Rate the north american cities you have been to
 

From best to worst-

Toronto- cleanest city I've ever been to. Beautiful city. Friendly people. Great food. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Pittsburgh- a lovable dump
New Orleans- The French Quarter is great- food is awesome and so is the music
Miami- great food, very walkable, and attractive women everywhere you look
Victoria- has a water airport, a cool museum, and great food
Harrisburg- I quite like Harrisburg, nice town, very clean
San Francisco- beautiful city
Seattle-huge clean city with lots of stuff to
Buffalo- boring dump
Cleveland- dump
Baltimore- scary dump
Columbus- crackhead central


no opinion (been there, but not not enough experience):
DC
NYC
Philly
Atlanta
Chicago
Detroit
Denver
Dallas

Seattle: *****
Tacoma: ***
Denver: ****
Philadelphia: *
Cheyenne: ***
Rapid City: ***

Baton Rouge is hell. 1/2*

It has a nice name, but I will agree with you.

My favorite city is Nashville, but probably more for sentimental reasons than anything else.

Seattle, for the same reasons.

I love lansing and ypsilanti(i think that's how it is spelled in Michigan, top class towns. Lafayette in Indiana is nice however Michigan City, South Bend, and Indianapolis are mediocre. Chicago and Bloominton-Normal in Illinois are nice.

My favorites are Montreal, San Francisco, and New York

Funny, no one mentioned Omaha!

Also, Mexico City should count as a North American city, no?

New York, San Francisco and Montreal for me as well but I deffinitely have many to see yet.

Tampa Bay - *****
Montreal - *****
Toronto - ****
Cape Breton - ***
Hull/Gatineau -**
Ottawa- **
Halifax - ***
Thurso- *
Shawville- ***

Many more, but nothing worth mentioning

WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU ON WHILE YOU WERE THERE?! CHRIST, THE PLACE FUCKING REEKS OF SHIT AND SEWERS EVERYWHERE! Nowhere NEAR clean!!!


My favourites are
Montreal- (*****) flat-out best place I've ever been. Great food, GENUINELY clean, good music stores.
Toronto- (*****) A multitude of incredible shows, good food as well, good music stores as well.
Sudbury- (-*****) SHIT.
Barrie- (***.5) Pretty good place, some good stores... not too much... Good memories at a Holiday Inn there, and a great sushi place right beside it!
North Bay- (****) Basically a smaller Barrie... but it has a fucking FANTASTIC bagel shop!
...that's about it...

Maybe dirty by Canadian standards, but compared to Cleveland or Buffalo, Toronto is like heaven.

San Francisco
Seattle
Portland
New York City
St. Louis
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Dallas
Denver
Oklahoma City

and those are the only large North American cities i've been to (unless you count Wichita, but i don't because i grew up there).

i've been to Pittsburgh, but it was for my grandmother's funeral. so, i'm not going to put it up just because i have some pretty sad memories attached to it.

New Orleans is horse shit...thats what it smells like...and the food is over-rated...and so many hobos and scary-looking people, I think my little brothers and I almost got jumped...still not sure what scared the guys off, as it looked like they were going to cut us off around this corner or something...

Atlanta-I like, traffic sucks but not much else...though the tower records closed now so i don't know about finding music and such (at least with the selection that tower had)....

Tampa-I generally like florida cities...not really sure why....though friends who live there (in a suburb) say crime is terrible in the city, but their suburbs were really nice

Ft Lauderdale/Pompano-love these places...great restaurants and always boardwalks on the beaches...probably for sentimental reasons as well...

Miami-hot as hell, the sights and the temp...though i was there in june...i generally liked it though...

Charlotte-growing rapidly...the roads are terrible for following directions (i guess because of the rapid development)...it's ok if you like modern stuff and nice new restaurants/delis/hip-organic food places

DC/Williamsburg VA-wburg is kinda cool just because its so different, and there is some good cheap food and stuff...i liked DC though only spent a day there...but did the tourist thing, and enjoyed it more than i thought i would

Montreal-haven't been there in many years (and wasn't legal at the time), but i liked it a lot then...and now that i like music and beer, i'd probably love it....winter is cold though....

