Small Town America

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’m not American, but I wouldn’t mind living in a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere (and I have done so for a time in the past). There are things to do, even if it is of the huntin’ shootin’, and fishin’ variety - and a spot of getting drunk and pregnant, I suppose.

I also like big cities, and Sydney is really the only place in Australia that’s big enough to satisfy me (and even then, only barely. I’d be happier in Hong Kong or somewhere). I’m a city boy at heart.

But the places I can’t stand are the middling huge towns/small cities. I grew up in an area like that - it had very little to do. You couldn’t enjoy the great outdoors, because it was kinda suburban, and you couldn’t go into the metropolis because there wasn’t one. It was all the disadvantages of a small town and a big city, and none of the advantages of either.

I haven’t been to the US yet, but at a guess, I think you’d find me in either New York City, Chicago, or somewhere remote in Arizona. I think somewhere the size of Cincinnati or Nashville would drive me completely spare.

22

Hi everyone - new here.

I grew up in a small town and loved it as a kid. As a teenager I got a little antsy, but looking back on it now it was a lot better (for me) than living in a bigger city. When I moved out of the house my freshman year of college, it was off to the big city! It was fascinating for about a month, then it began to suck. Anyway, there’s plenty to do in a small town. You just have to get creative and use your imagination instead of letting something electronic do the entertaining for you. KnowwhatImean?

23

Vegas itself was nothing more than a watering stop (now no longer necessary) for the railroad, until a California gangster decided to make a resort there.

Have you heard of that new, wondrous moving picture box with sound?

24

That’s about right. As a teenager we used to say you could have a nice car, a girlfriend or a substance abuse problem. Pick no more than two (no one could afford all three.)

My hometown still has one movie theater, one bowling alley, three stoplights and about 20 bars (one for every 200 people). There really isn’t much for anyone under the age of 21 to do at night.

whistlepig

25

[QUOTE=guizot]
Have you heard of that new, wondrous moving picture box with sound
Indeed I have but I wouldn’t want to gawp at it 7 days a week 52 weeks a year

26

Out of curiosity, what do most of you consider a “small town” in America?

27

I think a town of 3000 or so hits my cutoff point for a small town.

28

I always thought you were in Orlando proper, imagining the Dr. Phillips area. Don’t know why. Are you in Bithlo, or Christmas?

29

Well, we used to go to the beach or to nearby towns a lot. 45-60 minutes of driving isn’t much if there’s fun at the end of it. I hear that in those very dry towns, it’s popular to drive around doing donuts or something in the middle of nowhere.

I live in a small city now and I love it. Plenty of nature close by and lots to do (and easy parking when you get there!). Perfect!

30

Que? On the Nevada side, there is nothing but Primm and Jean, and nobody lives in either place. Well, that’s not really true - Jean has a state prison. But it isn’t a “town” by any definition. Primm is nothing but 3 casinos and an outlet mall.

Now if you are talking about the California side, then you are talking about Baker.

31

I grew up on a farm 20 miles from the nearest town (not counting a couple of “crossroad communities” that really weren’t towns but just a convenience store and maybe a church or two). We were rarely bored- we watched TV, read a lot, talked a lot, and the family was always good for making its own drama when there was nothing on TV.

Then I lived in Montgomery AL (pop: about 250,000) which can be a frustrating place but not really “small town”. I didn’t live in one of those until I moved to Georgia.

Where, the answer to your question is sort of disappointing:

1- cable TV
2- video (small towns probably have more video rental stores per capita than large cities, and of course netflix)
3- the Internet* is HUGE in small towns- I’ve known more senior citizens in small towns who could qualify as web masters than I have in the cities I’ve lived in
4- dining/drinking
5- driving to big cities for things you can’t get in small towns (shopping, porn, concerts, stage shows, well stocked bookstores, specialized dining [if there are more than 40 people a Chinese place and a Mexican place will materialize from the earth, but if you want Indian or Thai or Cuban or whatever you’ve got to cook it yourself or ride)
6- lakes (most small towns are built near a river/lake/or some other outdoor recreation

I should mention that the towns above had populations of around 20,000 and weren’t the “truly tiny towns”, like Maplesville*. However, going to public school with kids from the teensy tiny communities of rural Alabama, even the ones who were in poverty- if they had a TV- were well up on pop-culture. I doubt that any area of the country ever responded as immediately and radically to TV and radio as the rural “heartland” areas. When I was little my 90+ year old relatives in the middle of nowhere all knew what nights Diff’rent Strokes and Dukes of Hazzard and other shows came on, all watched Johnny Carson, all watched I Love Lucy and Bonanza reruns every afternoon and the news.

Now what they did before cars and electronic media- well, I think that’s one of the big reasons they had 14 kids and relished the opportunity to go to war. :wink:

*Speaking of the Internet, I used to drive through the tiny Alabama hamlet of Maplesville a good bit. (It’s official population 685 but I swear to God they’re counting cemeteries and Cabbage Patch dolls to get that figure.) Pardon the self-reference, but I once described it as a “blathering senile unwashed amputee of a town (a thrift store, a pool parlor, lots of boarded shops, a collapsed but occupied house on its one street that has Christmas tree lights year round, all standing in the shadow of a strangely enormous Baptist church)” and as of the last time I drove through there a few months ago that description stands.
One night I was stopped at a railroad crossing for a couple of minutes and I looked into the house next to the road, a half-collapsed old simple bungalow and it was an image I’ll never forget. Inside the house was dark, but through the window I could see an old woman in a pink bathrobe sitting down surfing the web, with her skinny old man in overalls standing over her shoulder, the computer being the only light. Moreso than anything I’ve ever seen it made me think “If Norman Rockwell were alive today, this is something he’d draw”- just truly made me lament my own lack of artistic ability.

