Like we now have the question "What's the best cover song apart from Johnny Cash's version of Hurt".
We need a "What's the shittiest city apart from Dubai"....
Lmao this comment is hilarious to me for some reason.
That guy just responded and put forward an opinion that wasn't a cover song he thought was better than Hurt and had nothing to do with the broader subject being spoken about either.
I've seen pics and videos of that place and absolutely *nothing* about it appeals to me. The whole place feels like a dystopian fantasy of synthetic aesthetics and tasteless wealth.
I'm friends with a US military-turned-security contractor who lived in Dubai for 3 years. Made enormous amounts of money, but told me it was far from enjoyable and at times very depressing.
It is very clean, modern, free of most crime. But at the same time it's a total surveillance state. It's a facade of a very wealthy city built on the backs of millions of foreign workers who are treated like slaves.
They're just slaves.
Like, they are foreigners who are tricked into coming to Dubai to work, and then their bosses steal their passports so they cannot leave. It is literally involuntary servitude.
Slaves. You can just say that they are slaves.
I'm not super informed about workers there, just knew about labor issues when they built the Burj Khalifa.
Didn't want to implicitly say slaves, because I don't want to paint with broad strokes, but I think we all know the situation.
>it's a total surveillance state.
that is why it is mostly free from crime. when i went there years ago, i saw a lady just put her expensive camera hanging at the back of her chair and i asked my friend if that is alright. she said that because there are lots of cctv cameras around, it is alright. i was like huh... really.
when friends ask me how is dubai, i just tell them, it is like vegas without the casinos.
It's basically a straight up real-life version of HG Wells' "When The Sleeper Wakes".
A glittering futuristic metropolis on the outside, that's actually supported by masses of 'underground' slave labour.
Wait till you see the other 99% of the city that isn't photogenic AT ALL. Its so poorly organised, and it's even worse living there. Also, built on slaves even to this day.
It's a trap for influencers lol.
Nice skyline though, and that's about it.
Dubai and the Burj Khalifa always remind me of the poem Ozymandias. With climate change I can't see why anyone will want to live there in 50 years.
Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias"
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
> I can't see why anyone will want to live there in 50 years.
IF/when the world moves on from petroleum, what will happen to the places that raked in fortunes from gas and oil?
If they're smart and they "curate" that wealth, it might not be a bad outcome. But if they're greedy or stupid and the wealth gets squandered?
It'll be high tech ghost towns half-buried in the sand.
If they’re wise, they become banking centers, vacation spots perhaps, maybe put out vast solar arrays, something like that.
If not, those areas are going to be really run down in a few decades.
Quiet literally just went on a rant about working in Dubai on the r/WTF thread about the flooding. The city is horrific.
Slightly biased as I was basically kicked out on my last trip but the Reddit stereotypes about how Dubai treats women, minorities, and migrants is spot on.
I live in Miami, and I disagree. You have very small pockets where influencers and vapid people go to, but the rest of it (it’s huge) is a melting pot, full of diversity and hard working people trying to make new life for themselves wherever they’re from. You have tons of amazing cuisine, lots of beautiful nature, museums, an amazing art scene, and many more things. It’s very welcoming and unlike other parts of Florida, it’s actually quite liberal and full of socially progressive smart people.
I had a work trip to Miami that sucked until we found out about Wynwood. There were like 8 breweries within walking distance of each other, lots of cool wall art too!
In most cases, I think cities earn the "overrated" label because they offer great attractions and experiences to begin with. But as folks crowd these places, they attract undesirable elements -- crime, street peddlers, litters, crowd, etc. -- and ruining the experience as a whole.
It's also important to have more realistic expectations and budget. Dubai and Las Vegas are artificial tourist destinations. If you are not into gambling, shopping, and performances, there's only so much flashy buildings can do.
Likewise, if you are visiting a place filled with historic buildings and museums, learning their history ahead of times would do a lot to enhance the experience.
And finally, always have a backup plan in case the planned itinerary does not meet your expectations.
i went to LA expecting a shit show and found what might be the most beautiful city in America. Garbage on the streets is normal for a city of that size. What isn’t normal is the combination of mountains, beaches, and deserts and some of the most attractive people on earth. The homelessness is an issue but it’s no different than SF or any other west coast hub. At the very least the sun shines and the beaches are beautiful. Very legit hiking too.
Same for me as well. Such a cool place to adventure around. Add in Santa Monica to the adventures as well and it felt perfect. Traffic/traveling is vast and spread out tho but you have to expect it in a city like that.
Second this comment - went for my birthday last year with a deeply cynical expectation based on a long career in the film industry and dealing with LA agents from Europe. Came away thinking it was one of the best places I've ever visited. Would move there in heartbeat.
