What is your least favorite city you have been in?

[ohiosmith]

No question: Chennai, India.

[Burma Jones]

1. Tulsa, OK

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Las Vegas.

For a place designed for "fun", most of the people I saw didn't look all that happy there. They looked hung over and like they had lost money.

The casinos all smell like smoke, and are all themed after places that are cooler places to visit than Las Vegas (i.e. Rome, Paris, New York, Venice, etc.). It's designed for people who are too lazy to go and see the real places. Why people got so excited about a fake Eiffel Tower or a fake volcano is beyond me.

Most of the "shows" feature washed up has-beens. And Cirque De Soleil was a huge rip-off.

The place is just depressing.

[Beer on a stick]

61. Seconded. I used to have to go there on convention business

once or twice a month for about 5 years.

It's a fucking pit, shined up to hide it's utterly turd-like nature.

[amborin]

62. thirded

[mdmc]

64. nothing more depressing then LV

Sad people from the plains dressed up for their big night out
East coasters laughin at them, but no better
the Vegas baby! crowd
and all the losers from LA
sad ass place imho

[Beer on a stick]

68. Sure there is: drinking yourself to death in LV!

[mdmc]

69. true that

I've always been a smoker .. never had the money to be a drinker in LV

[LiberalAndProud]

79. I c an't afford to be a smoker in Vegas either.

Geet is was over $5/pack when I was last there (a VERY long time ago).

[Blue_Tires]

3. East St. Louis and Newark

[mikeytherat]

4. Mid-90s Hartford, Connecticut

Downtown was so deserted, it almost looked apocalyptic.

mikey_the_rat

[Chan790]

8. You should see it now...

they're doing all sorts of construction and building brand-new sexy sleek luxury apartments, adding fancy restaurants, opening up the waterfront, cleaning up the city...and there is still nobody there because they still have not figured out that they need to spend money to bring jobs to the city that will keep young hip college-educated professionals who don't want to work in the defense or insurance industries in Hartford.

All that they're doing to convince people like me to not move away post-college and they just don't get the picture. Metro Hartford has the worst retention of college-educated local population of any metropolitan region in the top 100 in the nation. As a result, they can't entice the businesses they have to stay or new ones to move in because there is no qualified workforce. The companies there are now having import talented staff from other places under threat of termination (i.e. If you don't take this transfer to Hartford, you don;t have a job anymore with Ing/Lincoln Financial/Liberty Mutual/Aetna/Cigna/Citi.)

If I could have found a job in an arts or social NPO, I'd have stayed. If my best friend the PR professional could have gotten a job any place but Aetna, she'd have stayed. If anybody I was friends with could have gotten a job, they'd have stayed. Instead 70%+ of my graduating class from HS lives in NYC or Boston.

[MountainLaurel]

13. Funny, that was my choice as well

I was there in the mid-00s, and it didn't seem that much better.

[Ohio Joe]

31. Agreed

I lived in Rocky Hill from 90 to 95, work at the Ames home office. I referred to Hartford as the City of the Dead.

[mikeytherat]

41. I had to travel to Hartford for business a lot in the '90s, and it was, truly, a Dead City.

There was a downtown office "plaza," and the skyscrapers were boarded up to the third floor. When the cabbie first dropped me off there, I thought I had just been set up to get rolled.

mikey_the_rat

[jonnyblitz]

98. i live 45 minutes south of Hartford and I agree! I avoid that area

like the plague if possible though I have ended up there for concerts. Hartford is one area where google or mapquest directions never work for me it seems.

[Bertha Venation]

5. Reno, Nevada. Although . . .

. . . it was there that I saw my all-time favorite bumper sticker:

Welcome to Nevada, California's designated smoking area. :rofl:

[LiberalAndProud]

80. You made me Laugh Out Loud. for real

I'm loving that bumper sticker

[HopeHoops]

6. Newark, NJ

I left the airport. There are no road signs. I ended up on a road with more trash than street and I was sure I was going to be raped and murdered before they stole my rental car. I didn't even see any people, but that's how I felt. I eventually found my way out of the dump and onto a highway somewhere. It took me about three hours to locate the hotel.

