Worst city you've been to...?
I had the pleasure of dealing with some sales goons at the office over the past couple weeks and, since they travel so much, the conversation always seemed to drift to their experiences around the country and what cities they enjoyed the most with the seemingly most important factors being weather, traffic, and food. For fun, I inquired what the worst city they had ever been to was.
"New Jersey."
"New Jersey's not a city."
"Any city in New Jersey."
The other seasoned traveler agreed, leaving me rather surprised that neither of them said "Detroit". Many years ago, I would have answered "Pittsburgh", but I've heard that place is no longer as I remember it and the stink of sulfur from the mills is pretty much gone. It'd probably come down to any of the dozen tiny towns I've passed through on the highway that no one will know.
So, what is the most unpleasant city you've been to and why?
A lot depends on timing and frame of mind.
For a while, I would have said NYC, but then I had a few trips there that were a blast.
Small city division: Gary, IN
Big city division: Detroit, MI
New Jersey division: Camden, NJ
Compton, CA and Tijuana come to mind (but that may be the circumstances I was in at the time).
Also . . . Mexico City. Before about the mid-70s I was there a lot, and it used to be beautiful, but later than that I hit my tolerance for pollution and crime and sheer mass of people.
Bradford, England
I've only been there once about 20 years ago. It was raining and I got assaulted, so that has probably influenced my decision.
So, what is the most unpleasant city you've been to and why?
That's a good thread question for sure.
I've been in so many truly horrible places in the last 4 months that anyplace in the US seems quite pleasant in contrast.
Then again, it's been a long time since I was in Jersey. :D
Has to be Tokyo. Nice but way too crowded.
Wecome to the Cellar, Quarantine.:D
Bradford's in the middle, isn't it?
Dublin, Ireland. The stench of vehicle exhaust was constant, detectable even inside the buildings. Also, one of the people with us got robbed.
I've actually been to New Jersey too, but I was about 8 years old, so I may not have been aware of how bad it was. I know we spent most of our time in the suburbs though, so in my experience Dublin was still way worse.
interesting how negative experiences, not merely the city itself, impact our choices
Montreal, then Boston or Oakland. Wait, no, New Jersey.
every once in a while, i get detoured off of admiral wilson blvd into camden.....
thats some fucked up shit.
coatesville was no picnic either
Has to be Tokyo. Nice but way too crowded.
Tokyo, crowded? Myth.
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Bradford's in the middle, isn't it?
We call it the North, but if you look at a picture of Britain it's pretty much in the middle (the top is Scotland you see)
I am very fond of Bradford, as is Dana (it's on her doorstep) -
here's her pictures.
I agree it's all down to personal perception. Any place can seem grim in the wrong circumstances. That said, I don't think I even have a worst city. I dislike some of the suburbs of London, but that's about it.
I'm beginning to get sick of Newcastle. I've not been outside the city in 2.5+ months. I'm used to quite a bit more mobility than this.
Luckily, the girlfriend and I are taking a trip at Christmas. We're going to Prague (hostel), then have Christmas in Vienna (double bed in a hotel), and New Years in Brussels (queen bed in a hotel!). Hopefully that will cure what ails me.
New Jersey:
If Camden, NJ can still be considered a city....well it takes the cake. Camden is the armpit of the world.
Trenton def. has its hot spots!!
Texas:
I lived in Houston,TX (Spring Branch County) for 2 years. That was about 15 years ago. And even as a youngster, I can tell that Houston can be bad. But it is such a large city that could easily be broken up into smaller cities. Some areas are beautiful (gallarea area)(sp). BUt where I was at was, at the time, well below poverty.
Tucson. if new jersey is the armpit of america then Tucson is the taint. there is like one square block that is pretty'd up so they can advertise what a nice place it is. the rest of it is overrun by litter, dingy, dirty, gross. in half the city they don't even bother putting the signs in English at all. it is so messed up that i think the mayor is even here illegally. well maybe not... but i wouldn't be surprised.