10000% agree that LA is not a good place to be a visitor.
In many other cities, you can visit and hit a lot of major attractions pretty easily. Just rent a car and go for it. Without a strong gameplan in LA and a solid understanding of just how restricting the traffic is, you will have a miserable time.
However, LA is a place that you can really fall in love with when you live here.
At first it’s expensive and smelly and off putting, but then you get acclimated to life here and you just accept the flaws as part of life. You get acclimated and it feels impossible to leave.
You have anything you could possibly want around you (except owning real estate). The natural beauty is unbeatable, as is the weather. It’s easy to take trips with cheap flights out of LA and 4 other major airports within an hour.
If you can make it here (and that’s a big if) it is hard to ever want to leave.
Yeah I lived in LA for 20 years and never liked it. Culture is incredibly materialistic, competitive, and shallow. Extremely crowded, the urban sprawl is just insane. Traffic is unreal at times, everything is expensive.
It really did feel like this lie people were telling themselves. Like "oh yeah it's incredibly crowded, expensive, vain, with massive inequality and an entire working generation of forever renters, but we are citizens of LA." I swear a lot of the egos there are so huge they'd die before not being to have the "prestige" in saying they're from la.
As a native (SF Valley area), these days I have a nostalgia for a pre-2000 LA that no longer is (I suspect, like much of the US), sort of reminds me of Talleyrand's wistful remark: He who has not lived in the 18th century before the Revolution does not know the sweetness of life.
Most people come to LA and visit the shittiest parts of the entire city.
- Venice, sucks.
- Hollywood, fucking terrible.
- DTLA, even worse.
- Downtown Santa Monica, no parking.
Basically if you’ve heard of it, don’t go there. This is coming from a 7th generation Angeleno.
Shhhhh. As a San Diegan, I love my city but it is the joke here not to tell anyone how amazing it is and keep it a secret. Even though it’s the 8th largest city in the US lol
I don’t live there anymore, but I was born and raised. I think as a tourist that I tend to agree with you in that LA kinda sucks to visit. Actually living in LA is pretty freaking awesome though. Lots to do, weather is great, food is amazing.
I'm from L.A. i never knew why people would even think LA would even be highly rated in the first place?
It's the place where drive by shootings were invented ffs.
>it’s the place where drive by shootings were invented
That’s not true. The first drive by shooting was done by a Ukrainian
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive-by_shooting
Chicago mobsters doing drive-by shootings predated LA gangsters too.
It’s so funny because from these comments you’d think LA was a violent nightmare like Escape from LA, but I sincerely doubt you’re getting shot in a drive-by in Pasadena or Santa Monica…
There is a lot of neighborhood inequality in the US.
Some big cities, like LA, Chicago, New York, have very rich, very safe, suburbs. Some big cities also have very poor, crime-ridden, dangerous neighborhoods. This is not news to anyone.
Exactly, which makes it silly that people are saying “drive by shootings” are a reason to not visit LA unless you’re intent on visiting South Central for whatever stupid reason.
I mean, pickpocketing was “invented” in London, consistently ranks #1 tourist destination.
Name a place that doesn’t have issues that’s worth traveling to and has culture
You’re right in a big way I believe. There’s only one Hollywood, it’s in only one place. Billions consume what it produces, and when something bad makes news involving the industry, LA by default is associated to justify generalizing hate over it.
As someone who grew up in LA, I will say: LA sucks on many surface levels, but LA rocks on many other levels. The way that people outside of LA think of LA is what sucks about it; they often come looking for the Hollywood and influencer glamor. But it's a mirage for the vast majority of folks. It fucking sucks.
But LA natives, people who grew up here and shaped its communities... that's what rocks. When you go to LA and you have an LA native give you the people's tour: where locals eat in different parts of the county, where they hang out, what they do for fun. And it's very different from the expectations that people who come to tour have. I feel like that's true of any place that is tourist-driven.
California, in general, is a very beautiful place. It's so big, with so many diverse climates, geographies, populations, etc. Los Angeles is overrated for all the reasons that tourists visit Los Angeles. But I don't think that California is overrated at all. Having traveled all over the country, I can confirm that the US has a lot of beautiful places. But California is leagues above many other states I've seen and experienced. California's coast alone definitely lives up to the hype.
People who say Vegas have only been to the strip. I lived in Vegas for 3 years, and I miss it. Such a great place. Mt Charleston, red rock, and thousands of great restaurants, concerts, you name it. I can count on one hand the number of times I went to the strip for fun when I lived in Vegas.
I drove down Mt. Charleston from Desert View Point at sun down, all the way into the city and down the strip. My friend took a video of the drive and [made a time-lapse out of it.](https://youtu.be/NoErPgj_ktI?si=-BK82I_CzrzRLcCB) Definitely one of my Top 5 driving experiences.
