Dale

I am getting bored with the sameness in America. Every town is starting to look and feel the same. Same stores in the mall, same fast food places along ugly strips off the interstate highway, same jingles in the radio and the anchor people on the local TV stations all look the same. Is Cleveland that different than Buffalo? Is Santa Fe that different than Jackson, WY?

Please direct me to a place in America that is really different, exciting and fun. Or I may have to spend more time overseas.

xxx

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh dale many people on this forum think this what you should be looking for.

Montana, New York City, New Mexico, Maine, Louisianna (New Orleans), come to mind first. Stear clear of Bismark and Miniapolis

But Dale there comes a point where anybody interesting will become dull if they don't go abroad.

Wendy

Are you serious?

What about just for a few: California wine country, Grand Canyon, Arcadia National Park in Maine, HAWAII, ALASKA, Arizona desert, beaches off South Carolina coast.... There's a million places that don't like anything like whatever else you've seen.

L

Ah, the fish rise to the lure. It seems the dumbest issues really bring 'em in. Ignore him, folks. LOL, and Ciao

baiter

Well, L, it probably is true since you posted a reply!

OK I'll bite

Las Vegas. Nothing in the WORLD can compare. Nobody can do decadence and kitsch that well. (BTW, I love LV!)

Dave

Maybe the problem is that "Anywhere you go, there you are". In other words, it's not the places that are the same, it's your perspective. Like when you buy a new car and suddenly it seems like everyone else on the road is driving the same model.

I was just in Wyoming this weekend and was struck by the fact that while I sit at this computer for 40hrs/week, there are other people who make their living in the saddle punching cows, or fighting fires in the mountains. When they go to town they may eat at McDonald's but that doesn't make us the same.

Do you realy expect to find more diversity in a foreign country? Does Bavaria differ from Saxony more than Vermont differs from Nevada? Does Shanghai differ from Hong Kong more than New York differs from San Francisco?

Sally

I have to agree with Dale, the country is changing to be more and more similar. Before TV there was more differences between people. TV and madison ave want people to act on stereotypes and dress like a group they want to belong to. If you are into Country Western you must look like X, if you are Rap you must be like Y.

Regional differences and accents are changing, towns are starting to look the same with all the same stores and strip malls.

I have been to all 50 states and find geological and climate differences but the cities start to all look the same.

Suzie

I find the biggest sameness is with restaurants and shopping. This whole concept of mall shopping and factory outlets, it's really all the same. Consequently I do not shop in the mall per se but I do shop at specific stores like Macy's which happens to anchor a mall. I do notice that the clothes tend to be all the same, good or BAD. So when fashion is bad it's universally bad.

Since I never shop on vacation and I seek out new and different restaurants, I do not find the level of sameness that Dale describes. On this site I'm curious when travelers ask about malls and factory outlets. It's a peculiar way to spend a vacation.

L

Gee, I just noticed all the messages are the same too. I must laugh, however, at all this pissing and moaning. Try a more positive thoguht process and see what develops. Ciao

Phil

The American public has no right to complain about the sameness. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, kmart, McDonald's, et al thrive and multiply because consumers respond to them. Without that incentive, you wouldn't see as much of this problem.

I do agree that homogenization has definately taken place in the U.S. There are times when I wake up on business trips and can't distinguish one city from another.

Everything Boring

Lets look at Times Square. Twenty years ago 42nd Street was one of the most dangerous streets in America. Drug dealers, porno and hookers were everywhere. Times Square was one of the things that made New York special. Sure it was dangerous, but there was no place like it in the world and that's one of the things that gave New York its reputation. Today it's just another street with a few movie theatres, a Disney store, an Applebees, a Museum Company store, Starbucks, and any number of other things you can find in any shopping mall anywhere in the United States. If this is what Dale means by sameness, she's spot on. If you want to buy something in the Gap before your trip and don't make it on time no worries - just buy it at your destination. Same with athletic shoes. Same with Starbucks. Family-owned restaurants in business for 50 years are being run out of business by greedy landlords who raise the rent and turn it into a Sbarro. You can get the same Big Mac in Maine that you can get in New Mexico. There may be some unique places left in America in 2001, but there are fewer now than 20 years ago, and it's only going to get more homogenized over time. By the year 2050 we won't be able to tell one place from another.

Dr. Bitterpants

Agree. "The Stripmalling of America" is forcing most cities to become one long drive of asphault and one-story cinderblock retailing-for-lease space. Take a look at the stoplight: Every corner strip mall has its mandatory tanning salon, fast food joint, video store and cell phone outlet. Every "chic" downtown area has its Starbucks, Panara Bread, Navy Pier, Barnes and Noble, etc.