The airport is about as dumb as you can get. The rental car bus has to do a full loop around every freakin' terminal. Forty five minutes to drive 2 miles to the airport and do loops around terminals. The plane sat at the terminal for about 45 minutes and then spent at least an hour and a half driving around the runways before we took off. We probably could have driven the fucking plane up I-95 and gotten to Logan faster.

E-GADS, MAN!

[NJGeek]

115. cleveland

what a shit hole

[Iggo]

7. Laughlin.

Ugh.

[AwakeAtLast]

9. Camden, NJ

Close second: East St. Louis, IL.

[BeachBaby]

38. +1 on Camden.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. That's easy - Chicago.

But, I made a promise here years ago never to bring it up again as to WHY I think Chicago is such a total shithole, so I leave it at that.

[Chan790]

11. Jacksonville, FL.

There is nothing good about that infected boil on "America's Wang" (TM).

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. Maybe true pre-1990....

But Jacksonville today is a lot nicer of a city, one of my favorites. Those be the true words spoken of a Wanger.

[NightWatcher]

52. dude, I just moved here, where is the culture, the fun, the good food/beer?

I am spoiled, coming south from Savannah

[Tommy_Carcetti]

60. Try the beaches or Five Corners. Or Riverside.

Worst comes to worst, go a half hour south to St. Augustine.

Jax Beach isn't Miami Beach in terms of nightlife, but it has its fun spots, or so I've heard.

I don't know, I just have a soft spot for Jacksonville. The airport's nice, the zoo's nice, the beaches are nice, the river's nice, the minor league baseball stadium's nice....all in a subtle, non-pretentious way. Only bad thing is the Republicans, but last election the city very nearly went for Obama, so there's even hope in that department.

Although I will say Savannah is a great city in its own right. Truly beautiful.

[surrealAmerican]

12. Buffalo, NY in the mid 1980s...

... was a very depressing place to be.

[baldguy]

49. Nothing has changed

But Cleveland is worse.

[wickerwoman]

111. Yeah, Buffalo was my first thought.

I drove through around '98 or '99 and the first thing you saw as you entered the city is a huge public service billboard advertising a service that removes dead rats.

But the *most* depressing place I've ever been would have to be Vegas or Limerick.

[PVnRT]

14. Huntington, WV

More depressing than "bad." Even Marshall looks like shit.

[sakabatou]

16. Cincinnati, OH during the summer.

[SidneyCarton]

17. Anapolis, Goias (Brazil)

Oh, and Pahrump, NV

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Annapolis, Maryland?

What's so wrong with Annapolis?

[SidneyCarton]

20. There is nothing at all wrong with Annapolis, MD

And even if there was, I would not be the one to ask, because I've never been there.

The city I am talking about is Anapolis de Goias, in the dead center of Brazil, its Brazilian fundy central.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

21. Ah gotcha....

Not being familiar with Brazillian geography, I thought Goias was a city in Brazil, and you also were including Annapolis, Maryland in your answer. My bad.

[SidneyCarton]

22. Goias is also a Brazilian city, it was the former capital of the state of the same name.

So I should have been more specific.

[av8rdave]

18. Riyhad, Saudi Arabia

[Moondog]

104. I already voted for Montgomery, AL

which sucks the big one, but I've got to agree Riyadh definitely is from hunger. Particularly "chop chop square" on Fridays. I actually encountered a triple-header there on a Friday right before Ramadan. Ugh.

[av8rdave]

107. I'm with you on Montgomery, but Riyhad tops it, if that's possible

I was in Montgomery for several months (felt like a lifetime) in the mid 80s.

[NuttyFluffers]

116. Riyadh is pretty bad, but i'll go with Al Hufuf instead.

all those air conditioner units pouring out their heat directly into the main streets, taking the heat from 115+ to some astronomical number from hell. throw in the endless pooh smell and by far the most nightmarish bathroom i have ever used on planet earth, and the same "chop-chop" that goes on in any largish SA city, and you have the embodiment of where i do not want to live.

i still can describe in vivid detail that public bathroom... :shudders:

[graywarrior]

23. The entire state of Florida

Sorry Florida. You and I just did not gel.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

24. The State of Florida is home to approximately 30 different species of ducks.

Now do you understand why we hold your driver's license hostage?

It's really quite simple. Free....the........I think you know where I am going with all of this.

[graywarrior]

29. !