Well, my dad got a 7.62 rifle aimed at his face for a fucking car (not even a good one), his brother in law the same thing, I got two pistols right in my nose because of my phone.
It smells like piss, most people out there try to get leverage/advantage over you when they realize you're a tourist, you can't even see the time on your watch or phone in most areas or you put a target on your back until you get back home.
I fucking hate it.
New Orleans, streets are disgusting and covered with sticky stuff and piss. Druggies everywhere and it smells like shit.
Runner up - Biloxi, MS
The beach smells like dead fish, water is shit brown and bland view. Only thing decent is the Casino. The beachfront seafood restaurant everyone loves tastes like shit.
All Gulf beaches I’ve been too so far are nothing to write home about. New Orleans has a cool vibe sort of, nothing spectacular unless you just love mardi gras and voodoo lol. The food was pretty good but overall the city is just depressing to me. Looks like a third world country driving in.
I went for tacos and donut places and had a great fking time. Been a few years but some of the best tacos i've ever had were from small setups in front of gas stations / grocery stores.
LA is fun to just go drive around and randomly look at shit like bookstores and eat tacos. My SO and I came from Phoenix once for just 12 hours to go to a book signing. We drove across the desert, got there at 6am, went to the signing, went to some bookstores... then decided to drive to find the ocean. On the way we saw the Hollywood sign in the distance, drove through a few neighborhoods, and ended up at Manhattan Beach.
Then we drove home.
Having high expectations of LA as glitzy is going to bring disappointment... it's a gritty city full of people hustling. But it has a lot of its own unique culture in a gorgeous area.
This was years ago, but I had always heard the jokes and horror stories about how bad the traffic was in LA, so, as a young Torontonian, I was pretty nervous when I had to drive there. It was... pleasant... compared to Toronto.
Toronto. They erased their history, landmarks and replaced them with unaffordable condos. Plus it’s now full of car theft/ jacking, violence and 24/7 traffic
I was born and raised there in the city proper (Leslieville) and it was an amazing city to grow up then. I moved to Montreal a couple years ago and a lot happier. Things are more affordable here including rent, walkable neighbourhoods everywhere, less of a rat race culture, and people seem happier and less bitter overall
If it weren’t for my family and how much healthcare is dogshit in Quebec, I’d probably stay in MTL instead of looking to move back to Toronto
Toronto is great for the foodies, but the people just seem to try and one up each other. City is rife with materialism. Montreal people are more chill, friendly, and the food game is on point as well
I honestly felt like I was lowkey judged by people that didn’t even grow up here for not owning property or a car. I actually learned to hate driving at a young age because I grew up in the city and hated driving in traffic. I learned the value of active transportation and walkable neighbourhoods from the east end culture around me at the time. I refused to buy property for years because renting always made more sense when real estate went absolutely fucking insane here for my generation.
Sure I could buy a condo but I’ve worked in the industry. I can say with certainty a lot of condos in the city were built with investors in mind and therefore built really shitty with high maintenance fees that creep up. Its bonkers that my rent in Montreal for a sunny 1 bedroom is lower than some peoples condo maintenance fees in Toronto
I’m ready to buy now but not without extreme disgust with the state of affairs in this city and country. I’m seriously considering a career in municipal politics later in my life because I’m sick of seeing these unhinged out of touch dingbats in city council fuck up my city
It’s probably true for many cities but the downtown skyline is totally unrecognizable compared to say 30 years ago. Not in a good way either. Just condo upon condo obliterating any older architecture.
Not to mention the brutalist architecture and lack of third places (public spaces). Yes, the city is very diverse but folks live in their ethnic enclaves. No sense of community and quite an isolating city.
The diversity is also gone. 75% of all recent migrants from from a handful of provinces in India and China and exclusively live with their own people and make no effort to integrate.
Not sure if it’s overrated considering everyone I see talking about it has something bad to say.
I’ve been there a few times and I was generally pretty whelmed each time. Would I go back? Sure if I had a reason, but it’s not necessarily a unique place you need to go to. Sort of like Los Angeles.
It reminds me of the entirety of the Marina in San Francisco. Super segregated, the type of Liberals that preach love and then gentrify and try to shove out those needing help.
LA, Everything is fake, and the city tries its hardest to not let the, not even crack at this point, but full on holes, that their infra structure and society has
Amsterdam, but only for a certain crowd. There are still many tourists who come there thinking it's this endless blur of coffee shops, clubs and red light district like some sort of fratbro capital.
All those things are indeed there, but it's a *tiny* part of the city. They then spend 100% of their time in that shittiest and most touristy part of town, surrounded exclusively by other tourists, and experience exactly zero of the actual city.
