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I grew up in the DC area. I love DC, I think it's a beautiful city with a diverse population. But I still feel like it's struggling to build its own identity. There are a lot of different cultures found in it (which is what makes it great for so-called ethnic food), but they don't really build an identifiable overarching culture. I ascribe this to the fact that, until recently, it's been a very transient city. People would go to DC to build their careers and then move somewhere else, or people would come to DC as the capstone of their careers in whatever defense contractor/law firm/government agency they were a part of. I've also noticed this in Charlotte (where I'm currently at)... but in this case it's more due to the fact that the city experienced huge growth in the past couple decades and brought a lot of people from other areas in.
When I think of cities with strong local cultures, I often think of places like NYC, New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco, Baltimore, etc. Places where the population has a fair amount of people who grew up there, and whose parents grew up there (or nearby), etc.
What bigger cities (let's say 200,000+) do you think have strong local culture like that?
I grew up in the DC area. I love DC, I think it's a beautiful city with a diverse population. But I still feel like it's struggling to build its own identity. There are a lot of different cultures found in it (which is what makes it great for so-called ethnic food), but they don't really build an identifiable overarching culture. I ascribe this to the fact that, until recently, it's been a very transient city. People would go to DC to build their careers and then move somewhere else, or people would come to DC as the capstone of their careers in whatever defense contractor/law firm/government agency they were a part of. I've also noticed this in Charlotte (where I'm currently at)... but in this case it's more due to the fact that the city experienced huge growth in the past couple decades and brought a lot of people from other areas in.
When I think of cities with strong local cultures, I often think of places like NYC, New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco, Baltimore, etc. Places where the population has a fair amount of people who grew up there, and whose parents grew up there (or nearby), etc.
What bigger cities (let's say 200,000+) do you think have strong local culture like that?
Houston, and I would say DC has a strong local culture as far as the urban community.
While I live in a much smaller community, it has a culture and it has changed over the years.The big event of the year was Old Fort days. One year I was the chairman and spent every spare moment in June, July and August planning for the Labor day event. There were food vendors, entertainers and rides to arrange for, plus news releases to be prepared. In the end, we had to find a suitable MC to communicate to the crowd. I convinced the committee to hire a paid secretary to follow up on all the details. We had to get police security because lots of money would be on the grounds. As the day went on a policeman would carry bags of money and put them in the trunk of his police car. Afterward several of us assembled at the police headquarters and counted out, twenty two thousand to be spent on community projects.
But as my crowd got older, the younger set did not seem to understand how much work and planning it takes to put on an event.
Even though the city is bigger, that and other events have tapered off to a fraction of what they once were.
My point is; it takes time, energy and cooperation to make things happen and create a sense of community.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I can see this thread (and it's already happening) with a lot of posters just throwing names of any number of cities out there, and that basically just says any city.
How about palpable examples ? You know like..
Youtube videos
Photos
Articles
Food and Festivals
Original thought (like the post above ^)
etc..
I also have to go with Philadelphia. Unique (and tasty) food culture. If you're into sports, also an unique fan culture-though it's not everybody's taste.
I grew up in the DC area. I love DC, I think it's a beautiful city with a diverse population. But I still feel like it's struggling to build its own identity. There are a lot of different cultures found in it (which is what makes it great for so-called ethnic food), but they don't really build an identifiable overarching culture. I ascribe this to the fact that, until recently, it's been a very transient city. People would go to DC to build their careers and then move somewhere else, or people would come to DC as the capstone of their careers in whatever defense contractor/law firm/government agency they were a part of. I've also noticed this in Charlotte (where I'm currently at)... but in this case it's more due to the fact that the city experienced huge growth in the past couple decades and brought a lot of people from other areas in.
When I think of cities with strong local cultures, I often think of places like NYC, New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco, Baltimore, etc. Places where the population has a fair amount of people who grew up there, and whose parents grew up there (or nearby), etc.
What bigger cities (let's say 200,000+) do you think have strong local culture like that?
Cities like DC or LA are so new that they don't really have a culture. NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. have immigrant neighborhoods that go back over 100 years. It's hard to establish that these days.
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