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:hi:

[LiberalAndProud]

82. i (heart) u

[JitterbugPerfume]

25. Cincinatti

but there is a very unpleasant story as to why.

[TZ]

86. I was gonna say awww..

I was born in Cincinnati...Not the nicest city but not the worst IMO

[rurallib]

108. I hate Cincinnati. Used to travel there a lot. Had something to do with twin towers

my town of 3000 has nearly as much happening as Cincy.

[LisaM]

26. Chicago (at least if we're talking major cities)

The main reason being, they don't seem to like to eat vegetables. Not to mention the people aren't very helpful if you're lost.

[grace0418]

33. Hm, don't know where you were in Chicago but everyone I know is very friendly

to strangers and there are untold numbers of produce markets and farmers markets in the city, not to mention wonderful vegetarian restaurants.

It makes me not want to answer the OP's question because perhaps I have the same view of a city I've visited that is in fact a lovely place.

Now if you had said that you visited in February and hated the weather, THAT I could understand. :)

Let me know if you ever visit again, I guarantee I can show you a Chicago that is fully of vegetables and friendly people. :hi:

[LisaM]

43. Usually I'm there for a conference and the problem is with the restaurants

not too heavy on the salads. The markets are probably great.

I often take the train to or from there and no one seems to know how to get to or from Union Station. I was there with my suitcase one morning in the rain - I took the El from the airport and it was about 6:30 a.m., and I wandered around for an hour before someone finally gave me correct directions. Then, later, when I was going down to board with train with my luggage, I tripped and fell, and not one person stopped to help me, they just ran past.

The worst was after I bought some postcards, and then wanted to ask the clerk how to get somewhere (this was in Union Station, too!) and his manager interrupted and said he couldn't answer me because I'd already completed my purchase. To be fair, this makes no sense, and it was probably just an asshat manager, but let's just say, my experience the last few times was not great. Not to mention the drunk guy giving the trolley tour who was in such a stupor the only landmark he recognized was Soldier Field, and he acted surprised to see it. "Look everyone! There's Soldier Field!"

[grace0418]

51. Ugh, that doesn't sound pleasant. But Chicago is really quite lovely in the summer.

I guess I don't eat downtown a whole lot, so maybe it's a lot of generic/touristy stuff down there. But, trust me, Chicago is an AMAZING food town. One of my favorite restaurants in the city is essentially an ode to vegetables. And ethnic food abounds. I've been in LA for a few weeks and, while I am enjoying myself immensely, I am missing some of the culinary treasures back home.

[MorningGlow]

27. Acapulco

It was like an old lady wearing too much red lipstick.

[SoxFan]

28. Holyoke, MA

Creepy, dumpy, and just plain unsettling.

Runner up: Baton Rouge. BR is as blah as NOLA is interesting. Even the state capitol looks like an insurance company headquarters, although the bullet holes in the lobby are kind of cool.

[Arugula Latte]

30. Not a fan of Los Angeles

I've been by Dallas, but never actually spent time there, but I have a feeling that Dallas and Houston would be high on my list as well.

[AngryAmish]

32. Detroit

I have been to nicer third world cities.

[bif]

91. I agree

It's a shithole.

[hobbit709]

34. Biloxi, Mississippi.

[AwakeAtLast]

66. Before or after the Hurricane?

I was there six months before Katrina and I had a good time there. I wanted to go back and stay longer, but then all the hotels got blown away. :(

[hobbit709]

72. I was there after Camille

[Jokerman]

35. Los Angeles

Keep in mind that I've been there once and only stayed for a couple of days but the pollution and traffic on those days was horrendous.

Yes, I'm sure there are many good things about metro L.A. but my limited experience with the city wasn't good.

I should also say that traffic in New York and Chicago is no picnic but on most of my trips to those cities I've used public transportation and left the car behind.

[SteppingRazor]

36. Probably the City of Brotherly Love. Is anyplace burdened with a bigger misnomer for a nickname? n/t

[mvd]

37. I like Philly overall

I'm not sure I'll want to live here my whole life, as my best friend doesn't even live here. But there are places in PA that I find to be more unfriendly, but won't mention.

And in sports, it gets picked on too much when the same stuff happens in other cities.