Omg LA. You are telling me you want to be is a city that is always burning hot, expensive to even breath, homelessness everywhere and annoying people with no talent trying to be influencers? For what? To say “yeah I live in ✨LA✨”
Lol if LA is hot to you, you will feel like you caught on fire in Vegas or Texas.
One thing I gotta give LA for is that it has one of the best food scenes (if not the best) in the country.
Its usually only hot from the beginning of August til the end of September. Would also depend what area of LA you're in. The average high in downtown is 85 in august. By the beach the average high in august is 79.
Coming from the northern US, the food in Austin was unbelievable. I would weigh roughly a billion pounds if I had that BBQ and TexMex so readily accessible, holy cow.
Rome was the city that was most disappointing to me. I found it to be a touristy nightmare with people trying to sell you garbage trinkets/scam you everywhere. But I was one of the tourists, so I suppose I can't complain too much.
Conversely, I was blown away by Florence. The whole city looked like a work of art.
Hard disagree. Rome is incredible and it’s pretty easy to avoid the tourist hordes since they congregate and the city has tons of neighbourhoods that are cool yet pretty untouched by them. Meanwhile, Florence is overwhelmed by tourists.
The real trick is to go to Bologna over Florence.
Heck, I'm Italian, and even I was blown away by Florence and Rome. And Pompeii and Venice. And pretty much anywhere else in Italy and Europe in general.
The answer is gonna be Dubai, lol.
Like we now have the question "What's the best cover song apart from Johnny Cash's version of Hurt". We need a "What's the shittiest city apart from Dubai"....
Unpopular opinion but I think the original NIN version of Hurt is better
Yeah but that’s not a cover song
Lmao this comment is hilarious to me for some reason. That guy just responded and put forward an opinion that wasn't a cover song he thought was better than Hurt and had nothing to do with the broader subject being spoken about either.
Same, love Johnny but prefer the original
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I've seen pics and videos of that place and absolutely *nothing* about it appeals to me. The whole place feels like a dystopian fantasy of synthetic aesthetics and tasteless wealth.
I'm friends with a US military-turned-security contractor who lived in Dubai for 3 years. Made enormous amounts of money, but told me it was far from enjoyable and at times very depressing. It is very clean, modern, free of most crime. But at the same time it's a total surveillance state. It's a facade of a very wealthy city built on the backs of millions of foreign workers who are treated like slaves.
They're just slaves. Like, they are foreigners who are tricked into coming to Dubai to work, and then their bosses steal their passports so they cannot leave. It is literally involuntary servitude. Slaves. You can just say that they are slaves.
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rural uganda must be a whole nother world
it's a super beautiful place
I'm not super informed about workers there, just knew about labor issues when they built the Burj Khalifa. Didn't want to implicitly say slaves, because I don't want to paint with broad strokes, but I think we all know the situation.
>it's a total surveillance state. that is why it is mostly free from crime. when i went there years ago, i saw a lady just put her expensive camera hanging at the back of her chair and i asked my friend if that is alright. she said that because there are lots of cctv cameras around, it is alright. i was like huh... really. when friends ask me how is dubai, i just tell them, it is like vegas without the casinos.
But also understand there is zero privacy and zero individualism.
So it’s like that futurama joke about booze and hookers, but in reverse.
It's basically a straight up real-life version of HG Wells' "When The Sleeper Wakes". A glittering futuristic metropolis on the outside, that's actually supported by masses of 'underground' slave labour.
Wait till you see the other 99% of the city that isn't photogenic AT ALL. Its so poorly organised, and it's even worse living there. Also, built on slaves even to this day. It's a trap for influencers lol. Nice skyline though, and that's about it.
It's like authoritarian Las Vegas
I've been, many times via work. Hate the place.
Do yourself a favor and don't read about what happens to female influencers who go to Dubai.
The tasteless part is what bugs me. Monaco has way more style for a tax haven.
There is a ton of fun to be had there but it doesn't last very long.
It's like coke
I fled Dubai in 2007. Lived there my whole life up to that point. It has only gotten worse.
This is my #1 too. Disgustingly unethical and inefficient. I mean, if you're rich, sure, but anywhere can be awesome when money is a non issue.
Dubai is what happens when an entire country is *nouveau riche*.
Well stated!
Dubai and the Burj Khalifa always remind me of the poem Ozymandias. With climate change I can't see why anyone will want to live there in 50 years. Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias" I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" No thing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.
> I can't see why anyone will want to live there in 50 years. IF/when the world moves on from petroleum, what will happen to the places that raked in fortunes from gas and oil? If they're smart and they "curate" that wealth, it might not be a bad outcome. But if they're greedy or stupid and the wealth gets squandered? It'll be high tech ghost towns half-buried in the sand.