Tucson. if new jersey is the armpit of america then Tucson is the taint.
:D NOW Thats a great quote!!!!!
Dayton.
But, I haven't much to too many places and most of them have been by choice so it was somewhere I wanted to see for a reason.
Tucson. if new jersey is the armpit of america then Tucson is the taint. there is like one square block that is pretty'd up so they can advertise what a nice place it is. the rest of it is overrun by litter, dingy, dirty, gross. in half the city they don't even bother putting the signs in English at all. it is so messed up that i think the mayor is even here illegally. well maybe not... but i wouldn't be surprised.
I lived in Tuscon as a kid, and had very fond memories of it. I went back almost 10 years ago and was really disappointed. There were a few nice places to visit, but mostly it was a rundown place. Roll up the windows and lock the doors.
Lots of sex motels and RV sales right... or am I thinking of Phoenix?
harharhar. oh wait, yeah we do have quite a few of those. but ours are clean (er) and the signs are in english (quite often) and we don't have all the illegals (except on bell road, constructions sites, home depot's, landscaping companies...). ok, scratch that last one.
Dodge City, Kansas.
The saying is true...You should just leave if you ever mistakenly find yourself there.
I thought Oakland was kind of scary.
Dodge City, Kansas.
The saying is true...You should just leave if you ever mistakenly find yourself there.
No Wai! I had very excellent mexican food there...
The Worst:
1)Athens(Greece)
2)London(England)
3)Detroit(USA)
The Best:
1)Reviere De Loup(Canada-Quebec)
2)Rome(Italy)
3)Toronto(Canada)
I'm beginning to get sick of Newcastle. I've not been outside the city in 2.5+ months. I'm used to quite a bit more mobility than this.
Luckily, the girlfriend and I are taking a trip at Christmas. We're going to Prague (hostel), then have Christmas in Vienna (double bed in a hotel), and New Years in Brussels (queen bed in a hotel!). Hopefully that will cure what ails me.
Bed rest, uh huh. rite. :chuckle:
No Wai! I had very excellent mexican food there...
lol! You had great Mexican food in Dodge City, Kansas?!?
Wild!
:D
Newark, NJ
Close second, Warsaw. That was 1997. It might be better now.
Amarillo, TX. Every time I drive through I have to stop there for gas, and there is always construction of the 'airport parking garages sort' (that is, never ending) and I have a tough time getting back onto the freeway to get outta there. Once I stayed in a hotel near there and left my pillow behind. I paid to have it shipped back to me, even though "I Left My Pillow in Amarillo" would make a great country song. I couldn't bear to leave anything there.
Moscow, Ida... no, Russia. It was February and still the USSR so it's probably better now.
And you do want to get out of Dodge when the wind is blowing in from the feedlots.
Tucson...Lots of sex motels and RV sales right... or am I thinking of Phoenix?
both
Kiev, probably because of the stark contrast between the beauty it should have, and the ugliness it actually has. Wonderful people, and some good friends there, but the city itself is a disaster.
In that case, you're doing it wrong.
How about, manos para arriba?
I'd have to say Baltimore...at least the parts away from the Inner Harbor area...
North America/US: Newark, NJ
North America/Mexico: Cozumel, Mexico (Too touristy)
South America: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay (Black market one of the largest in the world)
Europe: Svetogorsk, Russia (Crime, rampant drug resistant VD, and corruption)
Regular division: Los Angeles. It's ugly, polluted, dirty, covered in crappy grafitti, and way too big.
New Jersey division: Jersey City :greenface
Washington, DC...the people were just such pricks. I had never been in such an environment before. Not even Chicago or NYC are that bad.
Seattle...I dunno. Seattleites always seemed cool and friendly to me...April and I must not have met them during our week there.
Surprisingly, these cities were much better than I expected:
--New York
--Los Angeles
--Vancouver
Oh...worst city in Jersey...Camden. Or Asbury Park, though I've heard that's getting better. Haven't been there since '04.
