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Thre residential areas in downtown Greenville remind me a lot of the Adams Morgan area in DC around the zoo, and the Main Street looks more like King Street in Alexandria than downtown COlumbia or Charleston.
King Street in Alexandria looks a whole lot more like King Street in Charleston than Main Street in Greenville, easily.
Overall, Greenville fits in SC pretty comfortably.
Really good post, I agree with you 100 percent. I've seen some people on here say Tucson doesn't fit the typical mold of Arizona, but to me Tucson feels much more Arizonan than Phoenix. As someone who used to live in Scottsdale full time and now lives in LA most of the year(with constant trips back to AZ) I really do feel the Southern California culture A LOT in phoenix every time I go back. The comparisons/mindset between the two are extremely similar. Scottsdale does give me that Orange Country in the desert feel(and looks a hell of a lot like Palm Springs) and the rest of Phoenix suburbs give me an inland orange county/inland empire feel to it also. Whenever I leave phoenix for road trips to places such as Sedona, Prescott, Flagg, or down south I feel as if the towns and smaller AZ citities give of a different feel...a much more authentically arizonan feel compared to the feel Phoenix gives off so to speak.
Phoenix is almost all Californian transplants so it makes sense in some ways.
Tucson is much more similar to the other towns in the state and other Southwestern towns like Albuquerque, whereas Phoenix is similar more to West Coast cities like Los Angeles and San Diego (not NorCal or PacNW though). Outside of population size and structure similarities to Los Angeles, I would say Phoenix is dang near identical to Las Vegas without a strip. Las Vegas has slightly more Californian influence though, with more California chains like Von's as an example. Phoenix and Las Vegas are practically twins, whereas Tucson's twin would arguably be Albuquerque (they still have a lot of differences at best). It's like apples and oranges.
I think what people don't seem to realize is that Phoenix is the elephant in the room here. They see these liberal towns of Arizona and think they are the oddballs yet it's Phoenix who, carries almost next to none Southwestern style or influence (mostly because Phoenix is also one of the youngest towns in the state as well), or beliefs and demographics is the oddball. Phoenix is so well-known for the state it's a huge part of the identity. It's like NYC for New York, or Chicago for Illinois. Having such primate cities for the states can be a positive or a negative, though I'm not the only one who's mentioned this sort of dynamic. Others have stated NYC is nothing like the rest of New York, and Chicago is nothing like the rest of Illinois, as primate cities they become the major identifier for the state and thus become "the state" because that is what they think of. They think the cities are the major carriers of a state's culture and so on yet in most cases it's the opposite.
In contrast to this, states that are more balanced without a primate city (Ohio, California, Texas, etc.) don't have this going on. We think sort of a combination of their major cities as what defines their states and because of this it's more representative and easier to pinpoint their outliers. This is usually because their cities are geographically distant from each other in most cases and thus can accommodate difference in cultures in different geographic areas within their states.
Like in Arizona, there is a huge hippie population in the forests of this state that is not represented at all by Phoenix yet would be if Flagstaff or Sedona was larger and a competitor against Phoenix. Tucson is liberal but not necessarily hippie-liberal, I would associate Tucson with a blue-collar artsy/industrial liberal vibe that is also not represented at all in Phoenix, but again would be much more if Tucson was a bigger competitor.
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Originally Posted by Hschlick84
Prescott felt more like actual AZ, than Phoenix itself when I was down there for a week. Prescott Valley, has vibes more like Grand Junction and some smaller western Colorado cities like Montrose and parts of Durango.
I think Prescott surprises a lot of people. It holds a lot of Arizona history, it's old town styled like a classic Western movie... Yet it isn't in a desert and I think that's how it throws people off. I think many again associate Arizona to the Sonora, which is understood, but don't realize Arizona is so much more than that. People think saguaros when they think of our state, yet most of the state doesn't even have them.
If any city in Arizona doesn't belong it's Phoenix. Yes it's the major city of the state so most people automatically make the association but I think Phoenix is more like the Inland Empire or Orange County... The desert versions... Rather than a true Arizonan or Southwestern city.
Most Arizona towns are somewhat liberal, especially the main ones (Tucson, Sedona, Prescott, Flagstaff, Bisbee, etc.) and some of them like Bisbee and Flagstaff are almost as liberal as San Francisco. Phoenix metro, overall, is conservative. The agricultural areas that surround it are also conservative, this may also play in part with the LDS influence in Southeast Valley. Mormons, which are common in the Northwestern part of the state by St. George, Utah, is not common elsewhere in the state except Southeast Valley where there's many of them.
Phoenix also developed originally for very different reasons than the other towns in the state. Phoenix developed for agriculture rather than mining or transportation like nearly every other town in the state.
Phoenix has had THE MOST California influence over any city (because of job opportunities and size) in the state and thus seems the most like a Southern California city. Structurally it's the same to Los Angeles. All other towns in Arizona have one central hub and spread out rather than having multiple small hubs.
