Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think both Atlanta and DC are cool, for different reasons.
I haven't lived here long enough to have an opinion or know these things, but I have met many people of my age and older (35-45) who seem to consider NY to be their "true north". Many seemed to live there for a while after graduating UNC/NC State/Duke and came back here. A few of my co-workers' kids seem like took jobs either in NY or Boston after graduation. Not sure what's that all about, but that's what I've noticed.
This.
The 3 major research universities (UNC and ESPECIALLY Duke, and NC State to at least a slightly lesser extent) attract many Northeasterners. The Big-3 attract many students from D.C., Baltimore, Philly and Boston, but they especially seem to attract many students from New York and New Jersey.
While UNC seems to attract many New York residents, Duke has a reputation of attracting so many New Jersey residents that it sometimes is derisively referred to as the “University of New Jersey at Durham” (lol) by rival fans and supporters, particularly UNC fans and supporters.
The professional and social connections that have been created and sustained by attracting so many students from and having so many alumni in the NYC-Boston-DC-Philly anchored ‘BosWash’ Northeast Corridor have made those major Northeastern cities major destinations for UNC/Duke/NC State graduates.
That’s often because those major Northeastern cities are important major hubs for culture, entertainment, business/private sector jobs, and government/public sector jobs.
Meanwhile, the Triangle area particularly seems to attract many, many Northeasterners (along with some Midwesterners) to work in well-paying jobs generated by RTP (Research Triangle Park), the area’s 3 major research universities, and the generally robust health care apparatus that the presence of the research universities has created.
So many Northeasterners (along with many Midwesterners) have moved down to the Triangle to work at jobs in RTP that many native-born locals have in the past referred to the affluent Raleigh suburb of Cary by the derisive acronym of “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees” to express their displeasure with the NC Triangle being such a large magnet for Northern transplants.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HatchChile
PS. I should add that pre-covid when I looked for international flights and couldn't find what I liked in RDU, by default I always checked Atlanta first.
For many years I drove airline customer service routes returning lost and delayed bags to airline passengers out of the Atlanta Airport.
One of the places that I drove to often while returning lost and delayed bags to airline passengers from the Atlanta Airport was the mountains of extreme Western North Carolina.
Some of the areas of extreme Western North Carolina that I used to drive to were Hayesville, Brasstown, Murphy, Andrews, Robbinsville, Franklin, Sylva, Cherokee, Maggie Valley, Lake Junaluska, Asheville, Mars Hill and Burnsville.
Along with Charlotte Douglas Airport, the Atlanta Airport appeared to be a major option for Western North Carolinians flying to and from other parts of the continent and the world.
Leaving Charlotte aside for argument's sake, do you believe North Carolina has a stronger connection with Washington, D.C. or Atlanta in regards to the closest major city to the state? In other words, a city that offers amenities (concerts, etc.), weekend trip destinations, sports teams, etc. Which city has a bigger influence on North Carolina?
Like has been mentioned throughout the thread, the entire BosWash Northeastern Megalopolis, including DC, MD, Philly, NJ, NYC and Boston; has greatly directly influenced and affected the North Carolina Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary) just with the large number of Northeastern students that postsecondary institutions like UNC, Duke, NC State and even NCCU, and with the large number of Northeastern transplants that a major employment hub like RTP attracts to the area.
Others have mentioned how (while the NC Triangle, and even much of the NC Triad seems to be influenced more by the NE Megalopolis, including DC) Charlotte and much of Western North Carolina (to the extent that might be possible) has been influenced more by Atlanta.
I will remark that Western North Carolina (including Charlotte in particular) seems to have been influenced very significantly and meaningful by Atlanta in the way that Atlanta seems to have provided Charlotte and Western North Carolina’s exceptionally ambitious banking and finance industry captains with a big fat juicy prime high-growth large major metropolitan market to target for the expansion of their highly ascendant business empires.
It is a strategy that appears to have worked to perfection as virtually all of Atlanta’s and Georgia’s biggest banks (about 6 in all) have swallowed up by what are now Charlotte-based banks over the last 35-40 years are so.
The most recent case of a North Carolina bank acquiring a large Georgia bank to become an even larger Charlotte-based bank happened in 2019 when Winston-Salem based BB&T acquired Atlanta-based SunTrust to become Charlotte-based Truist Bank.
With the possible exception of Columbus, GA based Synovus bank, all of Georgia’s Atlanta-based banking industry has been taken over by North Carolina’s Charlotte-based banking industry.
Truist bank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo’s East Coast Division (formerly Wachovia) are Charlotte-based banking operations that were all created with the acquisition of numerous major Atlanta and Georgia based banks.
The acquisition and absorption of basically all of Atlanta’s and Georgia’s major banking industry into Charlotte’s behemoth banking industry over the last 35-40 years seems to be strong evidence that the major metropolitan regions of the North Carolina/South Carolina/Georgia Piedmont region (the NC Triangle, the NC Triad, Charlotte, Greenville/Spartanburg and the SC Upstate, Atlanta) are basically merging into what urban researchers are describing as a mega-region.
Urban researchers have started to call this emerging “mega-region,” that is anchored by the aforementioned metros of the Interstate 85 NC/SC/GA Piedmont corridor, the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion or “Charlanta” after the mega-region’s two most important and most domineering city/metros.