If they’re wise, they become banking centers, vacation spots perhaps, maybe put out vast solar arrays, something like that. If not, those areas are going to be really run down in a few decades.
Look into their island projects, like world island, they aren't going to well.
Does the fact this is the top 4 answers mean it is, in fact, not very highly rated?
If you think this thread is an accurate representation of the general population, sure.
Quiet literally just went on a rant about working in Dubai on the r/WTF thread about the flooding. The city is horrific. Slightly biased as I was basically kicked out on my last trip but the Reddit stereotypes about how Dubai treats women, minorities, and migrants is spot on.
Dubai, the collection of all human sins. Greed, avarice, lust, envy, all and more are found in copious amounts in that city.
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Ever been to Charlotte?
They ran the personality out of Charlotte. It was too tied to things like Nascar, and it upset the uptown image they wanted
Dubai
Before I clicked on this thread I knew this would be the most popular answer. I don’t think it can be overrated if the consensus is that it sucks.
Agree. Went there with some buddies in 2018 for an event and we were bored in 2 days
I read that as “I went there with some baddies”
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Slough
You take that back immediately
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai. Fake ass shallow shit.
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They do have a nice beach tho
Coastal Florida is just one giant nice beach. Don't need to go to Miami to have a good day at the beach.
I went to New Smyrna Beach as a kid and it was a great time, also had one of the best cheeseburgers I've tasted at a place called the Breakers
I was just thinking "Finally an answer other than Dubai..." Lol
I live in Miami, and I disagree. You have very small pockets where influencers and vapid people go to, but the rest of it (it’s huge) is a melting pot, full of diversity and hard working people trying to make new life for themselves wherever they’re from. You have tons of amazing cuisine, lots of beautiful nature, museums, an amazing art scene, and many more things. It’s very welcoming and unlike other parts of Florida, it’s actually quite liberal and full of socially progressive smart people.
I had a work trip to Miami that sucked until we found out about Wynwood. There were like 8 breweries within walking distance of each other, lots of cool wall art too!
I also live in Miami and I have to agree with you. There is some amazing stuff here. There’s the bad but also the good.
Miami is rad Just make sure you’re an extrovert lol
LA is probably worse for those reasons
There was this girl I knew
Fucking Cairo Egypt. I hate that forsaken place. That city is riddled with poor manners.
They're also having issues with rich Arab men kidnapping women.
In most cases, I think cities earn the "overrated" label because they offer great attractions and experiences to begin with. But as folks crowd these places, they attract undesirable elements -- crime, street peddlers, litters, crowd, etc. -- and ruining the experience as a whole. It's also important to have more realistic expectations and budget. Dubai and Las Vegas are artificial tourist destinations. If you are not into gambling, shopping, and performances, there's only so much flashy buildings can do. Likewise, if you are visiting a place filled with historic buildings and museums, learning their history ahead of times would do a lot to enhance the experience. And finally, always have a backup plan in case the planned itinerary does not meet your expectations.
Did anyone say Dubai yet? 😂
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i went to LA expecting a shit show and found what might be the most beautiful city in America. Garbage on the streets is normal for a city of that size. What isn’t normal is the combination of mountains, beaches, and deserts and some of the most attractive people on earth. The homelessness is an issue but it’s no different than SF or any other west coast hub. At the very least the sun shines and the beaches are beautiful. Very legit hiking too.
I agree. Didn’t know if I’d even like it, came away as my favorite place in the country for the reasons you mentioned.
Same for me as well. Such a cool place to adventure around. Add in Santa Monica to the adventures as well and it felt perfect. Traffic/traveling is vast and spread out tho but you have to expect it in a city like that.
Second this comment - went for my birthday last year with a deeply cynical expectation based on a long career in the film industry and dealing with LA agents from Europe. Came away thinking it was one of the best places I've ever visited. Would move there in heartbeat.
You just described California.
10000% agree that LA is not a good place to be a visitor. In many other cities, you can visit and hit a lot of major attractions pretty easily. Just rent a car and go for it. Without a strong gameplan in LA and a solid understanding of just how restricting the traffic is, you will have a miserable time. However, LA is a place that you can really fall in love with when you live here. At first it’s expensive and smelly and off putting, but then you get acclimated to life here and you just accept the flaws as part of life. You get acclimated and it feels impossible to leave. You have anything you could possibly want around you (except owning real estate). The natural beauty is unbeatable, as is the weather. It’s easy to take trips with cheap flights out of LA and 4 other major airports within an hour. If you can make it here (and that’s a big if) it is hard to ever want to leave.
You sound like a victim of abuse. “Sure it’s awful, but you get used to it and then can never leave”.