Oh, and is "L" different from a "Leone" different from a "Laughting Out Loud-mouth" different from a "Ciao-derhead?" (The end is near, oh full-of-thyself one!)

hahaha

"Ciao-der head! hahahahahahahahahahah
Zinnnnng!

ldsant

I don't know, but after visiting New England last week, I think that my perspective about the homoginization of America has changed. Queechee Vermont and Woodstock Vermont along with Cape Elizabeth Maine and Portsmouth NH were just lovely! And, no McDonald's in site. Also, I do think that you have to look beyond the sameness. Heck, the Champs d'Elysses has Gap, McDonald's, etc. on it now! Yet, does that make most of Paris not one of the most interesting and vibrant cities. Go where you don't see these things and you'll find the "hidden" America that really is the best. The person in the Taftsville General Store just blew me away with his kindness and uniqueness. So, yes, I'd have to answer that there are many places that are very different although it does seem as though most places have our "standard American operating fare" readily available. Quite frankly, if they didn't, there would be lots of people complaining about that too, don't you think?

diane

We were in Cooke City, Montana, a couple of weeks ago and wanting to eat something. There were no fast food places! We had to go to a restaurant and WAIT for our hamburgers to be cooked! I thought it was refreshing not to see a McDonald's, but some in our two-car group were in a hurry. Even YOU might be glad to see fast food if it makes your children happy--and enables you to feed them and stop their whining more quickly.

I agree with Dale that the sameness of malls and shopping areas is getting boring. Even when you visit one of our fabulous national parks (Cooke City is just N.E. of Yellowstone), it is jarring to come out of the park and find a row of the same shops and restaurants you have at home.

I also must agree with hahaha that Mr. Bitterpants (great nom de plume!) came up with a great zinger in ciao-der head!
Hahahahahahahaha!!!

lena

I've noticed the sameness also, which has been disappointing to go to a new town or country and see the same chain restaurants and stores. I like them at home but I like to see new things away. I used to love going to Crate and Barrel and William Sonoma when I traveled. NOw that we have them in the mall nearby they're no as exciting. It just makes it a little more challenging to seek out more local, less touristy places to visit when I'm traveling. The internet and places like this can be great to discover the non-traditional places to see and visit. I went to Buffalo recently and while the group I was with continuously went to standard chain restaurants to make sure they didn't have any surprises, I found small private owned restaurants and back streets to get to places and see Buffalo like a local. I really enjoyed myself. There was a restaurant that I returned to with some friends for dinner after having a fun lunch. It makes for nicer memories also. Actually sometimes what appears to be the same ole, may not be. Chili's in my neighborbood requires a minimum 45-60 minute wait on a Friday night. In Buffalo a big group of us walked in at 7 pm and got seated right away, no one waiting. I talked to the waitress and she thought the place was crowded.

Daniel Williams

HI

Certainly there is a fair amount of sameness, in big name retailers/strip malls...and many of the suburbs I find here (and elsewhere in the 1st world) do resemble one another.

However, I also find there is a huge amount of DIFFERENCE as well. Even within a 50 mile radius of where I live, the contrasts are remarkable. Here in Baltimore City, I can go to the Lexington Market to buy produce and be only one of a handful of white people amidst predominantly African Americans. The energy of the Lexington Market is so VASTLY different from that of the Fresh Fields/Safeways that my mother shops in at Northern Virginia suburbs, it almost feels like two different worlds, but NO, both are not only part of the USA, but only one hour's DRIVE from one another!

Even within Baltimore itself, I think of how vastly different some of the almost deserted areas of East or West Baltimore are from the vibrant, hip, quasi-alternative Fell's Point area. And Fell's Point from the majority Latin American Washington Hill area right up the street where many storefronts, conversations you will see/hear will be entirely in Spanish (and the cultural differences one sees)! And all of these are quite different from seeing the WestSiders, an African American female dance troupe practice their rhythmic steps in the park right adjacent to Johns Hopkins Medical Institution! And all of the above are so radically different from the energy of the almost rural-feeling quiet of the houses in the nearby suburb of Timonium.

And I'm always amazed by the differences even between the cities of the Northeast. DC I find more governmental/conventional and wealthy than Baltimore. Philadelphia I find contrasts from the two with its larger Italian, Chinese, Greek communities and more vibrant, compact downtown. New York City well is unto itself. Richmond, Virginia differs from all of these in its more Southern feel.
Boston/Cambridge differs from all of these again and makes me feel transported back to England in many ways with its narrow circular streets.

AND that's only looking in the northern part of the East Coast!

Just my 2 cents. DAN

thinker

I think it takes a resourceful traveler to seek out the family-owned B&Bs, shops, restaurants and bars. These are what gives a place its soul- not all the pre-packaged corporate chains. And if the local businesses aren't supported... well, country singer Alan Jackson says it best in the song "Little Man":
Now the courthouse square's just a set of streets
That the people go round but they seldom think
About the little man that built this town
Before the big money shut them down
And killed the little man

Marie

Let us not become jaded with this magnificent country we call home. You can add all the MacDonald's and Starbucks you like, but cannot take away the beauty of our natural sights. We try to spend our travel money with local people, whether it be a Mom and Pop Motel, or Al's Burgers. They usually lack the health and workout rooms and fancy amenities of the chains, but are real, live, hometown people eking out a living, and weve found them be be very friendly and chatty. Drive by the chains usually on the outskirts of communities and find out where the real people live and shop. Marie