Cities you are not fond of.

The city I was most disappointed by was Columbus here in Indiana. It was filled with a lot of ugly buildings in the modernist architectural style. A local wealthy industrialist had funded the building of them. I like older pre-World War II architectural styles. When I visited Germany there were a few cities like Cologne where almost all the buildings were built after 1945 because the older buildings were destroyed in the war. They were not very interesting to visit.

SanFran - not a big fan of earthquakes & homeless. I was there in the early-1990s for Interop at the Moscone Center before Interop moved to Las Vegas. My main memory were homeless sleeping in entries to stores on the hill that the street car ran up/down. It was creepy, and from what I've seen even creepier today.

Aside from "Leather & Lace", I see zero reason to be in Lesterville, SD. I'm just surprised to hear years ago there were two strip clubs in Lesterville. as it looks like a ghost town when I was last there 2.5 years ago. I've been to L&L a few times when I was visiting relatives in Sioux Falls. It is the oddest place for a strip club. I'll be back to Sioux Falls, actually Mitchell, and plan a reconn to L&L. L&L is like a bar/strip club lost in time from the 1960s.

I felt way safer in Lesterville than SanFran.

Baltimore other than Camden Yards, Jax other than the beaches, most of flyover country, most of Philly, Springfield MA, Little Rock, New Orleans. tt's weird, it;s lke all these cities have are strip clubs, lol. (other than LR and Sf which just has the WJC Library, and BBHOF, and poor SC action)

I hate the traffic in any big city.

I don’t know how people put up with that yearly snow/extreme cold in those northern cities. Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo etc…

In Dallas, it may snow like 1 day and then melt quickly thereafter. It’s only cold here maybe for parts of January and February. Usually get some nice 70 degree days in December.

I know it wasn’t asked l, but cities I am fond of:

-Dallas (favorite city by far)

-Houston -Vegas -Miami

For obvious reasons (elite strip club cities)

Oh yes Buffalo, forgot about that wasteland

And Albany too.

I have roots in Memphis but I mainly grew up in Oklahoma (Tulsa area), it's not really a city I'd like to spend a whole lot of time in, to say the least. Every city has it's bad parts, but with Memphis (especially nowadays) half the city is mostly the hood and you can't even honk at people without worrying they might pull a gun on you. It's sad. People rag on St. Louis, but at least with St. Louis you can avoid the bad parts for the most part and the crime is mostly concentrated to certain areas. It's a much nicer city in comparison.

Philadelphia is the worst. I was contracting at the university of Pennsylvania. For blocks around my apartment you had to have a special sticker on your car to be able to park on the street. You had to have a Pennsylvania driver's license to get the sticker. I had to park several blocks away. It took me an hour or two to find a parking spot. I'd keep driving around until i happened to see someone leave. I'd come to town sunday night and not move my car until the end of the week.

Philly is a mess with driving but what city isn't? Have the same issues with DC. Not too fond of Baltimore but know my way around it enough to not really worry about it like most people do. Vegas sucks. Overpriced and you can gamble anywhere these days. Miami is overrated as well. All the dancers around here talk about how much money they used to make in Miami but then why would they leave??

@therealBudBundy, well said re: Memphis v. The Lou

I tend to get frustrated by cities that are overly difficult to drive around in for one or more reasons. Usually one or more of the following are the culprits:

1. Outrageous and frequent traffic congestion...
2. Trying to park anywhere is a complete shit show...
3. The roads are in horrible physical condition, with potholes and ruts everywhere...
4. Other drivers are extremely aggressive, and road rage is a real concern...
5. Some weird ass traffic pattern(s) that's seriously confusing to someone who isn't already familiar with it/them.

Number 5 is especially frustrating when combined with number 4...

New York City is 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag. Natives like to talk like it's paradise, but they treat their own "paradise" like a fucking dumpster. Everywhere, you're getting assaulted with some nasty stench, the summer is the worst. And the people? Everyone there is running a hustle, from the guy selling loosies outside the bodega to the partner at Goldman Sachs. They talk like it's the coolest place in the world but behind it they're all fucking miserable. Girls think they'll live like they're in Sex and the City, then end up in a 5th-floor walkup in Bed-Stuy the size of a walk-in closet for $3,000 a month and a landlord who can't be fucked to fix the burst pipes in January. Low-level Wall Street grunts tricked into spending their bonus check on a one-week vacation so they're stuck masturbating into Excel 110 hours a week for another year. I'm sure Zohran Mamdani will clean it up. J/k

Vegas, per my response in the other thread. Another city where everyone's trying to get something from you. It's not just Siegfried and Roy and David Copperfield, it's a city of illusions, a scaled-up tourist trap, it's all fake. And this is from the last time I was there, in 2010. It sounds like it's gotten even worse in the interim. Icey calls it home, 'nuff said.

Baltimore. Not because of the crime, but every time I'm there, even the nicer places, Camden Yards, the Inner Harbor, it seems like someone wants to pick a fight with the Puddy Tat. Do I just draw out the shitbirds in this one city? It doesn't happen elsewhere.

Vegas. Been there 4 times over a 40 year period and liked it less each time. As Puddy stated above, place is totally fake. It's crowded, noisy, and everybody is trying to hustle you. Otherwise, I can figure out how to have fun pretty much anywhere.

