Who LOVES the city where they live?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I started a thread about people who hate the city in which they live.

Now I want to hear from people who love the city in which they live.

I used to live in Austin and I loved it.

It’s green and hilly, full of lakes, rivers and trees. There are tons of outdoor activities if you like to hike, bike, go rock climbing, canoeing or sailing.

The music scene is awesome. You can hear great live jazz, blues, country or rock any night of the week.

The university is first class which gives a lot of intellectual feeling and fascinating lectures that are open to the public.

It has wonderful food. I can tell you the best places to get BBQ, vegetarian, Tex-Mex and burgers.

The economy is good and jobs are pretty easy to find.

It’s very family friendly too with wonderful parks and activites for little ones.

The only disadvantage is the heat and humidity.
I wish I’d never left…

2

I LOVE where I live. I’m 30-40 minutes away from just about everywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area.
There are literally thousands of restaurants serving every type of food you can imagine.

Any activity I could want; book stores, movie theaters, parks, the Pacific Ocean, museums, two great aquariums, hiking, fishing, boating, shopping, opera, concerts of every type of music, 6 professional sports teams… you name it, you can find it here.

Add to this some amazing weather (total lack of snow), great neighborhoods, just about every culture you can think of, and I live in one of the most crime free cities in the country.

if6was9 decided he wanted to live here about 15 minutes after getting off the plane. (I may have had something to do with that, too…) I just couldn’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else.

3

I’ve lived in Atlanta for a while now, and I’ll miss it. Not the insane drivers, but the easy access and low fares courtesy of the huge Delta hub, the nice weather, the way everyone was pretty friendly in this big city, the clear, blue skies, the way I can do just about everything of interest by driving to the train station and swiping my MARTA card, the diversity of people here…

4

Um… When I saw all the GREEN out of the plane window, on February 13th… I was hooked! Still, you have everything to do with it, sweetie. :slight_smile:

5

I have lived in or just outside of Philadelphia for my entire life, and I have always loved it.

I love the River Drives and D’Allesandro’s cheesesteaks. I love the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers. I love the Art Museum and the restaurants on Main Street in Manayunk.

I love the taprooms on the Ridge in Roxborough. I love the Boulevard and the Franklin Institute and the Christmas tree in the City Hall courtyard. I love the shops on South Street, and the huge space in 30th Street Station, where the columns and the statues dwarf us as we walk to our trains.

I love the Italian Market and the flags on the Parkway. I love the Cathedral and the downtown library. I love the Mummers and Chinatown. I love the music and ethnic festivals and tall ships down on Penn’s Landing.

I love the smell of earth and water in Fairmount Park as we walk the trails to Valley Green to feed the green-headed ducks, after we find the statue of Chief Tedyuscung that keeps watch over the Wissahickon Creek. I love the lights that run across the cables of the Ben Franklin Bridge at night.

I love it all.

I love it in the way I love my family. The city is no doubt flawed, but it possesses great beauty, and it is capable of magnificence; it is who we are.

6

I love the San Francisco Bay Area, generally. Weather ( though it can be a little boring ), landscape ( including the bay and ocean ), entertainment and shopping options, diversity, food, comfortably left-wing political atmosphere :D. Only the expense is annoying.

However I’m supremely indifferent to my own little town, which is nothing special. However smaller cities like mine don’t really mean much out here - they’re just squashed together suburbs/urban areas that all grade into one another ( where urban ends and suburb begins isn’t even entirely clear where I am in the East Bay - is Albany a suburb of Berkeley? is Berkeley a suburb of Oakland? not really in either case - the boundaries are hazy ).

  • Tamerlane
7

Ah, Tucson. I love: No snow. Ever. Wearing shorts on Christmas Day. Reid Park, with it’s zoo, 2 small lakes with ducks, dog park, running/walking track, jungle gyms, trees, and ramadas. Mid- July, when daily clear, blue skies segue into black menacing storm clouds, the humidity rises from almost nothing to almost unbearable, and the whole town seems to hold it’s breath until the first drop of rain, when they and the desert come to life all of a sudden. The smell of creosote in the air after said rain. Friendly people, laid-back attitude, decent restaurants, lots of jobs if you’re in the right field, the great outdoors, and a quarter ounce for 20 bucks! What more could you ask for? :smiley:

8

"I like the city air, I like to drink of it,
The more I know New York, the more I think of it.
I like the sight and sound and even the stink of it–
I happen to like New York. "

9

I live on the outskirts of Ithaca, NY, which was voted Most Enlightened City by Utne Reader and #1 Emerging City by USA Today. There’s a bumper sticker that’s popular around here that says, “ITHACA: 10 square miles surrounded by reality” and that sums it up-- local bookstores outsell the chains, McDonald’s goes broke and gets driven off the Commons, there hasn’t been a Republican mayoral candidate since I’ve lived here, and the trees outnumber the people. There are gorgeous waterfalls everywhere, a highly educated populace due to the many prestigious colleges and universities in the are, people care about the community, and all my friends are here. I was in exile in Binghamton for 4 years while I was looking for a job in this town, which is hard because everyone wants to live here, and they were the worst 4 years of my life. Now I’m back and I’m never leaving.

10

As much as I love Tucson, I have to admit that I’m obsessive about “someday” living in Manhattan. Oh God, how I yearn to be in that city, that city that never sleeps. If I can make it there… I have more than once fantasized about leaving my family, friends, job, and wordly possessions, jumping in the car, and driving straight there. I’ve heard it said that every time you walk outside, it’s like you’re in your own Broadway show, and I’m SURE that that’s how it would be. Yes, that’s EXACTLY how it would be. :cool:

11

Having lived in Las Vegas most of my life, I’ve grown tired of it and am quite ready for something new.

Since I have about three years left before I can make my escape, I try to make the best of life here.

It’s close enough to Utah to allow for weekend getaways for camping or snow play.

It’s close enough to California to allow for road trips to the parks or beaches.

There are many entertainment opportunities every night, all night.

Mount Charleston is gorgeous and a very short drive.

Since I’ve been here nearly 30 years I’ve a few super great friends who are there for me - always.

Life is good here.

12

I love my town. It has:

A good size, not too big, not too teeny. Lots of trees, and lovely old neighborhoods that I only wish I could afford but are nice to drive through. A real, live boulevard that is a joy to drive on. One of the best large parks ever, which has everything from wild trails to playgrounds to creek fun and swimming holes. The soil is some of the best you’ll ever find anywhere (so we’re building over it).

A wonderful community feeling, with friendly people and a weird mix of one third ultra-conservative farmer-type, one third hippie liberal-type, and another third of run-of-the-mill families. Oh, and all the evil retired folks moving in from the Bay Area, driving up the home prices. Anyway, there are lots of fun things to do, like farmers’ markets, and music in the park on Fridays in summer, and kite days and fishing days…and a nice sense of local history, too, that we take pride in.

A nice little downtown area that has survived the 20th century thanks largely to college students, with the perfect hardware store, funky little theaters, good eats, interesting shops, and old movie theaters. Play chess at a cafe, drop into a tiny bookstore, sit in the little park and enjoy the scenery, get a smoothie.

Great nature spots within a short drive of town. Go up the canyon, to a lake or two, to a creek, in a wildflower hike, tubing on the river, lots of fun stuff to do.

Very friendly to bicycles, there are decent bike trails and it’s possible for DangerDad to bike to work --when his bike isn’t being ornery. He needs a new bike.

A university, which is a big plus despite the obnoxious drunk students all over the place. It’s why we aren’t a complete cowtown with nothing to do. And it makes it possible to see a lot of cultural stuff you don’t normally get in a small town–we get lectures, plays, shows, concerts, and great things for kids and adults to see. There are even two small museums.

The downsides: we aren’t as diverse as I would wish. The public library is in sad shape. Drinking is a big problem at the college. The town is growing fast, mostly because of retirees, and housing prices are through the roof while wages aren’t going anywhere at all. Business needs some growth. And it’s seriously hot in the summer, though much more comfortable than the San Joaquin Valley. The trees help a lot.

But, overall, I feel hugely lucky to live here and think it’s one of the best cities in CA. I love, love, love it here and am constantly filled with well-being just driving through town–especially on a spring day when the trees are blooming all over the place. I hope we never have to move away (though I wouldn’t say no to a year or so in another country…).

13

I was born there :). Beautiful place, but the winters are a killer. At this stage in my life, snow is a deal-breaker ( I don’t even like to ski :wink: ).

