# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/301 "2014-03-10T04:44:31Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > 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. It took you 15 fucking years to let us know?! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/302 "2014-03-10T12:41:33Z")
Probably any city of zombies! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/303 "2014-03-10T13:14:59Z")
Yes, where does _Walking Dead_ take place? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/304 "2014-03-10T14:12:13Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > It took you 15 fucking years to let us know?! Five years. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/305 "2014-03-10T14:46:11Z")
> [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](#): > > The last time this came up, I recall a very convincing case was made for Gary, IN. Never been to either, but I don’t see how anything but there and East St. Louis are even in the running. I have been to Gary, about 30 years ago. It was horrible then and cannot have gotten any better. Also, Scranton PA, most of New Jersey, and all of India. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/306 "2014-03-10T15:22:53Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Richmond, CA is a pit. Just north of Oakland, CA. Another pit. :mad: Thank you. There are parts of Oakland and Richmond that are just too depressing to visit. I’m still boggled by the fact that SF Bay area is so expensive to live, yet we have all these shitholes around. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/307 "2014-03-10T15:48:19Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > Thank you. There are parts of Oakland and Richmond that are just too depressing to visit. I’m still boggled by the fact that SF Bay area is so expensive to live, yet we have all these shitholes around. Well, it’s not as bad as India. All of India. Or Scranton, Pennsylvania, or Marcus Hook, New jersey. [http://fineartamerica.com/featured/scranton-pennsylvania-coal-mining–c-1905-international-images.html](http://fineartamerica.com/featured/scranton-pennsylvania-coal-mining--c-1905-international-images.html) [http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/ca/pa/otherdocs/Sunoco\_MarcusHook.JPG](http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/ca/pa/otherdocs/Sunoco_MarcusHook.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/308 "2014-03-10T16:12:34Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Yes, where does _Walking Dead_ take place? Atlanta. Certainly qualifies for this thread even without the zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/309 "2014-03-10T19:22:21Z")
Flint, MI? I haven’t been there for a while, so not sure how it compares. East St. Louis is REALLY a hole, though. It is tough to imagine anything (in this country) being worse. I have been through Gary, IN plenty of times, and East St Louis is much much worse. Rural Tennessee can be pretty terrible as well, but I don’t think you’d call it a “city”. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/310 "2014-03-11T07:44:43Z")
Anyone ever heard of Karachi, Pakistan? About 4300 sectarian murders in 2013 alone. Regular bomb explosions, Taliban kidnappings, beheadings, torture camps for kidnapped innocents at evey shady street corner, immense poverty, a population of 23.5 million… A base for just about every criminal gang in existance in Pakistan, and a playground for powerful intelligence agencies of every description. Sounds like hell to me. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/311 "2014-03-11T09:32:23Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Was it the [Jefferson Davis monument](http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/jd/)? Indeed it was. I saw the sign on the way back from a conference at Austin Peay and thought it would be an interesting little stop. Not one soul in the little town I pulled off at (whose name I forget - could be Oak Grove) had the vaguest idea what I was talking about. A 350-foot-tall obelisk 15 miles up the road and they had no idea what the hell it was. Damnedest thing. To this day I debate as to whether I was confronting alarming cluelessness or some post-Confederate wall of silence. Ah, zombie thread! I revel in your cold, clammy flesh! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/312 "2014-03-11T11:39:32Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Anyone ever heard of Karachi, Pakistan? About 4300 sectarian murders in 2013 alone. Regular bomb explosions, Taliban kidnappings, beheadings, torture camps for kidnapped innocents at evey shady street corner, immense poverty, a population of 23.5 million… A base for just about every criminal gang in existance in Pakistan, and a playground for powerful intelligence agencies of every description. Sounds like hell to me. Can you send your kid to torture camp? It sound like a useful skill. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/313 "2014-03-11T12:31:02Z")
