Steve

Well at least the Bronx has the best sports franchise in the USA and easy access to one of the best places to live - Manhattan. I would vote for LA. It has the worst a city can offer - terrible pollution, crime, no mass transit, high cost, superficiality - and so little of the best.

Gary

Now I feel terrible. I've lived in SoCal for twenty-two years and had no idea I was so unhappy. I am surprised about the numerous "crime" comments. I've never had any problems in any part of L.A. and environs. I did, however, have my wallet stolen last year when I dared to venture to that well-known Mecca of crime--rural Alabama.

Actually, I grew up in West Virginia, moved to Ohio, then here. I lived in Cleveland for a while--not great, but it had some good points. By the way, I LIKED Yuma. During my last visit I saw a herd of wild horses, a pair of circling turkey hawks, some undisturbed desert land--not to mention Yuma's proximity to San Luis Rio Colorado (Baja, Mexico) where one can find the best place on Earth for the ultimate combination of tacos and tequila.

But maybe I'm too easy to please. I've visited about forty states, and really have never been to a place I thought was unlivable.

On the other hand, Chillicothe, Ohio isn't so hot.

cherie

I nominate Atwater, California. No Base(Sac base closed), no place for shopping(except for John Dere items), scarcity of restaurants(except mediocre fast food), no night life (except for Anstronomy), only some nice neighbors left....many are moving. Should win hands down!

referee

Good responses here, but Karen asked that in order to nominate a place, you should have lived there for at least a year and you should try to explain the details. Some of you have, but many haven't. If you've just visited a place that "seemed" nice or terrible, it shouldn't count. Let's hear some details about why you are nominating your particular place!

Lisa Douglas

The absolute worst place has to be Hootersville. My husband, Oliver, a prominent attorney, and I had a wonderful penthouse in Manhatten. But Oliver wanted to buy a farm,work with his hands, and til the soil, etc, I loved Times Square, Park Avenue and our Penthouse view. But Oliver won out and we loaded up the convertible and moved to Hootersville. Oliver, being a savy attorney/businessman, got a great deal from a Mr. Haney on a small farm and fixer-upper. I just hated it. I was allergic to the hay. We had to climb a pole to make a telephone call, and the contractors, Ralph and Alf, took forever in fixing up our dream home. And our handyman, Ebb, was a few bricks shy of a load.

Arnold

Oh bite me, Lisa Douglas. Talk about snooty. Why don't you move to Beverly Hills where you'd fit in. Slap a traffic cop now and then just to let 'em know who's who in the world. I'll bet that Oliver, who sounds like a decent man to me, leaves you. You'll probably have one sad, broken relationship after another with an attitude like yours. You should try living someplace like Hungary sometime if you want to learn to appreciate what you've got in Hootersville.

robbin

Two places get my WORST places vote.. Evansville, Indiana AND Miami, Fl.

jeni

My vote goes to rural Mississippi. I won't name the town we lived in because it was pretty small, but the heat, humidity, bugs, snakes and local yokels made it the most God awful place I've ever experienced. I went to the only garden place around for 200 miles to buy some sod for the yard, only to be told by the tobacco-spitting redneck owner that a little lady like me had no business writing such a big check, and why didn't I come back when my husband was with me? If you are educated beyond the fifth grade, don't move to the rural South or you'll stand out like a sore thumb.

John

Come to think of it, the worst place I've ever lived in is Davis, CA. Yeah, I know it's supposed to be environmentally aware and all that. Bull Sh-t. All the residents are able to do between April and November is to run from their air-conditioned houses to their air-conditioned cars and back--except for those who have solved the heat problem by not wearing any clothes at all.
Anything I've said about NOT vacationing in Sacramento applies even more to Davis: from spring to fall, it's hot, humid, dusty, and or smoky--and it really stinks of rotten tomatoes in season.
And don't believe what you've heard about the "superior" intellectual climate. The real minds live in the San Francisco Bay Area and commute to Davis. (So what if its 80+ gas-guzzling miles.)
It's amazing: the place really must be hell if I can still get this worked up a quarter of a century after I escaped!

Steve

"Noname," I must confess, I have often considered leaving So. Cal. for Colorado myself, BUT, like many people, I really DON'T think I could adjust to and tolerate the C O L D ! ! ! (I'm also originally from the East Coast -- Maryland and Virginia just outside Wash., D.C., so don't tell me it's such an easy thing to adjust to!!)

noname

Steve, I'll take cold weather over all the things I mentioned any day. My family actually loves the changes in seasons, and having cool autumns and snow at Christmas time is wonderful. It was not an adjustment for us at all, we don't miss the haze and smog of So. Cal one bit.

If you decide to move, best of luck to you!

Neal Sanders

...and then there's Schenectady, NY, a city I called home for a few years in the 1970s. It was said in Schenectady that the snow from the prior winter never actually melted, there just accumulated on it enough soot that a new crop of grass would grow.

Schenectady wasn't the end of the world... but you had a very clear view of it from there.

roscoe

What's wrong with Hooterville? Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo and Betty Jo live there. What else could a man want?

joanna

Bakersfield, CA. All the heat, dust and air pollution that John described in Davis, with NO claims to any intellectual climate. Just the opposite. Must be the welfare capital of the state.

sam

Can ayone out there tell me what is so darned special about San Jose that people feel they can command $600,000 to $700,000 for their beater tract homes? I saw nothing there that warranted that kind of expense. I had a job prospect out there, but after spending three days examining the area I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

calnative

Bakersfield is a paradise compared to BARSTOW, California. By far the most horrid California city, and I had the great fortune to live there for two years. Having been raised in the Bay Area (talk about a long commute to work, it is almost sick, although beautiful in some places) and another small college community north of Sacramento, I would say that post regarding Davis is wrong. Yes, it can get hot, but humid? Ever live in the southeast? Please. It is quiet, calm, and easy access to the city without having to put up with all the hassles. I also agree with the Atwater post, and must add that almost any town between Sac. and Bakersfield on highway 99 would be on the "worst places to live "list, although believe it or not, Fresno has some great areas!

John

Dear "Calanative":
Yes I have been to the South at the height of heat and humidity. It felt just like Davis, CA, to me. All the "dry" heat in Davisis a PR myth: have you ever counted the overhead sprinklers running day and night, and the flooded rice paddies near town? Never mind the marshes, channels and sloughs of the nearby Sacaramento/San Joaquin River Delta. Believe me, I've experienced it all, from the air-conditioned halls of academia to working in the fields (lugging irrigation pipes; driving a tractor during the tomato harvest; training horses; . . . ).
It's hell, and I've lived in it!

Nanc

Sounds like alot of the nominated places are in California! I find that surprising for some reason, maybe because I thought I'd see more places in the Northeast mentioned.

I nominate Indianapolis. Humid, run down, rusty, all the buildings are peeling paint. Most of the city seems to be comprised of a giant cemetery, and the whole place is surrounded by corn fields and all the vermin that live in them.

cherie

Actually, dahlink, I think Atwater IS Hooterville. I actually have been introduced to people who have a pet pig. There is no housing in the 600,000 range, and all the dust comes from the Ragu plant nearby. You can smell the onions when the cow poop smell subsides.

Cal

I am a native Californian but have lived in many parts of the world before comong to my senses and moving back to California 16 years ago. I am not in the military and we lived in pretty nice conditions.

Worst places: Yuma AZ, Wichita KS, SE Florida.

I love San Diego and the only place I like better is the SF Bay area. Therefore we live in both places.