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What city/neighborhood do you wish you could've grew up in? I know some of you are proud of where you grew up and the city/neighborhood that help raised you and you can include them too. But if you could choose entirely differently....What other city/neighborhood would you have liked to have been born and raised in?
For me, I'm proud to have been born and raised in the DMV here in Suburban Maryland but if I could choose differently, I would've loved to have experienced growing up in DC (Adams Morgan, Petworth, or Fort Dupont), Philadelphia (West Mt. Airy, Queen Village, Cedar Park, Overbrook, or Wynnefield), New York City (Fort Greene, Forest Hills, Fordham, Harlem, or Prospect Heights), Chicago (Hyde Park), or Atlanta (Inman Park, Old Fourth Ward, or Sweet Auburn).
I grew up in the Inland Empire of CA, and for many reasons I was glad I did. Summered near Seattle, and I'm very happy I did that too.
I wish I grew up somewhere with four seasons, or at least somewhere with regular snow. I wish I grew up with nicer people in a nicer neighborhood in a nicer area. I wish I grew up somewhere greener with more trees, in a more semi-rural environment.
It's hard to put a name to a place, but America's trendy (or even well-known) neighborhoods do not appeal to me in the least.
Off the top of my head, places like NE Washington/North Idaho (Spokane/northward, heck I would have been happy growing up in most of the non-desert Pacific NW), or somewhere like Northern New England/far upstate NY.
Another part of me wishes I'd grown up in and still lived in one of those neighborhoods where few ever leave, and everybody has the same accent, friends, and connections they've had their whole lives. The neighborhood I lived in while growing up is kind of like that, it just doesn't fit with me geographically or mostly otherwise.
I grew up in Tucson. I hated it at the time (we didn't have air conditioning), and I'd never move back, but it hindsight it wasn't that bad. My parents never cared what I did, and I discovered the public bus at age 10. From then on, for just sixty cents, I could go to my friends' houses, the mall, the public pool, the record store, or just wonder around downtown. As I got a little older, the University of Arizona always had something interesting going on, there were great coffee shops, vegetarian restaurants, and independent movie theatres. I also got involved with some great pro-immigration and pro-LGBT activist groups. I'd go hiking with my dog in the mountains on the weekend, or my friends and I would go drinking in Mexico. About six or eight times a year, my friends and I would take weekend trips to Los Angeles or San Diego to hang out on the beach or catch a show.
Growing up in Tucson, I always wished I lived in LA. But, from my prospective now, I think I'd prefer a big city, with four season, and great public transportation: Philly, NYC, DC, Boston, or Chicago. Or a funky, leftist college town in the middle of the woods like Madison, Ithaca, Charlottesville, or Amherst.
I grew up in suburban Philadelphia in a solidly middle-class area...single family homes, mostly families. Nice schools, etc. No doubt I was fortunate.
However, if I could have chosen anywhere to live in the US, I'd have chosen to "grow-up" somewhere in southern California.. and be a surfer california kid... I thought they were so cool...their clothes, beach life-style, year-round pleasant weather, play outside all year long, schools that were open-air concept...where the lockers are outside.. instead of a brick-like structure in the northeast that resembled a prison. I like palm trees and just the kind of surfer culture of southern Cal.
I grew up in the Inland Empire of CA, and for many reasons I was glad I did. Summered near Seattle, and I'm very happy I did that too.
I wish I grew up somewhere with four seasons, or at least somewhere with regular snow. I wish I grew up with nicer people in a nicer neighborhood in a nicer area. I wish I grew up somewhere greener with more trees, in a more semi-rural environment.
It's hard to put a name to a place, but America's trendy (or even well-known) neighborhoods do not appeal to me in the least.
Off the top of my head, places like NE Washington/North Idaho (Spokane/northward, heck I would have been happy growing up in most of the non-desert Pacific NW), or somewhere like Northern New England/far upstate NY.
Another part of me wishes I'd grown up in and still lived in one of those neighborhoods where few ever leave, and everybody has the same accent, friends, and connections they've had their whole lives. The neighborhood I lived in while growing up is kind of like that, it just doesn't fit with me geographically or mostly otherwise.
So my answer is nothing like yours OP.
Lol Hey, everybody's different I should've added rural/semi-rural areas as well. I'm actually glad that I've grown up in inner-ring suburbs and I love the balance they offer between decent urbanity without being overwhelming and mild suburban without being boring. Places like Silver Spring or Towson in MD, Alexandria or Pentagon City in VA, the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia, Decatur in GA, Evanston in IL, etc. I like that kind of harmony but I also like going through the countryside every once in a while for another change of scenery
However, if I could have chosen anywhere to live in the US, I'd have chosen to "grow-up" somewhere in southern California.. and be a surfer california kid... I thought they were so cool...their clothes, beach life-style, year-round pleasant weather, play outside all year long, schools that were open-air concept...where the lockers are outside.. instead of a brick-like structure in the northeast that resembled a prison. I like palm trees and just the kind of surfer culture of southern Cal.
I grew up about 30 miles inland, and it was still mostly like that. Lots of skateboard and off-road styles too.
I don't ever recall having a daytime high lower than the upper 50's, I'd only wear jeans and a jacket during "winter", which doesn't last very long, it's mostly t-shirt and shorts weather all year long. Plenty of palm trees.
However, most Southern California high schools don't have lockers at all, inside or outside, aside from the ones you leave your P.E. clothes in.
I grew up in suburban Philadelphia in a solidly middle-class area...single family homes, mostly families. Nice schools, etc. No doubt I was fortunate.
However, if I could have chosen anywhere to live in the US, I'd have chosen to "grow-up" somewhere in southern California.. and be a surfer california kid... I thought they were so cool...their clothes, beach life-style, year-round pleasant weather, play outside all year long, schools that were open-air concept...where the lockers are outside.. instead of a brick-like structure in the northeast that resembled a prison. I like palm trees and just the kind of surfer culture of southern Cal.
I often wish I grew up in Cali too, most especially the northern half of the state. It would've been interesting to have done that in Santa Cruz, Oakland, Berkeley, or Monterey. I've also wondered what growing up in Seattle would've been like as well.
Exactly where I did grow up -- Southeastern Wisconsin. I love going home.
I spent my childhood in Milwaukee .While I liked it in many ways I hated the cold winters. I dreamed of moving somewhere warm...in fact the hotter the better. I thought of Phoenix as a utopia and fantasized about moving there. I even became a fan of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, the fact that sun was in their name cemented in my mind that Phoenix was the best place on the planet. I was just a young kid, around 6 years old but I already knew my favorite city in the world.
A few years later my family moved to Las Vegas. At first I loved the hot weather but eventually got really sick of it. I wasn't the hot weather fan I thought I was.
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I should've added rural/semi-rural areas as well. I'm actually glad that I've grown up in inner-ring suburbs and I love the balance they offer between decent urbanity without being overwhelming and mild suburban without being boring. Places like Silver Spring or Towson in MD, Alexandria or Pentagon City in VA, the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia, Decatur in GA, Evanston in IL, etc. I like that kind of harmony but I also like going through the countryside every once in a while for another change of scenery 