Paris, France - very overrated, dirty and smelly.
Fayetteville, NC - only driven through, but that's bad enough.
I'd have to say Baltimore...at least the parts away from the Inner Harbor area...
Baltimore is awesome
because of its skeevyness.
Regular division: Los Angeles. It's ugly, polluted, dirty, covered in crappy grafitti, and way too big.
Los Angeles is beautiful, but she makes you work for it. I defy you to stand in front of the Disney Recital Hall, or on the balcony at the Getty, or on the crest of the Angeles Mountains, or in the crashing surf of Zuma, and tell me this city is ugly. And even if all of that doesn't get you, you have to admit, we have
all of the beautiful people.
But, if that's your perception of this town, by all means, stick to it. I'm all for people staying away, whatever the reason.
I really don't like Wellington in NZ. True to it's catch phrase, it is windy, and rainy nearly every day (or so it seems). I'd hate to live there, and I'll never go there to visit again if I can help it.
Washington, DC...the people were just such pricks. I had never been in such an environment before. Not even Chicago or NYC are that bad.
Seattle...I dunno. Seattleites always seemed cool and friendly to me...April and I must not have met them during our week there.
As a transplant to DC, I love it. I don't think people here are pricks. I love having family here and showing them around. However, traffic is a pain to say the least. Metro = good. Particularly for sight seeing. And there's so much to do and see, whether you're a history buff or love art or want to see a play... Just remember as soon as you give in and buy a cheap t-shirt from a street vendor you'll find a cooler one for cheaper 2 vendors away. lol There are also so many great choices for dining.
Seattle... I thought the people there were quite snobby. Although the people outside the city seemed friendly and helpful. And the airport is one of the worst. I can only think of one I disliked more - Miami.
We call it the North, but if you look at a picture of Britain it's pretty much in the middle (the top is Scotland you see)
I am very fond of Bradford, as is Dana (it's on her doorstep) - here's her pictures.
I agree it's all down to personal perception. Any place can seem grim in the wrong circumstances. That said, I don't think I even have a worst city. I dislike some of the suburbs of London, but that's about it.
My friends live in Stanley Village, not the same as Stanley, but close by.
Paterson, NJ
Newark, NJ
Lynn, MA
Passaic, NJ
Camden, NJ
Union, NJ
But Lynn, MA is the only one with a warning poem:
"Lynn, Lynn, city of sin. You never come out the way you came in."
And it's true. Went there once and got mugged.
Don't nobody say shit about the Chi.
This thread is municipally just meant to cook people up.
But if i were to participate, I'd say Nashville. Good music, crappy locale.
Nashville, TN. Country music and whiskey. That's all there is. Welcome to Nashville.
I dislike some of the suburbs of London, but that's about it.
yeah but some of them are absolutely ace,
I lived in a suburby part of High Barnet for 17 years... I always felt it was quiet enough to feel peaceful but connected enough to feel... well, connected. Although in saying that I was recently informed High Barnet has a higher crime rate than Hackney. (doesnt suprise me... Hackney is on the rise)
Its not a city but I have a bone to pick with Enfield in London,
what a dive. What a total dive.
we've had our run of worst cities. Now let's hear it for the superlative urban centers!
Wait . . . have I ever been to a "best" city? Are large cities inherently bad? Noisy, crowded, crime ridden . . . What's the criteria here, anyway?
Here's my pick: San Francisco: for its beauty and diversity
oops that was supposed to be a new thread. Oh well.
Sydney.
Buahahahahahaha!
You little debil, you. :lol:
we've had our run of worst cities. Now let's hear it for the superlative urban centers!
Wait . . . have I ever been to a "best" city? Are large cities inherently bad? Noisy, crowded, crime ridden . . . What's the criteria here, anyway?
