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I am shinning some light on America under rated or not well known cities
Which one you will choose ?
Restaurants and bars
High culture
Popular culture (sports and music)
Outdoor recreation
Economy/jobs
Education
Architecture
Local character
Jobs and The Suburbs
I currently live in Oklahoma City and have lived in Little Rock. I've spent enough time in Tulsa to get a good feel for it.
Restaurants and bars - Slight edge to Tulsa, though OKC has made huge strides in recent years
High culture - Tulsa
Popular culture (sports and music) - OKC for sports, Tulsa for music
Outdoor recreation - Little Rock by a longshot. Central Arkansas is one of the most beautiful areas between the Appalachians and the Rockies
Economy/jobs - OKC
Education - OKC
Architecture - Tulsa
Local character - Tulsa followed by Little Rock. OKC is really lacking in this area.
The Suburbs - Little Rock. OKC and Tulsa's suburbs are still stuck in the 1980s and don't compare well to places like Maumelle and the Chenal area of Little Rock.
Last edited by bawac34618; 01-16-2018 at 10:32 AM..
I currently live in OKC, lived in Tulsa for 8 years growing up and Little Rock for 3. I have been back to them many times in the past 10 years.
Restaurants and bars: OKC
High culture: Slight edge to Tulsa, OKC has caught up recently
Popular culture (sports and music): OKC for sports, Tulsa for music currently (yet another area OKC has grown significantly in the last few years)
Outdoor recreation: Little Rock, no question.
Economy/jobs: OKC
Education: OKC overall, Tulsa if only considering grade school
Architecture: I prefer OKC's core, but Tulsa has a better city layout outside of downtown
Local character: OKC has a lot of local pride and has been upping it's game for cool local things in the past decade.
Suburbs: Tied between the 3. They all have some good and some bad suburban areas.
^^^ Overall I would say Little Rock comes in a distant third simply because it's so much smaller. However, it punches far above its weight in a few categories that it would be a tough decision to choose between OKC and Little Rock it forced to live in one of them and I would probably lean towards Little Rock. I think Little Rock has a few advantages.
1) Hillcrest/Heights - Nothing in OKC compares to the kind of character and vibrancy and neighborhood beautification these neighborhoods have. Hillcrest is like OKC's Paseo on steroids. Argenta in North Little Rock is no slouch either. I think when it comes to historic, walkable urban neighborhoods with amenities Little Rock wins.
2) Natural beauty/recreation; Little Rock is in such a beautiful, pristine location that it's hard to beat. I really miss the hills, greenery, and tall trees. Central Oklahoma is probably one of the ugliest places in North America. I also prefer the climate of Central Arkansas over Oklahoma. It's wetter, less extreme, and while the area also experiences frequent tornadoes they don't seem to be the huge monster EF5s common in Oklahoma.
3) Little Rock is easily the most liberal of the three cities and there is a stark contrast between the culture of Little Rock and that of rural Arkansas. Oklahoma City is by far the most conservative. On the flipside, I would say that rural Arkansas might actually be a little more conservative than rural Oklahoma, if that is even possible. Both Arkansas and Oklahoma are probably two of the most frustrating states to be a secular progressive in.
Last edited by bawac34618; 01-16-2018 at 01:37 PM..
Restaurants and bars: Tulsa
High culture: Tulsa
Popular culture (sports and music): Oklahoma City
Outdoor recreation: Little Rock
Economy/jobs: Oklahoma City
Education: Oklahoma City
Architecture: Tulsa
Local character: Tulsa
Jobs and The Suburbs: Oklahoma City; Little Rock
Restaurants and bars: OKC
High culture: Tulsa
Popular culture (sports and music): OKC
Outdoor recreation: Little Rock
Economy/jobs: OKC
Education: OKC
Architecture: Tie between OKC & Tulsa
Local character: OKC
The Suburbs: OKC
OKC is growing up quickly, but it leaves a lot to be desired given its massive land area. It's basically a giant suburb. Tulsa has rolling hills, a beautiful riverfront, Art Deco, cool districts (Brady Arts, Blue Dome, Brookside) and a better native music scene.
^ I agree that Tulsa has a beautiful riverfront and is hillier (I'm jealous of Tulsa in that aspect), but OKC has also hills (not quite as hilly) cool districts, and has a higher true-population density than Tulsa. OKC's huge city limits skew it's number greatly.
Tulsa's downtown has a huge parking crater and it's riverfront is very underutilized. There are current efforts to improve this but I wouldn't really consider that a strong point for Tulsa. Little Rock capitalizes on it's "river city" location much better.
Tulsa's strong point is it's cultural vibrancy and liberalism (by Oklahoma standards), cool districts, and its first-ring historic neighborhoods surrounding downtown. OKC is improving in this area but it still has a ways to go to catch up. I don't think there is any city in the country that destroyed as much of its historic urban core as OKC. As a result, there probably isn't another city in North America that is as bland and characterless as OKC. I would personally only prefer to live in Oklahoma City over small town America. OKC has by far the least impressive skyline of these three cities.
The elephant in the room in Tulsa is it's economy. It's one of the few cities that is actually losing population.
Little Rock has cool urban districts, a vibrant, progressive feel, a better riverfront than Tulsa, is even greener and hillier, and has less of a parking crater. However, it's a smaller market and it feels like it. It also suffers from the lingering perception that it's a dangerous place to live (this was true in the 90s and isn't today). If you don't care about pro sports, Little Rock really offers the best of both worlds in my opinion. It's just small. I think Little Rock would be a very desirable place to be if it were a little bit larger.
Last edited by bawac34618; 01-17-2018 at 12:38 PM..
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