What do you think about the city you live in?

[its always cloudy]

nightlife is inexistant in toronto

this is true, but i never really liked spending $200 on french vodka (as a polack, I will give a full-bellowed HAH towards that one) bottle and $30 to get into a place that puts the radio on. Some decent bars too.

Oh, also forgot another pro: THE GIRLS.

[destructodisk]

^^You made Seoul sound a lot worse than I had ever imagined it..

Pros & Cons of my city, Denver:

Pros:

-Beautiful location. Denver sits in between the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the high plains to the east, in an area that is bursting with plant and wildlife. It's already beautiful here now in May, but by June it really becomes spectacular and makes me quite happy. This is probably a point of pride for many residents, and so the city and surrounding areas undergo regular upkeep and look quite nice.

- Well designed city, smatterings of really nice architecture, nothing really that unappealing in the city itself. It's difficult to get lost here if you are not an idiot, as most N/S streets are in alphabetical order, and E/W run in numerical order.

-Good food. Denver is emerging as a hub for a lot of great chefs from around the country to start up their first restaurants, and our proximity to the south ensures plenty of great Mexican food, among other cuisines. I've experienced great food from a wide array of ethnic and domestic restaurants, and have been quite satisfied with the culinary scene here.

-Good drugs. Denver, and the metro area have a ton of great local breweries that are world class, and we also have some of the best weed in the world -- likely just below Cali in that respect. These two things enjoyed together usually make for a pleasant summer afternoon.

Cons:

-Not a whole lot to do unless you are some nature freak or one of those people who go to live shows every night. Nothing in the way of good shopping, and I really mean that. Our landlockedness really shows in this respect.

- Culture is one of the main frustrations of mine, and some would probably disagree that the culture of Denver is a 'con'. But those people are likely overly cheery liberally minded nature lovers, totally oblivious hipsters with shoestring belts, or the boring simpletons that comprise the grey matter of the metro area. I get the impression a lot of these people don't travel much -- you can usually spot someone who has been to say, New York, because they are wearing a pea coat. Every person I've ever met from Denver that has been to New York now owns a pea coat and thinks they are the pinnacle of the Denver sartorial scene.

-Nightlife. This has become my biggest gripe with this city since I've turned 21. The bars here fucking suck for the most part. None of them play good music, few of them serve good beer except for the small beer bars that specialize in such a thing -- and they're always nearly empty. Worst of all, they're not open late at all. 1:30AM at the absolute latest and I think this is a fucking travesty. There are empty Pho joints that are open until 4AM..

There's a lot more I could go on about, mostly Pros and minor Cons, but I genuinely enjoy calling this place home. That said, I'm getting the fuck outta here to go experience the rest of the world.

[16steps]

@san jose- the best thing about SJ, besides a shit ton of jobs, is that its close to SF. Lack of culture fsho

@denver- when i was there i only saw white people. Me and 2 other persian stuck out like sore thumbs. Girls there arent like cali girls. A lot crustier

@monterey- its cool here. Downtown is small but nice. A lot of military types here but you get over it. A lot of white people and tourism. Beautiful place to live tho if i were older (wineries, golf, restaurants)

[AlanT]

fuuuuucc scotland

Xan2xU-ZFic

A lot of Scotland is fucking terrible, rammed with these idiots too. At least Glasgow does have some interesting shit going on however.

That programme starts again tonight funnily enough!

[Pavlov's Bell]

i live in montreal so its mostly weird french bitches and poutine

some of the best looking women i've seen in my life were in montreal.

[borkborkbork]

montreal is like the hottest women on earth all dating unemployed men with ponytails who do medieval reenactment

[Pavlov's Bell]

What amazed me about Montreal is that jobs which, in NYC are typically relegated to overweight middle aged Hispanic women, are instead carried out by hot, skinny, 24-yr old Quebecois chicks.

[conqueror]

i think adelaide would be a perfect city for raising a family. everything else, though...