In addition to the aforementioned I-85 NC/SC/GA Piedmont corridor, researchers are including as part of this emerging Piedmont Atlanta Megaregion, Birmingham, AL; Huntsville, AL; Nashville, TN (including Clarksville, TN; Hopkinsville, KY; Bowling Green, KY); Asheville, NC; Hickory, NC; and Fayetteville, NC.
Though, the entire mega-region is anchored by Atlanta (which is the economically diverse entertainment capital of the emerging mega-region with its very high-profile music and TV/Film production scenes), Charlotte (which is the dominant financial hub of the emerging mega-region) and the NC Triangle (which is the main education/research hub of the emerging mega-region).
In terms of influence and cultural amenities offered, it’s Washington, DC without a doubt. Atlanta has absolutely no “influence” on North Carolina (whatever that means) and it is also a cultural backwater compared to DC.
Yeah lol what? How is Atlanta a cultural backwater compared to any city in America with the exception of New York and possibly a few others? If anything, Atlanta has WAY more actual culture than the transient, government-oriented, disproportionately white-collar city of DC lmao. Atlanta is widely seen as the epicenter of modern Southern and/or Black culture in not only the US, but also globally.
Regardless of how culturally backwards you deem Atlanta, there's no denying at least some influence of the city on NC. Atlanta residents are regular visitors and residents of Western NC, Charlotte shares many similarities with and looks to Atlanta, UNC and Atlanta have a prominent connection, etc.
Yeah lol what? How is Atlanta a cultural backwater compared to any city in America with the exception of New York and possibly a few others? If anything, Atlanta has WAY more actual culture than the transient, government-oriented, disproportionately white-collar city of DC lmao. Atlanta is widely seen as the epicenter of modern Southern and/or Black culture in not only the US, but also globally.
Regardless of how culturally backwards you deem Atlanta, there's no denying at least some influence of the city on NC. Atlanta residents are regular visitors and residents of Western NC, Charlotte shares many similarities with and looks to Atlanta, UNC and Atlanta have a prominent connection, etc.
Yeah it wasn't hard at all to read between those lines.
yeah lol what? How is atlanta a cultural backwater compared to any city in america with the exception of new york and possibly a few others? If anything, atlanta has way more actual culture than the transient, government-oriented, disproportionately white-collar city of dc lmao. atlanta is widely seen as the epicenter of modern southern and/or black culture in not only the us, but also globally.
regardless of how culturally backwards you deem atlanta, there's no denying at least some influence of the city on nc. Atlanta residents are regular visitors and residents of western nc, charlotte shares many similarities with and looks to atlanta, unc and atlanta have a prominent connection, etc.
For the Charlotte area it would be Atlanta, for the Raleigh/Triangle area it would be Washington/Northern Virginia.
Not just in proximities but Charlotte feels more like a smaller Atlanta and Raleigh/Triangle feels more like a smaller DC/Northern Virginia. The former being more central core driven with taller corporate towers downtown, the latter being driven more by education, research, technology and seats of government.
it's hard to decipher what your saying here...
but maybe you think DC is just way up at the top in terms of culture? DC certainly has influence (probably the second most influential city in the US after New York, and there's a thread for that (on the City v City forum I think), but culture wise outside of politics Atlanta has it beat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthernTransplanted
For the Charlotte area it would be Atlanta, for the Raleigh/Triangle area it would be Washington/Northern Virginia.
Not just in proximities but Charlotte feels more like a smaller Atlanta and Raleigh/Triangle feels more like a smaller DC/Northern Virginia. The former being more central core driven with taller corporate towers downtown, the latter being driven more by education, research, technology and seats of government.
I agree especially with the latter paragraph. Lots of similarities can be drawn between Charlotte and Atlanta and DC and the Triangle. Atlanta and Charlotte both have large corporate presences and large downtown cores, whereas Raleigh and DC are more multi-nodal and built around the pieces you said.
For the Charlotte area it would be Atlanta, for the Raleigh/Triangle area it would be Washington/Northern Virginia.
Not just in proximities but Charlotte feels more like a smaller Atlanta and Raleigh/Triangle feels more like a smaller DC/Northern Virginia. The former being more central core driven with taller corporate towers downtown, the latter being driven more by education, research, technology and seats of government.
Raleigh feels 0 like the District of Columbia. Mostly because they are 0 alike. Culturally or build. Do you know DC’s nickname??? Google Chocolate City...
Raleigh feels like Fairfax & Loudon counties.. Then again. Most places feel like Fairfax and Loudon though. Annapolis, MD feels way more like DC (if you’re going based on capital cities)
Atlanta has a lot more in common with DC than either Carolina city. Also want to point out by a percent basis, Metro Atlanta pumped out Democratic voters compared to the triangle region. For those who want to act like Atlanta is honky tonk compared to Triangle. If Triangle was as blue as Atlanta, NC would’ve went Biden. So the “more progressive than thou” attitude kinda falls flat against Atlanta considering how blue the metro is. Since when is voting for trump more progressive?? Fairfax and Durham turned out at similar margins for Biden, Loudon and Wake also turned out at nearly the same margin for Biden.
In geographic terms, I feel like east of GSO, DC is the go-to and west of GSO, ATL is the go-to. That’s just geography. Being closer to DC doesn’t mean Raleigh is any less of a buttered biscuit...
Last edited by Charlotte485; 01-26-2021 at 02:11 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
