...are the asterisks for the spicy joints?

hey wtf? I neither live in LA nor am I an out-of-stater. Lived my whole life in CA, north and south.

Verona, NJ is where it's at....I don't even need to describe it's awesom-ness as it is already universally known!

I'll play even though Baton Rouge isn't in the running.

Pros:
Relatively clean
Stronger economy and more stable real estate market than rest of U.S.
Hollywood is doing more and more movies here
Close to New Orleans, so you can enjoy it's finer points but do not have to deal with its lesser points
SEC Football
People like to drink
Close to fishing, hunting, etc.

Cons:
Corruption
Food isn't as good as the rest of South Louisiana
Everything skips us to go to New Orleans
Not a particularly attractive city with the exception of LSU's campus
Urban sprawl
Oppressivly hot
Only 2 seasons - Winter & Summer
No public transportation to speak of

Tania has only a slightly shorter drive to LA than if she lived in San Diego County so you are almost as much an LA'er as she is.

How did Postmersh, tkyd, iron & beer, and bee.ok escape the deportation. I might be in favor of booting some of them.

You're joking right?

Somewhat.

I mean, it's nice and green, but development and traffic are maddening.

Lots of great places to eat, though. Maybe I should have added "fat".

My only serious gripe with today's ATL is how fucking huge it is, phsyically. Everything's 45 miles from everything else.

Alright, you get a free pass....though, you're still a "Southern Californian". Wanna help me kick Billy out? Ohhh, there's also Old Kentucky.

I'll play even though L.A. isn't in the running.

Pros:

Great jumping point -- wider variety of leisure options within 3 hours than anywhere else in US (cities, desert, mountains, beaches, islands, rivers, lakes, mexico)
Great climate year round
More live music options than you can shake a stick at
Great melting pot of different ethnicities and cultures = great ethnic dining and cool little neighborhoods and communities
Not NYC but better than most in cultural options (art, theatre, etc)
Good points of sprawl = lots of neighborhoods to explore, hard to exhaust all your options and grow tired of LA if you make the effort
Beaches & Mountains
Attractive people, mostly in pretty good shape
More laidback work environment -- much less hours for same type of work than in NYC for example
People stay single longer
Easier to stay in good shape
Lots of great dining
Wine bars everywhere
Amoeba
K&L Wine
Lots of good universities
Most pro teams at least competitive
Closer to good skiing than most of the East Coast
No Pro Football team

Cons:

Lacks a real urban life, excitement of a city like NYC, etc.
Downtown LA long way away from being a true urban center
Always traffic -- although rush hour not as bad as a lot of cities and easier to take surface streets when it gets really bad
Expensive, especially housing
Smog
Fires
Earthquakes
Hipsters
Bars close at 2am and sometimes earlier
No big notable weekends (eg no equivalent of jazzfest, summerfest, mardi gras, etc)
A lot of bands that would play small to medium sized venues in most cities play large venues in LA (eg MMJ)

Cons for obners:

No basements to live in

True, Bill...very true. With regard to the other guys, they're native SoCal types. You, though, are a California immigrant.

Austin is not Texas. The list of places I'd live in America is short. Chicago, Austin, Portland, Seattle.

I gotta have a city, want to be able to afford a high quality of life, need a vital arts/music scene, city has to know how to chow.

Pretty doesn't hurt either.

Seattle, Washington

Pros:
Progressive
Tons to do (skiiing, hiking, ocean, national parks, wineries, museums)
Great Music Scene
Great Film Scene
Great local wine
Great local beer
Close to the aforementioned Portland and Vancouver if you need a change of pace.
The Rain and the climate in general
You can listen to KEXP in your car
One of the least religious cities in the US


Cons:
Expensive everything
The rain and the climate in general
Traffic and transportation
The REI/Whole Foods Mafia


More pros than cons, but the cons are bigger life issues.

Reading your pro list, I forgot to mention with Portland, also close to wineries/vineyards (we're known for our pinot noir). A favorite thing of mine to do is take a daytrip down to the wineries with friends. Cheap, easy fun. Momokawa also has their sake distillery in Forest Grove, which is about a half hour west of Portland. I haven't been there yet, but been meaning to try it.

Yeah, you kinda can't mess up seafood in the PacNW, especially with the abundance of fresh salmon from Alaska, and AMAZING sushi here. I'd venture to guess that Seattle and Vancouver are similar to Portland (and this is a con) in that it's kinda whitey-whiteville. But we do have our Asian/Latino flava, esp. if you know where to go.

Substitute Vancouver for Austin, and I could get behind this list. I liked Austin, don't get me wrong, but the heat makes me crazy. I thought Boston was a cool town too. Downsides with Boston and Chicago are their winters, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives-- and besides, seasons ARE nice.

I have no real immediate desire to move back to Atlanta, but I know it, got friends/fambly there, and it's my roots, so I wouldn't undersell it to someone thinking of a change. Atlanta's got some great things going on; you just have to know where to find it.

The best/my two faves.

Lemme try this again.

Austin-

Pros:
Non Natives, that is to say most Austinites
Most of the Natives here aren't "texan"
Lots of great Tex Mex
Lots of great food in general
A couple outstanding breweries
Most of the year, the weather is outstanding (not san diego outstanding, but close)
The town is very lush and green, and not just for being in TX.
When it's really hot, it's perfect cold beer weather
Floating on a river with a cooler of beer in said weather
Love the music scene and the audiences are terrific
They're putting in a light rail and talking about a downtown monorail
The BBQ is pretty fantastic
SXSW
ACL
Fun Fun Fun Fest

Cons:
Austin is surrounded by Texas
The Texas that surrounds Austin is populated with native texans
No good true mexican food
Heat is rough two months out of the year
No good/great pizza
Traffic can get rough, but nothing like Chicago or L.A.
Bus system sucks
SXSW
ACL
horrendous drivers, but i get the feeling that's most people behind a wheel no matter where you go.

I was just thinking about this Saturday when I had the urge to order a pie and had no idea where to start.

That's when you bring some beer over and we make one.

Yes but how are Phil's titties?

They're not a selling feature.

And I forgot one major con:

You can be wiped off the face of the earth between the months of June and November by a Hurricane

i'll be an austin resident as of january, tho we're passing through on tour for a few days in november...
stoked about everything but the pizza, tho i think if i fully give my heart to maria's migas breakfast tacos i might survive....

Mpls con: you can be wiped off the face of the earth between the months of November and February by winter.

The variety of the seasons is nice, but it leads to everybody spending 2-3 months a year indoors.

Always a good pizza choice... Mellow Mushroom

Here's the Austin location - http://www.mellowmushroom.com/store/index.php?s=8