[atrak]

los angeles. downtown to be exact and has everything i need with in a walking distance. so much so that i sold my car. good luck on clothes shopping out here though. food is eh but i rarely eat out so what do i know. music/nightlife scene is amazing in dtla. very rarely do i go out outside of downtown. rent isn't too too bad for what you get.

i travel to ny pretty often. i would move in a hearbeat, if i didn't hate crowded places so much.

[haptronic]

auckland has become my home as it the place that i have lived longest. it is like a fully formed small city, with it's own music, fashion, and film industry.

food is fantastic if expensive, after living in san francisco the only things i miss are good cheap mexican and american style burgers.

auckland is pretty chilled out as the population is not dense, you can get whatever you want here if you have the right contacts.

the city itself is located between two harbours so you are never far from the water, from coast to coast is around 1 hour in traffic and the two coasts are totally different the west wild and the east white sand and sheltered.

the spread out nature of it is similar to the bay area and each of the little villages has it's own charm, well some further out shopping centres have very little to offer.

i spent six months living in wellington when i first returned to new zealand, which is incredibly pretty full of culture but really was too small and cold to be good for more than a short visit.

[destructodisk]

@denver- when i was there i only saw white people. Me and 2 other persian stuck out like sore thumbs. Girls there arent like cali girls. A lot crustier

that doesn't surprise me, as there are mostly white people here. however, you were probably mistaken for a mexican instead of persian.

i can't really relate on your experience with the female population here.. seen plenty moist bitches up here despite the lower relative humidity. in fact boulder is fucking filled with californians.

[rgray]

I currently live in Uppsala, Sweden.

Population of around 190,000 and around 25,000 university students. Definitely a university-city. Coming from Canada, everything here is expensive, especially going out to eat/drink/shop. However, the interesting/unique aspect of the city/university is that there are 13 'nations' (think fraternity but not quite) which all have their own clubs/pubs/restaurants that are considerably cheaper than anywhere else. Uppsala is only a forty minute train ride to Stockholm which makes for easy getaways because it can get boring at times. The bus system is competent and walking is just as easy, it really depends on laziness. The university buildings are scattered throughout town which is a nice change from the typical Canadian style of one big campus. Other than going out almost every night to a club/pub there really isn't much to do, but life could be worse.

It would be a great place for university but I couldn't see myself trying to stay longer than that.

[Mr HaGa]

Fuuuck everyone lives in a better place than me....

[bfan]

I lived in san jose and I agree with everything already said about it

one time my friends and I were chillin in this area. we walked to a hill and looked around, and it was like we were in the tv show weeds, just boxes on hills all around. if you wikipedia 'suburb' a picture of san jose pops up

[suremanok]

San Diego is awesome. We have wonderful weather, and tasty mexican food.

yeah. that's pretty much it.

i'm thinking about moving to the pacific northwest in the next couple years. portland or seattle preferably. loved it out there when i was visiting famliy during the holidays.

[thelion1856]

San Diego:

the mecca of CWG

the best mexican food in the USA

the shittiest shopping for clothing

the weather is pretty good most the time

[f50fan]

I'd rant about how Hawaii is shitty but then I'd probably get neg train'd and put on whitewhine.com

Honolulu

Pros:

Hawaii lifestyle is pretty chill

More things I probably dont appreciate

Cons:

Cost of living is mega high

Gas is pretty expensive

Crazy traffic because we only have basically one main freeway

Not much selection in terms of stores/brands

Tropical climate means even wearing jawnz makes you sweat out your ass

Shipping is rape on every level

I'm talking about the island of Oahu as a whole because there arent any big cities here. Just small towns pretty much.

[dismalfuture]

Fwiw ive lived in Seoul for a total of about 13 years of my life, lived in Brisbane, and then about 4 or 5 places in America, and traveled enough to the point that I don't really get eager about traveling anymore.

I forgot to say that Seoul is pretty safe as long as you stay on your toes and aren't an asshole to people, but everything else goes.

