# Most loathsome city in the universe **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931 "2009-05-01T03:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/281 "2009-09-30T19:03:49Z")
What’s so awful about Newark airport? It’s the best airport in the NY metro area. I definitely can understand why people would hate on Newark the city though. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/282 "2009-09-30T19:05:31Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > I have friends that live in Houston and they love it there, but I am going to have to cast my vote for Houston just the same. Take all the dirt, crime, poverty and expense of living in Chicago or New York and put it in 110 degree heat. Then add so much humidity that raindrops appear out of the air when it isn’t even raining. It cost more to see a movie in Houston in 2003 than it does to see a movie in Times Sqare in 2009 and it was so hot parts inside of my car melted. One of my friends that lives there pays more for her 1 bedroom apartment than my boyfriend and I pay for our 2 bedroom apartment in Manhattan. I will never go back ever again. LOL, Chicago is known for being pretty clean, and New York has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/283 "2009-09-30T20:24:36Z")
I’m still confused by the guy who said “Knoxville,” apparently on the grounds of having no culture. Given that we’ve got music festivals, sports teams, the friggin’ state university (and a good one in several areas), on top of the Smoky Mountains nearby, and is the regional cultural center, well… ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/284 "2009-10-01T01:16:24Z")
I once went to Atlanta for a conference. I guess that’s the only reason most people ever go there. I arrived a day early. I went to the hotel front desk and said I had a free day, what would they suggest I go and see or do or take a look at? What did visitors to the city usually enjoy? The desk staff basically shrugged and told me they couldn’t think of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/285 "2009-10-01T01:24:57Z")
Wasn’t it W.C. Fields who, when once asked for a comparison between good and bad, said it was like making love or going to St. Louis, to use two opposite extremes? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/286 "2009-10-01T01:29:23Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > The desk staff basically shrugged and told me they couldn’t think of anything. That might not be a reflection on Atlanta, though. I’ve noticed folks in that sort of position becoming progressively dumber over the years. I’ve got a specific story about looking for a monument in Western Kentucky that no one had heard of…but that’s another thread. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/287 "2009-10-03T02:14:23Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve been to teeny-weeny towns that contain nothing but . . . A post office? No. A gas station? No. A store of any kind? No. A tanning salon? Yup. And when you pass through several such towns in a row, none having anything more than a tanning salon, it gets a little creepy. And the sign always features a picture of a palm tree! (I’ve noticed also very sad little “beauty salons” and of course the ubiquitous nail palaces - I thought by now, especially with the shit economy, the nail salons would have taken a hit, but they’re still around. Like in the low-rent section of Niagara Falls, which is like a big scattered strip mall on the way down. Hardly loathsome , but depressing.) ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/288 "2009-10-03T02:24:49Z")
OMG so totally there on the soulless strip mall communitiees…and there’s always a place where you can get a pedi/manicure or pay to get skin cancer. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/289 "2009-10-03T18:08:50Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > the whole Central Valley of CA Even Bakersfeild is club med up against places like Jakarta and Juarez. Fresno was undergoing quite the cultural renaisannce before the real estate market tanked, but its coming back pretty quick. As an ex-EMT I have seen some of the nastiest back alleys and dens of hate and villany Fresno has to offer. I would still rather take my chances here over almost any US/Mexico border town and the attendant drug trade that comes with it. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/290 "2009-10-03T18:24:38Z")
> [@xcalibre](#): > > The cities that come up the most frequently seem to be Cherynobl (mostly abandoned), Norilsk, Beirut, and Abidjan, though its likely nobody really ever goes to these places willingly. Beirut??? I know a number of people who have gone to Beirut willingly, and quite liked it. It’s supposed to be a very nice place, all things considered. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/291 "2009-10-04T00:59:48Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > I’ve got a specific story about looking for a monument in Western Kentucky that no one had heard of…but that’s another thread. Was it the [Jefferson Davis monument](http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/jd/)? ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/292 "2009-10-04T22:26:49Z")
> [@K.S.Masmacho](#): > > Has Hull, England, been mentioned yet? > > Has anyone ever been there? > > I have a friend who swears it really is the > > worst. > > place. > > ever. > > The running joke there is that it should be spelled with an e. People thought so in 1900, too… \*\* The Dalesman’s Litany\*\* It’s hard when folks can’t find the work where they’ve been bred and born When I was young I always thought I’d bide 'midst roots and corn But I’ve been forced to work in town so here’s my litany From Hull and Halifax and Hell, good Lord deliver me ``` When I was courting Mary Jane, the old squire he says to me I've got no rooms for wedded folk, choose whether to go or to stay I could not give up the girl I loved, so to town I was forced to flee From Hull and Halifax and Hell, good Lord deliver me I've worked in Leeds and Huddersfied and I've earned some honest brass In Bradford, Keighley, Rotherham I've kept my bairns and lass I've travelled all three Ridings round and once I went to sea From forges, mills and coaling boats, good Lord deliver me I've walked at night through Sheffield lanes, 'twas just as being in hell Where furnaces thrust out tongues of fire and roared like the wind on the fell I've sammed up coals in Barnsley pits with muck up to my knee From Barnsley, Sheffield, Rotherham, good Lord deliver me I've seen fog creep across Leeds bridge as thick as the Bastille soup I've lived where folks were stowed away like rabbits in a coop I've seen snow float down Bradford Beck as black as ebony From Hunslet, Holbeck, Wibsey Stack, good Lord deliver me But now that all our children have gone, to the country we've come back There's forty mile of heathery moor 'twixt us and the coalpits' stack And as I sit by the fire at night, I laugh and shout with glee From Hull and Halifax and Hell the good Lord delivered me ``` **Written (or collected) by Dr Moorman, President of the Yorkshire Dialect Society about 1900.** ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/293 "2009-10-05T02:23:19Z")