I posted in this thread before, and I can’t believe I didn’t mention Chongqing, China. Chongqing is a festering pit of stained and crumbling concrete, bathed in a miasma thick and fragrant smog, and run through with poisonous sludge filled rivers. It sprawls for miles and miles, a maze like post-apocalyptic landscape of dreary, often abandon, concrete high rises lined up like dominos to the hazy horizon. From above, it resembles an infested, oozing sore on the planet. The streets are dirty, the hawkers aggressive, the taxi lines long, the food is laced with chilies to the point of pain, and the liquor burns like rocket fuel. Christmas is actually a big deal in Chongqing. On Christmas Eve, tens of thousands of young people flock downtown in a seething crush of humanity. They fill the soulless, manufactured consumer district and the streets on all sides. Police stand in right circles, impassive to the spectacle that is about to begin. As night falls, everyone proceeds to pull out flashing devil horns, Santa Clause hats, and giant human-sized inflatable baseball bats, and the they go about beating the shit out of each other is a massive frenzy. It’s the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced. Okay, fine, I’ve had some good times in Chongqing, and the food is pretty good once you’ve stopped crying. But it’s still an aggressively unpleasant place. ---
**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 13, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/314 "2014-03-13T16:25:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Five years. Cities don’t change that much in five years…still a relevant thread. ---
**Author:** ![manwithnobrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@manwithnobrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithnobrain)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/315 "2014-03-13T18:13:09Z")
Wonderful topic, with many interesting points! However, I really believe that even the worst U.S. city, would certainly qualify as paradise, when compared to some really mean places, such as Mogadishu and Khartoum, (mentioned earlier). Probably, the title of the most loathsome city is yet to remain unclaimed, since anyone who visited _didn’t make it back alive_… Probably is within the African continent, or, the former Soviet Union…I’ve seen some _really_ mean-looking places on this side! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/316 "2014-03-13T18:21:55Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I posted in this thread before, and I can’t believe I didn’t mention Chongqing, China. > > Chongqing is a festering pit of stained and crumbling concrete, bathed in a miasma thick and fragrant smog, and run through with poisonous sludge filled rivers. It sprawls for miles and miles, a maze like post-apocalyptic landscape of dreary, often abandon, concrete high rises lined up like dominos to the hazy horizon. From above, it resembles an infested, oozing sore on the planet. The streets are dirty, the hawkers aggressive, the taxi lines long, the food is laced with chilies to the point of pain, and the liquor burns like rocket fuel. > > Christmas is actually a big deal in Chongqing. On Christmas Eve, tens of thousands of young people flock downtown in a seething crush of humanity. They fill the soulless, manufactured consumer district and the streets on all sides. Police stand in right circles, impassive to the spectacle that is about to begin. As night falls, everyone proceeds to pull out flashing devil horns, Santa Clause hats, and giant human-sized inflatable baseball bats, and the they go about beating the shit out of each other is a massive frenzy. It’s the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced. > > Okay, fine, I’ve had some good times in Chongqing, and the food is pretty good once you’ve stopped crying. But it’s still an aggressively unpleasant place. Heh, I was there, many years ago. I was most impressed by the thick smog. You go out for a day, you come back and your skin was black with soot - sort of like Dickensian London, only on steriods. 😉 Also home to the most horrifying toilet I ever saw, at the Chongqing Academy of Fine Arts. The men’s toilet was a long concrete trench in the floor about 10’ deep, the bottom filled with a thick sludge of decomposing feces covered with a squirming mat of maggots, apparently several more feet deep. Over this, there was a rusty iron pole running the length of the trench and sagging slightly in the middle on which, I assume, one was intended to sit - there was no handholds, so getting on or off that pole would have been a feat of circus-like dexterity (I did not attempt it!). The punishment for failure to mount or dismount properly was all too obvious - a plunge into that revolting mass, probably head-first. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931/317 "2014-03-13T18:51:57Z")
Ah, the 'ol hole & pole. That is seriously disturbing. Academy of Fine Arts indeed. 😮 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-loathsome-city-in-the-universe/494931.md?page=15)