It gets pretty bizarre at times, especially when the governmental agencies and powers that be declare Seoul to be all sorts of things, and you realize the truth is the opposite - it gets tiring to hear about Seoul as a 'design city' when it's actually really ugly, it gets tiring to see ads all the time expressing all these nouveau riche and highly cultured Koreans when there is still. A staggering amount of poverty and have-nots by even the middle class. To be middle class here requires not much money, but to live a life that would be comfortable by another country's middle class standards could require an income of 500 stacks a year. All the Asian parents weren't kidding about being doctors an lawyers - you need that kind of salary to put your family in a 1500 sq ft home, nikes on their feet, and fresh meat and vegetables in their stomachs.

People who teach ESL over here make more than the avg worker, sometimes a lot more, but even for them, not having to ride crowded and dirty public transport, eat healthful food that suits their palates, living in a decent home witht the kind of things they enjoy in the west, and finding entertainment and recreation- that often requires a lot more than they make. The idea of eating meat and cheese once a day would be considered a luxury by many people who earn 30-50k a year.

[jaac]

Similar to what conq said about Adelaide..

Canberra is a place i see myself comin back to when i want to raise a family.

The location is (in my eyes) pretty nice, there are lakes, big hills (called mountains but yeh...) a ton of bushland, its 2 hours from the coast and the snow. We have one of the countries premier universities and another few that are more practical degree orientated so that works well. It's not a bad lifestyle to live on residence according to my friends.

The nightlife is fucking shit, there are a few bars that would be good if they weren't considered the "cool" places in town thus populated by deep v rocking meathead idiots and their bimbo girlfriends.

Shopping..yeh don't even fucking start, i've not bought clothing from a local shop since i first browsed sf/sufu. Getting around is a breeze, you can ride pretty much anywhere in an hour max, the bikepaths are good and the government is really pushing development of them.

Architecture, im pretty ignorant but it could look worse, some places are getting modernised which i guess is pretty cool.

Food, again im probably ignorant compared to someone like Drew, there are good options and prices aren't bad but i don't eat out a whole lot as my friends are cheapskates and rather KFC/Maccas. There are some really good markets where you can get nice fresh produce though.

Art/Culture yeh i dunno, we don't get many big music acts, we have a couple really nice galleries/museums and the War Memorial has some awesome exibits sometimes.

The people are generally public servants if their over the age of 30, drab suit wearers, working in hospitality near the CBD most are pretty nice i guess. As we get so little tourism i don't think people are overly negative towards visiters yet.

The climates fucked though, straight fucked, summer gets to 40 degrees C, winter like 8-10 during the day. Least it makes shopping interesting.

[okonomi]

Fuuuck everyone lives in a better place than me....

Here Here. Doesn't it suck reading people bitching about NYC?

[mapclub]

Similar to what conq said about Adelaide..

Canberra is a place i see myself comin back to when i want to raise a family.

The location is (in my eyes) pretty nice, there are lakes, big hills (called mountains but yeh...) a ton of bushland, its 2 hours from the coast and the snow. We have one of the countries premier universities and another few that are more practical degree orientated so that works well. It's not a bad lifestyle to live on residence according to my friends.

The nightlife is fucking shit, there are a few bars that would be good if they weren't considered the "cool" places in town thus populated by deep v rocking meathead idiots and their bimbo girlfriends.

Shopping..yeh don't even fucking start, i've not bought clothing from a local shop since i first browsed sf/sufu. Getting around is a breeze, you can ride pretty much anywhere in an hour max, the bikepaths are good and the government is really pushing development of them.

Architecture, im pretty ignorant but it could look worse, some places are getting modernised which i guess is pretty cool.

Food, again im probably ignorant compared to someone like Drew, there are good options and prices aren't bad but i don't eat out a whole lot as my friends are cheapskates and rather KFC/Maccas. There are some really good markets where you can get nice fresh produce though.

Art/Culture yeh i dunno, we don't get many big music acts, we have a couple really nice galleries/museums and the War Memorial has some awesome exibits sometimes.

The people are generally public servants if their over the age of 30, drab suit wearers, working in hospitality near the CBD most are pretty nice i guess. As we get so little tourism i don't think people are overly negative towards visiters yet.

