Do cities have personalities?

[RealDems]

Okay, so we have some posts on liberal vs. conservative cities... but get more in depth than that. What are the stereotypes of certain cities?

I'll give it a go from my perspective:

New York: sophisticated, cynical, brash, fast. (those were obvious)

Boston: quaint, working-class, cohesive, well-educated (Even though I lived in Boston for a year, my main image comes mostly from Good Will Hunting)

Baltimore: quirky, blue-collar, classic-old-port-city, gritty (my hometown)

DC: a city filled with outsiders, very well educated, political, ambitious, topical, self-aware (my other hometown)

Now onto cities I know less about...

Chicago: help me out here -- no obvious stereotypes come to mind...

San Francisco: laid back, progressive, young, wealthy, optimistic

Seattle: trendy, young, educated, innovative

L.A.: invented, low sense of community, flashy (wow... that sounds bad... I actually like L.A.)

Dallas: conservative, rich, arrogant, showy

Atlanta: Never been to Atlanta... feel free to comment on this one...

Well, I'll stop there, but feel free to add your own or correct me on my stereotypes...

[saltpoint]

1. You asked about Chicago.

Hunter Thompson wrote that “Chicago is a vicious, stinking zoo, a mean-grinning, mace-smelling boneyard of a city; an elegant rockpile monument to everything cruel and stupid and corrupt in the human spirit.”

And some others:

“Dallas is the hairspray capital of the world.”
--Dave Barry

“Lubbock, Amarillo, and Wichita Falls are the three principal cities of the Texas plain -- cities that I find uniformaly graceless and unattractive. In summer they are dry and hot, in winter cold, dusty, and windswept; the population is rigidly conformist on the surface and seethes underneath with imperfectly suppressed malice.”

--Larry McMurtry

“Houston is the kind of boom town that will endorse any amount of municipal vulgarity so long as it has a chance of making money.”

--Larry McMurtry

“Savannah was a city of rich cotton traders, who lived in elegant houses within strolling distance of one another. Parties became a way of life, and it’s made a difference. We’re not at all like the rest of Georgia. We have a saying, If you go to Atlanta, the first question people ask you is, ‘What’s your business?’ In Macon they ask, ‘Where do you go to church?’ In Augusta they ask your grandmother’s maiden name. But in Savannah the first question people ask you is, ‘What would you like to drink?’”

--John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

“Los Angeles is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities.”

--Jack Kerouac


“The prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines.”

--Jack Kerouac

[RealDems]

2. Wow. Nice research.

Where did you get all the quotes?

[saltpoint]

5. I have an author's file on cities. I travel a lot and --

-- love to read what various writers have said about U.S. and world cities.

(I disagree with Thompson on Chicago, but I think he wrote that just after the 1968 Democratic convention, and the remark might have been addressed to Mayor Daley and the cops and not to the citizens of the city.)

[RealDems]

8. That's a neat tool...

I also enjoy reading up on that kind of thing. Anything about my cities (DC, B-more) in that author's file?

[saltpoint]

10. I don't have any on Baltimore, but here's one for DC:

“Washington is about stress, about not getting along. It is about conflict. It is about fighting. It is a Disneyland of egomaniacs and stress-seekers.”

--John Flannery, attorney in the District of Columbia

___
(the author is well tuned to the political / power circles of the area)

[RealDems]

11. That sounds pretty accurate

and it really isn't just the power centers of the city... those power centers really set the pace even for non-Official Washington. Even a glance around the Metro will show that everyone is stressed out, and everyone has a "side."

[spooky3]

21. very interesting quotes, thanks!

[Jesus Saves]

3. I've never been to Baltimore

Lived in DC for two years - actually kinda liked it there, even though I'm a Westerner. Your description of Baltimore makes me think I could live there and like it.

And yes, cities do have personalities IMO. Even small towns do. Geographical areas do...

Forests, rivers too...

[RealDems]

6. Where in the west?

I was born in DC, grew up between DC and Baltimore (slightly closer to Baltimore) and have lived in DC for the last 5 years (until last month when I moved west...)

I love both DC and Baltimore, but they are very different. Baltimore is very native -- most people don't move to Baltimore, and it definitely has a neighborhood feel. High cultural identity. DC is almost entirely made up of people with other hometowns who came to the city for work or school. In a way, it makes it very cohesive because people have a lot in common personality-wise (all coming to DC for the same reasons), but there isn't a lot of community pride.

If you ever get a chance, you should visit Baltimore. It has a very odd charm.

[Jesus Saves]

15. Rocky mountain west mostly

I've lived in Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. Spent a lot of time in California - for the time being I'm in the Northwest - so I got the West in my DNA.

