In your opinion, what is the most meh city of the USA?

Detroit?

I haven’t been to enough to nominate a winner with confidence. Many of them are pretty “meh” to me, but everyone has their own tastes.

What qualifies as a city for this competition? Gary, Indiana is pretty dang “meh” (or it was, circa 1988) unless you like commercially abandoned places. Elsewhere, my least favorite places actually tend to be the dystopian cookie-cutter suburban communities, condo complexes, and McMansion farms.

Omaha

Los Angeles.

Buffalo
Fresno
Spokane
Indianapolis
Tampa

Camden, NJ

Of the cities I’ve visited, I’d have to nominate Fresno. Although I used to think that about Sacramento until I spend a good amount of time there.

Ashtabula, Ohio

Orlando, FL (at least the parts I’ve seen).

The place is one chain restaurant or national retail store after another, with no distinction.

Grand forks North Dakota. The water was horrendous in 1995. Even the ice cubes in the pop where horrid. I know why everyone else in my group had coffee.

The highlight was the one mountain and the snake that we ran over by accident.

Monowi, Nebraska – Population: 1. The ONLY resident is a widow who is the librarian & the mayor. The population was 2 in 2020 census until her husband passed away. She gave herself a liquor license so she could run her tavern.

I can’t imagine what would be there for entertainment except getting drunk & I’m NOT a drinker!!!

After playing The Division and The Division 2, which are set in New York and Washington DC respectively, I have to say, all of them. They all look the same. Dreary grid arrays without any character or soul.

Funny Q.

I lived in Raleigh, NC for a while and it felt meh to me. Maybe it’s better now? Almost no outdoor eating at restaurants, no places to just walk around outside with shops and restaurants. Communities were built with pools, tennis, rec centers, unless you belonged to a club. I’m used to master planned communities and cities and/or being near a very major city.

@Love_my_doggie Orlando? What? I’ll agree about the food being a lot of chains (although there are local restaurants in surrounding areas) but how can the land of Mickey be meh? I ate at Three Bridges restaurant at the Coronado Springs resort at Disney last night and the hotel was absolutely beautiful, and the food was better than average for Disney food, I’d give it 4 stars out of 5. The restaurant is in the middle of a lake with the hotel surrounding it, the resort has different sections, a tower, villas, so on the lake side it’s like being immersed, and the rest of Disney and Orlando disappears, except that waiters wear their city of origin (very Disney) and there are hidden Mickeys on carpet designs and ironwork. I live in Florida and still eating there I felt transported to vacation for a few hours.

Also, the Piazza at the Portofino hotel at Universal feels like a few hours in Italy; it’s lovely.

I feel so lucky to live near Disney.

@ragingloli To paraphrase Johnson, “if one is tired of New York City, one is tired of life.” Don’t dismiss it on the basis of a game.

I’m imagining that the answer to this question is like a pyramid: there are very few incredible cities in the US, and a lot of great cities, and a whole lot of average cities, and a ton of “meh” cities. There are probably so many “meh” cities that there are too many to name, and the details of those cities would be very mundane to discuss. Most cities will have mitigating factors – something about them that’s really nice and perhaps some famous people that are from there, or things that were invented there.

I’m an easy mark. I have found things to enjoy about every city I’ve been to, but I have to agree with @Love_my_doggie about Orlando and other strictly commercial cities (Vegas type as well) being less than interesting.

@jca2 I agree with you. And the people who live in the “meh” cities may have wonderful friends and arts organizations and parks that may not be obvious to the casual visitor.

Seattle is pretty incredible.

@Dutchess_III I lived there for almost two decades, I still miss it. :-)

I bet you do. I miss it too.

I grew up just outside of Birmingham AL and I found it boring. You can see the Air and Space museum only so many times before it loses its interest. Once I reached my 20’s I couldn’t wait to leave. I had a blast living in several large cities where I enjoyed partying with my friends. Once I got married and became a Mother, I found those same cities boring as I no longer needed the night life

Little Rock, Arkansas.

Quincy, Illinois

Fairfield, Iowa

Moberly, Missouri

Peoria (said with eyeroll)

How about Mayberry or Possum Trot?

^^ Or Petticoat Junction?

Memphis, TN
Phoenix, AZ
Seattle, WA
Montgomery, AL
Baltimore, MD

I don’t like Vegas; that really does feel mega commercial to me, and like it’s only for a certain group of people. It feels like no one actually lives there, although I know they do.

When I think of Orlando I think of the whole metro area. One example is the Morse museum in Winter Park, such a wonderful collection of Tiffany, and then walking down the boulevard where the museum is are all local shops and restaurants. Many streets in that area are still cobblestone, and such a cute town. I guess maybe it is counted as a separate city for this Q, but sometimes what makes a suburb great is the city nearby or vice versa.

Are we only considering the city proper, or entire metro areas?

@jca2 I think so too. Lots sbd lots of average towns and cities. If we include whole metro areas the equation might change a little.

Hey!! I live in Mayberry!! I love it.

I’d have to go with Vegas and Dallas. Jeez. . . there are so many it’s hard to choose!

Even though I’ve never been there, I gotta go with MEHmphis, Tennebookban. ;)

Lol. I lived in Memphis for 8 years. I can see calling it meh, but actually there is a lot of great museums, a beautiful large park for walking and picnicking, live music, great local theatre and Memphis also gets Broadway Tours, it’s definitely not the bottom of the list (or should that be not the top of the list) for cities. I was more entertained in Memphis than Raleigh.

Memphis has issues, but it is far from meh.
The Peabody ducks are not it’s main claim to fame. Lol.
I recommend any tourists there see the visitors’ center. It is easy to find in spite of hiding behind the giant egg.

The food at the Arcade is great, and I love little cafes like that, but one must also try some local bbq.

I wish to add that many, maybe most of the places mentioned still have wonderful people, lovely sights, and are not necessarily a wasted visit.

^^Absolutely agree, except for maybe Monowi, Nebraska – Population: 1

No place is all good nor all bad.

I gotta say, I am curious about that lady. I first heard of the town a couple of years ago.

I think in her place, I would obtain a few mannequins, place them around town, like life size Barbie, Ken, Skipper, plus more.
“Good morning, Debbie. On my way to the office, but I’ll see you later at the bar.

Hello Dave. How are the kids?”

Geez, how funny could the vlogs be?!?!
:-D

@smudges One good thing for the 1 lady is that there is nobody there to screw up her day. She has total control over how her day is going to go

Lol too true @SEKA. ‘Course, no one to blame, either. hehehe

I can always find someone to blame!!! LoL

If all else fails, it’s Nobody’s fault

^^ HAHAHA

@SEKA
Do not let nobody hear that.

^^ HaHaHaHaHa
I’ll whisper it next time