Did American Towns Lose Their Individuality?

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by pensfan13, Feb 2, 2017.

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  1. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    number of starbucks:

    # 1 California: 2,010

    18 New Jersey: 146

    Still a ways to go but they're coming!
     
    guerillabedlam, Feb 2, 2017
    #21
  3. pensfan13

    pensfan13 Senior Member

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    does california have any good bagel shops?

    edit: reminds me of many comments i see about California having the most of something. but to make a fair comparison...being california takes up almost the entire west coast, you would have to combine all the states from around Connecticut down to Georgia.

    i think if the people who created california as a state knew how populated it would become they would have broken it up into sections.
     
    pensfan13, Feb 2, 2017
    #22
  5. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    I don't eat bagels that often but Yes.
     
    guerillabedlam, Feb 2, 2017
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  7. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    Yah most likely, there is even an unofficial social dichotomy of "Nor Cal" and "So Cal", which often references differences in culture, slang, landscapes, merchandising, etc.

    It's not like all of California is full of people though. There is about a 3 hour strectch of highway in central California, that is pretty much solely farming fields.
     
    guerillabedlam, Feb 2, 2017
    #24
  9. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    ... and Starbucks
     
    guerillabedlam, Feb 2, 2017
    #25
  11. pensfan13

    pensfan13 Senior Member

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    i assumed, after all jersey has the highest density population and is known as the garden state.
     
    pensfan13, Feb 2, 2017
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  13. *MAMA*

    *MAMA* Perfectly Imperfect

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    All the little ma and pop type places here are being replaced one at a time by transplant hipsters and their modern business with shitty exposed brick and lighting.
     
    *MAMA*, Feb 2, 2017
    #27
    1 person likes this.
  15. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    Funny how that immediatly rings a bell and paints a familair picture here too. I guess it is the new trend.
     
    Asmodean, Feb 2, 2017
    #28
    1 person likes this.
  17. pensfan13

    pensfan13 Senior Member

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    i can only think of Brooklyn, Austin, or Portland
     
    pensfan13, Feb 2, 2017
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  19. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    Are they worse than chain stores and shitty franchises though?
     
    Asmodean, Feb 2, 2017
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  21. riverman18

    riverman18 solid gold brass

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    Starbucks opened a "drive-thru-only" location here a few years ago - right across the parking lot from a Dunkin' Donuts. :dizzy2:
     
    riverman18, Feb 2, 2017
    #31
  23. pensfan13

    pensfan13 Senior Member

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    sorry if i should have known..
    where is here?
     
    pensfan13, Feb 2, 2017
    #32
  25. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    I found them all pretty different tbh. :D

    You get the same chain stores no matter where you go. I remember even moving back to where I am now we'd still have to make that 3hr trip into music if we wanted a good movie or cd or something. Now the big stores are in our town and we don't have to travel to big cities as frequently.
     
    Irminsul, Feb 2, 2017
    #33
  27. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    In the 50's and 60's Towns were separated by open space or farms. Where I grew up there was a town about every 5 miles or so, with connecting roads. In the early 50's and back, not everyone owned a car so most things were in walking distance. For instance, I could jump on my bike and go for a ride and know that about every five mils or so I'd hit a little mom and pop store that sold bread, beans, Popsicles and such. Things that you might need from day to day. Most roads had footpaths worn into the berms from people walking from place to place.

    The roads between the towns were not heavily traveled except in the morning and evening when people would be going to or from work. Roads virtually closed down after 7:00 PM. That's when you could drag race or run around, as few adults were out at that time.

    In town you had chain stores like G.C. Murphy's or A&P groceries, and locally owned stores like hardware, a barber or two, beauty shops, local furniture store, a couple private drug stores, bakeries, a few clothing stores, dentists and doctors in second floor offices, etc. You never had to leave town for anything. You could walk to get anything you wanted.

    Outside of town on the edge might be a private lumber, or brick yard, further out were drive-ins and road houses. One of my friends parents ran a road house and we'd steal booze from the bar.

    Different towns had both the same chain stores, like Murphy's and different stores. For example the town near me was a center for glass production, so it had stores slanted to the working man, up the road about 5 miles was the county seat. It had higher class department stores, an automate, and one store even had a door with an electric eye and an escalator. Traveling 5 miles was like going to Las Vegas.

    All around the countryside were little coal mining towns that had a mom and pop store, a bar and church, service station, and maybe a row of coke ovens.

    Every town was different.
     
    MeAgain, Feb 2, 2017
    #34
  29. *MAMA*

    *MAMA* Perfectly Imperfect

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    Denver
     
    *MAMA*, Feb 2, 2017
    #35
  31. r0llinstoned

    r0llinstoned Gute Nacht, süßer Prinz

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    Portos.
     
    r0llinstoned, Feb 2, 2017
    #36
  33. r0llinstoned

    r0llinstoned Gute Nacht, süßer Prinz

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    There's 97 Starbucks within a 15 mile radius of me.
     
    r0llinstoned, Feb 2, 2017
    #37
  35. Ged

    Ged Tits and Thigh Man.

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    London is all towers now.They're throwing them up like Lego.There's a hundred or so planned to be built over the the next ten years.No choice but to to get into the dystopian future thing.Everything's going that way.
     
    Ged, Feb 2, 2017
    #38
  37. Meliai

    Meliai Members

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    Oh, guess i just skimmed and didnt see the reference to the size. I thought you just meant cities in general
     
    Meliai, Feb 2, 2017
    #39
  39. riverman18

    riverman18 solid gold brass

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    Cranford, NJ. I know you lived in jersey at one point and iirc your mom lives in the city next to me (I think I saw it in a post of yours, i'm not stalkin' you...) - I lived there years ago too. I often wonder if maybe at one point you and I might have crossed paths.
     
    riverman18, Feb 2, 2017
    #40
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