The climates fucked though, straight fucked, summer gets to 40 degrees C, winter like 8-10 during the day. Least it makes shopping interesting.

Oh beat me to it! I'll add my 2c..I think it's important for folks to understand just how boring it is here in Canberra so I'll try to balance my rant with a couple of pretty pictures and apologise now for #walloftext.

Architecture / Location:

Bit of an old photo but just so folks get the idea

That is a man made lake named after the city architect Lake Burley Griffin (after Walter Burley Griffin).

Foreground is war memorial, across the lake are all the capitol buildings. Left to Right: National Art Gallery, Supreme court centre low building is Old Parliament House behind it is New Parliament House (1b + aud building set inside man made hill) last buildings on right are (Kids)Science Museum and National Library. To the right of where this photo was taken would be the city centre. I live back where that skyscraper is in the background ( ~ 15 minutes drive from where this photo was taken or thereabouts).

All those trees are due to a number of laws; Every suburb is alloted a certain percentage of nature reserve + sports field(s), No front yard fences are allowed except for hedges/trees. You may also notice there are no skyscrapers to note.. there are also height limits on buildings and very strict laws against billboards and advertising inside the city.

Architecture varies.. old buildings are fine...two I like to visit are School of Music and the Art Gallery... but apart from that all these new 'cubic buildings' and homes are popping up and everything is taking a bad turn now.

Canberra School of Music by canberra house

Parliament is at the centre of the city and all roads leading out from it are named after the state capitals/ commonwealth.

(old photo again sorry)

99% of the folks here work for the government which pays very well.

Basically all the cities problems and pluses come from this fact... if you love dressing like a middle aged public servant our shopping is great.. the career choice is great too if you only want to work for the government...etc etc,...this formula can be applied to most aspects of living here.

Shopping like jaac said is awful. The major retail stores here only have 'country store accounts' and cannot carry other that other cities take for granted...Dior..Nudie etc etc. The only proper sneaker store here with a nike account went broke after just a year too. Jaac is right about getting about too. Best roads in the country for bikes and cars. A lot of cyclists will go around the lake before breakfast each day on the bike path there..or even to the national mountain bike course recently completed at some ridiculous price.. For drivers there are dirt roads where national rally is held and some mountain passes to get there on. There is also some weird law or something holding the police back from properly hidden speed cameras too??

Food? Is a joke. Yes we have a lot of ethnic places that are reasonably priced and a lot of asian grocery stores with great prices too but our first (and only?) bubble tea place only opened last year...everything closes too early too (we have no 711s for real slurpees)

Nightlife is pretty bad.. cameras are up everywhere now because of the problems outside of clubs. It's pretty much house parties or special occasions for my nightlife these days.

I agree with jaac about it being a great place to raise kids or retire. Most young people are either stuck here / studying or working for the government.

Most people end up moving to Melbourne if the money/govt can't keep them here after finishing up school.

Just not Sydney.

(come at me bro)

[superBobo]

Stockholm,Sweden.

pros:

beautiful, lots of water.

nice old buildings

good looking women

close to the archipelago

decent shopping

cons:

apartments etc are insanely expensive

food is expensive and pretty so-so. We really need good, cheap fast-food.

lots of cheesy hipsters, in general people are a bit to nervous

cold and snowy

[skiniks]

nightlife is inexistant in toronto

this is true, but i never really liked spending $200 on french vodka (as a polack, I will give a full-bellowed HAH towards that one) bottle and $30 to get into a place that puts the radio on. Some decent bars too.

Oh, also forgot another pro: THE GIRLS.

sounds like the nightlife you're looking for sucks. there's definitely a nightlife in toronto but if your idea of a night out includes bottle service and booths you're doing something wrong.

[dovo]

Born and raised in the dead center of Los Angeles (Mid-City). Love it here but im ready to move. Hopefully to SF, Oregon, or Seattle. Its really diverse but lowkey racist at the same time. Girls FROM HERE are awesome but you have to find them in a sea of chicks from random places who think theyre the shit now that they live here.

