I watched a Nicolas Cage film last night (I had bugger all else to do) anyway the film was set in Wyoming in a small town named Red Rock.
There was fuck all to do in this place except drink!
It was what you guys call a one horse town but it did have a rather impressive hospital.
My question is this, I realise that there are probably many small towns in the US but what the fuck do the people who live in them find to occupy their time.
I mean, here they are miles from nowhere with bugger all to do, no cinemas, no dance halls,no sports centres, no libraries…sweet bugger all.
Why is the town even where it is in the first place and surely living in a place like that must send the kids nuts
All the usual reasons. An agricultural area that finally got just big enough to support a grocery store and post office (Edna, California). A town that acts as a rest point for people traveling between to larger cities (that weird little place between LA and Vegas, on the Nevada side). A town that had prospects 50 years ago that never materialized (Winters, California).
Hell, Sacramento is a city of hundreds of thousands, and there ain’t bugger all to do. It’s just a rest point between Tahoe and San Francisco.
The town in the film had a population of some 1200, small towns in England have much more.
Our Hamlets/Villages and other teensy little gaffes secreted away in some beauty spot, i.e. Lower Peover, St.Johns in the Vale, etc may have as little as 200 inhabitants, sometimes less, but they are within a few miles of any major town or city.
FWIW I live in a dinky little place just outside Manchester but it takes me a matter of minutes to drive to the BIG city
I think there’s a proximity thing, though. I grew up in a village with about 500 people, and no amenities at all, but it was two miles from a larger village with shops, and six from a town, and fifteen from a small city. Some of those US towns are an hour or two from anywhere. Anyone ever been to Rachel, Nevada? There’s simply nothing accessible for a hundred miles in each direction. No wonder they believe in UFOs there.
The small town that is nearest to my place has about 200 citizens. It has 3 bar/restaurants, a feed store/grain elevator, a bank, and a convenience store with gas station. When its residents or the residents of the surrounding countryside such as myself want to do something other than go to a bar, feed store, C-store, or bank, we go to a different town. (I know what you’re thinking–options, what a concept!)
However, many of us find other things to do around home, like take long bike or horseback rides on our quiet, uncongested roads, or grow some of our food right in our own yards, or watch high school baseball, or just lie on the grass and marvel at how the Milky Way stretches across the sky. Some day they’ll run them phone lines out here, and then we’ll find out what that intranets thing is all about.
1- There is plenty to do in Sacramento. museums, nice restaurants, community theater, clubs… plenty. Really.
2- My wife grew up in Choteau, MT. Population is around 1600 or so.
It came into being first as a trading post, then a rail stop to collect grain. There’s still a grain elevator there, but now it is largely a retirement town for all the rural folks in the surrounding area.
Teens and young adults there drink, and now apparently do crack and meth for fun. If they have the means, they will drive the 45 minutes or so to the bustling metropolis of Great Falls for even more fun (more bars, a movie theater and a mall!).
Most, like my wife, hope like hell to get out as soon as they can. Sadly, due to the alcohol and drugs, many end up pregnant early, or unable to get out due to finances.
I think the only thing keeping towns like Choteau alive is inertia.
Don’t forget the US of A is HUGE. There is a lot of room for even those people who would prefer to stick to themselves and do what they wish. Sometimes I wish I lived in a place like that - even just for a little while.
The closest town to me is 4 miles away and might have 400 people in it. I have plenty to do. I really don’t understand this concept that you can’t find anything to do unless you’re surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people.
Now this is why I wish I’d been around at the time the west was opened up to settlers.
What a time that must have been!
You staked your claim (near water) you built your home, you fenced off your property, raised your cattle/crops and you fought tooth and nail to hang on to what you had
Jebus!!, I would have loved to live then, when men were men and sheep were well sought after
My best friend grew up in a tiny town on an island. People think her life must have been cute and quaint in an Anne of Green Gables way, but really, and I quote, “By the time we were thirteen, we were drinking, smoking, and fucking 24/7. Nothing else to do.”
My small town of 1700 has a bank, a grocery store, two convenience stores, five restaurants, two bars, a video store, a bowling alley and a library. 30 minutes east or west takes you to a town or city with shopping and movie theaters.
What do the kids do? In a small town, they’re more likely to be involved in multiple activities at the school so there are practices, rehearsals, or games to attend (there aren’t enough kids in the school for any coach or director to insist that the kids concentrate on one activity only); they get together at each others’ houses to watch movies or play games, have bonfires or hayrides; they go to the bowling alley or one of the bars uptown for hot wings (they are allowed in but cannot be served alcohol); they go to the library or go shopping or to the movies in one of the bigger towns; they work (most kids here work for spending money or to pay for cars/car insurance). In short, they do what kids do everywhere but sometimes they have to travel a bit to do it.
This week since school is out, the annual Route 49 Holiday Classic basketball tournament is being played, so there are several basketball games to attend (with a dance afterward). I think that school officials try a bit harder to find ways to keep the kids involved locally than otherwise they might in a bigger place, especially during winter so the kids aren’t out on bad roads so often.
Forgot to mention, athletic events in a place this size are often the weekend entertainment for the adults in town, too.
I grew up in a small town, pop. 3500. My kids grew up in Seattle. The major difference – in activities – was that they had access to professional sports teams and live music. I would have had to drive to Des Moines or Minneapolis – not something teenagers did in the 50’s.
Other than that, my kids did pretty much the same things I did. Hanging out with friends, roller skating, working, swimming at the pool in the summer, movies, reading. They just had to travel farther to do it. I could walk anywhere – the kids had to be driven or take the bus.
We live in a small town. I can walk to the post office, downtown is a flashing yellow light, Ivygirl walks to and from school, there’s a park right across the street where our nieces and nephews can play when they come to visit.
Our grocery shopping is done by driving anywhere from 10-15 miles away to nearby towns. Our closest town to our little burg is growing by leaps and bounds, they’re getting a second (!) Starbucks, and I hear they’re finally building a movie theatre and a couple of Darden restaurants.
So, we’re small enough that a town council meeting is as good as going to a circus, but near enough to civilization that we can get groceries, homestuff, and car repairs done with no problem.
Though I like to have a local bookstore, a college, and a couple of reasonable restaurants around, I much prefer small towns to even small cities. I’d rather live in a smaller community than I do, but the trade-off is that I can walk to work (and there are bookstores, colleges, and reasonable restaurants. They just close at 9:00).
I could care less if there’s a bar, for example. Especially with the internet (easy access to books, gourmet food, and movies), many of my needs would be met anywhere I had access. I walk, have conversations, watch birds, read, cook, write, garden, and work. That’s what I’d want to do in a city, too, and if I felt an urge for a larger museum or more books, I’d drive to a city. I’m not sure what it is that people do at night in a city that I’m supposed to miss–theater? eating at 11:00? gallery openings?–but I’ve never missed it.
ETA: I grew up in a small community and went to college in a dry town. There wasn’t much vandalism or drinking/drugs. I acknowledge there may have been more fantasy gaming and sex than in the city, but I wouldn’t know.
I know. Really, I do. I’m just missing the ocean. The Sacramento area is too damned flat. And I’m missing having a regular job so that I can go to museums and clubs and whatnot. Stupid forever taking school.