Akron/Cleveland-eh...I went to Cleveland in the winter, and it was a dirty-looking city...Akron ain't too bad, but nothing to go for (i have family up there)...

Panama City, FLA-redneck riviera-true to its nickname...though i enjoyed myself there, it wasn't because of the city...

Jacksonville-...I'd rather live north or south of it...just don't really like it for some reason, but maybe i just haven't been anywhere nice...

Savannah-home for most of my life...like it and hate it at the same time...not good for music scene...fun for nice slow summers...mosquitoes and sand gnats are horrible in fall/winter/spring...luckily they melt in the summer....

Hilton head SC-posh...golf....tennis...private schools...nicely mowed grass...BMWs....you get the idea....

any city in Tennesee- i have hated....can't even remember which ones i hit...just seems to be no point to going there...lots of orange clothing is all i remember...

Key West....loved it as a kid...fishing is great...gets boring after a while though...but would recommend it for some beach vacationing

no opinion yet on:
Dallas
LA
Orlando

Baltimore owns Cleveland......sayin'.

I've been to a hell of alot

Hartford - shithole
Boston - Cool city, worst traffic in the whole country
Springfield MA - Worst DRIVERS in the whole country
New York City - Awesome in most parts but hectic
Providence - semi shithole
Columbus - Cool but drug infested
Chicago - Very cool
Boise - a very strange place
Portland - Coolest cleanest city I've ever been to in the USA
San Francisco - Cool and shitty at the same time
LA - Cool and shitty at the same time
Santa Cruz - One of the coolest places in California. Simply amazing
Santa Barbara - Waaay too posh
Simi Valley - Coolest place in proximity to LA, Probably the most laid back place in California
San Diego - Awesome but people party too much, and the government sucks
Las Vegas - Fucking horrible
Phoenix - Huge buildings everywhere, no people, wtf? Gotta drive east into Mesa for that
Mesa - Awesome lively nightlife, cool college city
Flagstaff - Cool little rural city
Sedona - Amazing place
Tuscon - Awesome place but fucking HOT

i am doing only local stuff now, since i need to get about 4 hours rest, saw Slayer and am beat, will do the rest tomorrow

DC - first off depends on what road you enter from "ie Montgomery Co. Maryland into Northwest" = (Wisconsin Ave., super ritzy, heads down to Georgetown, super rich yuppies and diplomats) (Connecticut Ave., old residential area, My dad grewup down there, heads toward Ft Reno and the Zoo) both of those are east of Rock Creek Park, west of the park (Georgia Ave. lower class residential, some tough spots until you reach Howard University and the Hospital, then the hipster area blossoms in the U Street Corridor/Cardoza "The Black Cat, DC9, 611 Florida, The Warehouse Nextdoor, and the 930 Club", after that the museums are nice, very scenic, despite the foul air of politics, they have a new mayor now so we'll see what occurs now, it's a good city, just either too rough or too ritzy, but there are spots that are nice

Baltimore - don't go down much(i say down despite the fact balto is clearly northeast from where i am,weird), the Talking Head club is closed now, i am not sure where the really experimental bands will go, Ottobar north near John Hopkins hospital is a good club, been told it can be rougher then DC, but i haven't experienced anything yet, the Inner Harbor is beautiful, they have the Aquarium, some good eateries, and a not too bad salt water fishy smell