[SteppingRazor]

39. I agree, sportswise. And, hell, I'll be cheering a bit for the Eagles this season...

since they picked up Jeremy Maclin from my alma mater of Missouri.

But my several sojourns to Philly have all, at one point or another, devolved into desperate, weird affairs involving violence, robbery, and assorted other forms of mayhem. I realize that this is just my bad luck, Philly clearly has some sort of problem with me, but from my point of view, it's been a bad place to go.


Oh, also Columbus, Ohio. The one time I ever stopped there, I got jumped in a gas station. And then I ran into one of the muggers at a Popeye's chicken at a truck stop on the edge of town. Freaky.

[mvd]

40. Understood

I've never had any such problems, though. The zoo is in a not so great section, and I never felt afraid.

[book lady]

42. Naples, Italy

[Moondog]

44. Montgomery, AL

:puke:

[Tuesday_Morning]

75. I agree

Montgomery is nasty.

[Xipe Totec]

45. Van Horn, Texas

I pissed on the wheels of a police cruiser there, just to express my feelings.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

46. Chicago

Muggiest/hottest place I've ever been to.

[Skittles]

93. LOL

you must have hit it at a bad time - go to Houston in August

[enigmatic]

47. Grande Prarie, Alberta

Haphazard, boom-town ugliness .

[taterguy]

48. San Francisco

Stupid cable cars. Those extra power lines all over the place are a major distraction.

And you can't smoke indoors anywhere.

And all those hills are torture for smoker's lungs.

[dana_b]

97. too healthy for you, huh?

;) The extra cable lines are so that Muni buses, light rail don't run on gas.

I don't smoke but I understand that must suck. But we love our damn hills!!! It's called "scenery"!:)

[madamesilverspurs]

50. Hobbs, New Mexico

Although it's been at least 35 years since I was last there. But the combination of heat, humidity, pig farms and bugs the size of small cars -- never have been inclined to revisit.

Apologies to the current residents, hope it's a better place for you than it was for me.

[Arugula Latte]

53. My grandparents used to live there -- I agree wholeheartedly with you.

We used to visit them, primarily in the 70s. Good gawd, what a shithole of a town. Flat, sagebrush, hot & humid (in summer), scorpions, oil rigs, miles from anywhere, no culture, no zoning, biggest attraction was high school football. I swear, my time spent there as a child helped turn me liberal (my grandfather was a great guy but a hardcore Republican). I realized in some primitive, simplistic way that laissez faire, unregulated wild west libertarianism led to incredibly shitty places to live.

edited to add: To get to Hobbs, we used to fly from San Francisco to Midland, Texas (what a shock! from Beauty to The Beast). May I say Midland is also an incredible and larger shithole, quite fitting for the shitty, corrupt Bush Thug Family.

P.S. I hope I've used the word "shit" and variations thereof to describe that part of the USA. :)

[rucky]

59. Hobbs or Clovis

both suck

[AwakeAtLast]

67. I have relatives there

I have never figured out why in God's name they haven't moved. I won't visit just because of how they talk about it!

[Dr Fate]

54. Augusta, GA. n/t

n/t

[Initech]

55. Charlotte, NC

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

56. Genoa, Italy

The food was good, the clothing on sale was beautiful, the hotel accomodations were nice, and the people were friendly. But the city had a dark and dreary vibe to it in the look of its buildings and the layout. It had a strangely depressing effect on me as a place to visit.

[elleng]

117. Interesting. I guess I understand your point.

BUT its within a train ride of the Cinque Terre, my FAVORITES!!!

[Broken_Hero]

57. City

as in a city bigger than 30k or so? I'd say Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[lost-in-nj]

58. Pittsburgh

no doubt about it
I hate that fekkin city

:hug:

love you OS

and miss you

need more of you



lost

[madinmaryland]

63. Apparently, it is now Philadelphia. Now that their football team has hired

the dog fighter guy. (Vick).

[rucky]

65. Orlando

[Throd]

94. I'll have to go with Orlando too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

70. Atlanta.

And I'm not too crazy about Dallas or Reno or Oklahoma City.

[erinlough]

71. Phoenix......hands down

[triguy46]

73. Oklahoma City.

[greatauntoftriplets]

74. Venice.

Dublin is second.

[dropkickpa]

76. Philly

Really fucked up shit always happens to me when I'm in Philly. I've never had a good time there.