  • Tamerlane
14

When my family moved to Sweden 7 years ago, I went to boarding school for a year. Then, we moved to Göteborg where my parents were both born and raised. I have since fallen in love with the city. The people are generally very down to earth, there are great places to go swimming in the summer (although the water never gets warm), there are nice forest areas to take walks in, and there is also a great city life (bars, cafés, etc…). Basically, it has both the nature and the city life going for it. I never realized quite how much I like it here until I came back at christmas break after having moved to Scotland for university. Now, I always like coming back here and could see myself living here in the future. Or to put it like my dad does when people ask why we moved back here after 12 years in the US - for the high salaries and the low taxes. :wink:

I also love the city I study in - Glasgow. The people are nice, the beer is cheap, and the music scene is fantastic. I have come to love the passion for football as well. I don’t think I could have chosen a better city to move to for university. I could also see myself living here in the future.

15

A few years ago I was on a business trip to the west coast. As the plane was taking off to bring us home, an associate said that she always hated leaving San Francisco.

I said, “I probably would, too…if I wasn’t going back to New York City.”

While I’ve lived in, and I love, Manhattan, I’m particularly fond of Brooklyn…a place, as Joseph Kesselring said, where anything can happen, and probably will.

16

I love the town of Riverside, Illinois, where I live now. It’s a planned community, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1860s. It’s full of trees, charming winding roads, beautiful homes. There are fantastic mansions as well as apartment houses where struggling middle-classers like me can afford to live. It’s very “neighborhood-y” in that residences are mixed alongside local businesses, restaurants and grocery stores and the like; you can walk to pretty much anywhere you’d need to go in the course of a day. It’s got a great library and some great parks. And while I don’t have kids, I also think it’s cool that there are 4 grammar schools serving a town of only a few thousand people, because the residents want to maintain the benefits of easily accessible schools with small class sizes. Basically, for those of you who are into such things, it’s a textbook example of a New Urbanist community, a building philosophy which, needless to say, I find very suitable to my tastes.

17

I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, probably the only town where one could apply the label of the town’s second-best college to Harvard and keep a straight face. Granted, it’s really only MIT types that would, but at the very least it’s a bit of an exaggeration.

From where I live, everything I need is within walking distance, and usually there will be a locally owned variant as well as the big chain. I could, for example, walk to the nearest Shaws supermarket, but there’s a Trader Joe’s, two Whole Foods, and the Harvest Food Coop all closer. There’s got to be a hundred independent bookstores, one Barnes and Noble, and various branches of the Harvard/MIT Coop (although for used books the pickings are far better across the river in Boston).

Granted, the place does put one a bit away from the center of the political spectrum in the US. And I really don’t particularly need a Center for Marxist Education also within walking distance, but it’s all part of the charm of the place. All in all, the town has a bit of everything good, and just enough of everything else to keep it all beautifully diverse. I could go on and on for hours, really.

18

Dude, you hafta come back. Yesterday, I got up at 7am and went rowing for two hours on beautiful Town Lake. The weather was blue skies and a temperate 70-ish. Then we had our usual post-row leisurely brunch on the patio of Maudies, which has the best salsa in town. After a nap (I chose to miss Spamarama and the Fine arts Festival downtown), I went down to Fourth Street and met my date at Fado’s Irish Pub. We ambled over the the Alamo Drafthouse and saw a movie (The Triplets of Bellville) as we drank beer. After that, we walked down to the lake, hit a few more bars on Sixth Street and wound up dancin’ at Oilcan Harry’s.

Austin rocks. The only downsides are when the temp gets over 100 degrees and the price of housing which still hasn’t come down from the tech boom. And I don’t know when you moved away, but the economy is still recovering from tech bust and jobs are scarcer than they used to be…

19

There are places I would rather live, or at least try to live, than L.A., but I’m actually pretty happy here. I live a few miles from the beach, about a mile beyond the Santa Monica city limit. I do have to drive to work, but I live in a pedestrian friendly neighborhood in which just about everything I want or need is a few blocks from my door. I’m within an easy drive of a variety of museums and other attractions.

True, I don’t like the way the city has developed. I don’t like the way that our history has been basically obliterated, and that it’s first and foremost a car city. But I live in a good little corner of it so I’m happy.

20

Oh, we do sleep, but all in one big bed. You have to bring your own pillow, though.