“Capital,” to be picky. But as pointed out, lots of important cities aren’t state capitals.
A lot of the differences that have been pointed out - the big airport, sports teams, Olympics, head offices, and that - are just products of the simple central fact: Atlanta’s bigger, end of story. It is (in the sense that matters - the urban agglomeration’s population, not the city limits) by far the largest city in Dixie, assuming that doesn’t include Texas or Florida. Charlotte isn’t half as big.
As someone who has lived in Charlotte for the last 5 years after relocating from NYC, I have been somewhat curious as to the lack of identity the city has. People have been flocking here in droves for the last 10 years, mostly from northern states, to take advantage of good housing prices, reasonable taxes, and the climate. As others have said, Charlotte’s mass appeal is a fairly recent development. Atlanta has been a center of culture for much longer. From what I’ve seen and heard, there is definitely Atlanta-envy around here (except for the traffic…) That being said, there is more to Charlotte than banking. Many Fortune 500 companies have large presences here. There are NFL and NBA teams, and it is the center of NASCAR (with the NASCAR HOF opening soon.) I don’t think it can compete with Atlanta in terms of history, but in 10 - 20 years it may have a better argument in terms of importance.
Greetings to my neighbor to the East.
Why the busiest airport?
It’s a major hub.
Ah, as in flying me from LIttle Rock to Dallas to Boston. 
So that would be determined by location and airport size, I’ll warrant.
Lots of people flying in and out.
:smack:
Busiest in terms of passengers as well as take-offs/landings. This is Delta’s headquarters and main hub (also the world’s largest).
I’ll go a bit further and say that it was designed and expanded with the utmost efficiency in mind, which airlines seem to love. You haven’t been to an airport until you experienced Hartsfield, just a great airport.
Everything that was used to describe Atlanta sounds so unSouthern. I’ve never been to Charlotte, but it sounds a little too large for my tastes.
Three different cities come to mind when I think of the South. The historic area of Savannah is just incredibly beautiful. I keep forgetting how many parks make up the city center – sixteen? Twenty? Spanish moss, fountains, traditions, music, mystery, the river, the food! This place is so Southern the air is saturated with it.
Charleston is such a blend of cultures. Such beautiful homes! Interesting history! Baskets like you have never seen. Very coastal in its nature.
Ashville is in the mountains. I suspect everyone I see of being an artist or a writer. Thomas Wolfe lived here. The boarding house that was the setting for Look Homeward, Angel is open. So is the largest residence in the United States with its vineyards and gardens. This small city seems secure. I doubt that it would want to be the capital. Think I will stop by the Savoy for a bite to eat while I’m here, though. Charleton Heston used to live here. O. Henry is buried here. There might be even a Doper or two. You should see this place in autumn – and in the spring. Summers are a little cooler and well, you know.
The South doesn’t need a capital, but if it has to have one, give it something that still reflects Southern traditions.
In most large cities in the South there are tons of transplants from other areas, many of them come from the Midwest and North. Smaller cities like Savannah and Charleston have not grown as much and don’t have many transplants.
Self-importance, maybe.
Charlotte has a serious case of Atlanta envy and (oddly enough) Raleigh envy. Before I moved from Raleigh, no one I know of gave Charlotte a second thought. That was where the Panthers played (who cares - we had two good teams and Duke). After I moved here, and I would mention that I’m from Raleigh, I would hear about how jealous Raleigh is of Charlotte. It was like there was a huge rivalry between Raleigh and Charlotte that no one in Raleigh know about.
Charlotte needs one major thing before it could compete with Atlanta: Character. I don’t really have a sense of Character from Charlotte, like I did from Atlanta or from Raleigh.
I live in Charlotte. It would be odd for Charlotte to be the “Capital of the South”, as Charlotte is in many ways not a southern city. There are a huge number of transplants here, and a very large share of those are from the North (NYC, Buffalo, Philly, and Chicago are heavily represented, among others). It is somewhat rare to meet a true Southerner in downtown Charlotte, and it is very rare to meet a native Charlottean. One anecdotal example, my 5 year old daughter was born in Charlotte and has lived here all of her young life, but has no trace of a Southern accent. Once you get outside the city a ways, you are back in the South, but if you were put down in the middle of downtown Charlotte, it would take most people quite a while before they figured out they were in the south.
The people who have said that Charlotte doesn’t have much of an identity are spot on. Having said that, there are a lot of great things about living here. There is a lot of Atlanta envy, which I don’t get; I much prefer Charlotte.
Atlanta is even less “southern” than Charlotte. Lots of transplants over a very long period of time. Because of its more liberal reputation, it also draws “alternative” folk from around the SE who drop southern culture ASAP. I don’t think Charlotte is that much of a draw for such people yet and that lowers its diversity level.
Rarely meet people with southern accents as well, especially among younger folk. If a kid at my kids’ high school spoke with an accent, they would be labelled a “gomer”. No encouragement there.
Like I said, Atlanta is in the SE, not The South.
WTF are you talking about? Most Atlantans, even the young ones, speak with southern accents if they grew up in the south. They don’t have a long drawn-out drawl in some stereotypical antebellum plantation sense, but they most assuredly have an accent much like everyone else in this country has their own accent.
and Atlanta is most definitely The South. It tries to distance itself from it in its attempts to bill itself as a world city, but making a distinction between “being in the southeast” and “being in the south” is lame, and inaccurate.
As a foreigner, when I think of major US cities, its NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston and Atlanta. Charlotte although charming is not someplace that comes to mind.
Atlanta is a major international business centre. Charlotte is an oversized Canary Wharf.
Pretty much par for the course that major metropolises are “different” in culture from the geographical location they are in. London is definatly nothing like the SE of England politically and culturally for instance.
Not really.
There are probably 6 or 7 us cities that are more important to global commerce than Atlanta - it’s a hugely important regional center for a very large and economically/demographically powerful area of the country, but it does not sniff the jock of an international city yet.
NY, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Boston are probably more important in a global sense than Atlanta.
What’s a Canary Wharf?
This is Canary Wharf.
Internationally, I think Atlanta is bigger than SF, Miami and Boston easily. As mentioned above some of the worlds biggest and most influential cooporations are based out of there. I can’t speak as to Atlanta’s domestic influence.