The Beaches of Delaware and Maryland - will mention as a whole city cause i have spent a long time there during the summers, and it gets crowded
Williamsville (very redneck, but secluded, where i have stayed for many summers)
Fenwick Island (small, quiet, great subs, pizza, and mexican seafood, the old Music Emporium closed 5 years ago, but they were quite cool, they got my copy of Murray Street about 2 weeks before the official release, and when they folded got a bunch of promo cds cheap from them including a promo copy of Experimental Jet Set)
Ocean City (busiest, can get a population of 320k plus during the peak season months, lots of good food and really the only reason to go, other wise it's rather boring, too many getaway weekenders, even the super long boardwalk isn't exciting anymore, with the exception of putt-putt golf, there really isn't much too do)
Bethany Beach (small beach boardwalk, some good food, toooooooo many catholics, i am not kidding, it's really a super family friendly beach where there are too many kids running around, (me when i was younger, and all my mom's friends {read 4} and their kids, like about 30 of them, they need to learn about birth control fast)
Dewey Beach (college hangout, frat stuff, but they have two music clubs that get mostly southern rock, one time though fucking Steve Shelley came down with Two Dollar Guitar and played the Rusty Rudder, and i didn't know about it until months after)
Rehoboth Beach (great main street, great little villas on the side streets, most varied food on the Del-Mar coastline "French, German, Russian, Thai, fusion", large Gay population, so a lot of antique shop, art stores, and some heavy drinks and karaoke at the Purple Parrot bar, the old Kemp Mill records is gone but i bought most of my first SY albums there, as well as my first Sleater-Kinney ones as well, best all around town of all mentioned, even if the beach itself is always packed)

i'm gonna see Lightning Bolt with some friends down there in April.

i'd like to hear any interesting stories/tips you may have.

...keep hearing good things about portland....lots of breweries and lots of artists/musicians...

I've visited Toronto, Montreal and everything in between. Lived in Windsor for 2 years (1977/1979). Never been to the US. New York next.

I'm probably moving to Madison WI in August. It's supposed to be a really awesome city.

Georgia, my home state (which has a larger land mass than England):

I'm from Atlanta. I love it and hate it.

My family lives in Savannah now. It's great for visiting.

Athens is a cool college town.

Toccoa, GA is a nice rural small town. One of my best friends is from there.

Valdosta is too hot and boring. I spent a summer there.

Macon is OK.

Gainesville, GA = shithole.

Rome and NW GA is full of racists...lol

Clayton is a lovely little mountain town in NE GA where I spent many summers growing up.

Columbus, GA = shithole.

St. Marys is by the FL line on the coast and is beautiful.

Best North American city I've ever been to: New York

Actually, that's the only North American city I've ever been to.

A good thread for me, a non-American fella who has no bias and can judge by immediate experience.

1. Denver - a clean city with nice people and peaceful suburbs
2. Chicago - great atmosphere
3. Cleveland - quite nice.
4. Washington DC - scary scary. The neigborhood around 9:30 club is terrible. Didn't feel safe walking there at 1pm.
5. Baltimore - oh, what a shithole. I worked in a ghetto. There's this infamous "Inner City" neigborhood that I heard stories of people being shot and raped for their shoes or T-Shirt.

New York City- I live here so might be biased but I love it.

Chicago- if I couldnt live in NYC, this would be my 2nd choice. thought the homeless hassling you for money gets really annoying. actually they are not the shifty tired bums like you see in NYC, these people who follow you down the street asking for money, they want to tell you a story... actually they dont even look homeless, just dudes on way to shoot up some H. seriously.

Philadelphia- ok city I guess, a lot of homeless people but they just lounge, not aggressive for the most part. Has some really cool tourist stuff as far as museums and concerts.

Washington DC- the parts I was at, center of town where the mall is, and that area north by George Washington Univ, it felt safe to walk around in, plus it has all that culture.

havent been to Boston yet, but planning on it.

not in USA, but I would say outside of NYC by far my favorite is London, England, a great place to visit, I love it.

oh btw- Baltimore- I went to the Virgin Festival last year, it was at Pimlico Racetrack(north Baltimore I guess) and that area around it was scary as hell.

As a visitor from London:

NYC: Superb. Parts of it are very European but don't be deceived, this city is still VERY American. Friendly (at least to British people, get a feeling they have issues with people from certain other parts of the US.) Great shopping, incredible food and extremely lively social scene.

