[FLA17]

lakeland, tampa, st pete, fort myers, cape coral, spring hill/pasco, leesburg

[qdogfball]

What do you mean "Southern" ?

Hillbilly Southern?

Multi-Cultural Southern?

The bigger cities and Ft Myers/Cape Coral are not hillbilly southern but multicultural.

Leesburg and Lakeland would be more hillbilly like.

[seezuns]

Lakeland is rural redneck. Backward. No doubt about it. In some convenient stores they don't even have any personality to respond when you say good morning, how are you or whatever. Nothing. And some people walk around as if they'd gotten their clothes out of a dumpster and they must be using their money on meth instead of buying a decent $3 shirt at Goodwill. Men are so unshaved and women that don't comb their hair - it's pathetic. (That's in certain parts of town, of course.)
Overall, it's a jeans 'n tee-shirt town and if you go to the store in your pajamas, nobody will notice.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by FLA17

lakeland, tampa, st pete, fort myers, cape coral, spring hill/pasco, leesburg

If I were looking for southern cities, I'd start looking north of Leesburg. However, this is how I would rank the following places:

leesburg
spring hill/pasco
lakeland
cape coral
fort myers
st pete
tampa

[Kevin from Tampa]

Originally Posted by FLA17

lakeland, tampa, st pete, fort myers, cape coral, spring hill/pasco, leesburg

Leesburg, Lakeland, Spring Hill, Tampa, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, St. Pete

[FLA17]

Originally Posted by Kevin from Tampa

Leesburg, Lakeland, Spring Hill, Tampa, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, St. Pete

That's pretty much what I thought. I always hear that Lee County is "redneck" but whenever I'm there it seems like even the really young people grew up in the North. Tampa seems more southern then it gets credit for. Everyone I know from St. Pete are Florida born but it still seems like the Northeast, spring hill and npr seem like a mix, lakeland seems pretty southern and leesburg I wasn't sure just wanted to know how it is in that area.

[FLA17]

Originally Posted by qdogfball

What do you mean "Southern" ?

Hillbilly Southern?

Multi-Cultural Southern?

The bigger cities and Ft Myers/Cape Coral are not hillbilly southern but multicultural.

Leesburg and Lakeland would be more hillbilly like.

Just southern like the rest of the south. To me Lee County doesn't seem southern at all but I've heard people say it is,

[FLA17]

Originally Posted by seezuns

Lakeland is rural redneck. Backward. No doubt about it. In some convenient stores they don't even have any personality to respond when you say good morning, how are you or whatever. Nothing. And some people walk around as if they'd gotten their clothes out of a dumpster and they must be using their money on meth instead of buying a decent $3 shirt at Goodwill. Men are so unshaved and women that don't comb their hair - it's pathetic. (That's in certain parts of town, of course.)
Overall, it's a jeans 'n tee-shirt town and if you go to the store in your pajamas, nobody will notice.

I've got some questions about Lakeland actually. Do these areas fit the Lakeland you described or are they decent?

The area around edgewood/New Jersey

West Lakeland area. South Central to Wabash

West Alamo Drive

Park Byrd and DR Bryant, Kathleen

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by FLA17

I've got some questions about Lakeland actually. Do these areas fit the Lakeland you described or are they decent?

The area around edgewood/New Jersey

West Lakeland area. South Central to Wabash

West Alamo Drive

Park Byrd and DR Bryant, Kathleen

The area around edgewood/New Jersey - Decent

West Lakeland area. South Central to Wabash - No go..... Use your imagination

West Alamo Drive - Not bad, could be better

Park Byrd and DR Bryant, Kathleen - Country...

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by HeartofFlorida

The area around edgewood/New Jersey - Decent

West Lakeland area. South Central to Wabash - No go..... Use your imagination

West Alamo Drive - Not bad, could be better

Park Byrd and DR Bryant, Kathleen - Country...

We lived in Lakeland for 2 years and I agree with this.

I also 100% disagree with seezun's post, he/she must have lived in a different Lakeland, or else in the ghetto (Lakeland has ghetto, just like every other city or town I have ever visited.

Overall Lakeland is a nice city, in town I would consider it gently "southern" but sophisticated, a very artsy-oriented and well-preserved city with charm and small-town feel. Out in the ghetto or rural areas, yea, more "redneck/country."