I find something positive wherever I go. I would definitely be wary of any sundown town, and I don’t need to go there to decide that.

The areas I’ve been to where I’m least fond of is more a neighborhood within a town rather than a whole town. There are some places that have lower status people, and it’s next to an area with people even lower status than them in some way. Something about that creates conditions for causing the most dumb and petty actions in a place. .

Nicespice has a good attitude and perspective on this.

In my travels, I have never hated an entire city/region. Dislike, maybe, but never there long enough to develop hate. And never the entire city, maybe just dislike an area or two.

I do find suburban sprawl to be annoying. And most cities are surrounded by a lot of that. Yes, I do live in the suburbs (of Baltimore) but try to hit the "town/city areas" often.

"...but every time I'm there, even the nicer places, Camden Yards, the Inner Harbor, it seems like someone wants to pick a fight with the Puddy Tat. Do I just draw out the shitbirds in this one city? It doesn't happen elsewhere."

Perhaps Baltimore is a city full of hidden genius lol. If only they could use it to fix the economy.

I had a work trip to Columbus, OH in the 90s and there was zilch to do at night. Whole city closed. But the worst place was Niagara Falls, NY. Dead and decomposing.

I feel like there’s no reason to visit 80% of this country because it’s all the same. The only differences: the type of trees (palm vs pine for example), if you’re standing on dirt or sand, is the terrain flat or hilly. The other play is temperature, but the type of trees you see will let you know what to expect. If it weren’t for landmarks most of it would be the same.

Now, depending on what you’re doing in these cities will also factor in if you like them or not. One example, a lot of people are knocking Vegas. I get it, Vegas does suck in a lot of ways, but I like going to unique restaurants and playing poker so I like to go to Vegas, but I’d probably kill myself if I lived there full time. If you’re staying at the Excalibur, eating at Heart Attack Grill, and walking up and town the strip yeah you’ll probably hate it. If you’re dining at Scarpetta, staying at the Wynn and hitting up the spa, you’ll probably love it.

Another example, Chicago and Detroit generally get a bad rap, but there are some fabulous areas within the greater metro area of both cities. Ever been to Birmingham, Michigan? All those execs for the Big 3 auto makers making a ton of money have to live somewhere and most of them live there which is a world away from close by downtown Detroit. - I’m just giving a random example. Tapping in on what Nicespice said most large cities have at least one area that’s cool and worth visiting, although in many cases it may not be worth the effort unless you’re already in that city.

I’ve had this debate many times - being bored in the “smallish” town I live in, wondering if I should move to the metro area an hour away, but when I’m there the traffic, how it seems to take 40 minutes to get anywhere, the limited residential space, or endless suburbs, just seems like too much of a hassle to just have more dining and shopping options. Most of the amenities a large city would offer I would rarely use anyway.

Where I personally consider to be hell: Orlando, most of the smaller midwest cities - Kansas City, Columbus, Indianapolis, Toledo, Akron, Louisville, Cincinnati. I feel like that area of the country feels like it’s a decade behind the west coast and the mid-Atlantic/north east.

@ancientlurker - I haven't been to Columbus in a long time but I hear it's gotten a lot better. More industry and the good parts of college towns.

@wallanon - That genius must be quite well hidden indeed. The times I've been there, it's been to meet with the "smart" people.

@shailynn, KC and Cincy are better than the rest if your grouping. KC is one of my favorite flyover cities (but not re: SC's)

Also, Orlando is fun if you know what you're doing. IYKYK

Being from the Detroit area, I seem to like almost anywhere I travel. But don’t sleep on the Motor City; the downtown has had a resurgence. We all know the strip club scene around the airport is outstanding, but if you like NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and college football, it is a great place to visit with your teams. Also, great museums and golf courses!

Philly is an easy call for me. I like most cities though at least relative to flyover country.

Fresno, Modesto and Stockton. Though I didnt expect much from them to begin with. Pretty shitty all around

Gonna add Tehran

@007H, also Bakersfield

@srsfox Agreed. We can throw Barstow in there as well. Wouldn't know anything about these places except for driving from the Bay to LA or Vegas

At least Barstow has Peggy Sue's, hotels, and the Route 66 museum. Baker is much much worse.

There is absolutely nothing between Barstow and Primm

Dallas reminds me of a suburban sprawl wanna be Phienix, except the traffic is way worse and the weather always sucks. It’s either hot and muggy in the summer making it unbearable or else it gets cold in the winter with crappy ice storms. Sandwich that in between a bunch of tornadoes in the spring and summer and you get a very high misery index. Plus, the strip clubs are a bunch of Cuban refugees looking to upsell yiu to vip immediately. Dallas is a wanna be high end metro area surrounded by a bunch of red neck hicks. The downtown area is ok, except you’ll be stuck in traffic getting there.

Washington, DC. Just too many politicians you'd want to punch in the head.

I'm not a big fan of Seattle and Portland.

Seattle has terrible weather, bad traffic and everything is very expensive. Sure the scenery is great to look at while you're stuck in traffic if it's not raining that day.

Portland is a strip club Mecca as far as the number of clubs. However, there are a lot of Flannel Fatties that should put on more clothes than take them off. Also, this city has just gone down hill with homeless setting up camps off the side of the freeway. I used to like this place before.