Baltimore definetaly sounds cool. I like places that are unique, that when you're there, you feel set apart from the rest of the world.

Yeah, DC has a lot of people from all over. I liked that. It made the bar scene really interesting - and there's lots of great bars in that town. The place has an energy and excitement to it that I just dug. It's also amazing how 'small' DC felt - like all the stuff relating to government and business is packed into a farily small area. I lived in Georgetown and worked on Capitol Hill. I remember I'd walk from Gtown to Foggy Bottom to get on the Metro to CH, it was a relativel short trip. Sometimes I'd walk the whole way....

[spooky3]

22. I disagree somewhat with your comments about DC

I live in one of the close-in BLUE suburbs and I think the neighborhood/community pride is really strong here, much stronger than it was in the midwest where I lived for many years previously. I think it is the way that people civilize and cope with extremely large cities. They form attachments to neighborhoods and create a "club"-like feeling, create lots of community events, such as art fairs, and involve themselves a lot in local govt. People who live in DC leave it only to shop or recreate; people in MD don't go to VA often, and vice versa, unless for work reasons.

on edit: And everyone is going crazy here getting ready for the first home baseball game--beautiful weather. Very small town feel to the local news coverage of this. Oh yes--one thing I like about the local news is that we have at least as many middle aged and older men and women doing the news, weather, traffic, as we have homecoming queens and kings. They look like real people. Dressed up, made up, but much closer to a cross section of the population.

[RealDems]

41. Yeah, but it's a different kind of pride...

First of all, I know exactly what you mean about people in DC never leaving DC -- when I was in college at GWU, I lived in Rosslyn VA (just over the bridge from Georgetown and only a Metro stop from GW.) You could literally walk to DC, but all of my friends acted as though I lived in another country... everytime we got together it was in DC.

I guess what I mean about the lack of community pride is just in terms of collective identity. I was the only person in my group of friends that was from the area. Everyone else was there either for school or work, and strongly identified with their own hometowns. They all loved DC, and had no plans to leave, but they were definitely products of another place. It doesn't have the same feel as a city like Baltimore or Boston where people grow up together, cheer for the same sports teams, and generally have the same memories.

Wish I could be in town for the Nationals games. I moved to Albuquerque last month for work, and even though I like it here, I'm already homesick.

[Withywindle]

4. Chicago

From the point of view of someone who wasn't born and raised here but has lived here for 13 years. (I've also lived briefly in NYC and Atlanta, for comparison)


Hard-working and slightly conservative outwardly, but cosmopolitan in its blue-collar way. Brash and direct and snarky. Not into health food. I'd personify Chicago as a middle-aged union guy who never went to college but has a house full of books and speaks a conversational smattering of six different languages picked up from people he works with. He made his money in construction, but he has a friend who made it all in insider trading and another guy he's known for 40 years he thinks might have something to do with the mob but he's never asked and never will. Not his place to judge. Stays in touch with his relatives in the Old Country (which could be just about any country on the planet). Makes jokes about gay people but if you get him drunk enough he'll admit he fooled around some in the Army and doesn't think there's anything wrong with it. Votes Democrat.

[RealDems]

7. :) That's an excellent description...

I completely understand what you mean.

[Withywindle]

9. Thank you! :)

That's something about knowing if you're living in the right place, or at least in a good place. I've found you have to ask yourself, Do I like this "person"? Cause if you live somewhere, you've got to hang out with "him/her" all day, every day.

[cestpaspossible]

28. Don't they call it 'the city that Works' ?

that sounds right.

[annabanana]

31. I love that description!

I've never been anything but "through" Chicago..
But I'd bet I'd know it from your prose, were I dropped in blindfolded.

[frustrated_lefty]

12. What a cool question.....

New Orleans, LA: kinda schizo. It's a mix of 3 tunes. New Orleans Ladies, Planet of New Orleans and House of the Rising Sun. It's decrepit, but has it's odd appeal.

Tuscaloosa, AL: homey, if you can tolerate rednecks.

Chapel Hill, NC: Lovely. Special. It used to be my place to hide for a few weeks when I needed.

SF, CA: Costs too damned much.

SD, CA: Costs too damned much.

Boston, Seattle and New York: wayyyyy heavy traffic, scary drives if they're unfamiliar.

Atlanta: A freaking nightmare, LA is the only worse city. These bastards drive 75-90 on a 6 lane road, and they honk at you if you slow down to see where you are.

That's my input.

[RealDems]

13. Chapel Hill always seemed like a cool city...

I've never been there

[MsTryska]

14. You shouldn't be slowing down

unless your getting off the exit ramp. ;-)


that's one of the biggest things that chaps my ass about driving around atlanta - people pay no attention to thsoe behind them, and that's how pileups happen.


i actually spun out across 6 lanes of I-85 once, because soemone decided to jam on the breaks and went from 60 to 30mph for no apparent reason.


that was the scariest day of my life.