[jwsach]

Madison, WI:

Pros:

-tons of places to eat (cheaply at that) relative to its size, although I've yet to find a mexican or italian restaurant I enjoy here. many restaurants use locally sourced ingredients and drinks.

-miles of beautiful running/biking paths.

-Hardly any crime, littering, graffiti etc.

-People are really nice

-A shit load of hospitals and health clinics everywhere you go.

-everyone bikes everywhere, and all streets have bike lanes. there is the densest distribution of bikes here than I've seen any where.

-girls are hit and miss. theres a lot of cwgs if you are college aged, but it drops down a lil after that.

-a lot of concerts and events come through here.

-has a neat wisconsin small town quirkiness to it, despite its size. ( folky art/music, tons of cheese and beer, most people are from here)

-i've never gotten a ticket for underage drinking / herbal smoking (even when getting caught 'red handed') or a parking/driving ticket or anything. cops are [somewhat] cool here.

-consistently rated highly for quality of living and place to raise a family.

-lots of academic lectures and stuff if you're into that kinda thing.

cons:

-a boring place to be if you are age 22-40.

-clothes shopping sucks.

-realllllllly annoying hippies/ elitist hipsters/ politically aggressive lesbians/ and homeless people downtown.

-no real urban culture.

-far away from the twin cities and chicago.

[goat]

I like Toronto

everybody's basically summed it up

I think the only thing that's really done right in the city IMO (and i know i'll have people argue) is Kensington Market. But no city is perfect.

I think the one thing that I will say

Toronto > NYC

Now, i've never lived in NYC, but based on my visits, there is nothing really appealing to me about it. It's basically the same shit I'm used to doing here.

[homi29]

I love Toronto and have a special place for it in my heart, but aint no way Toronto is better than New York.

If you are a young person with greater ambition than just to have a cushy middle management job you gotta be in a place like NY. When it comes to opportunities to work in creative industries Toronto is really lacking.

That and the bitches/partying is better in NY.

I like Toronto

everybody's basically summed it up

I think the only thing that's really done right in the city IMO (and i know i'll have people argue) is Kensington Market. But no city is perfect.

I think the one thing that I will say

Toronto > NYC

Now, i've never lived in NYC, but based on my visits, there is nothing really appealing to me about it. It's basically the same shit I'm used to doing here.

[laxlife1234]

i don't think much of this town, need to get out of hicksville

Hicksville... as in Hicksville, Long Island? If so, I feel you pain.

I live in Westbury. Pretty boring, but better than some rural areas I have visited/heard about.

[Hocus Pocus]

Toronto is, overall a very good city, one that I'd definitely recommend you come visit sometime in your life!

Pros:

- ethnic diversity. Some of you whitewashers may complain about the lack of Swiss Chalet's and TGI Friday's to eat at in the downtown, but if you prefer quality shawarma, dumplings, pho, kimchi & bi bim bap, udon noodles, sushi, jerk chicken, mexican food (all of it), ethiopian cuisine, and basically every other culture that has food superior to the American kind (not including Canada, we made maple syrup and poutine, TYVM), you will love the cheap, world-class food options here. And there's a community for everyone if you're a foreigner to help get shown around.

- it's a very photogenic, beautiful city. Seriously, you can pick a subway stop to get off of anywhere in central or northern parts of the city and almost always find something interesting to take a picture of. And we have really interesting architecture. Excluding those awful glass box condos. Too 90s bland.

- Great clothing store options, both swagged and vintage. Excellent community of people that surround them too. I've only felt looked down at really while going through Holt Renfrew. Everyone else is courteous and pretty damn pleasant.

- People are genuinely nice here, compared to some of the attitude you might get in Paris or NYC.

- Fairly accessible via transit, but it needs to expand a ton to compete with the other big cities of the world.

Cons:

- Weather. If you've never experienced a Canadian winter, you will in Toronto November-April. The smog gets pretty bad in the summertime.

- You have to be "in the know" a bit to find out what's really going on, though i suppose that's a downfall of every major city.

