The City Verus The Burbs

[katiemakeup]

I grew up in the burbs but have always considered myself a city gal. I like LA because it has equal parts city and suburb... it's nice when I go back home to escape any city life, so relaxing~ my parents lead a completly bucolic lifestyle... although I couldn't go back to living there. I need more stimulation. I love NYC and know why I couldn't live there; I need rest! I would feel to guilty taking it easy while so much passed me by. Boston is amazing, toyed around with moving there but other plans were in store for me.

 

[jkingrph]

Grew up in town population 50-55K then when in service live in couple of metro areas fro 600K to 3 million. I am now in small town of 12K and love it.
have larger town of 75K only twenty minutes away, and about equidistant from Dallas and Shreveport,La. I find it easier to go to the city from the country rather than the reverse.

 

[Phil]

Anybody for midtown?

It's a nice place. Not too suburban not too urban.

 

[Paisley]

Midtown

Ah, so that's where I live. I love it here! Not too noisy, not too dull.

 

[Viola]

They have all those in rural areas, they're just further away.

So I've heard, and I think I'll have to do that. But I hear the bus doesn't make such regular stops and the subway system is nonexistent. Also, you can't find Chinese food. That's impossible, right?! [huh]

Viola

 

[carebear]

Technically I live in a small, very diverse city (90? odd languages represented in the school system) so I have every kind of ethnic food on tap I can think of.

I'm just very close to rural due to our geographic layout. We're bordered on the North, South and West by water and to the East by State Park land (and then open untracked wilderness) that goes from Anchorage to the border of "other" (Canada ) and only crosses one road.

I live downtown but can walk to where I can't see or hear the city at all in about 3 hours.
No subway and the busses are bad because the distances and winter weather make driving much more attractive. We aren't "clustered" enough yet. Except for the small downtown core, it's a city that is all suburb or park. And not your sissy lower 48 groomed parks either, wild greenbelts with salmon runs and year-round resident moose and black and grizzly bears.

 

[PeeWee]

I live in what they now call "Midtown" Raleigh NC. I love the convenience of town, but would love to have a little place out in the middle of nowhere too.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

I think it's true for my that my choice reflects my childhood. But it's the opposite for my parents - grew up in towns and wanted to live more in the country so moved further and further out. I had a countryish upbringing and was thoroughly bored when I was in my early/mid teens. But when I moved to a big town for university I hated it! Going home was like a holiday! I now live on the very very outskirts of London and although I get annoyed with not being able to get the Nightbus home like a lot of my friends, I do enjoy being further out. Plus you get more for your money. Although in the Home Counties that is probably disputable.

 

[BAZ]

Im originally from Liverpool, but now live in NYC. Wouldn't go anywhere else!!
Except back to Sydney, well Manly.
Or Alaska.
Or New Zealand.
Hmmmm...
I'm quite schizophrenic about it.
I LOVE the Metropolis, but would like to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere away from everyone and everything!!

 

[Phil]

The Thoreau Life

I think everyone would like to live like, or at least close to, the way Henry David Thoreau did. Out in the middle of nowhere, connecting with nature. OF course, there are also people like me. As nice and peaceful as that sounds, I'd miss the city noise as well as the people. I may not know them, but it's a little scary especially if there's a really weird sound coming from outside and the cops are far away.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I grew up in the idyllic New England fishing town of Scituate, MA. Home to lighthouses, not one single fast food joint, 3 golf courses, 5 beaches. Great schools. BORING!

Give me the city any day, until of course it comes time to have kids (and dogs). Then I'll need a yard. But I need culture within 30 minutes - living where I do now is about 50 minutes from Manhattan and it's just a tad too far.

 

[carebear]

IIRC, Thoreau was less than 5 miles (a couple hours dawdle) away from a nice town. He was never in the middle of nowhere.

Barely rural by the standards of the day.