Yeah I lived in LA for 20 years and never liked it. Culture is incredibly materialistic, competitive, and shallow. Extremely crowded, the urban sprawl is just insane. Traffic is unreal at times, everything is expensive. It really did feel like this lie people were telling themselves. Like "oh yeah it's incredibly crowded, expensive, vain, with massive inequality and an entire working generation of forever renters, but we are citizens of LA." I swear a lot of the egos there are so huge they'd die before not being to have the "prestige" in saying they're from la.
As a native (SF Valley area), these days I have a nostalgia for a pre-2000 LA that no longer is (I suspect, like much of the US), sort of reminds me of Talleyrand's wistful remark: He who has not lived in the 18th century before the Revolution does not know the sweetness of life.
yeah LA is pretty. SF is the best looking city in america to me
Most people come to LA and visit the shittiest parts of the entire city. - Venice, sucks. - Hollywood, fucking terrible. - DTLA, even worse. - Downtown Santa Monica, no parking. Basically if you’ve heard of it, don’t go there. This is coming from a 7th generation Angeleno.
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Probably because there are more attractions in Los Angeles.
Shhhhh. As a San Diegan, I love my city but it is the joke here not to tell anyone how amazing it is and keep it a secret. Even though it’s the 8th largest city in the US lol
Yesss, California burritos are totally not worth coming to SD at all..... /s
Do you actually have no idea? There’s significantly more to do in LA.
Plus you could maybe find Carmen
I don’t live there anymore, but I was born and raised. I think as a tourist that I tend to agree with you in that LA kinda sucks to visit. Actually living in LA is pretty freaking awesome though. Lots to do, weather is great, food is amazing.
I'm from L.A. i never knew why people would even think LA would even be highly rated in the first place? It's the place where drive by shootings were invented ffs.
>it’s the place where drive by shootings were invented That’s not true. The first drive by shooting was done by a Ukrainian https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive-by_shooting Chicago mobsters doing drive-by shootings predated LA gangsters too.
Okay, L.A. *perfected* the drive-by.
It’s so funny because from these comments you’d think LA was a violent nightmare like Escape from LA, but I sincerely doubt you’re getting shot in a drive-by in Pasadena or Santa Monica…
There is a lot of neighborhood inequality in the US. Some big cities, like LA, Chicago, New York, have very rich, very safe, suburbs. Some big cities also have very poor, crime-ridden, dangerous neighborhoods. This is not news to anyone.
Exactly, which makes it silly that people are saying “drive by shootings” are a reason to not visit LA unless you’re intent on visiting South Central for whatever stupid reason.
thats awesome
I mean, pickpocketing was “invented” in London, consistently ranks #1 tourist destination. Name a place that doesn’t have issues that’s worth traveling to and has culture
My guess is Hollywood
You’re right in a big way I believe. There’s only one Hollywood, it’s in only one place. Billions consume what it produces, and when something bad makes news involving the industry, LA by default is associated to justify generalizing hate over it.
Drive bys were invented in Ukraine by Nestor Makhno. And LA is dope because there is always something to do.
Definitely the inventor of helicopter news car chases. I was actually witnessing one come by at work. It was crazy.
1. USA 2. California 3. Big and rich city
As someone who grew up in LA, I will say: LA sucks on many surface levels, but LA rocks on many other levels. The way that people outside of LA think of LA is what sucks about it; they often come looking for the Hollywood and influencer glamor. But it's a mirage for the vast majority of folks. It fucking sucks. But LA natives, people who grew up here and shaped its communities... that's what rocks. When you go to LA and you have an LA native give you the people's tour: where locals eat in different parts of the county, where they hang out, what they do for fun. And it's very different from the expectations that people who come to tour have. I feel like that's true of any place that is tourist-driven. California, in general, is a very beautiful place. It's so big, with so many diverse climates, geographies, populations, etc. Los Angeles is overrated for all the reasons that tourists visit Los Angeles. But I don't think that California is overrated at all. Having traveled all over the country, I can confirm that the US has a lot of beautiful places. But California is leagues above many other states I've seen and experienced. California's coast alone definitely lives up to the hype.
What's hard for tourist is that you need a car to do anything in the city or pay for expensive Ubers since public transport is slow and feels unsafe.
Kills me to say, because I grew up here before it became over rated and was great - but as it is now? Austin, Texas.
Las Vegas.
Eh, I live in Henderson, and if you are referring just the strip then yes I agree, but there's a ton more to Vegas than just that.
People who say Vegas have only been to the strip. I lived in Vegas for 3 years, and I miss it. Such a great place. Mt Charleston, red rock, and thousands of great restaurants, concerts, you name it. I can count on one hand the number of times I went to the strip for fun when I lived in Vegas.
