A google search of +el paso +billboard have me 4,410 hits.
Hey. HEY. HEY.
Fresno is the Gateway to Yosemite. (At least when you are driving up from L.A.) So - no dissing Fresno. It has a nice freeway, anyway… 
Needles, California.
A barren pit amongst the cacti on the Arizona/California border, where temps of 130 degrees are common. Being as it’s far removed from anything resembling civilization, it charges 50% more for gas. It is best seen at high speeds. For God’s sake, do not stop!
The home of WVU-Tech.
Covered with coal dust, ugly dorms, and close to several chemical plants. It makes me cringe to just drive into the town.
And yes, Pikeville, Kentucky, definitely rates up there on armpit towns. I have more friends from there than you can shake a stick at. Few of them rarely return home, even to visit. While parts of it are nice and mountainly picturesque, it’s horribly boring. The home of the Hillybilly Days.
City Gent,
I’ve been to Youngstown. It does suck. However, it does not hold a candle to Gary, Indiana. snac, Medea’s Child, and thinksnow are all spot on.
That city is a disgusting wasteland, it smells like a gas station bathroom, AND it cursed us all with LaToya and Michael Jackson.
Texarkana! - The TEXAS side of course.
I’ll second Needles. The only way to tolerate that place is at 70 mph.
And, what about Gorman, CA? I have just passed through, but it seems pretty miserable to me.
I was driving in a small subdivision in Montgomery once, unremarkable except for the fact that the streets were unpaved (!), when I came to a large tree growing right out of the middle of the street. Nothing surrounding it; no fence or shrubbery, just a big goddamn tree growing right out of the street. Perplexed, I waited until another car came in the opposite direction, and he steered around it without even blinking. Must have been a local.
Now…on to the Youngstown vs. Gary challenge.
On a per-100,000 population basis:
+city +crime: Youngstown=8744, Gary=19819
+city +poverty: Y=3280, G=8801
+city +hellhole: Y=13.4, G=73.0
+city +armpit: Y=116, G=258
I guess the numbers speak for themselves. Does this mean that somewhere in Gary a guy is saying, “Geez, if only I lived in Youngstown, Ohio.”
What truly disturbs me about this thread is the high proportion of the nominated cities I’ve actually been to:
Pine Bluff, AR
Youngstown, OH (grew up about 50 miles north)
Gary, IN
Montgomery, WV (actually spent a couple of nights there)
Needles, CA
Buffalo, NY
Pikeville, KY
NYC (always kind of liked this one)
LA
Washington DC
Lima, OH
Las Vegas, NV (like this one too)
Maybe I need a new travel agent.
As a devout Pittsburgher, I have to put in the required vote and say that Cleveland is the armpit of America ;).
(To show I’m not toally partisan, I admit that if you asked at the middle of the 20th century [a bit before my time!], Pittsburgh would almost be universally voted the winner…what with pollution so thick that streetlights had to be on at noon).
I always thought that Youngstown was a fairly quaint place. Boardman was a terrific place to go shopping, and when you’re was hungry you could cross the state line to Sharon, Pennsylvania and go to Quaker Steak N’ Lube!
Aaaak! What was I thinking?!? Gorman? Sure, it’s small, sure, it’s in the middle of nowhere on the 5 freeway N of L.A., but it has wildflowers! So it’s certainly not an armpit.
I somehow got Gorman and Barstow mixed up. I really meant Barstow, CA. Now that’s an armpit. Dry, bleak, hot.
dear boy, the prevailing winds blow from New Jersey to Staten Island. And Islanders have the cancer rates to prove it. Plus, the Island’s Fresh Kills dump is now closed, to arise phoenix-like in the coming years as a nature preserve. Or ski area.**
And stop ragging on the Arthur Kill. It hasn’t caught fire in years.
Umm, didn’t Phil Hendrie do this on his LA talk show? I believe he did…
Let me nominate Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
I May have changed since I was there, but my parents used to take me there to visit my aunts when I was young (60’s, some 70’s).
It truly sucked.
One store in the town, it seemed. Great nightlife I bet.
Maybe you need to stop travelling and give the other cities a chance! 
Sorry, but I have to defend Houston. I live here, after all. At least Houston has tree-lined boulevards, theaters, decent jobs, no snow (which I personally hate), and good restaurants.
Ok, now…
Armpit of the nation? How about Seligman, Arizona? Most of the places mentioned above at least have Wal-Marts or McDonalds restaurants. They both suck, but not having them and living 200 miles from either is even worse.
Avondale, AZ I totally agree with. I once got out of my car in a asphalt parking lot and sank into the pavement because it was so hot that the asphalt had melted.
Drive west of Avondale. There’s even worse stuff out there: Tolleson, Buckeye, Yuma, and the aforementioned Blythe.
NYC? Not a chance. It produces bad stuff, but it produces a heck of a lot of good stuff as well. It has balance. unless you hate cities, in which you have an argument. I, personally, love cities. I love places that are full of people doing things. Life in large amounts facinates me. Now, industrial deathpit grosses me out.
Gary Indiana. I’m telling you.
And I’m so lucky I get to drive through there again in a few weeks. You know how smells leak through into your car?
Its a bad, bad, bad place. Bad.
Pascagoula has nothing on Wiggins.
Wiggins, Mississippi holds the rotten stench of decomposing skunk throughout its atmosphere, noticeable as soon as you cross the town limits sign on the highway. Far from the Gulf Coast’s white sand beaches, casinos and nightlife, the falling-in trailer homes and nonexistent downtown give the miniscule map-dot of Wiggins its reputation for being thoroughly redneck. And when even the Mississippians consider the place to be a redneck hell-hole… you know it’s bad. 
l.a. is the worst. everything is 30 minutes away by car. no public transportation. you could take the lame subway but you’re still miles away from where you’re going! streets are 6 lanes wide. you get pool water out of the faucet. most of smell-a is a deteriorating filthy slum and anywhere you care to be is for millionaires only.
I’ve had enough of the LA bashing! These people have probably never been to our City of Angels! They are probably San Franciscoans!
::shudder::