…and that would be where exactly? :dubious:
I did say “if”. Everyone I met there was very friendly, and I had a good time. There was a really good Mexican resturant too.
The town itself seemed fairly representative of a small city in that region. I passed through a number of other small towns and I couldn’t help but notice how many boarded up buildings and trashy streets I saw. Also, I spent several days in Monticello and wandered about on foot. I couldn’t find a single park bench anywhere in the entire city. The city I live in takes great pride in it’s parks and overall look/feel.
Of course I wouldn’t want anyone to Judge all of Wisconsin, or the Upper Midwest for that matter because they once visited Rockford Illinois. So, I guess I should just shut up. 
I’ve been there twice for work in 1997 and 2002. We witnessed a car theft in progress as well as a murder crime scene from the lounge window in the conference center we stayed at. We were going to go out one night to this bar but before we could get there there was some kind of major police bust or something involving a shootout. And the Civic Center has to be one of the most depressing attempts at commerce I’ve ever seen.
Brownsville TX is also quite a shithole.
Doesn’t Reading, PA have those outlet stores?
How did they miss Butte, Montana? Maybe ignorance, narrowmindedness, unemployment, corruption, intolerance, incompetence, lack of culture and the world’s largest Superfund site are mitigated by the really pretty mountains surrounding Butt.
Beat me to it.
One thing I find whimsical (for want of a better word) about Butte is that the aforementioned “world’s largest Superfund site” is a tourist attraction. :eek:
The thread is titled “Town,” which to me is much smaller than a “city.” I would vote Plains, Texas. The place reeks of gasoline, and the residents seem to be straight from an institution. I had occasion to spend a few hours there one day, and I can’t remember ever having been so glad to get out of a place as when I was fleeing the town.
Do any of you other Michiganders feel a bit depressed that at least 3 of our cities have been nominated?
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
The thread is titled “Town,” which to me is much smaller than a “city.” /QUOTE]
I meant anywhere where people live.
Michigan has been an easy target for the past 30 years or so. It is also February - the worst time of year to ask Michigan folks to say nice things about the state. It’s -2 friggin’ degrees outside right now!!
Scarey place scads of abandoned houses, empty factories-and the “downtown” is a ghost town. This is a city that was thriving 50 years ago-makes me wonder what places built around the automobile (like Phoenix, AZ, or LA) will be like when cheap gasoline is gone. Whats it like to be trapped in one of these dying cities? You can’t sell your house, and as the tax base shrivels, your property taxes skyrocket…so do you hang on and hope for better times, or just abandon everything you’ve worked for all of your life? As I recall, Detroit died because the middle class went off to the suburbs, and the factories and jobs left as well. The problem is, the citie governments never downsized, and the taxes to support the bloated staffs kept going up. Of course, Michigan has a big problem-all of the foreign car manufacturers are building plants in the South, where they don’t have the UAW to contend with.So I wouln’t bet on any revival of places like Detroit, Flint, Ypsilanti, etc., anytime soon. :eek:
Well, after the Whorehouse museum closed, they had to say *something *.
[QUOTE=Mr. Nuggets]
I still nominate Plains, Texas. Hell itself must seem a country club in comparison.
Lumpy, I’d like to know where you stayed. if you stayed in a motel near the Truman Library I understand what you’re saying. The library (and historic homes including the Truman Home) are in the older, crappier part of Independence. Not to say that there aren’t other crappy parts of town. A lot of major streets seem to serve as dividing lines between pleasant and bleak. 24 Highway (where the Truman Library is) happens to be such a dividing line. Oh, and if you stayed in a motel on 40 Highway, my condolences. There are a few No Tell Motels concentrated into a few block stretch that are quite skeevy.
My neighborhood is nice, well-kept, groomed, clean and very middle class. Further to the south and east there are some very nice, higher tax bracket subdivisions. Plus we have a lot of expansion on the east side of town. A few nice hotels, new restaraunts (mostly chains) which are more pleasing to the eye.
The thing is, I think, is that Independence is really just a residential suburb of KC. We don’t have much in the way of sight-seeing, nightlife, entertainment, etc. As it is, it’s a good place to raise children (if you’re in the right part of town) and it’s close to all the jobs in Kansas City.
As for my vote for Worst Town In America? Don’t know. I’ve visited many cities and they’ve all had their good and bad characterists.
Battle Mountain, NV used to regularly make these lists. I’ve made a meal stop there once or twice, but it didn’t look so bad to me.
**
Kitchen Wench**, is referring to it as “40 Highway” rather than “Highway 40” a regionalism? I’ve never heard that before.
Huh. Never really thought about that. I’ve grown up hearing and using 40 Hwy or just 40 as in “40 & Noland (Rd).” In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing a native saying Highway 40. It’s not an interstate, just a major street with a 40 mph speed limit (the speed has no bearing on the name, of course). Same with 24 Hwy (which is also called Independence Avenue in certain neighborhoods). As for the Interstate that cuts through Independence, most people say I-70. I’ve also heard and used 70 as in “Noland and 70.” Maybe it’s just an Independence thing. ::shrug::
I’m just going to post a couple of random thoughts based on previous posts:
I drove through Gary IN on a family trip about thirty years ago. It was just as horrible then as is described here now.
The bus station in Springfield MA is indeed one of the creepiest and most depressing spots on Earth. You half expect to see a plaque marking the spot where Polyanna slit her wrists.
On another family trip about 25 years ago, my Mom needed to use a bathroom at a rest stop in a rural-suburban area of Arkansas. Inside, there were two little girls who could not contain their giggling when my Mom walked in. After a minute of this, a broad drawl came out of one of the other toilet stalls: “You girls be quiet out there, I’m just warshin’ mah feet and legs!”
Oh, and I’ll see you Hartford and raise you New Haven. Anything outside of Yale campus is one of the worst dumps I’ve ever seen.
That’s a damn shame. I wish I had known about this place while it was open. Seeing it would have been worth making a trip to Montana. (There aren’t enough museums which explore the seedy side of life.)
The place is for sale, according to their website. I suggest a special Doper fundraiser because nothing would be better than having our own SDMB whorehouse. It’d be great for Dopefests.
East Orange, NJ. Based on the looks of the place, which almost makes the South Bronx look homey, and the lousy signage leading off the Garden State Parkway, I’m tempted to conclude the local economy depends pretty much on carjacking. The only bright spot was that it didn’t take more than 3 minutes of driving before I encountered a police roadblock, where the officer helpfully showed me the way out of town.
There’s one in Ketchikan, Alaska, if you’re ever on a cruise up that way.
Jackson, Michigan, huh? I remember going to YMCA summer camp near there as a lad - and the road signs about the prison being a reason not to stop for hitchhikers.