Phoenix also is in the least lush area of the desert the entire state is known for. Sonoran wildlife and flora is practically non-existent in the metro and in the land due West and East of it. The desert just surrounding Phoenix looks more like the Mojave where Las Vegas is than the Sonora. You won't find saguaros really all that much unless you're in the parks, it's probably a minimum of a 50:1 palm tree to saguaro ratio in Phoenix. Also architecturally houses in Phoenix are styled more like Californian ones, mostly low-density sprawling ranch homes and Tuscan/Italian/Mediterranean-styled homes rather than characteristic adobe and flat-roofed Spanish-influenced homes you'll find in other desert Arizona or New Mexico towns. Houses that aren't xeriscaped are also more Californian in appearance by their lawns (complete with dead grass and non-native trees) than a desert landscaping which is very common in Tucson. You can find the difference in lawn landscaping to its extreme in the richest areas of Tucson (Catalina Foothills) and the richest of Phoenix (Paradise Valley). Catalina Foothills is mostly untouched for landscaping (keeping the desert look) whereas Paradise Valley is very pedicured with palm trees and grass. Lots of homes in the Phoenix metro also have irrigated lawns, in neighborhoods like Arcadia (also high-income). You won't find a single irrigated lawn in Tucson or other cities in the state.
I used Tucson as a comparison mainly because it's the other large city in the state, and because Tucson is a true Southwestern city.
So Scottsdale and Paradise Valley are the Orange County equivalent, and the rest of the Valley is Inland Empire.
I pretty much disagree with most of this.
Phoenix is definitely AZ.
Phoenix is a mix of liberal/conservative - like much of the state. Mormon influence in Phoenix? You mean unlike small towns dotted throughout AZ (like pretty much any community in the White Mountains?).
While not copper/mining crazy, agriculture was a big part of the state formation - look up your 5 Cs and see how many of those were/are prominent in the Phoenix metro development.
Native American ties are very heavy in the Phoenix metro. From petroglyphs prominent throughout the city, to being built around hohokam canals, to preserved sites to having to recently stop work on grand avenue and have archaeologists observe all digs because of ruins and sensitive sites. This part of the heritage is very Arizona and very Phoenix.
There is plenty of desert in/around the Phoenix metro. For lush it's hard to beat the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and that isn't too far outside of Phoenix (definitely fits in east/west of the metro)
The main difference that separate Phoenix from places like Tucson & Albuquerque is that the city has evolved - development captures modern tastes because people are actually moving to Phoenix. If you look at new builds in Tucson & Albuquerque they look an awful lot like what is going up new in Phoenix and all over the sunny west. You just see a lot more of it in Phoenix.
Throw in the canal system, the water management lakes nearby, etc Phoenix holds a lot of the state identity.
Your viewpoint focused on politics, housing styles and where transplants come from is very narrow, IMO.
I honestly can't think of a city in AZ that doesn't fit in AZ, just given the diversity within AZ. You can't rule out Flagstaff because it isn't the desert and people don't think of mountain towns that get a lot of snow when they think AZ - but that is very much a part of this state. You have the old mining towns turned enclaves in Jerome & Bisbee, which again capture part of the history of this state. Prescott is the old territorial capital and represents a lot of similar smaller cities. Even Yuma is adapted to the desert which many cities in AZ have to do to survive and is another place that has an agriculture heavy presence as well as a propensity for winter visitors (which all warm cities in AZ find)
I think a defining feature of Louisville's architecture is its shotgun houses, there are large swaths of older Louisville that has the appearance of belonging in the Mississippi delta. It is definitely an aspect to Louisville that makes it unique
Sorry to burst your bubble but there are plenty of shotgun houses in Knoxville tn. There were more before urban renewal, but they are still around.
As for the big old houses in historic Louisville, you could plunk one down in the historic district of Charleston and it would not feel out of place. Of course it is not a typical Charleston house, but not all of them are. I could easily see an old Louisville house on a square in Savannah, though most likely the brick would be painted.
Baltimore doesn't really fit in with much of Maryland, simply due to the financial distress over a great deal of the city. Compared to other states, Maryland household income and education rates rank near the top, which are in sharp contrast to the poverty and blight in much of Baltimore.
I didn't know that was part of the game. I loved living in Atlanta. I always thought that if it was by the coast, with thinner traffic, and better public transport it would be a destination. Oh well, no where is perfect right?!
I didn't know that was part of the game. I loved living in Atlanta. I always thought that if it was by the coast, with thinner traffic, and better public transport it would be a destination. Oh well, no where is perfect right?!
I wasn't implying anything I was just genuinely wondering. I haven't been to Atlanta yet, but would like to visit.
I have been to Savannah though (and Tybee) and LOVED it! Charleston was cool too but I definitely preferred Savannah-I could even see myself living there some day.
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