If you had to live in a small town or city (<150k), what would you pick?

[harryc]

Originally Posted by The North One

I prefer Gary, IN.

Looking up ....
Gary Indiana by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

[Omaharocks]

Some of my favs:

Chattanooga
Asheville (though these may be too large if considering metro pop)
Knoxville
Savannah
Charleston
Flagstaff
Silver City, NM
Olympia, WA
Laramie, WY

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

Some of my favs:

Chattanooga
Asheville (though these may be too large if considering metro pop)
Knoxville
Savannah
Charleston
Flagstaff
Silver City, NM
Olympia, WA
Laramie, WY

For heaven's sake, it took you people long enough! Four pages in? Four? Frankly, I'm appalled.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

My mom lives in Hailey, Idaho, which is next to Sun Valley. The population of Blaine County, where Sun Valley is located is approximately 25,000 residents. I don't know how feasible it would be to make a living in a resort town but it is difficult to find somewhere more scenic.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/396036...57687104273485

You cant! Thats why those towns are a combination of very wealthy people from elsware and local ski bums who operate the resorts and restaurants.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by harryc

Looking up ....

If I were Gary I'd deny all association with that family. Love yourself Gary!

[niwell]

Huh, I honestly thought Asheville was quite a bit larger than 150k.

For me it would probably be Kingston, Ontario or Burlington, VT. Both have reasonably large, walkable cores for their size, a large historic housing stock, and the type of amenities I'm interested in (cycling, craft beer, decent restaurant scene, etc.). Maybe somewhere on the Oregon coast too, though everything there is pretty small.

I love the look of many of the smaller European places people are posting - particularly those in Switzerland - but I do wonder how much I'd actually enjoy living there long term. It's picturesque but I've always had a bit of a feeling that you'd forever be considered an outsider and never really be able to fully integrate into the local culture. The alternative being a place full of wealthy transplants which doesn't particularly appeal to me either. Also I just think there are a few things I think I prefer about North American / New World culture, if only because it's what I'm used to. Many (many, many) things I hate, of course, but they can largely be avoided through ones living situation. Also the craft beer scene isn't great in small city picturesque Europe, despite how many wonderfully produced identical local lagers there may be.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by niwell

I love the look of many of the smaller European places people are posting - particularly those in Switzerland - but I do wonder how much I'd actually enjoy living there long term. It's picturesque but I've always had a bit of a feeling that you'd forever be considered an outsider and never really be able to fully integrate into the local culture.

having (swiss) friends in such a town outside of basel, i think this would be somewhat of an issue/challenge. the smaller towns are very reserved, very entrenched, and of course very beautiful places with the best small town/rural/mountain transit systems i've ever seen..like disneyland for...whatever the rural version of an urbanist is.

but i'm getting lazy in my ADVANCED MILLENNIAL years i guess just give me the far west edge of the new world if i could afford to stake a claim in two places. or south island new zealand.


sfmuseum.org

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by niwell

Huh, I honestly thought Asheville was quite a bit larger than 150k.

For me it would probably be Kingston, Ontario or Burlington, VT. Both have reasonably large, walkable cores for their size, a large historic housing stock, and the type of amenities I'm interested in (cycling, craft beer, decent restaurant scene, etc.). Maybe somewhere on the Oregon coast too, though everything there is pretty small.

I love the look of many of the smaller European places people are posting - particularly those in Switzerland - but I do wonder how much I'd actually enjoy living there long term. It's picturesque but I've always had a bit of a feeling that you'd forever be considered an outsider and never really be able to fully integrate into the local culture. The alternative being a place full of wealthy transplants which doesn't particularly appeal to me either. Also I just think there are a few things I think I prefer about North American / New World culture, if only because it's what I'm used to. Many (many, many) things I hate, of course, but they can largely be avoided through ones living situation. Also the craft beer scene isn't great in small city picturesque Europe, despite how many wonderfully produced identical local lagers there may be.

You gotta be careful because some people arent considering metros.

And even small towns without a metro per say or like in Europe, usually a group of small towns and hamlets are close enough together that really it operates kind of like a metro, or region without maybe a true central core but instead one town that is the biggest and acts as kind of a center that the smaller towns orbit, economically, politically etc.

[mousquet]

I have some kind of Swiss ancestry. It is true that they're annoying for so demanding.
They want discipline, cleanliness and all.
This is not just a stereotype, it's the truth. My grandpa was a fucking maniac on cleanliness, and you'd better behave before him, or he would slap you.
Fuck, Switzerland ain't even any EU member state yet. They're just annoying like the Scandinavians.

We French are a larger nation at the center of this shit, a bit like the Germans, but more latin and easier. So we're actually cooler.
Just not all villages in France are as neat as those in Switzerland, but our most beautiful are way superior to theirs, and they all know it.

We're just larger and more diverse. There!

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by niwell

Huh, I honestly thought Asheville was quite a bit larger than 150k.

The nighttime population of Asheville proper is about 90,000. The daytime population is about 180,000. Buncombe County has about 260,000, and the Asheville metro area, which includes Buncombe and four neighboring counties from which all those daytime commuters drive in to work, has about 440,000 people. It should be noted that even in Buncombe County by itself, not to mention the other counties that make up the metro area, there are vast swaths of rural land, plus vast swaths of protected land that no one lives on at all. The densest population concentration is in and around Asheville and its neighboring towns like Weaverville, Biltmore Forest, and Woodfin, and the umbilicus of sprawl that joins them to Hendersonville and its built-up area to the south. Heading south, that's where you find the greatest concentration of housing developments, apartment complexes, and shopping centers because that's the largest area where the land can pass for flat, and has been historically easier to develop. There are also lesser-developed strands of sprawl heading east, culminating in the little urban area around the towns of Black Mountain and Montreat that are clumped together there, and one going west, culminating in the stinking paper mill town of Canton. However, the sprawl heading east and west isn't as cohesive as the solid strip heading south to Hendersonville.