32

A few years ago, there was debate in congress that involved a lowered blood alcohol level (BAL) to 0.08. I’m not sure, but I believe the debate was on whether to adopt a federally-mandated 0.08 BAL, and that non-complying states would risk losing federal highway funds.

An article in the Washington Post talked about the disparity of support for lower legal BAL between rural (mostly western) states and pretty much everywhere else. The article claimed that in places described in the OP, drinking is a much bigger part of people’s lives, and that lowering legal BAL would have more impact on rural populations.

33

I grew up in a town of less than 7,000 and recreation was primarily sporting events, movies, Pizza Hut, and cruising Main.

Until we discovered drinking, pot, and sex.

34

I grew up in a town of 20,000 people, but I still consider it a small town. What does the population size matter if there’s nothing for them to do? To get to the nearest city of any size, you had to drive through at least 2 more towns of 20,000 people with nothing to do in them either.

Basically we had nothing to do growing up. Up until I was 16, we would just ride our bikes or skateboards around town aimlessly. We’d hang out at someone’s house and watch TV or play Nintendo or driveway basketball. Sometimes we would go to the park if we didn’t live too far away.

After we turned 16 and could drive, we didn’t fair much better. There were a couple of crappy restaurants, fast food places (we didn’t even have a McDonalds, we had Duchess which is like a Wendy’s but exclusive to Connecticut), pizza joints and an all-night diner. You meeded to drive about 20 minutes to get to the mall, a movie theater or a nearby arcade/batting cages/gocart complex. If we were lucky, someone would have a house party when their parents went away or someone would score some booze and we would drink in a parking lot or some other out of the way spot.

Even when we were 21 and home from college, we had little to do. There was one bar in town and another in the next town over about 15 minutes away. We generally had to drive 20-45 minutes to get to a half decent city like Fairfield, Stamford or New Haven. There were some good nightclubs within driving distance, but for some reason a lot of them were litterally in the middle of nowhere. Like you’re driving through this suburb and then all of a sudden there’s a club with a big ole’ parking lot.

35

I went to school in a town of 1200. I actually grew up five miles away and 1/2 mile from the nearest neighbor.

The major activities I recall most of my fellow townsfolk enjoying, in no particular order:

Talking about each other, going someplace else, drinking, pot, and sex.

36

Neither. I’m in a tiny town in Lake County. Further than that I’d rather not say publicly, if you don’t mind. PM me if you like. :slight_smile:

37

Thank god I didn’t grow up in a small town, but my mom did (Panhandle, Texas–pop. 2000), and when I was a kid we would often spend a month or more there in the summers. There was no movie theater, or even a movie rental place. There was a public pool, a country club (believe it or not), and a small public library. We rode our bikes around, went swimming, read, hung out with other kids and played. In the evenings, we’d drive out and look at the wheat crop (my grandparents owned about a section and a half of land, which somebody farmed for them). It was fun. When I got older, I hunted some around there–quail, pheasant, etc. Amarillo, which I guess counts as a city, was 30 minutes by car, so if you wanted excitement, you went there. I’m glad I didn’t grow up there, though–Dallas was more my speed.

38

The town I grew up in had a population of 70. Until I went to college of course. We would drive the 15 miles to the big town of the county seat, population of less than 10,000 at the time. There was a movie theater, 2 drive-ins, the county library. all kinds of things to do.

Now I live in that county seat, the population of the entire county is less than 30,000, and there is still plenty to do here. And if I need to, I can drive to 2 other places with even more things to do in less than 45 minutes.

39

I grew up in a not-small town (Lacey, WA, so at least we had Olympia too), but one of my best friend’s families is from a town smaller than my high school. Her teenage cousins there do whatever can fill the time: volleyball, basketball, speech and debate, business and technology extracurriculars, after-school jobs, 4-H, and the like, and maintain a shared video game collection. They have a house that is almost entirely dedicated to video games and D&D. (Their uncle used to live there, but he died, and now the late uncle’s best friend lives there, keeps the house together and acts as DM for the D&D.) But they’re perfectly willing to drive 3 hours to have something to do for a 3-day weekend- or to go shopping.

But even in my town, there’s not much for people to do between high school age and 21, especially after about 8 at night. You can go to Denny’s, see a movie, sometimes go to a concert or a, rarely, a club, but after midnight you’re pretty much stuck (if you only want legal options) with wandering around 24-hour grocery stores, running through a fountain, or driving 20 minutes to a Krispy Kreme. Even if you’re in one of the more time-intensive groups in high school (sports or theatre), you’re usually free by 11 pm with nothing to do.

40

What a great contradictory username/post. :smiley:

I grew up in the country. Population 3. (2 parents and me, their only child). The closest metropolis was about 20 miles away. I grew up fairly well read, above-average intelligence, creative, and well-adjusted. Teh internets were just a figment of Al Gore’s imagination. Five tv channels, lots and lots of books, conversation, and working in the garden.

My experience has been that even those people who live in large cities, live most of their lives in a very small section of that city, not unlike living in a small town. They go to the movies near their home, they shop at a nearby mall, and only venture away from their comfort zone for special occasions.

ETA: For Christmas this year I got the board game, Clue! I was thrilled. My parents were never board game people so being an only child, I never got to play the darned things. I was Miss Scarlett on Christmas day! Wheeee!