69 replies to this topic

[JDC]

Now that I'm back in my home state of Massachusetts, I have to say that Cambridge is probably the "coolest" city in the Bay State. Boston's got it's cool neighborhoods, and I'm a big fan of Northampton, but for me, Cambridge is where it's at.

[Choirboy622]

If there is a "cool" city n Indiana, Bloomington would have to be it.  It has Indiana University, so most of its population are either students or employees of the university.  

Indianapolis is so not cool...there is no decent mass transit here -- few buses, let alone trains -- and the fav pastime of the residents here is complaining about how "high" their taxes are...property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, whatever.  These people haven't a clue what high taxes really are, because most of them have never lived anywhere except here.  Yet, they also complain about how poor the city services are, such as pot holes not being filled, the conditions of the streets, the police, and you name it whatever else they can think of.  They have yet to figure out that good governmental service require money, which is paid by...TAXES!    

[VistaLakes01]

doogur, on Apr 22 2008, 06:39 AM, said:

Like everyone else, I stated my opinion.  The question posed by this thread asks for opinions.  I think it's stating the obvious that when someone asks for "what's cool?" they're asking for an opinion.

What are the cool cities in my state?  I'm from Ohio.  Ohio has none.  That's my opinion, at least with regards to large cities.

My guess is that my opinion is rather mainstream.  If we were to take a nationwide poll of the top cool cities, no Ohio city would make the top 20.  That's my opinion.

If someone thinks Columbus is "cool", great.  I disagree, but great.  I could probably think of 40 cooler cities, but that's just me.

I lived in Dayton, Ohio for a few years, and Yellow Springs seemed to be the "coolest" town.  Cincinatti looks cool, but isn't really. If I had to pick a cool city in Ohio it would have to be Columbus, it is very bland, similar to Indianapolis, but it did have somewhat of a nightlife and a little retail.  The biggest dissapointment in Columbus is what happened to Columbus City Center.  That made Columbus kinda cool, but the lack of residents in the CBD is what killed it.  I know it wasn't popular at the time, but if a couple of high rise condo projects could have been built along with it, that may have helped.  Polaris should have never been built, that was the nail in the coffin.  I don't recall where there was any park land in the downtown area....is there anything along the river?  As far as Indiana goes, you can't really count Bloomington, it's kind of a temporary cool, students graduate and move on.  I think you need a creative workforce to make a city cool.

[totheskies]

Depends on how you're treating the word "cool".  

Texas--

For cool by temperature standards, probably Amarillo

For cool by vibe and general likability, probably Austin

For city with the most soul, I'm gonna go with Galveston.  But Marfa comes in with a close second.

Arkansas--
Temperature-- Fayetteville
Vibe-- Fayetteville
Soul-- Either Helena or Hot Springs

[VistaLakes01]

Choirboy622, on Jun 28 2008, 11:25 PM, said:

If there is a "cool" city n Indiana, Bloomington would have to be it.  It has Indiana University, so most of its population are either students or employees of the university.  

Indianapolis is so not cool...there is no decent mass transit here -- few buses, let alone trains -- and the fav pastime of the residents here is complaining about how "high" their taxes are...property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, whatever.  These people haven't a clue what high taxes really are, because most of them have never lived anywhere except here.  Yet, they also complain about how poor the city services are, such as pot holes not being filled, the conditions of the streets, the police, and you name it whatever else they can think of.  They have yet to figure out that good governmental service require money, which is paid by...TAXES!    

I would hope Indy would become a little more of a "cooler city" since it seems to be a bit in the category of the "cost of living" migration cities, so possibly more diverse people may be moving there from "cooler cities" such as people from cities that have been hit hard with job losses and cost of living problems such as Miami.  But then again, the job and COL migraters are mainly families struggling to get ends to meet and follow the jobs and cheap cost of living crowds.  So that's probably not the "coolest" crowd of people anyway.  I think cities with a more creative workforce with smaller companies with fewer employees help make a city cool, especially if that workforce resides in the inner city neighborhoods also.  I think Orlando is good example of that type of thing happening.  There really are no majorly huge employers in the downtown area, except for government and medical, which every city has.  But there are a lot of small more creative type businesses that are pretty successful and that creative class of people seem to be living right there in the city where there businesses are located.  The art scene is growing very rapidly, making Orlando more of an "arts" town than a "sports town."  Not to say we don't love sports, the Majic seem to be enough pro sports to satisfy the city that is surrounded by college football 3 NFL teams to choose from and two baseball teams in the state.  And Orlando is finally not letting itself be talked in to being used as a pawn to get a new stadium built in Tampa Bay for the Rays.  We've learned how that game works and thankfully aren't wasting any time or money on that.  We know in the end the reason the Rays approached Orlando is to get a new stadium where they are currently located.  We can't be fooled in to thinking they may relocated here.  We are doing just fine with the costs of keeping our one pro team (the Majic) and making that the best experience it can be.  And renovating the Citrus Bowl will keep our Bowl games hopefully and UCF investing the money in Brighthouse Stadium heightens the status of UCF as a serious contender in college football.  So I think Orlando is developing the right mix of culture and sports, retail, downtown living and nightlife to keep it moving in the direction of "cool" city status.

[williamgeorge]

Like seemingly most everyone else, they have their 20 most livable (big international) city list, in order: Munich, Copenhagen, Zurich, Tokyo, Vienna, Helsinki, Sydney, Stockholm, Honolulu, Madrid, Melbourne, Montreal, Barcelona, Kyoto, Vancouver, Auckland, Singapore, Hamburg, Paris, Geneva.
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williamgeorge
South Carolina Drug Addiction

[unless]

Some cool cities in California (abridged version):

Santa Monica
Los Angeles
Hollywood
Malibu
Laguna Beach
Carpinteria
Santa Barbara
San Luis Obispo
Morro Bay
Carmel
Monterey
Santa Cruz
San Francisco
Berkeley
Oakland
Davis
Petaluma
Healdsburg
Mendocino
Fort Bragg
Arcata

[Charlotteman]

In Washington State everyone says Seattle....but I think Tacoma is totally underrated. For a city it's size it has so many museums and art glass exhibits you would be amazed.  And the people in Tacoma aren't pretentious and plastic like people in Seattle with their boring "seattitude".

In Florida I thought Gainesville and Orlando were pretty cool.  Lotsa arts, music, and sports in both cities.

[FromCityToRural]

Austin is regarded as the hip city to be in, but Houston and San Antonio seem to have some appeals that way as well. Dallas has a lot to offer but gets passed over in people's perception.

[miklos]

JDC, on Jun 26 2008, 09:32 AM, said:

Now that I'm back in my home state of Massachusetts, I have to say that Cambridge is probably the "coolest" city in the Bay State. Boston's got it's cool neighborhoods, and I'm a big fan of Northampton, but for me, Cambridge is where it's at.

I would give Lowell some consideration. It's probably the best preserved old mill town in the state and my favorite. What do you think?