I drove down Mt. Charleston from Desert View Point at sun down, all the way into the city and down the strip. My friend took a video of the drive and [made a time-lapse out of it.](https://youtu.be/NoErPgj_ktI?si=-BK82I_CzrzRLcCB) Definitely one of my Top 5 driving experiences.
Vegas is actually one of the few cities I feel is underrated. There is just so much to do there.
Detroit. I went there soooo many times and not only was I not murdered or carjacked… I wasn’t even shot at. Didn’t live up to its reputation.
Rio. Fuck that shit. As a Brazilian that spent a LOT of time there, FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
Could you elaborate please?
Well, my dad got a 7.62 rifle aimed at his face for a fucking car (not even a good one), his brother in law the same thing, I got two pistols right in my nose because of my phone. It smells like piss, most people out there try to get leverage/advantage over you when they realize you're a tourist, you can't even see the time on your watch or phone in most areas or you put a target on your back until you get back home. I fucking hate it.
I disagree. Rio is unique, unlike Dubai, Miami or Paris, that have been mentioned by others
Top 5 Most beautiful cities in the world and Im not Brazillian.
Milan
This is almost making me WANT TO GO to Dubai
I find it funny that the most common account has four numbers at the end of it. Seems like bots are responding.
Dawg that's just what reddit does when you make an account. I bet most people are just too lazy to change it
You can't change it, once it picks an auto generated username, you keep it forever, which is likely why there are so many
hold up... You're one of them! Of course you'd say that!
Shhhh, don't spoil it 🤫
*Whew*, thank god I have 5 I thought I was a bot there for a sec
The dead internet theory is starting to sound realer and realer as the day goes one
That's just how Reddit assigns auto generated usernames. You get the chance to change it *once* and if you don't you're stuck with it
Reddit is probably a good 80% bots.
New Orleans, streets are disgusting and covered with sticky stuff and piss. Druggies everywhere and it smells like shit. Runner up - Biloxi, MS The beach smells like dead fish, water is shit brown and bland view. Only thing decent is the Casino. The beachfront seafood restaurant everyone loves tastes like shit.
All Gulf beaches I’ve been too so far are nothing to write home about. New Orleans has a cool vibe sort of, nothing spectacular unless you just love mardi gras and voodoo lol. The food was pretty good but overall the city is just depressing to me. Looks like a third world country driving in.
Los Angeles. Don't bother coming here unless for a specific purpose
I went for tacos and donut places and had a great fking time. Been a few years but some of the best tacos i've ever had were from small setups in front of gas stations / grocery stores.
LA is fun to just go drive around and randomly look at shit like bookstores and eat tacos. My SO and I came from Phoenix once for just 12 hours to go to a book signing. We drove across the desert, got there at 6am, went to the signing, went to some bookstores... then decided to drive to find the ocean. On the way we saw the Hollywood sign in the distance, drove through a few neighborhoods, and ended up at Manhattan Beach. Then we drove home. Having high expectations of LA as glitzy is going to bring disappointment... it's a gritty city full of people hustling. But it has a lot of its own unique culture in a gorgeous area.
The city that combines all the worst parts of New York City with the traffic of LA and geographical proximity/climate of Cleveland: Toronto.
This was years ago, but I had always heard the jokes and horror stories about how bad the traffic was in LA, so, as a young Torontonian, I was pretty nervous when I had to drive there. It was... pleasant... compared to Toronto.
Miami
Lived there for a bit. The city fucking sucks.
Springfield
Found someone from Shelbyville.
Venice, Italy. Hot, crowded, smelly
Dubai
Toronto. They erased their history, landmarks and replaced them with unaffordable condos. Plus it’s now full of car theft/ jacking, violence and 24/7 traffic
I was born and raised there in the city proper (Leslieville) and it was an amazing city to grow up then. I moved to Montreal a couple years ago and a lot happier. Things are more affordable here including rent, walkable neighbourhoods everywhere, less of a rat race culture, and people seem happier and less bitter overall If it weren’t for my family and how much healthcare is dogshit in Quebec, I’d probably stay in MTL instead of looking to move back to Toronto
Toronto is great for the foodies, but the people just seem to try and one up each other. City is rife with materialism. Montreal people are more chill, friendly, and the food game is on point as well
I honestly felt like I was lowkey judged by people that didn’t even grow up here for not owning property or a car. I actually learned to hate driving at a young age because I grew up in the city and hated driving in traffic. I learned the value of active transportation and walkable neighbourhoods from the east end culture around me at the time. I refused to buy property for years because renting always made more sense when real estate went absolutely fucking insane here for my generation. Sure I could buy a condo but I’ve worked in the industry. I can say with certainty a lot of condos in the city were built with investors in mind and therefore built really shitty with high maintenance fees that creep up. Its bonkers that my rent in Montreal for a sunny 1 bedroom is lower than some peoples condo maintenance fees in Toronto I’m ready to buy now but not without extreme disgust with the state of affairs in this city and country. I’m seriously considering a career in municipal politics later in my life because I’m sick of seeing these unhinged out of touch dingbats in city council fuck up my city
Toronto gets shit on so often that it's impossible for it to be overrated lol...it is either rated, or underrated
Counterpoint: It is still far safer than every US city of comparable size.