There. That's things you know now.

(Sorry. Someone mentioned Asheville and like a vampire, I was invited in. I'll stop now.)

[destroycreate]

Originally Posted by niwell

I love the look of many of the smaller European places people are posting - particularly those in Switzerland - but I do wonder how much I'd actually enjoy living there long term. It's picturesque but I've always had a bit of a feeling that you'd forever be considered an outsider and never really be able to fully integrate into the local culture. The alternative being a place full of wealthy transplants which doesn't particularly appeal to me either. Also I just think there are a few things I think I prefer about North American / New World culture, if only because it's what I'm used to. Many (many, many) things I hate, of course, but they can largely be avoided through ones living situation. Also the craft beer scene isn't great in small city picturesque Europe, despite how many wonderfully produced identical local lagers there may be.

A lot of (often liberal) North American folks fetishize life in Western Europe but they do indeed fail to take into consideration life as an expat/immigrant in these countries. Most European cultures are far more closed, exclusive, and difficult to penetrate vs. over here, where we are used to making new friends all of the time and moving around. We are used to creating new communities out of necessity due to the nature of job relocations or significant others requiring moves. I also think in general, North Americans are more open to change and adapting to new settings, whereas in much of Europe it's not as common to uproot oneself (we also cycle through friendships a lot faster lol). Speaking from my experience in Denmark, most non-Danes I've met who moved there especially in adulthood are miserable. They love the lifestyle and way of life but socially, they often feel extremely isolated. Danes for example generally have the same friends since high school or University and have little interest in expanding their circles, let alone to people who don't speak the language. You can certainly attempt to relocate to a small town in Switzerland and the quality of life may be better but social life (which is a huge contributor to anybody's happiness) could easily be miserable.

This is precisely why I can't really imagine moving back to Europe, even though I can as I am dual. Aside from London, I'm not sure where I'd really fit in realistically.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

A lot of (often liberal) North American folks fetishize life in Western Europe but they do indeed fail to take into consideration life as an expat/immigrant in these countries. Most European cultures are far more closed, exclusive, and difficult to penetrate vs. over here, where we are used to making new friends all of the time and moving around.

That's the dynamics of small town life anywhere. I grew up in a small town in NY which is very closed off and when I moved to Texas for a few years and then came back for high school, I was more or less an outsider...and I was a local. One of the reasons I am back down here.

I think if you move to these small places at a later stage in life, it's different than if you're in your college years looking for a network of friends to be highly social with.

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by JManc

I think if you move to these small places at a later stage in life, it's different than if you're in your college years looking for a network of friends to be highly social with.

Certainly the case for me.... in my younger days I was really drawn to big cities. Not that I'm older I could be just fine in the right small city.

[jtown,man]

My gf is from a small town of about 7k people. They are reserved when around outsiders. However, I guess since I am dating a local those country folk have been so damn nice to me. Some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Its been said before, but small towns are the most friendly places anywhere if they know you. If not, they can be very cold.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

If not, they can be very cold.

here's a true story.

years ago a college friend of mine was doing a post-grad intern gig driving all over new england doing some on-site documentation work of historic churches for the NRHP.

he came to one small town in new hampshire that didn't have street signs (this was in the pre GPS navigation era) and he spotted an older man raking leaves on his lawn, so he stopped and rolled down his window and asked:

"excuse me sir, i'm trying to find such and such church, but there don't seem to be any street signs in this town, would you be able to help me find it?"

the old guy's actual reply:

"if you need to street signs to get around, then you obviously don't belong here".

and then he walked away.

W? T? F?

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

here's a true story.

years ago a college friend of mine was doing a post-grad intern gig driving all over new england doing some on-site documentation work of historic churches for the NRHP.

he came to one small town in new hampshire that didn't have street signs (this was in the pre GPS navigation era) and he spotted an older man raking leaves on his lawn, so he stopped and rolled down his window and asked:

"excuse me sir, i'm trying to find such and such church, but there don't seem to be any street signs in this town, would you be able to help me?"

the old guy's actual reply:

"if you need to street signs to get around, then you obviously don't belong here".

and then he walked away.

W? T? F?

haha I mean...that has to be one SMALL town...like a few families not to have street signs right?

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

I love California and I love nature so my list would be...

Mammoth Lakes (Sierras)
Lake Tahoe (Sierras)
Big Bear (San Bernardino mountains outside Los Angeles)
Big Sur (central coast)

Jackson Hole (Wyoming)

Never been but Flagstaff looks really cool and I'm sure I can find a small town in Oregon or Montana that would fit as well

[Buckeye Native 001]

Flagstaff doesn't need any more people. We get enough Californians and Phoenicians coming here for school, our growth pattern isnt sustainable (water...), our cost of living is "California prices at Arizona wages" and we're one forest fire away from being completely decimated.

Also, the Arizona legislature hates us.

Prescott, our intellectual inferior, has Costco, In N out and Trader Joes.

But other than that, we're a fun little mountain town.

[texcolo]

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico is where I live now. It's has a beautiful location, and sits in between two lakes. Is it doing well economically? Not so much, but I like it more than I thought I would.

[10023]

Originally Posted by The North One

I prefer Gary, IN.

No one prefers Gary, IN.