Columbus Ohio: A mixture of shopping malls and Blair Witch style foresty areas. Seems to have a good social scene owing to the Enormous college campus. Not that great for shopping or eating. The place has a sort of generic feel about it. Not exactly overloaded with character.

Miami: A good city but FAR too hot in the summer to be comfortable. Surprisingly easy to get around and more interesting once you get away from the beach - although there are some seriously shady districts that need avoiding. Has a sort of LA-lite feel to it. Good food in areas like Little Havana. Not so good when it comes to shopping.

Orlando: Obviously dominated by Disney World. The place lacks a real soul and seems to be a network of interconnected malls, hotels and chain diners. Seems to have a bit of a crime problem too.

Ft Lauderdale: It doesn't seem to excell in any area but it's OK. Unlike Miami, this really is a place dominated by the beach. I spent a couple of days there and whilst I'm sure it had more to offer than I saw, I didn't feel any great urge to come back and find out.

Nice to see you had a better experience. A crackhead robbed me and 2 friends at gunpoint in our own hotel room in Columbus. For that reason I am never going back.

Whoa.

I also forgot this one:

Vancouver, BC: **
My hotel was in east vancouver and i was harrassed daily by homeless guys and prostitutes.

new york
LA
las vegas
san francisco
denver
buffalo
salt lake city
chicago

been to lots of small towns but am not going to list them all here.

San Francisco - Oooh, what a beautiful city. I love everything about it. Perfect weather, unique local culture, great music. I plan on living there someday.
Chicago - Lived there for five years of my childhood. Never a dull moment in Chicago.
Seattle - Would be perfect if it would ever stop raining.
Vancouver - Ugly city, good location.
Denver - ditto
Austin - My home for the last 2 years. I love it and I hate, but mostly I hate it.
Phoenix - Born there. Way too fucking hot. Nevertheless I enjoy the desert.
Houston - Lived there 10 years. There is absolutely no reason for anybody ever to visit Houston.
Dallas - Lived there 3 years. Hated every second of it.
Orlando - No thanks.
Jacksonville - Worst city in the US of A hands down. I think we should just give Florida back to the Spanish.

not very northern or anything but ..
i have been in NYC and i fuckin loved it
and i've been in Atlantic City and i fuckin hated it with a passion.

hagerstown--my home base. racist and backwards and redeemable only via
the mexican restaurant, the used book store, and the fact my mom lives here.

washington dc--the areas that are nice feature the distasteful elements
of the 21st century "yuppie" (i know there has to be a newer handle to
describe these well-paid, well-fed, up-to-date cubicles with legs, i just
can't think of it at the moment), the areas that are shit feature the
distasteful elements of man since time immemorial. has a place called
wonder chicken, and yet another establishment named senor chicken.

baltimore--the inner harbor is very nice, fells point quite a sight, but
venture beyond at your own risk. once received a subpoena based on
being a passenger in a cab. home to rats the size of sub rolls.

philadelphia--fuck you. fuckin' overrated cheesesteaks, your fuckin'
scummy streets and scummier people. my stomach churns rancid poisons
every time i think of you, worst city in america.

pittsburgh--love the topography.

montreal--the layout of the area i visited reminded me of--horrors!--
philagoddamndelphia, but the people were nicer. and instead of
cheesesteaks, it is the hockey team that's overrated. SNAP.

chicago--so working class i wanted to go around smacking people on the
back and bellowing, "how 'bout them cubs? have you put on a little
weight? you haven't? well what the fuck's wrong with you, then? c'mon,
let's have a hot dog that outweighs our own heads!"

milwaukee--i don't care where you go, it will be gray. alternately
impassive and imposing...the city that's never sober.

boston--i stayed most of the time indoors. i felt a serious inferiority
complex going on with that city.

nyc--first, fuck queens. seriously. get drunk before you try and navigate
it, because it'll just make you feel that way regardless. manhattan is more
my style. great stuff on the lower east side, just lots happening at all
ends of the cultural spectrum.