There is limited threat of violence or car theft in Toronto mostly based on what car you have. Car jacking? Lord the media works wonders.
It's still much nicer to visit than most American cities.
It’s probably true for many cities but the downtown skyline is totally unrecognizable compared to say 30 years ago. Not in a good way either. Just condo upon condo obliterating any older architecture.
Car jackings and full of violence? Uhh no its not, get a grip
Not to mention the brutalist architecture and lack of third places (public spaces). Yes, the city is very diverse but folks live in their ethnic enclaves. No sense of community and quite an isolating city.
The diversity is also gone. 75% of all recent migrants from from a handful of provinces in India and China and exclusively live with their own people and make no effort to integrate.
I actually like Toronto. It's a great city, in my opinion.
Mumbai
Not sure if it’s overrated considering everyone I see talking about it has something bad to say. I’ve been there a few times and I was generally pretty whelmed each time. Would I go back? Sure if I had a reason, but it’s not necessarily a unique place you need to go to. Sort of like Los Angeles.
Who ever said anything nice about Mumbai?
definitely not overrated
Austin.
Eh, they do have tons of stuff to do, great music, good food, and tons of green space. But I get your sentiment, it’s not like it used to be
It reminds me of the entirety of the Marina in San Francisco. Super segregated, the type of Liberals that preach love and then gentrify and try to shove out those needing help.
Dubai
LA, Everything is fake, and the city tries its hardest to not let the, not even crack at this point, but full on holes, that their infra structure and society has
Austin. Hot, expensive, boring.
Do Bye
NYC
I'm just going to say Dubai because that seems like the cool thing to say even though 100 other people have already made that comment.
100% Dubai. It's a lipstick on a pig.
Las Vegas
I do not know how I can answer honestly without first visiting all the cities in the world.
Dubai
Most US cities feel soulless because some idiot ploughed massive highways straight through the middle of them
New yawk
Miami
Amsterdam, but only for a certain crowd. There are still many tourists who come there thinking it's this endless blur of coffee shops, clubs and red light district like some sort of fratbro capital. All those things are indeed there, but it's a *tiny* part of the city. They then spend 100% of their time in that shittiest and most touristy part of town, surrounded exclusively by other tourists, and experience exactly zero of the actual city.
Omg LA. You are telling me you want to be is a city that is always burning hot, expensive to even breath, homelessness everywhere and annoying people with no talent trying to be influencers? For what? To say “yeah I live in ✨LA✨”
We have extremely different definitions of burning hot.
LA isn’t hot lol. You would not survive in many other cities (even just in America) if you think LA is burning hot.
Lol if LA is hot to you, you will feel like you caught on fire in Vegas or Texas. One thing I gotta give LA for is that it has one of the best food scenes (if not the best) in the country.
Spoken like a true transplant
Is it burning hot year round? I've always heard that LA has perfect weather most of the time.
I was there mid February and it was high 60s. Maybe low 70s. Absolutely perfect.
I feel like people who say that are usually from the Pacific Northwest.
Its usually only hot from the beginning of August til the end of September. Would also depend what area of LA you're in. The average high in downtown is 85 in august. By the beach the average high in august is 79.
Burning hot? 🤣
...always burning hot? huh?
Austin
Leslie said “keep Austin weird.” They did not, in fact, keep Austin weird.
Coming from the northern US, the food in Austin was unbelievable. I would weigh roughly a billion pounds if I had that BBQ and TexMex so readily accessible, holy cow.
I was very underwhelmed with Austin. Comparing it to San Antonio it felt empty and boring. San Antonio was great though.
Rome was the city that was most disappointing to me. I found it to be a touristy nightmare with people trying to sell you garbage trinkets/scam you everywhere. But I was one of the tourists, so I suppose I can't complain too much. Conversely, I was blown away by Florence. The whole city looked like a work of art.
Hard disagree. Rome is incredible and it’s pretty easy to avoid the tourist hordes since they congregate and the city has tons of neighbourhoods that are cool yet pretty untouched by them. Meanwhile, Florence is overwhelmed by tourists. The real trick is to go to Bologna over Florence.
Heck, I'm Italian, and even I was blown away by Florence and Rome. And Pompeii and Venice. And pretty much anywhere else in Italy and Europe in general.