[frustrated_lefty]

34. May have been me. ;)

I've driven through Atlanta many times. The roads are nice, they beat LA hands down. Roads in Atlanta are smooth.

Jesus, though, don't you people understand some of us are just passing through??!! You've got umpteen bazzilion off ramps, thirty bazzilion places to go, UG, Emory, the CDC, you attract outsiders!

Us poor folk who are just passing through are just trying to stay alive, not piss you off.

Scary bastards, the lot of you.

Said with affection,

FL

[MsTryska]

38. *lol* i understand.....

just don't do that decelerate from 65 to 30 in 2 seconds thing when you've jsut passed your exit, and we're all good. You'r enot going to be able to reverse back anyway.


actually i save particular annoyance for drivers sporting South CArolina or Tennessee tags. I don't know if it's because there's not huge cities in either of those states or what, but they all drive like they're on dirt roads and regualr traffic rules need not apply.

[Patiod]

16. Philadelphia: surly, "you're not the boss of me", pessimistic

I'd second you on the quirky thing with Baltimore

[Voltaire]

20. That's the Philly I was born and raised in

Surly, almost paranoid. I guess it comes from being almost equidistant from NYC and DC. I like living in Indianapolis, but I still love Philly more than any town on earth. But it ain't for the faint of heart.

[theboss]

29. To me: one quote defines Philly

"What the fuck you lookin' at?"

I love Philly. It really thinks that the entire world is out to get it. But the funny thing is, it has a ton of great qualities that it should be proud of. But it's like it's not confident in those and just wants to fight its perceived "betters" or something.

[Rockholm]

40. Philadelphia is one of the GREATEST cities in US.

I lived in Philadelphia for 2 years 89-91. Funny thing about Philly, it seems that only people who were not born there love it. Lifers seem not to "care" as much as outsiders.

[RealDems]

42. I used to go to Orioles games in Philly

when they started interleague play. The fans there booed Cal Ripken. I see what you mean about not for the faint of heart. But I really like Philly. I don't like cities that seem fake, and Philly was too... I don't know... brutal to be fake.

[Arugula Latte]

17. Portland

(my adopted city)

progressive, arty yet down-to-earth, outdoorsy, rainy, literate, livable, green in all senses of the word

[jpgray]

37. Downtown Portland is awesome

I just wandered around down there while my girlfriend was visiting her aunt, and I found people who loved the Fall, This Heat, etc. in the first music store I wandered into. Plus a guy who had coral implants to create horns. Awesome!

[Patiod]

39. Any city where the biggest attraction is a book store

is okay by me

Happened to pick whatever day it is each month that the galleries are open late as a day off my business schedule to tour. Rained on and off, but that's part of the deal. Visited art galleries, Chinese design shops, jewelry galleries, glass factories, a cowgirl store, and of course once it got cold and my feet were tired, spent several hours in Powell's. Then had awesome sushi at Murata. What more could a traveler want?

[XemaSab]

18. Los Angeles

is very busy, strangely both impersonal and very personal. LA's a socialite.

San Francisco is a rich young liberal lawyer.

Oakland is a harried single mother.

Sacramento is a churchgoing soccer mom who used to be hip and trendy until she had kids, but then she gained some weight and decided to become very domestic. She might beat her children if they got too irritating.

[RealDems]

43. That description is perfect

[earthboundmisfit]

19. My husband has always said that cities have astrological signs.

According I guess to when they're literally or figuratively founded. He's not around right now, else I'd get more details...
But it does ring true where we are, for sure! Tulsa - which he says is under the sign of Taurus, is decidedly conservative. It's hard to keep a decent music/party bar going here!

[musette_sf]

23. I saw this comedian on TV once who said

New York is for the smart and ambitious.
San Francisco is for the smart.
Los Angeles is for the ambitious.

Having lived in #1 and #2, and visited #3 enough, this is quite spot on.

[theboss]

24. I disagree with your takes on DC and Baltimore

Well, I take that back. You are right about DC and Baltimore when it comes to the DC and Baltimore most outsiders see.

In DC, if you stay in Northwest and remain west of about 11th Street, it is very rich, very well-educated, and filled with transplants. If you are talking about the other 3/4 of the city, it is very poor, very crime-filled, but with a lot active, politically powerful black people with certain sections that contain the richest, most educated black people in the country. DC is really two cities that have very little to do with each other. The baseball stadium fight is a perfect example. White transplants and white suburbanites want to use city money to put a baseball stadium in a black neighborhood filled with residents who get to deal with the crowds and traffic but probably won't attend games. And if the stadium brings gentrification to the neighborhood, they will be pushed further east. DC is pretty much completely defined by race.