Is hating on cities in verse a Brit thing? [http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html](http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html) (Made more famous in the first epi of _The Office_) ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/294 "2009-10-05T02:58:12Z")
> [@xcalibre](#): > > I’m not terribly well traveled in the terrible city department so I did some online fact finding for various lists similar to this one [The World's 10 Worst Cities](http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-06/worlds-10-dirtiest-cities). > > The cities that come up the most frequently seem to be Cherynobl (mostly abandoned), Norilsk, Beirut, and Abidjan, though its likely nobody really ever goes to these places willingly. If you wanted to list some places where a few of us might end up the current winner and temporary bad city is probably Baghdad, though you might want to avoid Mexico City if given the opportunity. > > I personally lived in Milan, which is pretty crappy and horribly polluted, but once a year it floods with thousands of female models so it balances out 😃 I loved Beirut and went there willingly… and hope to go again. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/295 "2009-10-05T03:00:16Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > I very well may be the only person on this board (or maybe not?) who has been to Pyongyang. Man…I don’t know if I can even talk about it being a “loathsome city” because it’s unlike any other city on this planet. It’s like being in different world…and, Christ, I live in China, which I first thought was like a “different world” until I went to DPRK. > > Nice to see some people sticking up for Vegas, my hometown. I really disagree with the perception that so many people have of it. It has really cleaned up in the 20 or 30 years and is quite a nice place to live. Actually, the only people who make it into some kind of “evil wrapped in materialism” are all you tourists who flock there looking for the stereotypical “Vegas experience.” Not the only one - I was in Pyongyang last month and loved it. It IS an alternate reality, but it so very fascinating in its own way. When were you there? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/296 "2009-10-05T15:23:39Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > I once went to Atlanta for a conference. I guess that’s the only reason most people ever go there. I arrived a day early. I went to the hotel front desk and said I had a free day, what would they suggest I go and see or do or take a look at? What did visitors to the city usually enjoy? > > The desk staff basically shrugged and told me they couldn’t think of anything. Yep, I was in Atlanta once, and the major “attraction” was “Coca-Cola World”! It is basically Coca Cola advertising, which you PAY to see! The end of the visit is where you can taste all the various kinds of coke being peddled around the world-so of thisstuff is really weird (like the grapfruit flavored crap they sell in Asia). That said, Atlanta (downtown) is hot, boring, and stocked with medicocre, expensive restaurants. I’d like to nominate Dallas , Texas: there is absolutely nothing to do in the downtown, after 6 PM-no clubs, no restaurants, and no people! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/297 "2009-10-05T20:38:53Z")
That’s because the environment the city of Dallas was built in is inhospitable to human life. It’s only good for the big buildings they’ve put up. If you work in them, step outside, and are reminded of how vile the climate is - well, I’d get in my car/on the train/bus - whatever - and hightail it home to my airconditioned home real fast. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/298 "2009-10-05T21:03:25Z")
Guangzhuo, China. Never been anywhere uglier, stinkier, with fewer attractions or sights, or less pleasant people. There’s a food market there with live puppies and kittens hung up by their back legs. Fucking horrible, and I hope I never return. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/299 "2009-10-05T23:23:37Z")
I live in New Zealand & haven’t been overseas since 1984. & like most tourists I went to places that you want to see. So, no real horror stories. The worst overseas city I have ever heard of is Port Moresby. I’ve known half a dozen people who went there on well paying contracts. Only one signed up for a second stint. But I’ve been emboldened by the website **Rubystreak** posted. & agree Invercargill is the pits. We went to the South Island seven years ago. My daughter was entered in a sports tournament in Christchurch. & my sister had lost her mind & moved to Invercargill. I still can’t believe we had three & half weeks in the South Island & spent most of one week in Christchurch (& didn’t see much other than the sports hall) & a week in Invercargill. [http://www.worst-city.com/Invercargill-New-Zealand-Military-March-Antarctic-winds-winter.htm](http://www.worst-city.com/Invercargill-New-Zealand-Military-March-Antarctic-winds-winter.htm) That picture is of a Water Tower. its pretty much the only thing to look at. The “town” is flat, dull & full of closed minded people. I would never voluntarily go there again. Adding to the misery, my sister had bought a “do up” that looked like something the Munsters would live in. That site has spelt Rotorua wrong. While I agree is smell horrible, there are lots of interesting things to do there. I’m emphasising I don’t think Invercargill is as bad as the other horror spots mentioned in this thread. But its the worst place in New Zealand by far. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/300 "2014-03-10T04:35:30Z")
> [@Auntbeast](#): > > Damn you! I was going to post Gibsonton. My husband did plumbing for a while and had a few jobs down there. Said it was the nastiest, scariest shithole he’d ever been in. And he is 3rd generation Tampa, so that says something. > > I know that there are far worse places than Tampa, Florida. However, I just escaped from there after 16 years. It has horrid traffic, bad planning, road flooding, corruption, severe class issues and honestly, it is ugly. It has every single one of the disadvantages of a large city with virtually none of the benefits. Hell, they are most famous for a celebration that is basically a ripoff of Mardi Gras, and instead of floats, they use boats. > > God what a shithole town it is. Tampa traffic is nothing compared to Southern California or most major U.S. cities. A great theme park, nice zoo, aquarium and museums, pro sports, nice waterfront & cruise port, nice airport, a couple of good universities & major cancer research center, year-round outdoor lifestyle…Tampa has a lot going for it. The biggest downfall is a lack of major corporations/employers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931.md?page=16)