20 Most Well Known American cities to foreigners (life, Boston, cons)

[watchoverme]

Orlando gets my vote!

[Cuttlefish]

First bracket:
- Washington DC. Yeah, people outside the world think the US as a nation where the Prez sits on his mighty chair. DC is the capitol so DC it is.
- NYC. Watch lots of Hollywood disaster movies where NYC is the setting? Great exposure from 9/11 (sadly). Europeans & Africans think this is definitely US #1 city.
- LA. Certainly because of Hollywood. Asians, especially during the 80's & early 90's think this is US #1 city. Epitomizes Californian culture.

Next up:
- Las Vegas. Casino culture is famous throughout the world.
- Miami because of Miami Vice
- San Francisco if you're enthralled with Wallpaper-esque scenery
- Chicago because of the Bulls and god forbid, Urkel
- Houston/Dallas if you're into oil industries
- Boston for the Europeans
- New Orleans because of Katrina & it turns up every so often in the Travel channel
- Seattle for IT savvy people

Obscure enough:
- Atlanta. Coca Cola? Never knew that.
- Portland. Only if he's into the NBA
- San Diego. He has to know the other California cities first.
- St Louis. Most likely not in his radar.
- Philadelphia. Has to be a history buff.

[Todd.LA]

As an ex-Portlander, I can say Portland rates pretty low. When people in Europe or Latin American would ask where me where in the US I was from, "Portland" was usually met with a blank stare. Sometimes I would say it's near Seattle, which would occasionally help (after references to Nirvana or Bill Gates). If that failed, saying it's on top of California would usually do the trick.

Now that I live in LA, life is much easier in this regard. Everyone I've ever met abroad has heard of LA. In fact, it usually is a good conversation starter to talk about American pop culture.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by Cuttlefish

First bracket:
- Washington DC. Yeah, people outside the world think the US as a nation where the Prez sits on his mighty chair. DC is the capitol so DC it is.
- NYC. Watch lots of Hollywood disaster movies where NYC is the setting? Great exposure from 9/11 (sadly). Europeans & Africans think this is definitely US #1 city.
- LA. Certainly because of Hollywood. Asians, especially during the 80's & early 90's think this is US #1 city. Epitomizes Californian culture.

Next up:
- Las Vegas. Casino culture is famous throughout the world.
- Miami because of Miami Vice
- San Francisco if you're enthralled with Wallpaper-esque scenery
- Chicago because of the Bulls and god forbid, Urkel
- Houston/Dallas if you're into oil industries
- Boston for the Europeans
- New Orleans because of Katrina & it turns up every so often in the Travel channel
- Seattle for IT savvy people

Obscure enough:
- Atlanta. Coca Cola? Never knew that.
- Portland. Only if he's into the NBA
- San Diego. He has to know the other California cities first.
- St Louis. Most likely not in his radar.
- Philadelphia. Has to be a history buff.

Oh please...Atlanta in the last group? You must be high.

I'll give you one excellent reason why Atlanta is much more recognized than that...the 1996 Summer Olympics. That is enough in itself, and I'm sorry you didn't know that Coca Cola is headquartered in Atlanta. But that doesn't mean most other people are in the dark about it - as well as UPS, Delta, CNN, Home Depot, and several others. But the main recognition for Atlanta, in addition to the Olympics, would come in the form of:

Martin Luther King Jr's birthplace and residence
State capital of Georgia
Hartsfield-Jackson International, the world's busiest airport.
Home of Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President
Georgia Tech and Emory University
Centers for Disease Control (in Atlanta)
The Civil War Battle of Atlanta, the burning of Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea

Setting of Gone with the Wind...#4 on the list of Top 100 Films of All Time; winner of 10 Academy Awards; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that is one of the most popular ever written.

If you didn't know that Coca Cola was invented and is headquartered in Atlanta, I'm sure you knew most of what I listed above.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by Todd.LA

As an ex-Portlander, I can say Portland rates pretty low. When people in Europe or Latin American would ask where me where in the US I was from, "Portland" was usually met with a blank stare. Sometimes I would say it's near Seattle, which would occasionally help (after references to Nirvana or Bill Gates). If that failed, saying it's on top of California would usually do the trick.