- It's getting a lot more expensive than it used to be. (see: produce, gas, everything fun worth going out to)

I really disagree with you about your "pros" for Toronto (at least for downtown/Toronto proper).

Ethnic diversity: I wouldn't say downtown has this as much as one would like to think. While the cuisine is diverse, gentrification has pushed what were formally ethnic neighborhoods of various kinds outward at rapid speeds. The reality is that people coming downtown to make your Pho or Ethiopean are commuting for an hour and a half to do so. Compared to many cities, Toronto is obviously a rainbow of diversity and blah-blah, but I would say it's not an area for self-congratulatory pats-on-the-back (though the university campuses do perhaps count for something for your case).

Beautiful city: I actually think Toronto is the least photogenic city in the world, relative to its cultural status, and not what I'd call a beautiful place. It's not old enough, nor green enough (though it's pretty damn green today), to hold a candle to most places that deserve those types of titles (Vancouver and Montreal, for example). Our architechture ranges from good/great (uoft, AGO) in small amounts, to shortsightedly terrible (the cookie-cutter condos that are lining lakeshore). We have a few decent parks, but they really don't compare, again, to those in really great cities.

Shopping: Way better than it was a few years ago, but the mark-ups/hustles of the owners prevent me from ever buying anything. I respect their intentions, but $200 for an APC shirt from Nomad (which is the store with the best value in town imho) is a shitty consequence of the import fees which prohibit it.

Nice people: I think Toronto people are often cold, pretentious, and status-driven. While obviously this is a matter of subjective experience, and I've met many nice people in my six years here, the cultural anxiety of status that the city seeps into people's general demeanours toward strangers, so that there is a lot of silent judging that occurs, preventing contact. Girls are stuck-up unless you have a friend in-common (though I don't blame them because of the hassles they receive from too-friendly out-of-towners who are just there for the day/night).

Transit: expensive, run by a too-powerful union, and with a mayor who has no interest in it, its one of Toronto's weakest points.

I respect your opinions, but here are what I think are the real pros and cons.

Food: If you know where to look, there is great food all over downtown at various price points. Bahn-mi, pho, and dumplings, or quail eggs and terrine, Toronto has really stepped up its game in the last ten years. Even its Mexican has got better. There are also really good places to buy groceries in much of downtown.

Dive bars: While clubbing is atrocious, there are plenty of dirty bars with good music and cheap drinks to go to with your friends.

Re: other Toronto nightlife: you really have to work at it (and I mean have friends who have solid connections to stuff) to find good parties. It takes a while, but they are good.

Good music: Lots of good bands, and decent places to see them, especially if you don't like rap, and considering the border hassles, it's pretty good.

Safe: Toronto is incredibly safe for the most part, and you rarely hear of break-ins, muggings, and what not. The murder rate has gone down almost consistently for over twenty years. I never feel scared walking around alone at night.

Strong economy: Toronto survived the recession that hit much of the rest of the world very well, and there is lots of opportunity here in a variety of sectors.

Good hospitals/schools/first world infrastructure: The type of things that you don't notice/care about until they are all too relevant.

Cons:

Rent is expensive, bars close at 2, the people from the surrounding areas of the city come here and fuck shit up, traffic can be brutal, winter is awful.

Above of all though, I find Toronto to be pretty uninspiring. It's very comfortable as far as city living goes in many ways, but in my mid-twenties, I'm not sure that's really what I want.

[homi29]

Above of all though, I find Toronto to be pretty uninspiring. It's very comfortable as far as city living goes in many ways, but in my mid-twenties, I'm not sure that's really what I want.

I pretty much agree with this Hocus. It's a really comfortable great, safe city in many respects. It's got some great bars (on weekdays at least) and it seems like downtown is getting alot better in terms of retail. On the downside though I feel outside of a young college educated class the city isn't truly that metropolitan or multi-cultural. I always found some of the suburban areas of Toronto pretty fascinating from a social-economic perspective as they are somewhat of a rarity in N.America (areas like Burlington, Markham, parts of North York etc).

That being said the main thing that drags the city down is a lack of the energy and dynamism that other places worldwide have.