Baltimore is pretty much defined by race too. But it's a tale of three cities. You have the Inner Harbor/Camden Yards area which is practically Disney World at this point. Then you have some remants of some old, ethnically diverse blue collar neighborhoods. The people there have the most awful but interesting accents in the country and they have some very quirky traditions - door art, Natty Bo beer, etc. The other 5/6 or so of the city is probably the most hopeless, poverty stricken, and dangerous large city in the country.

Both are majority black cities. The difference is that DC has an educated black middle class, a very vibrant black upper class, and an extremely powerful black political class. Baltimore doesn't seem to have much of any of the three outside of the political class which is more a product of sheer numbers than anything else.

I should edit to add that I probably like Baltimore more on a purely emotional level. It feels like a city should feel. The people are from there and love it with all their hearts. But it's like a lot of the rust belt. It's like a beautiful actress who has hit old age and is never going to get the starring role again.

[RealDems]

44. That I can agree with... almost entirely...

The only thing I would add is that while it's true that 3/4 of DC is not the stereotypical DC transplant (and I lived in SW by the Waterfront, so I know) it's the 1/4 that really sets the culture. Even the truly "authentic" landmarks like Ben's Chili Bowl serve as the top hangout for college sophomores who have spent their freshman year visiting the touristy spots, and think that they are now enough a part of the city to visit the "real" spots.

[theboss]

25. As for the rest....

Chicago, Polish Sausage-eating, beer drinking heavyset guys in parkas cheering the Bears. A city that will give you a big slap on the back or a big punch in the face depending on how you treat it. Probably the most "real" big city in the country.

San Francisco - City of contradictions. Dirty yet beautiful. On the ocean yet freezing. Open-minded yet very restrictive.

LA - no sense of self. No anchor. Beautiful, free, fun but if you squeeze to hard it will evaporate.

Atlanta - everything wrong with the modern American city. It looks like they built the entire place on a summer day in 1972.

[barackmyworld]

36. I agree--Chicago is "real"

LA and NY seem like they would be a person who never has real friends--only people to network with.

[Catchawave]

26. Norfolk/Virginia Beach

Our country's cul-de-sac. Hard to get to, hard to get out of, by plane, train or automobile.

[theboss]

27. Then there's my real home: Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is a lot like Baltimore minus the racial diversity. It's defined by geography. It's the only large city in America that sneaks up on you. If you are coming through the Fort Pitt Tunnels, there is no sign that a city is there, you hit a mountain, you go through the moutain and you are right in the middle of downtown. The rivers and hills make it a city of neighborhoods - a lot of which are still ethnically segregated to a large degree. I mean, how many cities have a section called "Polish Hill?" If you live there, it means your grandparents lived there and that you are probably going to die there. I don't know of any city not in the South that has such a connection to and romance with its past. And for this, it is not very forward thinking. Good luck finding a Thai restaurant for example. But the people love it and each other with all their hearts and are saddened by its decline and have tremendous hope that it will rise again against all odds.

To me, it's like an old athlete. He's beat up. He's slower. He's lost most of his abilities. But you love him the same you did as a kid and still think that if given the chance, he could compete with the young guys.

[leftofthedial]

30. mine has zero personality

[Lisa]

32. Vancouver BC -- wired hipster (M or F) clutching a cup ...

... of fair-trade organic java. Worrying that its "old-economy" dad is going to show up, roaring drunk after getting laid off again when the lumber mill downsizes, and worse yet, making inappropriate remarks about the new Vancouver's Asian girlfriend.

[rainbow4321]

33. Dallas went blue, I believe.

Dallas proper went blue. Dallas County was 48% or 49% blue. Chimp's Dallas rally the eve of Black Tuesday was a farce--he held it in the elite enclave of Highland Park at SMU's sports building--a ticketed event--had it been an actual, UNstaged rally in the REAL Dallas, he would have been screwed and he knew that. Hence the MIDNIGHT hour rally that allowed him to make it look like people down here actually LIKE him...there were protestors right outside the campus but the media didn't show that part.
All the folks in the audience were Highland Park zillionaires and SMU people <Laura's an alumni, and she and Cheney were on the SMU board once upon a time).

It is the Dallas suburbs that suck <i.e Kay Baily Hutchinson's/Sam Johnson's district, etc..north of Dallas>

[jpgray]

35. Cities are schizophrenic--there are usually lots of different scenes

Towns or villages can have very strong personalities, whereas the larger your city, the more you can find what you like and stay with that while avoiding most of the other stuff.

[stumblnrose]

45. Seattle

Proves liberals are wimps not wobblies.