so is there a such thing as a smaller, non-crap city?

[Wehttam]

France.

I second this

[The Torsion]

France.

Wow, you mean to say that there are places on this planet other than the US that might be good to live in?
MIND FUCKING BLOWN!!!!!!

Fucking crazy. An American asking about places to live, and a bunch of other Americans who were born, raised and currently reside in the US naming US towns. Fucking unbelieveable, the nerve of these uncultured slobs.

POST COLLEGE TOWNS IN BURKINA FASO.

[Frickin' Slayer]

savannah is referred to by sum as the most haunted city n america.

http://savannah10.cityspur.com/2009/09/ ... nted-city/

[F/K/A HAPF]

I've heard good things about St. Pierre, French North America. Couldn't imagine living there though.

[father of lies]

Madison, WI is a hair under 250,000 I think and it's a great city.

I would live in Madison over most bigger cities, I think. Really, lots of the medium sized cities (50-250000) in Wisconsin seem like alright places to be. Just not Green Bay, Kenosha, or Waukesha.

Caroclad, I don't really think tiny towns count.

[BUNGVOX]

portland.

[father of lies]

Portland is over 500,000 people...

[krudmonk]

That's the second mention of Portland so I can only assume you mean the town in Maine.

[Zerohero]

The "worst city" thread got me thinking ... do any smaller cities exist where people actually want to live? It seems like once you go below 250k residents, it's all going to be part of the same basic template: lots of boring lower/middle class houses, the token nice neighborhood, an area or two full of crime, and a protective shell that's just various permutations of Applebee's, Walmart, and Home Depot. Maybe if you're lucky, a 'hip' neighborhood that borders the local college.

I suppose it's only natural, if people want to live somewhere then they'll have population growth until it's no longer a small city, otherwise it's just a matter of providing enough basic services and amenities to keep most of the current residents pacified. I'm just always fearful that I'll end up having to move to some vague city that occupies the middle-management position between NYC/Chicago/LA's president and Syracuse's endearingly drunken janitor.

Buffalo's less than 250 methinks.... cheap, plenty of hipster shit , plenty places to eat, artsy junk, and close proximity to other cities.

As long as one isn't a big pussy about seeing the occasional nblack or boarded up house in shit section, I don't think there's a better bargain.

[eyehatethehumanrace]

a 'hip' neighborhood that borders the local college.

Yellow Springs, Ohio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Springs,_Ohio) is like this. Population is >4,000. It is the home of Antioch College (notable alumni, Rod Serling, creator of 'The Twilight Zone'), a tiny liberal arts school. The entire town is full of hippies, barstool philosophers and intellectuals, and professors from all of the other local colleges. It's about 25 minutes from a medium sized city, and is completely surrounded by farmland. It would be a completely awesome place to live, if you're into that sort of thing. Dave Chappelle lives there.

I like Dave Chappelle. please tell me how to get there. do they have any good vinyl stores?

[The Real MPD]

shit grows like the sweetest smelling of weeds. it's fucking staggering.

[Erik13]

In sure Alaska or Hawaii have some nice small cities

I want to move to Barrow.

[caldwell.the.great]

depends on what you mean by non-crap. if you want lots of record stores and bars and restaurants, you'll never be very happy in a small town.

i'd love to live in Bishop, CA. I think the population is around 4,000 people, but it's near to just about every national park in the state. if i could get a job teaching in that area at all, i'd happily stay just so i could go up into the mountains all the time. plus i could drive north to SF or south to LA if I really needed to get into a city. Las Vegas isn't far away either, but I wouldn't exactly want to go there if I could help it.

[neckbeard]

Santa Barbara?

I bet a lot of central coast CA.

[CHUFFED beyond necropsy]

If i ever decide to get out of Portland, Madison would definitely be high on my list. Seemed like a real nice place for the brief time i was there. Hell, even Milwaukee seemed pretty cool.

[BUNGVOX]

Portland is over 500,000 people...

i can get around portland without a hassle and i can find things. that is something i can't do in seattle.

p.s. fuck portland maine that whole state can sink into the atlantic for all i care.

[Iron Goldie]

Savannah is great, but Charleston is better I think. Probably a bit more dangerous as well, and there's a lot of douchebag college students.

Yeah, Charleston seemed to have more shitty areas when I went than Savannah. Thats not to say parts of it weren't nice - downtown was really cool. Cops in Charleston seem to be even bigger assholes than usual though, and douchebag college students is a huge negative for me (see also Wilmington NC for plenty of those).

[Iron Goldie]

Also, St Augustine and Fort Meyers seemed to be pretty nice when I went to those too. Maybe Hellhaine or some other Florida person can give more insight to those though.

[Hell-haine]

Anne, come to St-Pete, I have an extra guest room, you are welcome to stay.
For serious, we can go kayak with Kelly, dance with my gays and on a road trip to Fort-Meyers and St-Augustine all together.
Do it!

[The Torsion]

I lived in Cape Coral and worked in Ft. Myers for 6 months and I couldn't stand it. For me, nothing interesting happened. The only decent laid back bars were buried deep in the dregs of stereotypical south Florida spray-tan dipshits. This was in 2006-2007, so we were in the middle of the real estate boom and every fucking person was some hyper ambitious real estate jackoff or pretentious cunt. Cape Coral really took the first prize for horrible, though. It was literally rows and rows of US Homes style cookie-cutter houses. There may have been 2 bars in the whole town. The only redeeming factor was proximity to laid back hippie beach communities like Sanibel and Pine Island. But you're on the Gulf side of Florida, so the water was piss warm all year long and there was no surf. Panama City or even Destin, despite the Spring Break idiots, and the creepy rich rednecks with their Twilight Zone planned communities, were two of the best smaller cities in the south.

[Iron Goldie]

Anne, come to St-Pete, I have an extra guest room, you are welcome to stay.
For serious, we can go kayak with Kelly, dance with my gays and on a road trip to Fort-Meyers and St-Augustine all together.
Do it!

Haha sounds awesome. I'd like to take another trip like that again. Likewise, if your ever up around Raleigh we can get together.

Sucks about your experience in Ft Myers, Torsion. It seemed alright to me, but my stay was brief and over five years ago.

[Hell-haine]

My offer is 100% serious so if you want to come for an extended week-end or even a week, you're more than welcome!
Saint-Pete is a lot of fun, there's a lot of things to do and see in a week, and my house is a pretty good place to be

[Wang Mandu]

Sanibel is pretty awesome, tons of rich people there now. My great aunt has lived there since the '60s. Fond memories of fishing off of her dock. Ft. Myers is okay from the little I remember. My grandmother's ex/dead boyfriend lived there. "Hey kids, there's the hospital where they sliced ol' George up." Dude ruled.