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Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Worth, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Anaheim, California; Irvine, California; Long Beach, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Raleigh, North Carolina.
I don't mean to argue, but wow! You listed some cities which are not generic. Long Beach is far from generic with its coastline and downtown. Irvine is a planned city and very different from most cities - not sure if you consider the fact that Irvine has taken planning its shopping centers and subdivisions to another level as being generic. It's not that common in the USA to the see the level and scale of planned cities as Irvine. And Grand Rapids? The architecture downtown, heavy density of population, and an extremely active civic culture to the point that is unbelievable is far from generic. Anaheim is just suburbia on steroids.
I'm not sure about the smaller cities and I've never been to San Jose, but I feel sure they all have something unique to offer. Just searching for photos of each one I can easily see that they do, and even just the name "Waukesha" itself makes that city interesting.
You can't honestly be serious with Columbus...have you ever seen it? German Village alone is enough to negate your claim.
In the early 1970's (when our family moved there) a case could have been made for San Jose being generic. It was pretty much just whites and Mexicans living there with most Mexican families living in the city's east side neighborhoods. Even then it was known for the quirky Winchester Mansion owned by a crazy/eccentric woman that thought if she kept adding rooms she would live forever.
Then the tech sector grew significantly, especially after Apple Computer was founded in 1977 just west of SJ in Cupertino. The area has been called "Silicon Valley" for a long time. Around 1980 or so there was an influx of thousands of Vietnamese/SE Asian people, many of them refugees. The city now has a very large Asian population. There are several Asian markets, especially in the NE neighborhoods.There is also a smaller neighborhood called Japantown north of downtown SJ. Restaurants of several ethnicities/nationalities can be found in the area these days.
Then the San Jose Sharks hockey team arrived in 1991. Having a pro hockey team may be considered generic for several large cities in the East and Midwest, but less so for the West Coast. At that time, it was just the second NHL team on the West Coast (LA Kings were the first). Anaheim was awarded a team two years after San Jose to become the third on the WC.
The new Avaya soccer stadium in San Jose (SJ Earthquakes) is very impressive and pro football is very nearby now at suburban Santa Clara's new Levi Stadium (SF 49ers), though ticket prices are out of reach for many today.
As to neighborhoods, Willow Glen is charming and walkable in its core area (on and near Lincoln Avenue) as is much of the Rosegarden district and some of the Burbank district. Definitely not generic. Neighborhoods further away from downtown tend to be more generic. Middle class Blossom Valley, Santa Teresa, Evergreen Valley along with affluent Almaden Valley (all four neighborhoods in the southernmost part of the city) probably do qualify as more generic.
Last edited by chessgeek; 08-14-2015 at 01:13 PM..
Reason: Punctuation, spelling corrections.
Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Worth, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Anaheim, California; Irvine, California; Long Beach, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Raleigh, North Carolina.
Wow... look at all that generic-ness. Absolutely NOTHING about these photos would make Fort Worth stand out from most cities or anything...
How in the world is Houston generic? Or Dallas for that matter? How is a city that has no zoning generic? What unzoned major city does Houston look like?
Because they're Texas cities, Spade. Just because of that and that alone, they just have to be "generic"...
Of all the towns and cities you can think of, which city most lacks anything special about it, and is average for America as a whole? Think bland places.
Diverse, rich, poor, middle class, hundreds of different languages, landmarks, etc.
As a medium sized city - Nashville?
As a small city - Providence?
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Most Generic American Town/City?