los angeles--i once spent midnight to 3 am lost on the streets my first time
there. while i admire the city's dedication to kinko's and subway, i must
wonder at the snobby attitude that exists towards public transport, i really
must.

seattle--my favorite city. i wanted naomi to adopt us and train us as her
unholy ninjas of the night. great bus system, COFFEE EVERYWHERE,
impeccable culinary options...ah, seattle! we were no doubt spoiled by the
fact it didn't rain a single drop while we were there. beautiful weather the
entire time.

portland--nice city; props to any place that has a mexican restuarant
attached to a strip club. seemed smaller than i anticipated.

hodgenville--the hometown of my parents, located in kentucky. quiet,
neat, but limited in consumption opportunities.

ocean city/fenwick island/rehobeth beach--i tend to lump these all
together because my summer weekends are frequently orgies involving all
3. putt putt and jerk chicken, baby. the area where patrick's parents
maintain a beach house is calm and gorgeous, and a hop skip and a jump
from a discount liquor store. that equals out to quality times.

raleigh--like so many shitty areas in pennsylvania, except it's in north carolina-who cares?

atlanta--coke world! aquarium! impressive architecture!

hoboken--if you walk down the street alongside famed club maxwells, you will
not notice much of anything at first. about halfway down the sidewalk,
you will get hit with an inexplicable (OR IS IT?) stink. it lasts the rest of
your walk to the end of the block, odor subsiding with every few steps. if
you were to, once you first get hit with this smell, take a step back to
where you were before, you would no longer get a whiff of it. step
forward--stink. step back--no stink. that's right--you have just stepped
into a world-famous new jersey malodorous portal!

Sure there are hobos everywhere, (one almost pissed on me), but they aren't scary hobos. Not like hobos in really super destitute areas. And they don't bother you much.

Not all of the restaurants were really good- but I later went to a cajun restaurant in buffalo for my sister's college graduation dinner and I had the worst fucking jambalaya ever. Was crap compared to the real thing.

And plus I hate some Alligator Sausage. Damn that was good.

Las Vegas-Such a bore, it really is.
Arizona- Nothing Special but a vas desert.
L.A.-My hometown, nothing really. Yes We don't care about transportation. But that is changing gradually.

That's the best description of Chicago I have ever read. Well done.

I second both of these. I didn't experience any rain in Seattle either. I only went to Philly to see Independence Hall and its not really that impressive.

Portland - Awesome, In fact, I'd totally move to Portland.

NYC - How could you not love NYC?

Toronto - Clean, nice people, pretty much anywhere I've been in Canada is great.

Tampa - Meh...

Orlando - Meh...

Chicago - Didn't spend much time there, so I can't really judge

Buffalo - I'm from Buffalo... it sucks.

Rochester - Basically Buffalo.

Las Vegas - Had a good time, wouldn't want to live there.

Pittsburgh - Kinda dirty, where I was at least. I wasn't there long though.

Philadelphia - Cool buildings, south street was fun. Some parts of the city are pretty run down and shitty though.

Boise is the strangest city I have ever been too. It's populated but doesn't seem to be. Lots of the old sears stores and stuff still haven't been changed and still have the original logos, it also has the only football stadium in the US with blue astroturf, and the whole city is flat but surrounded by mountains. And all the roads seem like they lead you away from the city. Definately not a bad place, just very odd. That place just screams weird

I still stick with where I live now, Seattle. I always find something to do here, and it's pretty cool, because it's a big city without being too "big city-like". The summers here are really nice, we've got bumbershoot, and for the most part, people are really friendly. I've been to a lot of other places, and I can't see myself living anywhere else at the moment.

yeah, on second thought, i kinda liked some of the hobos...there was one guy who would just say "Im Superman" when you walked by...and if you looked, he'd strike a pose...he was cool...and this restaurant called "Mother's" was actually pretty good....still don't like the city though...