What's your favorite city? What do you like about it?

Do you live there? If yes, did you move there after visiting, or is it your hometown? If no, would you ever consider living there? What would it take to get you to move?

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Answers

Atlanta. I LOVE the spirit in the city. Those crazy mo fos will throw a parade for anything. I would love to move back, at least to Cobb County, but we must live where the trees need us, so it may be a long long time before I can call it home again.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Ooh, I going to Ataranta today, to see my Arrison!

My favorite city right now is Austin. I love it more every time I go there, and not just because it's so easy to get drunk. There are cute houses, too. And, and pretty stuff. And boots. (And also Pineapple, and not just because she aids and abets the drunkenness.)

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Denver. Sadly I don't live there but I want to. If I lose my job in the buyout then we're moving there. I love that it's a fairly large city but feels like a small one. Or a series of small ones. I love being near mountains and lakes. I just love the feel of it and the way it makes me feel.

Also, the Tattered Cover is a reason to move there in and of itself.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Oh, I second the Atlanta love! I've been here for about 3 and a half years (though where all that time went, I have no idea!) for an internhip straight out of college. I had been here a few times when I was younger, and once to interview with the company, but didn't know too much about it. Hence, I've moved four times in three years!

But I love it...GREAT shopping (hello, Lenox Mall?), crazy good food, fun nightlife, lots of young people, a smattering of trees and parks (actually a lot for a big city) and nice people.

But if I had to pick somewhere I don't live, I'd pick Boston in a heartbeat. Love that city, even the snow.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Right now? New York. Because I can walk to the doctor's and, on the way back, get a hot dog with ketchup and mustard in thirty seconds for $1.50. And walk by FAO Schwartz and a tiny little movie theater playing a chic French film.

I do miss my traffic-ridden, pollen-heavy, almost-bankrupt home town, mainly because so many people I love have chosen it. But I'm hoping to be back by the end of next year.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

I love Birmingham, which has gotten infinitely cooler since I moved away from it in 1996.

I loooove Austin, TX so very much and would have moved there instead of Atlanta if I could have stood the thought of spending another summer in a place that rivals hell itself for heat. I also love San Antonio, though not the Meat of Cheese's version of the city, which is rather industrial. Plus, he hated it there, so it was never a moving option. But, it's cheap as all get out to live there, and I like it.

We moved to Atlanta because I wanted to live back in the Dirty South and be nearer my family, and his. You just can't beat the Southeast, in my mind, though my travels have been limited.

I haven't spent much time at all in the Northeast, but I hear it is wonderful. I can't imagine living above the Mason-Dixon, but plenty of people seem to handle it, with no problems. Heh.

Several years ago, I went on a little trip to Monterey, CA and fell hard for the place. It costs about 2 zillion bucks to live there, but I would do it in a second. Strangely, one of my cousins lives there now. I just found that out.

I was talking with my friend Shaun about this very question and he said, if he could live in any city and afford to be comfortable, he would choose London. I wish he'd do it so I could visit him.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Oh, and I'm kicking myself for forgetting to mention that Grenoble is the absolute shiz-nit. I don't have any of my pictures from April scanned, but you can find some nice ones here.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

I am a city girl through and through. No boonies living for me. I love the city I live in (Indianapolis) but I don't harbor any delusions that it's the most kick-ass city anywhere. I mostly love it because it's home. And, the Pacers.

The city I probably like best, and would like to move to if I didn't live here, is Chicago. It has a fast-paced but working class vibe I relate to. Lots of good food and shopping and a pretty lake.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Mmmmm, Reggie Miller. A flopper from way back, but still hot and lovely with the threes.

Hi, I'm Off-Topic.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

oxford, england, but only if i were a student there. it's honestly my favorite city and i would love to live there. i just think i wouldn't be able to really appreciate it unless i were a student.

besides that, and since i'll most likely never be a student again, new york city or london. i love different things about both places, and both of them are amazing to me. they each have a distinct atmosphere that i've fallen in love with...

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

In the States, it's gotta be Austin, Texas.

Just outside the States? San Juan, Puerto Rico and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI. Wow. I'd live there if I could. (In fact, I made a VERY valiant attempt to do just that, about 3 years ago.)

In Europe? Barcelona is a helluva fun place, and their skewed timing (late dinners, stay out til 4 a.m., go to work around 9 or 10) fits my lifestyle to a T.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

Charlottesville, VA is just about the coolest place EVAH. The University of Virginia is there, so it is young and hip and all that. But it is pretty small, so it is wonderful in the summer when the students are gone. It also has the most incredible architecture and restaurants and is right at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains and the Shenandoah Valley.

