More like MEHlow Mushroom

I think nick's from NY and therefore a pizza snob.

mmm...spumoni gardens...

I just spent like 20 minutes making my argument for Atlanta and apparently the shit timed out and erased everything I had typed up.

If anyone's interested I can try again this afternoon.

tacoma, wa (just moved here from chicago so it's all still very new)

pros:
way more affordable than seattle or portland
about 30 mins to olympia, 30 mins to seattle and 2-3 hours to portland
mt. rainier
ocean
commencement bay
the port
smaller city and very accessible (good and bad)
surprisingly, quite a few beautiful theater marquees downtown
beautiful abandoned storefronts
rustic and industrial (if you like that kinda thing)
not overrun by hipsters or hippies
ive heard (not sure if it's true) that it is the most ethnically diverse city in the pacific northwest (portland and seattle are so freaking white)
tacoma zoo
point defiance park

cons:
very few restaurants that i love. it's all about cooking at home (money saver)
a lot of chain stores (retail, restaurants and bars), but def a few indie gems if you look for 'em
too small (for a former chicagoan)
not any exciting neighborhoods, like in chicago
everyone knows everyone (may be a pro but i listed it under con...a bit of both)
it can occasionally stink (due to the industries here), an annoying local joke: "the aroma of tacoma" but it rarely does
i am sure there are more...

edit: the weather can be difficult to get used to. summers are cool and winters rain rain rain and no sun

here is a pic from my roof:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizastan/2696508065/in/set-72157606340458073/

That's your answer for everything.

"I wish I knew how to quit you."

hey austin peeps what hood[s] are you living in these days?
we've got friends all over town at this point from all the way up on the north end to way out towards bee caves, but we're thinking we may look on the east side.

One of my favorite pizzas I've ever eaten. I dream about it sometimes.

Annapolis, MD...oh wait. Never mind.

Phil and D are up north, I'm in the sticks on the north/central-east side but want to move closer to town when my lease is up.
Colin just moved into a new place but I don't remember where.
Not sure about Kit or tthorn.

The case for Hotlanta:








Pros:


Size - Atlanta is the biggest town in America. Although the population is approaching 5 million, Atlanta has alwasy seemed like an overgrown town that some international metropolis. Although, it is experiencing that change from a mid-size to huge city in it's infrastructure and the neighborhoods are becoming more and more defined.

People - I've lived in different parts of the US and the people are the reason I really wanted to stay here. Although Atlanta has become a pretty transient city in the last 25 years there are still mostly people from the South here which means Southern hospitality. Atlanta is also very diverse these days which only adds to the pot IMO.

Affordability - for all that Atlanta offers as a major US city it's also a fraction of the cost. A 1000 sq ft 1 bedroom in a nice area here would cost around $1000-$1500. The same place in NYC would be double or triple that.

WOMEN - dude, it's like 8 - 1 single women to single men here. If you can't make it happen here, just give up. But, if that's not your thing, we also have the largest population of gay folks in the South. Also, LOTS of southern girls with southern accents.

Weather - It's not called Hotlanta for nothing. It gets hot here in July and August but that's a small price to pay for the 4 distinct seasons we get here. Not to mention the mild winters. It stays in the 60's into December here.

Food - Fried = GOOG. Southern cooking is comfort food....aka the best IMO. That being said, you can find any type of ethnic food you want. We have two 5 Star restaurants (Zagat's only lists 20 I think in the US) and lots of 4 stars places. Great town for a foodie IMO. Sweetwater Brewery, Atlanta Brewing Co., Terrapin (Athens) have set up shop here.

Location - Heart of the South. You're 2 hours from the Appalachian mountains, 4 hours from the Atlantic, and about 5-6 from the Gulf. Delta has their hub here so you can fly direct to anywhere in the world.

Entertainment - Rick Derris lives here and that dude is AWESOME. Not to mention 4 pro sports teams, UGA and Georgia Tech, music, high art, museums, fish fucking, 2g1cup, whatever you want you can find it and get into here.



Cons:

Traffic - yeah it can be bad but somehow we have kept on living. Dude, it's all about where you live. For the most part, I can avoid it if I want to.

