Wow. I disagree with about 80% of these and I’ve never even heard of at least 15% of them
I especially don’t like that someone said when you think of racing you think of Charlotte. There’s not even a racetrack in Charlotte and if there was it certainly wouldn’t be the only thing it was known for. I suspect the same of many other cities mentioned here that I know less about.
I think the most accurate city regarding the OP that has been listed so far is probably Pompeii.
I sat here for five minutes trying to figure out what the hell you were trying to tell me. 
Cisco, I agree. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. This may be my longest thread ever, though. I was going for cities with exactly one claim to fame (or infamy).
I too agree with Cisco. The only city I can think of that I think comes close to touching Pompeii’s appropriateness is Vatican City.
Wembley
Epsom
Aintree
Ascot
Pudding Lane
Abbey Rd
Gurl…San Francisco !!!
San Francisco, of course, the home of StarFleet!
There is no town in New Mexico named White Sands. The nearest town is Alamogordo, which was mentioned before.
However, when I think of White Sands, I always think of the Missile Range where the space shuttles land. And I think of the Sands themselves where I try to take my son as often as possible in the summers.
Incidentally, when I think of Alamogordo, I think of Holloman AFB where the Stealth fighters are.
Did anybody mention Green Bay Wisconsin? Go Packers!
Fatima (Virgin Mary appearances)
Borodino (Napoleon vs. Russia)
Marathon (Battle of, 490 BC, Athenians vs. Persians)
Andersonville (Civil War prison)
Yorba Linda (Richard Nixon birthplace)
Warm Springs (FDR deathplace)
When I think “Avignon” I automatically think “Babylonian Captivity” but other events assuredly took place there as well.
I agree with Winkelried, Cisco and Archener on the argument that the cities to be highlighted here on this board should be those whose names are almost synonyms for the events they provided history. Thus, I’d like to highlight some cities already mentioned above: Chernobyl, Pompeii, Hiroshima, Auschwitz, Bhopal, Liverpool (some may disagree with this one in particular), Woodstock, Bretton Woods.
Some mentioned the NYC attack on this discussion, which made me remind of some thoughts I already had over this topic. What was the WTC attack compared to the US (the only country that used the atomic bomb in history) attack of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? 3,000 casualties in NYC versus 130,000 of both japanese cities. What is Tupelo compared to Liverpool? (Sorry about this off-topic comment)
Excuse my ignorance, and maybe I know the answer to this but it’s obviously slipping my mind right now: What happened in Liverpool? I thought people were mentioning it because of the Beatles.
Halabja
Kitty Hawk
Hastings
Seattle
Gutenburg
Tiananmann Square
Winchester(England- Cathedral, I suppose the US Winchester is associated with just one thing too)
Versailles, two things actually.
Mecca
Amritsar
Tipperary
Rhodes
Seattle? You’ve got to be kidding. I can’t even think of what the one thing is that you are thinking of.
Cisco, I was expecting a question like yours; that ws the reason I wrote some disagreement could arise due to that city. I was thinking about the Beatles when I said Liverpool. But maybe one may argue that the importance of The Beatles are far less than the drop of two atomic bombs, or a chemical tragedy, or the muderer of hundreds of thousands jews. But in my perception, the Beatles were the best rock band that ever existed. And rock is one of the music genres I most admire. Since they have influenced many musicians from different music styles and countries, I believe they’ve made a revolution in music. But, sure, this issue is mostly related to your perception of music.
Cheers.
Chappaqua is in NY and might be notable as the latest home of the Clintons.
The intended one, I suspect, was Chappaquiddick, MA
My choices would be (been to all):
Bethlehem
Jerusalem (West (Wailing) Wall, Dome of the Rock, Church of the Nativity)
Baalbek (One of the ancient Wonders of the World)
Malta, G.C. (survived more than a year of German bombing in the WWII siege)
Beirut (bombing of the US Marine barracks) (see www.beirut-documentary.org)
Istanbul ex-Constantinople (seat of the eastern branch of the Roman Empire)
Athens (birthplace of Democracy)(and the 2004 Summer Olympics)
Vatican City (seat of the Roman Catholic Church)
Gibraltar (home of the Rock)
Gary, IN - pollution and funny smells (apparently)
New Rome, OH - speed traps
Hyannisport, MA - home of the Kennedys
Newark, NJ - race riots, the airport, urban decay
Lowell, MA - textile mills
Plymouth, MA - landing site of the Mayflower
Y’know, the admin sorta frowns on resurrecting old threads, Ignatz. Just so’s ya know.
Thanks for the advice, QM. :smack: I’m brand new to all of this and did not see that rule. It’s not the first toe I’ve stubbed in my first week. I didn’t notice the last posting date until you mentioned it. Are there guidelines on how long after the last posting that new ones are frowned upon? I posted a new thread the other day and then noticed that there had been none since July 2004, but it got dozens of posts even though it had been on for at least two separate earlier periods.
Would you please advise how I post a “location” in the “number of postings” block?
Nothing set in stone but the staff has requested that threads which have been dead for over three months not be bumped.
Per the FAQ in ATMB. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=106617