Here's my pick: San Francisco: for its beauty and diversity
I haven't been to a lot of places, but I fell in love with San Diego the second the plane landed.
well, that's the problem with your story right there. there is no airport in san diego. san diego doesn't actually exist. it is like the moon landing - all done on a sound stage in burbank. clever tourism professionals created the myth of san diego to fool those clever australians into thinking there was at least one good thing about america.
lol...where the hell did I fly into then? I remember getting off a plane, I remember getting on a shuttle. I remember my room at the Holiday Inn right across from the Maritime Museum...
I'm direction dyslexic and really bad at geography...maybe I was actually in Reykjavik. :blush:
you were actually picked up from John Wayne International airport and whisked away along a very well staged path to the soundstage in burbank.
Well how did they fake the ocean, then? I done seen it, I swears I did.
Well how did they fake the ocean, then? I done seen it, I swears I did.
Walt Disney and NASA, you connect the dots.
Like the stars in that Lion King scene? We all know what we got when we connected those dots!
I haven't been to a lot of places, but I fell in love with San Diego the second the plane landed.
I'd agree, San Diego is really nice. I like that whole area really, LA south to the border. I'm pretty sure that if I could afford to live there I would, despite all the ants, fires, earthquakes, landslides, illegals etc....
Walt Disney and NASA, you connect the dots.
You forgot the CIA and the Illuminati. They are in on it too. Oh, and the Jews too.
I'd agree, San Diego is really nice. I like that whole area really, LA south to the border. I'm pretty sure that if I could afford to live there I would, despite all the ants, fires, earthquakes, landslides, illegals etc....
I picked up a real estate magazine while I was there. I found a lovely little starter home: $690,000. Yikes.
But it is beautiful. I can see why people deal with the cost of living, the ants, fires, landslides, illegals, etc!
Florida... It's humid and filled with tourists. The parts without tourists are filled with craptastic drivers (old people and/or New Yorkers [sorry, folks!]).
People have a bad impression about Detroit from the news. What you see on the news tends to be in neighborhoods where visitors never venture. (That's not to justify it in any sense, rather it's to say that visitors need not worry about being hit by stray gunfire.) It's actually not a bad place, and I say that as someone who grew up in the suburbs where it is not rare to encounter people who haven't been downtown in a decade.
psst....Florida is a State!
and welcome to the cellar......
psst....Florida is a State!
and welcome to the cellar......
I'm aware, but Florida still sucks.
I'm aware, but Florida still sucks.
I beg to differ. The places you visited in Florida may have sucked, but there are 10 places I can name you most likely never visited that are wonderful, have minimal tourists, and the people are all pretty nice. But hey, I am nearly a local.
Worst City: Newark, NJ followed closely by Paterson and Elizabeth, NJ.
From.• According to a survey by AutoVantage (an auto club like AAA), Miami, Florida, is the city with the rudest drivers.
• A Cornell University study determined that New York City has the lowest quality of housing. The World Health Organization says that New York is also the noisiest city in the United States.
• Because of high divorce and unemployment rates and consistently gloomy weather, the city statistics analyzing firm BestPlaces named Tacoma, Washington, the country's most stressful place to live.
• Breathe easy if you don't live in these places: Greenville, South Carolina (where residents suffer the most respiratory tract infections); Scranton, Pennsylvania (the worst city for asthma sufferers); and Tulsa, Oklahoma (the pollen capital of America).
• Based on the number of accidents and fatalities, the International Federation of Bike Messenger Associations named Boston the most dangerous place to ride a bike.
• Zero, a group dedicated to slowing population growth, determined what cities were the best and worst in which to raise children based on the quality of healthcare, education, public safety, transportation, the job market, and the natural environment. The best was Fargo, North Dakota; the worst was Newark, New Jersey.
• According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, Sarasota, Florida, is the city most hostile toward homeless people.
• Forbes magazine named Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the worst city for single people. Reasons: expensive beer, few nightclubs, and not enough single people.
• Worst traffic congestion: Los Angeles. (Not coincidentally, it also has the worst air pollution.)
