# What is the least celebrated or noted big city in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008 "2008-12-06T16:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008/61 "2008-12-09T02:43:07Z")
> [@Airblairxxx](#): > > Bolding mine. It’s a point that many folks don’t realize, but it’s true. Despite being larger, San Jose is often overshadowed by San Francisco and Oakland. Well, again, it’s larger in the sense that they happened to draw the municipal boundaries wider. It’s not got the concentrated downtown core San Francisco does, though. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008/62 "2008-12-09T14:42:39Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I don’t want to go on, either, but you are right. Nothing is as bad as people make Detroit seem. Seriously. I’ve honestly been asked, “you’re from Detroit? _Have you been shot_???” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008/63 "2008-12-09T20:45:13Z")
When I say Columbus, I usually have to specify which Columbus. That right there is a bad sign. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008/64 "2008-12-09T22:32:35Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > - **Greensboro, North Carolina**. Its metropolitan area has 1.6 million people; a wee bit smaller than that of Austin, Texas or Columbus, Ohio. When was the last time you heard about Greensboro, though? Thanks to the magic of digital TV, I can now watch the Greensboro news from their local CBS affiliate. And it does indeed appear that very little is happening there. By the way, that general area of the state is known as “the triad”. Still doesn’t ring a bell? I thought as much. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008/65 "2008-12-09T23:03:52Z")
My vote goes to Cleveland. And for good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008/66 "2008-12-09T23:14:13Z")
There’s a metropolitan area of over 500,000 I had no idea existed until the other night. A student where I work who I’ve talked to a few times was telling me about going to gay bars where she’s from, which I knew from previous conversations is Bettendorf, Iowa. I assumed she meant when she and friends visited Indianapolis or Chicago or some other large midwestern city because Bettendorf is a town of about 30,000 people, BUT it’s part of the [Quad Cities](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_Cities)(which is actuall 5 cities with several little towns thrown in as well) on the Iowa/Illinois border that, as I understand it, are essentially regarded as one metropolitan area and have an aggregate pop of over half a million people. I suppose I think of the midwest the way a lot of people think of the south: a big city here and there and miles and miles and miles of nothing but farms. You don’t think of Iowa having gay bars and upscale restaurants and New Age shops (which she also mentioned the Quad Cities having). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-celebrated-or-noted-big-city-in-the-us/476008.md?page=3)