I would move back in a heartbeat if it were possible for both Al and I to get jobs.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

I feel lame saying Fort Worth. But it is. It's small but great.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001

New York City. When I was (a lot)younger there were four cities I really wanted to visit - London, Berlin, Paris and New York. London was first, when I was 17 (I'm Irish, so it was nearest). The Berlin for a Summer when I was 19, and then New York, during a summer spent in Boston during college.

I'll never forget the first glimpse of the Empire State Building. We had been driving for hours, in dreadful traffic, and it was really late, and then my friend Isabel cried 'Look!' and pointed straight ahead. And there it all was. I was in awe. I fell in love instantly. I've been back there a lot since then, and I still get a little buzz every time I see the (now sadly changed) skyline.

Oh yeah, and I've got to love Dublin, even though it's a manky overpriced mess, because hey, it's home.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

I love living in Atlanta. I spent ten years in New Orleans, ten years in Houston, and I've been here for almost eight years. Atlanta is an easy place to live, y'all. (Of course, I wouldn't live OTP, because if you choose to live OTP, you choose a life af traffic.) Atlanta has great food, great grocery stores, nice people, the city is a beautiful collection of unique neighborhoods... The city's government is a crock of mess, but I live in unincorporated Cobb, where my taxes are low and it only takes ten minutes to renew your license plates. I lived in DeKalb county (City of Decatur and Virginia-Highlands) for six years, and while I love DeKalb county, the municipal services in the ATL limits are awful. Oh, and Atlanta radio iss eriously lacking. But I do love this city.

I love New Orleans, but y'all. There is not a decent grocery store in that city. That's surprising, but true. And grocery stores are important to my overall quality of life.

If I could live anywhere, it would be the northwest quadrant of Washington, DC. Or, Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

Wshington DC. The land I used to call home. I miss that place desperately. The trees. The little stores. The three Ethiopian places on 18th Street. The compliment man. Rock Creek Park. The Burrito places. Dupont Circle. I could go on and on and on.

I also loved New York City. It is amazing. The energy

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001

There's more than one. Capetown,South Africa.I was there on January,arrived pale and sneezing and it was Summertime.I quickly defrosted. There's something in Capetown unlike any other town I've been to,there's a rythem in the air,music,there's a sensuous feeling of summer and 'happening',amazingly beautiful people driving convertibles along the ocean road,and when you sit in one of the many open bars/cafe's/restuarant on the beach,you can see dolphins playing in the water.But no,I wouldn't live there.It was one of the best vacations in my life,but on vacation it's easy to ignore certain things,such as oppression and social injustice. Then there's Marrakesh,Morocco.Just the name alone makes me happy. It took me exactly 10 minutes to understand why this was 'The' place to be in the `60s,and why so many people own vacation homes there. The weather is incredibly hot and dry,the colors are so intense ,dream-like,the food is fantastic,the people are warm. Then there's London ,England,because it's where I fell in love for the first time (at the age of 14,and he was Irish),because everyone calls you 'love' ,it's just a figure of speech,because of the beautiful old buildings and the rain,and because when the sun shines in London, all these gloomy people transform into a wild bunch,taking off shirts and jackets and diving into anything that has water in it,which is hilarious. But how can you define what it is you love about a city in just a few words?I certainly can't.Love is a funny thing,isn't it.

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2001

In the States, Pittsburgh. I live there now, and I love how it's sort of a city because it's got culture and stuff, but it's not in that there is country ten minutes outside of town.

Outside the States, definitely Paris. It's so huge and there's so much there that I want to explore, nevermind how freakin' GORGEOUS it is. Love.

I'd also love to live in NYC before I settle down, and I plan on being a student in Oxford, England in about 6 years. Doctorate, here I come...

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

You know, I never thougth I'd see Pittsburgh on this list. . . . But from what I've heard it's a sleeper city; no one realizes how great it actually is until they visit. And as I'll be there for the first time ever this Christmas I'll just see for myself.

It's great to see that a lot of people actually live in their favorite city. Lucky little ones, you are.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

I'll put in another vote for Pittsburgh. I grew up outside the city and have lived in the city itself for 14 years. Like Hannah said it is kind of a sleeper of a city. It has a tendency to be provincial at times. But it has a ridiculously low cost of living(at least in terms of housing) and is relatively close to Cleveland and Philadelphia, which is good mostly b/c the museums in those cities get more of the traveling exhibits. Plus, it's a USair hub which makes flying most places easy and somewhat cheap. I forgot it's also home to the Andy Warhol museum too.

My wife and I considered Boston but really couldn't justify paying twice - three times as much for housing. Plus, it's composed of a series of small neighborhoods, originally centered along ethnic lines, strung together to create a city which makes it feel like you live in a town or a small city with most of the advantages of a larger city. Overall, not a bad palce to live. We'll probably stay for a while unless one of us gets an incredible job offer elsewhere.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001