Your favorite blue-collar, traditional American city??? (cheap house, school, wage)

[GAisGreat]

Which is your favorite old-school type, traditional, blue-collar/industry, American city? Large and medium-small...? No 'high-growth', Super Chain Store, uber sprawl/developement, makes every 'top 10' places to live, crapholes allowed...i.e. no Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Phoenix, etc.

What do you like/dislike about them? Food? Architecture? People?...etc.

Some examples:
Detroit
Chicago
Cleveland
Buffalo
Syracuse, NY
Dayton, OH
Flint, MI
Milwaukee
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Saginaw, MI
Toledo, OH

etc. etc.

[Cosmic]

Remember now we are talking true Blue Collar here.

No major city comes to mind. All those tried to reinvent themselves.

Talking sweatly guys on the back porch on Sunday, drinking Pabst, or Iron City or Rolling Rock. Grit the color of most houses and that certain Union feel in the air.

Places like Wellsville or East Liverpool Ohio.

Some old river towns like down the Ohio.

Ones like Bridgeport or maybe Bellaire or Toronto.

Ain't much development for sure. Lots of cheap houses, guys retired who have lost their pensions, you figure the future. What you see is all about the past. And it always was total blue collar with a good wage until the New World Order hit big time. Everything left reeks of Blue Collar. Time capsules too the past, there are no thriving Blue Collar towns in the USA, you got to go to Mexico or China for that today.

[dullnboring]

Pittsburgh. The hills, the windy and narrow streets, the old colorful rowhomes, the natural setting (junction of three rivers, and hills all around) the high-density urbanity, all combined with a low cost of living. It's a good town and I would choose it over most other desired sprawly "new-ish" cities like Dallas and Phoenix.

[GAisGreat]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Remember now we are talking true Blue Collar here.

No major city comes to mind. All those tried to reinvent themselves.

Talking sweatly guys on the back porch on Sunday, drinking Pabst, or Iron City or Rolling Rock. Grit the color of most houses and that certain Union feel in the air.

Places like Wellsville or East Liverpool Ohio.

Some old river towns like down the Ohio.

Ones like Bridgeport or maybe Bellaire or Toronto.

Ain't much development for sure. Lots of cheap houses, guys retired who have lost their pensions, you figure the future. What you see is all about the past. And it always was total blue collar with a good wage until the New World Order hit big time. Everything left reeks of Blue Collar. Time capsules too the past, there are no thriving Blue Collar towns in the USA, you got to go to Mexico or China for that today.

That's fine include those, otherwise I didn't mean it that literally, a town that only had one factory that closed down...Those towns are exactly like what you said, lost pensions, clingning to the past, used to have plentiful good paying jobs...etc. You can't tell me for a second that doesn't describe Detroit, Flint, Pittsburgh, etc. Maybe as literal as you say, but it does describe them.

[Cosmic]

If that is the case.

A Blue Collar worker has to be able to get say $14.00 a hour doing a typical working man job.

How many places will now qualify?? Places like Boston, which in the past, you might describe as a working man's town, no longer pay a decent working wage. Something as low as $7 a hour.

Also the Blue Collar worker was replaced by sending the jobs overseas, now they are bringing in the illegals to replace them at home. Not only have the definitions of what is Blue Collar changed but so has the worker.

I put Pittsburg into that museum category. Tried to change to a Yuppie town, has the veneer still left but is the spirit there? I doubt it, like most major cities, only the street names are the same as the old dazes.

Maybe it is saying to see a Blue Collar native born worker in the future in the USA, will have to go to a museum.

Places like Groton CT might still qualify. Building the submarines, any other shipyard towns, like Bath, Me would still have the workers, pay, town feel. Saying find the industry still intact, you would find the right answer. Franklin, Va with the pulp mill there. That is if you want it to be a living, breathing Blue Collar town. Breathing in Franklin could be difficult if the wind was in the wrong direction.

[ontheroad]

In addition to DullnBoring's high points for Pittsburgh, I'd add the small city of Providence. A remarkable re-do of both a river, a downtown and the former commercial/industrial district. The city is transformed, and is 80% blue, Catholic and underpaid

Originally Posted by dullnboring

Pittsburgh. The hills, the windy and narrow streets, the old colorful rowhomes, the natural setting (junction of three rivers, and hills all around) the high-density urbanity, all combined with a low cost of living. It's a good town and I would choose it over most other desired sprawly "new-ish" cities like Dallas and Phoenix.

[chaz longue]

Barre VT would seem to fit the bill.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by InGA

Some examples:
Detroit
Chicago
Cleveland
Buffalo
Syracuse, NY
Dayton, OH
Flint, MI
Milwaukee
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Saginaw, MI
Toledo, OH

The only one of those cities to which I've ever been is Milwaukee. I really enjoyed my stay there, but I was in such a small area of downtown that I don't think I really got a good feel for the city as a whole.

I have heard many, many good things about Pittsburgh. And the Steelers will always have a soft place in my heart.

I have heard nothing but bad things about Flint, MI and Detroit.

[ChampWSox05]

I'm from Chicago obviously, but I love Milwaukee and the whole state of Wisconsin. Milwaukee is an old industrial city and pretty much the last city on the rust belt. The people are nice and friendly and even if alot of them don't like Chicagoans or people from IL in general, I still respect them and their city. It is a completely different atmosphere than Chicago and not as fast-paced. I love going to Brewers games at Miller Park and the tailgating that goes with it. All I have to say is, what a great city Milwaukee is.

[Farouche]

Never been to Milwaukee, but if you've seen the documentary "American Movie," which you should if you haven't, you would never want to be within 100 miles of the city !