• City with the bumpiest, most pothole-infested roads: Seattle.
• In 2007 Men's Health magazine analyzed various cities' obesity rates, eating habits, and other data, including how much time people spend exercising and sitting in traffic. Result: Las Vegas was judged the nation's "fattest city."
• The city with the most suicides per capita is Medford, Oregon.
• Decatur, Illinois, has the highest skin cancer fatality rate.
• America's most rat-infested city is Baltimore.
• New Orleans leads in both gun- and diabetes-related deaths per capita.
• Hallmark Cards call El Paso, Texas, the city with the worst sense of humor, based on polls in which very few people said they considered themselves funny. (The city also has very low sales of Hallmark's humorous cards.)
• City with the highest percentage of lawyers: Washington, D.C. Nearly 2% of all residents are attorneys.
• According to the book Cities Ranked and Rated, the worst overall city in America is Modesto, California. The city scored a 0 on the book's 100-point scale for its high cost of living, high unemployment rate, lack of activities, and the highest car theft rate in the United States.
I hate Los Angeles out of principle, and I've been there once, so I'll go with that.
pretty much any 'city' in West Va.
pretty much any 'city' in West Va.
There are cities in West Virginia? I was under the impression it was just full of sheep, and the fuckers thereof.
I lived in WV for about a year. It was right on the Maryland border, my house almost backed right into the Potomac. Ironically enough it's actually called Shepherdstown :rolleyes:
Anywho, the town is small enough that you had to either drive 15 minutes east into Hagerstown Maryland or 15 minutes west into Martinsburg WV if you wanted to buy anything. Hagerstown was almost yuppie-ish. Martinsburg was like a freaking trip to Wal-Mart. The stereotypes are correct.
I will always maintain that Kentucky is worse than WV, however. I literally (and I mean the literal use of the word "literally" here) saw a guy at a Wendy's there that had more UK Wildcat commemorative pins in his hat than he had teeth in his head, and it wasn't even close.
West Virginia. 2 million people; 3 last names. :3eye:
whale, iffen she ain't good enuf fer her own family....
saw a guy at a Wendy's there that had more UK Wildcat commemorative pins in his hat than he had teeth in his head, and it wasn't even close.
Is having a lot of teeth a sign of intelligence?
No. It's the sign of the Dentist.
I'd argue that having the foresight to spend one's money on dental hygiene instead of commemorative pins for a hat is one of the most basic requirements for other people to think you're capable of intelligent thought. But that's just me.
With respect to West Virginia, this from the ABC exit poll was pretty devastating I thought:
"Ninety-five percent of voters in preliminary exit poll results were whites, just under a third were college graduates - among the fewest in any primary this year - and 55 percent had household incomes under $50,000, among the most in primaries to date."
Now none of that suggests that these people's views should not count, but they are not on the cutting edge of America's future nor of the Democratic party's future.
Democratic strategist (and Clinton supporter) Paul Begala warns the party off the idea of relying on "eggheads" and African-Americans as the only way to go, but the fact is that Obama could write off West Virginia and concentrate instead on, say, Colorado, or even Virginia (a much bigger prize).
Eggheads, African-Americans and suburbanites would be a perfect coalition and a winning one. Don't believe me? Go back to the wonderful www.270towin.com/ and do your own math(s)!
--
Justin Webb, BBC News
I agree. :D
Garabaldi Oregon.....the most ugly wet windy never mind the ocean, place I've ever been to.
Syracuse NY- Rude drivers, crappy traffic management, crime. I used to work there, and every day I was driving in the city, I saw someone getting beat up. They still have parking meters, and somehow have enough parking cops to tag you the second the flag pops up. Parking is expensive and hard to find.
Toronto is a beautiful, clean and exciting city. One of the few cities I'd like to spend more time in.
Is having a lot of teeth a sign of intelligence?
Dingle said "teeth in his head." He didn't mention the string the guy had around his neck.