions all around, and the RTP has been a linchpin for the region. Even if people aren't familiar with Raleigh-Durham, it seems they know it to be associated with good things. On the ground, as much as it's grown, the city of Raleigh is still fairly underwhelming to me. But I can't argue with its success. If you can get beyond the lack of a classic urbanity, you'll find great ethnic cuisine, good music, and a good communities. Have family there, but I would never (choose to) live there. I don't like how everything is spread out.
Charlotte - I just wish I learned to love the place the way it seems everyone I know does, including family who live there. I just don't. I've always felt it overrated. The buildings in Uptown are pretty and it's clean. The city is still synonymous with banking and residents are proud of their city. People are incredibly friendly. But there's lots and lots of sprawl and imho nothing particularly unique or outstanding. Personal anecdotes don't make one difference, but I admit perhaps my first impression was first tarnished from having gone out to Epicenter on a Sunday night for food and finding ratchet rather than a good time. But that would be my fault. And since then, I've tried to see things in a different light. Richmonders, who are mostly infatuated with DC, seem to view Charlotte favorably, if not with a slight ounce of envy.
Last edited by aquest1; 03-07-2019 at 04:03 PM..
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Forget about Mexican food though in North Carolina, it was horrible. However, the local food, greek, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc were 100 times better than here in Denver and even could rival Seattle.