Now that I live in LA, life is much easier in this regard. Everyone I've ever met abroad has heard of LA. In fact, it usually is a good conversation starter to talk about American pop culture.

You didn't try "Ever heard of the Portland Trail Blazers?" or "Home of the lovely Tonya Harding."

[Trimac20]

Before the 1996 Olympics, many Aussies had never heard of Atlanta. Funny how St. Louis and Atlanta - two hinterland states, got the games while Chicago and New York have missed out so far (might change in 2016). Atlanta is actually very important, just not that known. I actually think Cuttlefish was quite accurate, although Houston is about as famous as Atlanta. Dallas is the most famous Texan city.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Before the 1996 Olympics, many Aussies had never heard of Atlanta. Funny how St. Louis and Atlanta - two hinterland states, got the games while Chicago and New York have missed out so far (might change in 2016). Atlanta is actually very important, just not that known. I actually think Cuttlefish was quite accurate, although Houston is about as famous as Atlanta. Dallas is the most famous Texan city.

All of the things I listed that are unique to Atlanta and are well-known internationally don't make any difference?

Martin Luther King Jr's birthplace, residence, and burial site.
Hartsfield-Jackson International, the world's busiest airport.
Home of Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President
Georgia Tech and Emory University
Centers for Disease Control (in Atlanta)
The Civil War Battle of Atlanta, the Burning of Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea
CNN, UPS, Delta, Coca Cola Headquarters

**Setting of Gone with the Wind...#4 on the list of Top 100 Films of All Time; winner of 10 Academy Awards; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that is one of the most popular ever written.

St. Louis won the Olympics in 1904 - when it wasn't that much of a prize...and on that same subject, St. Louis was one of the largest and most important cities in the U.S. at that time with a population of 600,000. Atlanta simply dazzled the IOC with an impressive high tech bid...and probably with a couple of drunken nights in some of Atlanta's renowned strip clubs.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

All of the things I listed that are unique to Atlanta and are well-known internationally don't make any difference?




St. Louis won the Olympics in 1904 - when it wasn't that much of a prize...and on that same subject, St. Louis was one of the largest and most important cities in the U.S. at that time with a population of 600,000. Atlanta simply dazzled the IOC with an impressive high tech bid...and probably with a couple of drunken nights in some of Atlanta's renowned strip clubs.

Again, most non-Americans have no idea about those things. Their perceptions come from shallower things like TV shows and news events.

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

Oh please...Atlanta in the last group? You must be high.

I'll give you one excellent reason why Atlanta is much more recognized than that...the 1996 Summer Olympics. That is enough in itself, and I'm sorry you didn't know that Coca Cola is headquartered in Atlanta. But that doesn't mean most other people are in the dark about it - as well as UPS, Delta, CNN, Home Depot, and several others. But the main recognition for Atlanta, in addition to the Olympics, would come in the form of:

Martin Luther King Jr's birthplace and residence
State capital of Georgia
Hartsfield-Jackson International, the world's busiest airport.
Home of Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S. President
Georgia Tech and Emory University
Centers for Disease Control (in Atlanta)
The Civil War Battle of Atlanta, the burning of Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea

Setting of Gone with the Wind...#4 on the list of Top 100 Films of All Time; winner of 10 Academy Awards; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that is one of the most popular ever written.

If you didn't know that Coca Cola was invented and is headquartered in Atlanta, I'm sure you knew most of what I listed above.

I'm not high, I'm just standing on the other side of the pond & know what people outside of the US think of the cities.

Martin Luther King, Jr - not that famous except perhaps in Africa.

Georgia - people know California & Texas, not the rest.

Airport - Heathrow, Charles De Gaulle, Schiphol, Changi, Chek Lap Kok, O' Hare, JFK. These are the airports people know, not a regional hub airport even it's high in volume.

Atlanta University - Wow, is that the same level of Harvard or MIT? UCLA or Georgetown? Anyway even if international people know about Harvard they might still don't realize about Boston.

CDC - Oh, well . They know about the UN HQ though

Civil War stuff - only for history buff.

Guess anything that might matter to you or any Americans has lesser meaning to the rest of the world, except when it's heavily presented in the media & merchandise.

[AnInterestingGerman]

Cleveland, Phoenix and Portland aren´t well known, but Boston and Las Vegas and Salt Lake City