 

[jamespowers]

You couldn't pay me enough to live in a large city. PU! I don't take public transportation as a rule because it is always late and ill-kept. I don't want to walk around either. I want a place where I can drive around park and get away from traffic whenever possible.
I hate the sounds of a city with all the hubbub and noise at all hours of the day and night. If I wanted that I would live in a Casino.
Large cities also have high taxes that I am not willing to pay. Some even have ridiculous city income taxes! Pay to work in a place I hate--no way.
Then there is the dirt grime and pan handling you have to deal with. Boy what a quality of life. I love the smell of exhaust fumes in the morning. :eusa_doh:
The worst part of it all is that this stupid suburb wants to be a big city. Gee, what a goal to strive for. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

[IlsaLund]

The worst part of it all is that this stupid suburb wants to be a big city. Gee, what a goal to strive for. :eusa_doh:

J, are you in San Mateo?

 

[jamespowers]

J, are you in San Mateo?

Nope. I am on the other side of the bay in San Leandro. San Mateo is too big.

Regards,

J

 

[Elaina]

I live in the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex smack dab in the center, but this has always been the strangest city I've ever been to: on a whole it's really one large city with different names, but they each independently act like a small town.

I've lived in places with 200 people, including cats and dogs and I've lived in NYC briefly. Each place has their strentgths and weakness.

 

[Atomic Glee]

I live smack dab in the middle of downtown Fort Worth, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a great place - a large, major city (600,000+ and 2nd fastest growing in the country) that still has a friendly small-town attitude. It's like Mayberry, if it had experienced major booms related to the cattle, oil, aerospace, tech and natural gas industries over the years.

I love walking - I used to love to drive, but after living in downtown for about a week, I realized how much I hated the "have to go everywhere by car" lifestyle of the suburbs. An example: in the suburbs, after getting out of a movie (usually in a blank concrete box building with no soul of any kind), you'd stand around in a barren parking lot, talking about where to go eat. Then you get in the car and drive there. Possibilities for serendipity: zero.

Now, when I go to the movies, I think: do we want to go to the Art Deco theater...

...or the Streamline Moderne one?

Or are we going to a live show at the French Deco performance house?

After getting out, you don't have to pick a place and go there. We can just walk around - feel like Mexican? Or Italian? Or an American diner? Or sushi? Just a block or two in any direction takes you there. Or do we want to do a little shopping before eating? There's plenty of stuff, from offbeat indie trinkets to a Joseph A. Bank and a hat store, all around us. Maybe we'll wander by the improv theater to do some people watching, then grab some sushi, then get something at the ice cream store. The point is, we don't have to decide first. It's easy to just walk around, and stop in to any store that strikes your fancy. Just wandering up and down the sidewalks, you might be intrigued by a restaurant you've never been to. A dozen possibilities await you, whichever way you turn as you exit the theater. Then, it's just a short walk back home, whether your home is in a modern tower, or like me, in a vintage loft.

Downtowns all over the country died off due to the suburbs, and a lot still haven't recovered. Downtown Fort Worth, against all odds, found the right recipe, and ever since the '80s has been reborn into a vibrant, active, safe, and clean place where people live, work, and play in a mixture of vintage and modern buildings. It's proof that the downtown can flourish in the face of the suburbs, and I am overjoyed to be able to live in a place that recalls the glory days of the city in the Golden Era.

Some random shots taken one night here in downtown. I'll take this any day over parking lots, Wal-Marts, and Applebees:

 

[Lincsong]

I love sprawl

I love suburban sprawl. Pave it over and build houses and strip malls. I love it! I love having neighbors I know and who come over to help out when I need them. I love sitting on a porch or an open garage, drinking some booze and gossipping about the neighbors. I love only having a 3 mile, ten minute commute to work. I LOVE THE SPRAWL.

The suburbs are where the jobs and housing are located. Build more of them!

 

[Fletch]

I love suburban sprawl. Pave it over and build houses and strip malls. I love it! [...] I love sitting on a porch or an open garage, drinking some booze and gossipping about the neighbors. [...] I LOVE THE SPRAWL.

Great. Now I have this mental picture of you sitting on top of your garage, half in the bag, yelling about stuff.

 

[jamespowers]

Great. Now I have this mental picture of you sitting on top of your garage, half in the bag, yelling about stuff.

You must be psychic. Aside from being in the garage and not on top of it, that's pretty accurate. Its actually a sport around here.

Regards,

J