[Mopar151]

77. Bridgeport/New Haven, CT

Methuen, MA

[LNM]

90. Yep, Bridgeport

[PJPhreak]

78. Without a Doubt, Gary Indiana

And I have Hitchhiked or ridden my touring bike (Mt Bike not Motorcycle) thru
New York,D.C.,Charlotte,Raleigh,Savanna,Jacksonville,Daytona,Orlando,
Tampa-St Pete,Naples,Denver,Lamar Co.,Dumas Tx.,
Boise City Ok.,Amarillo,DFW,Waco,Austin,Boston,Albany,Buffalo,Erie,
Cleveland,Toledo,Columbus,Cincinnati,Louisville,Lexington,East St Louis,St Louis,Kansas City and Wichita.

No place worse in the U.S,Nowhere at all,Nada. Gary has it hands down.

[Vidar]

81. Houston.

[JCMach1]

83. Midland/Odessa, Dallas, London, Memphis, Birmingham (U.S. one)

Miami, Atlanta...

[Mythsaje]

84. Sacramento, CA...

I lived there for like three years. If I ever have to go through that city, I hope I'm on a bullet train.

[meow2u3]

85. Columbia, South Carolina

The people are so backwards that the first two questions they ask are: What is your religion and how long have you been there?

[vadawg]

87. sarajevo, first class hole

[TZ]

88. Newport News, Virginia

What an ugly ugly city.

[Corey_Baker08]

89. Gary, Indiana....Without a Doubt

Between the gangs, the murder rate which is one of the highest in the country, and the overall condition of the city is just debilitating. Its hard to believe Michael Jackson was originally from there.

I would only want to go back with a bullet proof vest surrounded by armed security guards in an armored vehicle...ecspecially in the ghetto at night.

[Skittles]

92. Houston

nasty

[HERVEPA]

95. Singapore (both a city and a country)

[dana_b]

96. Kansas City, MO.

It was back in the mid 80s and it was a ghost town. I actually got creeped out.

[Lance_Boyle]

99. Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte - in that order

Dallas is the worst, by far. I'd shoot JR all over again to get and stay the fuck out of that shithole.

[MrScorpio]

100. Montgomery, Alabama

[old mark]

101. 2 of them. 1.Salt Lake City, Utah.

1975 or thereabouts.

Just awful, nothing pleasant about it.

2. Allentown, PA. My hometown. Nasty small minded people, fascist local government, boring as hell. Only redeeming feature is it has some nice parks.

mark

[azmouse]

102. Chicago

[Ewellian]

103. Fayetteville, North Carolina nt.

[blueknight]

105. cincinnati

worked in that racist, dingy, conservative shithole for 30 years, and hated every minute of it

[quakerboy]

106. Salt lake city

LA, Redding, and Vegas are all pretty far down the list.

[Lindsey]

109. Misssion , KS. & Laughlin, NV

My Company's Corporate Office is in Mission and I have to go there for total waste of time meetings at least once a year if not twice.

And Laughlin, NV - Ugh.....Of course we were there in the summer and I don't gamble so I shouldn't have been there in the first place.

[quakerboy]

112. is Mission

in the flat part of Kansas?

[704wipes]

110. I may have to go to a wedding in Wichita Kansas

If I do something tells me that is going to be it, especially since I have been informed the reception will be dry, but then I think all of Kansas is dry, correct?

[Sugarcoated]

113. Hmmmm . . . I haven't been very far from the Mid Atlantic part of the country

I apologize if I offend anyone . . . three depressing places: Albany, NY., Groton/New London, Conn. and Johnstown, PA.

It may have been the phase of my life, I don't know, but Groton/New London was so dead. I remember seeing the soup kitchen and a staggering drunk man as the Greyhound left town.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

114. What was bad about Chennai, India Ohiosmith?

I've never been there and I'm not challenging you in any way. I'm just curious as to what you saw there and why it left a bad impression with you. Did you have a bad experience? Did you see examples of man's inhumanity to man there? Was it just a bad or dangerous look to the place? Some places on Earth just have a powerful and bad vibe to them and it's hard to say why.

[sarge43]

118. Jacksonville FL n/t

[lildreamer316]

119. Memphis.

People were MEAN.