I like living in a small town (approximately 8,000 people) in PA. I was born here, raised here, and choose to still live here. There are plenty of reasons for me to like it here.
My family has been around these parts for the better part of 150 years.
I like county fairs, street fairs, and local parades where you know half the people marching in it.
I like going to high school football games and seeing half the town show up on a Friday night.
I like having four seasons.
The local economy is not that bad and there are some pretty good jobs here. Of course I have one of the better jobs, so that makes it easier.
If a change of pace is needed, Pittsburgh is an hour south and Erie is an hour north. All in all, this area is not for everyone and surely isn’t a whole lot better than anywhere else - it just happens to suit me perfectly.
Teranna, Ontario (“Toronto” for you foreigners) is fantastic. I love it. Why?
cultural diversity - over half of us are “visible minorities,” which leads to the best thing about Toronto - restaurant diversity ! I don’t believe there’s anywhere else in the world that you can get such great Chinese, Thai, West Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican and Tibetan food in the same neighbourhood.
I don’t mind the weather, I’d much prefer snow to rain (although February-May are slushy hell, no denial here). Plus I rather like the cold, it’s invigorating.
Although all levels of government have done their best to fuck up the lakeshore, it’s still pretty awesome
Toronto Island rocks my world
It’s a great place for minor Canadian celebrity-spotting (and sometimes major celebs), in particular: The Horseshoe Tavern, The Rheostatics, and surprise appearances by Gord Downie
it’s very green, there are parks/ravines/trees everywhere
You can always find a seat in the pub on a Saturday night
it’s nice and flat (downtown, anyway) so I can commute by bike year-round
Best of all, my neighbourhood always smells like cookies. You can’t get any better than that.
I live in a tiny south Florida town, about halfway between Palm Beach and Boca Raton. I moved here because my fiance dragged me, kicking and screaming, out of Brooklyn. I know I don’t want to live here for the rest of my life, but so far, I’m making the most of the time I will spend here. I’ve only been here since September 1, so I’m still adding to my list of pros and cons.
Pros:
We live right on the beach. I can hear the surf through my open window.
Huge apartment for crazy cheap.
Our town is blissfully peaceful.
I went running in shorts and a t-shirt this morning.
Great seafood.
The Everglades and other beautiful, natural spots nearby.
It’s easy to get people to visit!
Cons:
It’s too quiet! I miss lots of things about NYC: the pace, the culture, the food, my old 'hood, my friends, stores and boutiques where I used to shop, not needing a car.
Really, I’m a city girl, but I do love the ocean, too. As I said, I couldn’t live here forever, but for now, it’s nice.
I live in a small town in western Pennsylvania. I live here because this is where my university is. I like the program I’m in here and I like the campus, so I’ll be hanging around for a while. The town itself isn’t too bad; everyone is nice and it’s a really safe place to live. There is shopping to be found, within reason, and the university sponsors several activities for the community. There’s even some semblance of diversity, unlike my hometown in Tennessee.
But it’s sooo boring sometimes. My hometown is twice the size of this town and is close to 2 similar-sized cities and even it was too small for my tastes. I was aiming for a large city, with a variety of stuff to do. This town is not what I was imagining. I can only entertain myself for so long before I crack and start driving an hour to Pittsburgh everyday to remind myself of what tall buildings look like.
Let’s just say the reports of people exploding every other day are exaggerated?
Other than that - 1.5 million people with culture/nightlife that a 3-4 million person city could be proud of.
Beautiful beach. Beautiful weather.
People are mostly friendly and helpful.
They all speak my primary language
First one here from Phoenix, I see. Unless I missed out on an entire post or something.
Okay, here we go:
I live in Phoenix because I hate cold weather with the passion of a million smiley sunshines. I grew up in the Midwest, around St. Louis, and then moved to Chicago when I was old enough. Simply put, if I never, EVER have to be in a car sliding around on icy roads, it’ll be too soon. I even hate returning there to spend Christmastime with my family.
I’m a sports fan. Phoenix has baseball, football, basketball, and hockey franchises, so I’ll never be lacking in that department. I might not be able to watch MY team all the time, but when they come to town, I’m nearly always able to get tickets. Plus, there’s nothing quite like grilling out right before the Super Bowl in January.
The city is big enough to support businesses I enjoy frequenting, but small enough where I can find my way around. In fact, this is almost a drawback–in Chicago, I could turn on the local news and hear about violent acts taking place in areas I wasn’t quite sure I knew very well, so it seemed very abstract. In Phoenix, I definitely know where they are.
No f*cking toll roads.
Heat vs. Humidity debates aside, it’s really not that bad here. Sure, it gets up close to 120 some days, but listen: I work inside, and there isn’t a place in the city that doesn’t have air conditioning. It’d be suicide not to. Besides, to explain the temperature to someone that doesn’t live here is like this: Take whatever temperature it is outside, and subtract about 15-20 degrees for the lack of humidity. I’d sooner live here than in Florida 8 days a week.