Public Transportation - no getting around it. Garbage. Bus lines aren't bad though and steps are being taken to improve our public transit but the effect of this won't be seen for years.


What can I tell ya? The bible belt (good and bad), the food, the diverse cultures, the arts, the music. I'm sold on city living and I can't see myself moving more than 30 minutes from a city ever again. I love the South and am 95% sure that I'll always live down here so all that adds up to this being the best place for me.

TRUTH.
And I miss the food too.

RE: Atlanta

Fall and spring here are pretty amazing, but they're also pretty short.

As I get older, I'm finding that I do know a lot more single women than men. Don't know about Derris's ratio, though. Dude's just a player.

You are pretty close to the mountains here, and you can easily make a weekend trip to Savannah. A weekend in Savannah is usually long enough. It's also pretty quick trip up to Athens, and you can hang out downtown there and see a show at the 40 Watt.

Of course here there are several colleges and cool little neighborhoods about the same size as downtown Athens. There's Decatur which has one of my favorite places anywhere, The Brick Store, and my favorite place to actually shop for music, Decatur CD. There's Little 5 Points which is pretty well known and pretty gentrified at this point, but it still has some great places to eat (Savage Pizza and El Myr) and two great record stores, Criminal Records and Wax'N'Facts. There's the whole Buford Hwy strip which has just about every ethnic food imaginable. There are tons of other little places all over, too, the only drawback being that they're all pretty spread out.

I've always thought that the big tourist attractions in Atlanta were pretty weak. I've never been to a lot of them. I went to college next to the High Museum, and during that time it was pretty sorry. They've since added onto, though, and I'm sure it's much better (been meaning to go for a while). I like the Aquarium, but people are always insisting that the Tennessee Aquarium is better. It's been so long since I've been there (about 14 years), that I really don't know. Avoid the zoo here, and don't go to Underground. The Botanical Gardens are cool, I think, but I haven't been since my first year in college (and somehow failed to go to the whole Chihuly thing). Never bothered with CNN Center or World of Coke, but I could see hitting those up with my parents at some point.

As mentioned before, there are indeed tons of great places to eat here. I've been to one of those two 5-star restaurants Derris mentioned, Bacchanalia, and it was fantastic. There's a great hole-in-the-wall place down the street from where I work called Carver's that serves excellent meat + 3 Southern food, but it's only open for lunch on weekdays (which works fine for me). And of course there's the huge variety of authentic ethnic food, of which I'm sure I've only had a small sampling (Korean, Vietnamese, Ethiopean, Colombian, Bangladeshi, Turkish...).

As far as traffic, I've never had to commute to work. It takes me about 15 minutes to get across town to my current job. If you live out in the burbs, though, it can be rough depending on what route you have to take. I would imagine that's true of most American cities, though.

That's about it, I guess. I'll say a lot of negative things about it, but I figure I've lived here long enough to earn the right (10 years). I can't complain too much, though, as I've never gotten involved in or followed local politics much. I'll defend Atlanta against outsiders and tourists who want to criticize it, but I'll bitch plenty about construction and baffling traffic screw-ups.

Drinky, I spent the last couple of years in Georgia living in Decatur, and I loved it there. If I moved back, that's where I'd want to be.

If we buy a house, I hope we can find one there even though Decatur can be a little tough to get in and out of.

Derris is right on about the southern hospitality thing. I spent a week down there (Atlanta/Alabama) and I met some of the nicest, funniest, most down-to-earth people in my life.

Migas Tacos? That is sooooo Texan! Eating tortilla with tortilla...my mom would always do that.

I just moved to grant park, its lovely!

see: "Hagman, Larry"

I'm an idiot, he meant LA.

That looks like blood and guts layed out on a baking sheet.

It's not a very photogenic pizza but it looks better in person. They put the cheese under the sauce so it doesn't burn in the oven. I've had pizza from most of the famous New York places but Spumoni is second to none. It's Scillian style as opposed to the classic NY Neo-neopolitan. It also holds up well in the frig and is almost as good the next day.

grimaldi's...nyc.

Chicago

kingfish, if it lasts til the next day yr doing something wrong, hahaha
*kidding*
*sort of*

The only cities I'd move out of Texas for are (in order):

1. Nashville
2. Charlotte
3. Seattle