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Alot of people still have this bad image of Birmingham. Segregation, church and home bombings, KKK, very conservative, etc. When that hasn't been the case here since the early 1960's.
Im going to make an argument for DC. Alot of people may think its all about what they see on tv but the natives or true residents don't give a damn about all the political hogwash just like the rest of the nation.
Which city's image does not truly reflect that city's image? For example, Los Angeles has a bad image for many people. Many people think that Los Angeles is a bad place. However, I believe that Los Angeles is a great place. Especially if you have money.
Many people think that Seattle sucks and is a place where it rains all the time. I live in Seattle and I can't remember the last time I used an umbrella. It never rains here in the summer. We do get a good amount of rain throughout the entire year but normally when it rains here it is just a drizzle. It rarely rains hard here. The weather in Seattle is very comfortable, mild, and very liveable year-round for the most part. I am actually glad that Seattle has a bad image for many people as being a city where it rains all the time because that keeps too many people from moving here. If most people knew how great Seattle was, everybody would be trying to move here. So I actually prefer Seattle to have a image as being a depressing place where it rains everyday. That's fine with me. Everyone else can go move to California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, or wherever else.
Many people think that New York City sucks. I personally think that New York City is by far the greatest city on earth. If you do not like NYC, you are probably just not a city person. NYC may not be perfect, but no city is perfect and what city is truly better than NYC? I do realize that NYC is for people who have more money. I get that.
Many people automatically write off Chicago just because it's in the Midwest. I personally think that Chicago is a great city and that the midwest is underrated and for some odd reason the midwest gets a bad rap for being boring or for not being as good, cool, and hip as the West Coast or East Coast.
Many people also think that the South is nothing but conservative people. However, there are plenty of liberals living in the South. I guess many people out there probably also think that the North is nothing but liberals, yet there are plenty of conservative people living in the north.
Love the thread, OP
And I love the points you make for Seattle- I totally plan on checking it out.
It's a plus that so many people are turned off by the weather, lol
Hopefully that means less tourists
It's laughable how underated Kansas City is. Such an amazing city, with a not so great image. A true hidden treasure of a city, in this country.
Agree with the KC definition. People think it's this flat cowtown when it's actually pretty hilly and has a lot of culture. As for me with certain cities that have bad or incorrect images, I think in Nebraska both Omaha and Lincoln are seen as kind of cowtowns. Omaha, like KC actually has some history too it and some decent scenery and for a city it's size has pretty good culture. Lincoln is more typical of what people think of with Nebraska, but its hardly some cow town. It's a decent college town that's getting better all the time.
The only other large cities i've been to that aren't like their images for me are Chicago (yes it has its problem, but I think its an awesome city with all its opportunities). Denver is a city to me that seems kind of different that its image. Yes its got the mountains, but theres more than that. For some reason people think it lacks culture, but Denver is a large enough city and has more culture than say Phoenix.
Denver - people think it's in the mountains or surrounded by mountains and buried in snow year round. Denver is actually on the western edge of the high plains. While we get as much snow as places in the northeast, it melts much quicker here because of all of the sunshine.
I think Cincinnati's image gets warped by Cleveland somehow. Every time I tell people I live in Cincinnati while traveling they always say weird things like, "Have you been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?" or "How's that river that caught on fire doing?" People don't seem to get that Cincinnati is over four hours driving distance from Cleveland and is VERY differently culturally. People also tend to lump Cincy in with the rest of the Midwest when it's actually much older than most Midwestern cities and gets a lot of its cultural traits from the South. People like to harass me for comparing Cincinnati to New Orleans, but I honestly believe they're very similar in their provincialism, cultural disparity from the rest of the US, and collections of unique historic architecture. It's certainly more comparable to New Orleans than Cleveland.
Funny you should say that. I was on a business trip in LA last week and visited Kroger bakery facility. One of the workers apologized to me that his boss had to miss the meeting because he was in "Cleveland" for a bigger Kroger meeting. Scratching my head, I replied "I think you mean Cincinnati."
Honestly, I think it has to be more with both cities starting with the letter "C" and being relatively unfamiliar to much of the country. In the same way someone in Ohio my confuse San Jose, San Francisco, and/or Sacramento geography.
Detroit. Yes it has problems, but it is far from the wasteland the media portrays. It is actually a very cool city to visit and it has some amazing areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharks With Lasers
This. A lot of posters say "at least my city doesn't look like Detroit," but Detroit doesn't look like what most people think Detroit looks like either.
In fact, from random Google street views, Detroit generally either seems like a older boring suburb or a small town that is hanging on to a few business but has seen better days.
Rep for both of you. A lot of people talk all kinds of crap about Detroit without ever actually having set foot in the city. I love Detroit, and spend as much time there as I possibly can. I count myself lucky to live across the river from such an important, and historic city.
Everyone seems to want to give up on Detroit, but I don't think many consider the fact that, like it or not, Detroit is a reflection of America today, and a glimps into a possible future. She's a coal mine canary for the rest of the country, and America had better damned well wake up and pay attention to her.
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