I can get to work in 15 minutes flat. I work about 8-9 miles from the office, and that’s how long it takes me to get in. In Chicago, I worked about 20 miles from home, and it took me something like 45-50 minutes to get to work.
We just knocked off Philadelphia for the #5 largest city in the United States ranking. Take THAT, you brotherly-lovin’ bastards!
Other than the lack of good radio stations, I’m all set here.
Stoid, you’d hate to live where I live. But I loooooove it!
I’m back in my home town in one of the most economically depressed, bad weather places in the US. I moved back after spending 11 years in what a lot of people consider one of the best places in country - Boulder, CO. Nice weather, good economy, etc. etc.
Why’d I move back and why do I love it?
I like seasons. No, Colorado didn’t have enough of a difference in seasons for me. The winters here get long, but I can’t tell you how nice it was to wake up this morning and see the pretty snow coming down.
Quality of life: things are slooooow here. Traffic doesn’t exist. Very little crime. I hate spending time in my car, and everything here is a 5 minute drive away. Mr. Athena and I are buying a gorgeous house on 10 acres, with a creek full of trout, right smack in the middle of town. Groceries/Target/Mall/etc is a 5 minute drive in one direction. Downtown/restaurants/beach is a 5 minute drive in the other direction. Did I mention 10 acres? And a creek? All this, and neither of us have to live for our jobs to afford it.
Family: Yes, my family is here, and that’s a draw. But then again, sometimes I want to tell them all to go to hell. So the family thing evens out - neither an asset nor a detriment.
Natural Beauty: When I lived in the heart of Minneapolis I realized that I have to live somewhere with a large amount of natural beauty. I hate being stuck in a city, knowing that for 10-50 miiles in every direction is just more buildings/roads/etc. Lake Superior is gorgeous, and it’s very close by. So pretty it makes me cry at times. I’m surrounded by dense, hilly forests in every direction.
outdoor activities: I can walk/ski/snowshoes in the woods any time I want - either right out my front door or a short drive in any direction. I can go to the beach in the summer. I can mountain bike - some of the best in the country. One of the reasons I disliked CO is that sure, it had a lot of great hiking/biking/etc, but other than a few local trails, I pretty much had to drive 30-120 minutes to get to the good stuff. Here, the good stuff is right out my front door, and chances are I’m the only person on the trail.
low population: I don’t feel crowded here. The houses have yards because land costs aren’t skyrocketing. Very little traffic. When I go downtown, I can usually park right in front of the restaurant or shop I’m heading to. When I take a walk in the woods, I’m usually alone.
OK, that’s it for now - I could go on forever. Is this place perfect? No - my big wish is that the economy was a bit better here. But it’s MUCH better for me than to live in a city somewhere, or even back in Boulder.
I don’t like where I live right now either. But I don’t know that I would choose to move anywhere in California.
My impression of the L.A. area is that it seems to thrive on an E! Entertainment kind of culutre that seems vapid and places a whole lot more value on style than on substance. That’s a huge generalization and I know it definitely doesn’t represent a great many people of the city, but it is my impression nonetheless. Also, I am put off by the geographically-superior attitude of the people I’ve interacted with from up and down the state. It can range from mild to offensive. I think I would have a better attitude if it weren’t for the lousy ambassadors. But I know you folks don’t need me there anyway, as overcrowded as it is. Oh, hey! That’s another reason!
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Hey you! * I am put off by the geographically-superior attitude of the people I’ve interacted with from up and down the state. It can range from mild to offensive. I think I would have a better attitude if it weren’t for the lousy ambassadorsas.
What is the deal with that? Are there no people here (I live in L.A.) who are capable of quiet confidence? I know that the OP said “I’m just kidding…” Was he?
I’ll take the ugly town, that’s fine…but ugly location? Southern California is one of the most beautiful spots on earth! Have you really seen it? It’s Gawjus!
Well, it’s definitely true in the areas that E! hangs out in, which is kind of a bad thing as well. If you live near and frequent the places where the stars live and play and shop, as i always have throughout my life (my list of celebrity sightings and meetings is longer than I can even remember. ), it can subtly mess with your value system. It’s one thing when you live in PA or CO or Chicago, you watch a little E!, a little Access Hollywood, read People… you close the magazine, turn of f the TV, and go back to real life where everyone around you is, to some degree, just like you, with a normal view of life. Here, when I turn off the TV and go out into the world, nothing really changes. It tends to warp ones brain into the belief that the world of the fabulously wealthy stars is the real world, and how come I don’t have that? What’s wrong with me?
I live in one of those ugly towns. Sometimes I wonder why, but there are plenty of reasons. It’s a town of 2,000 or so people in rural MN, and although I live right on the major highway that runs through town, it’s very quiet. I have a two-minute commute to work each day. I go home for lunch everyday and read. I’m home at about 5:05 every night, unless I have to make the one-mile drive to the grocery store. Everyone at the gas station across the street from my house knows me by name and the kind of cigarettes I smoke. All of my friends and family are close by. Ya, the weather’s shitty six months of the year, but I like changing seasons. There’s nothing better than brushing the snow off when you come in the house, lighting some candles, having a cup of tea, and cuddling on the couch with the one you love. And the countryside may be flat, but you can’t tell me that in the fall when the beanfields turn that lovely amber color that this is an ugly place to live. Or when there’s a beautifully sparkling new dusting of snow on the ground. Small-town life has its advantages!
I was born here, my parents were born here, and I’m pretty sure my in-laws were born here. We have a good life here, I think. Family is close by for babysitting, there are always more things to do than we have money/time for, and everything is pretty affordable. I can’t imagine moving. I don’t know what kind of job would be able to draw me away. All I know is that for most larger cities I’d have to double my salary to afford the cost of living change, and we’d not have a house and yard if we lived in the northeast or out in most CA cities.
I don’t live in my hometown, Buffalo, New York. I’m one of the hundreds of thousands of young educated residents that left the region in the past two decades.
Buffalo is not a city wihout its charms. It has residential neighborhoods that are to die for, high culture aplenty, very inexpensive housing, great local media compared to similarly sized cities, enough colleges and universities to give Boston a run for its money, and inexpensive, high-quality health care.
So, why are people leaving? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the weather (Chicago, Toronto, Minneapolis and Montreal all have notorious winters), and it’s not the taxes. It’s because:
There aren’t any jobs. Young educated professionals have a difficult time finding work in their chosen professions or fields of study. Where work can be found, the pay is quite low compared to the nation as a whole; remember, there are tens and thousands of freshly minted college graduates hitting the streets of Buffalo every spring. Buffalo has relatively few national companies, and it’s hard to get your foot in the door, much less advance, at the small privately held or family businesses that predominate.
They don’t fit in. Richard Florida discusses this in his book The Rise of the Creative Class. Buffalo’s culture is very old-school blue-collar, very old-school Catholic, and very old-school ethnic. Young educated professionals often feel out of place. They can’t identify with a dominant culture that offers fireman’s picnics, lawn fetes, friday fish fry at a gin mill, tailgate parties and Chinese auctions, while their peers elsewhere enjoy brewpubs, Craig’s List, speed dating, funky ethnic and upscale chain eateries, and First Fridays. It’s a generation gap; young people have a hard time feeling like they’re a part of a cultural environment trapped in 1962.
So, who stays behind? Usually, it’s those who belong to the dominant culture; Irish, Italian or Polish-American Catholics with strong family ties, blue collar roots and a high school diploma. They fit in to the dominant culture, they haven’t seen much of the outside world (except perhaps Toronto, where they can’t move, Orlando and Las Vegas), and their connections almost guarantee employment.
You may be the first person who has ever said that in reference to Houston. Certainly the first I’ve ever encountered. Usually Houston and “Armpit of Texas” are used together.
I’d love to move to a place with nice scenery like Montana or Oregon or New Zealand while I’m still young and not tied down with children, but I’ve looked and jobs in my field seem to be scarce in those places right now. Illinois (motto: “If it weren’t for Chicago, we’d be Iowa”) is where most of my family lives, too. I’d sure hear about it if I said I was going to move far away.
“Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”
I can’t imagine a place I’d rather NOT live than L.A.
However, I can’t stand the place where I live now (Tucson). It’s hot almost all the time. It’s mostly brown, and the only green is the occassion swatch of over-watered grass in someone’s backyard.
I live here because my husband has a great job here. I hope to move away in a few years.
I live in Carson City, NV and love it here. It’s a small town, under 50K. But it’s only 30 miles to Reno/Sparks, 250K so we’ve got pretty much anythng you’d want/need right to hand.
It’s a 20 minute or so drive to Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Yosimite is an easy day trip. The Sierra mountains strart jumping up out of the ground about a half mile out my back door. We go to the coast fairly often and San Francisco and Napa Valley are within easy reach.
We have an excellent community theater and enjoy it a lot. Inceredible talent.
If we go east about 5 miles we’re into BLM land and can do and go just about anywhere we want.
The weather is excellent. From May until the end of October it almost never rains, less than 1" this past year. Just one blue sky, not a cloud in sight day after the other. There’s enough winter you can call it winter. We do get a little snow but it’s usually gone in a couple of days. Though you can see snow in the mountains all year round. Don’t know how many ski areas there are within an hours drive, but it’s plenty.
Housing is starting to get a little more pricey. We’ve been here for almost 7 years and probably gained about 120K on Casa de SandyHook.
