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Where's the most depressing place you've ever been

My picks

Riverside CA Toledo OH Erie PA

Each is a special kind of hellhole to me....but each feels stuck in a time capsule from an American decades ago. Strip malls, fast food, shotgun homes, white trash.....I guess that would define most of America outside the big cities

by Anonymousreply 433November 14, 2023 3:22 AM

Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Flat, brown, and ugly as hell.

by Anonymousreply 1December 12, 2022 7:19 PM

A subacute care center where 95% of the patients are on a permanent ventilator (trach'd) and have PEG tubes (feeding) and all the workers have to don isolation gowns to go into their rooms. Some of them are in permanent vegetative states, for years, and have no visitors.

This is what happens when people won't accept the reality that their loved ones are dying and any further medical intervention is futile. They want "everything done" so this is where the person ends up that doesn't die (technically). They would be better off dead. But no, they have to survive years and years of this torture, maybe succumbing to sepsis from bed sores or an infection in the tube or lungs or the internal organs eventually fail... years later.

by Anonymousreply 2December 12, 2022 7:21 PM

The towns west of Riverside are worse - Homeland, Perris, Rainbow, Wildomar, really scary vibe. Wildomar really freaked me out, they all seem like places you would be murdered or abducted or possibly a Hills Have Eyes type situation...

by Anonymousreply 3December 12, 2022 7:21 PM

Wherever op and r1 reside

by Anonymousreply 4December 12, 2022 7:21 PM

R4 must live in Fort Wayne.

My condolences.

by Anonymousreply 5December 12, 2022 7:22 PM

Carthage, MS......... "third world" does not begin to do it justice...

by Anonymousreply 6December 12, 2022 7:24 PM

Washington, DC.

by Anonymousreply 7December 12, 2022 7:25 PM

I’ve finally been to Me. So many faces.

by Anonymousreply 8December 12, 2022 7:28 PM

Is depressing the same as fucked up?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 9December 12, 2022 7:58 PM

Unfortunately in America there are many, many depressing places.

by Anonymousreply 10December 12, 2022 8:07 PM

[quote]Strip malls, fast food, shotgun homes, white trash.....

That's Phoenix you're describing.

by Anonymousreply 11December 12, 2022 8:11 PM

In your empty head

by Anonymousreply 12December 12, 2022 8:12 PM

Augusta, Georgia. Scorching hot and malarial humidity in the summer, downwind from the stench of a paper mill, blighted buildings all over, and racist trash. Even the natives call it Disgusta.

by Anonymousreply 13December 12, 2022 8:13 PM

A horrible town on the Pacific coast of Washington state, below the Olympic Peninsula, called Aberdeen--it's the hometown of Kurt Cobain, and you instantly can tell why his music was so depressing and why he got the hell out of there as fast as he could.

by Anonymousreply 14December 12, 2022 8:20 PM

Here’s a video to compile a lot of the worst places in California. Chances are they’re also depressing as well.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 15December 12, 2022 8:25 PM

Auschwitz.

by Anonymousreply 16December 12, 2022 10:49 PM

1. Tijuana, Baja, Mexico

2. Menifee, California (Riverside Co). Menifee was the smoggiest place I have ever had the displeasure of visiting, it is also a trashy hellhole like most Riverside/San Bernardino Counties.

by Anonymousreply 17December 12, 2022 11:14 PM

Dallas! Haha

by Anonymousreply 18December 12, 2022 11:21 PM

Mauthausen in Austria. Horror and depressing.

by Anonymousreply 19December 12, 2022 11:23 PM

I once stayed in a town in deepest Mississippi - I remember thinking it was how America would be if it were a Communist country.

by Anonymousreply 20December 12, 2022 11:46 PM

The Portage Lakes area in Ohio. All the store and restaurant employees looked dead-eyed and lethargic. I'm sure the weather is a big part of it.

by Anonymousreply 21December 12, 2022 11:57 PM

Bakersfield, CA.

Claxton, GA.

Tijuana, MX.

Almost anywhere in TX.

Ohio.

by Anonymousreply 22December 13, 2022 12:57 AM

Richmond, California. Crime-ridden and depressing as hell.

by Anonymousreply 23December 13, 2022 1:03 AM

Eulonia, GA

by Anonymousreply 24December 13, 2022 1:27 AM

Twitter since Elon Musk took over

by Anonymousreply 25December 13, 2022 1:27 AM

Gary, Indiana. When I was there, (the aughts) half the city was shutdown and abandoned because every building was made from asbestos (well that’s what they told us).

by Anonymousreply 26December 13, 2022 2:01 AM

You folks need to get a little further afoot. Throw some caftans in a suitcase and try out any number of shitholes between St Petersburg and Moscow. Toledo has a great museum, by the way. The Ohio one, although the Spain one is admittedly better.

by Anonymousreply 27December 13, 2022 2:05 AM

I don't care if I never set foot in Missouri again.

by Anonymousreply 28December 13, 2022 2:10 AM

Oświęcim, Poland.

by Anonymousreply 29December 13, 2022 2:13 AM

Gu-in, Alabama.

by Anonymousreply 30December 13, 2022 2:15 AM

Baltimore.

Have you ever seen The Wire? Well, it's that bad IRL.

by Anonymousreply 31December 13, 2022 2:16 AM

Any small town in the Confederacy…

by Anonymousreply 32December 13, 2022 2:20 AM

Harrison Arkansas, birthplace of Wallmart. Situated up north west by the misery border. Boone county just became an alcohol legal county. There is no drug the people will not do In combination with any other drug, including god. And a KKK stronghold to boot. Made sadder by the fact it is a beautiful Ozark location but culturally it's quite a shocker.

by Anonymousreply 33December 13, 2022 2:23 AM

I've driven across the U.S. no less than 4 times. I've visited probably about 40 states. I will say that Texas is the flattest, most boring place I've ever been. Driving through it (on one of my trips across), I could actually see the curve of the fucking earth - it's that flat. The highlight of going through TX was seeing a live armadillo and the sudden rainstorm that caused us to pull over on the side of the road to let it pass because the road was turning into a river.

That said, Oakland, CA and Richmond, CA are also extremely depressing.

by Anonymousreply 34December 13, 2022 2:28 AM

Wilkes-Barre PA

by Anonymousreply 35December 13, 2022 2:32 AM

Akron, OH.

My family andI we’re just passing through. Even 40 years later, I remember the stench and the many billowing smokestacks.

Many of those belching tire plants have likely gone oversees, but the industrial waste never leaves.

by Anonymousreply 36December 13, 2022 2:33 AM

Milton Keynes in England and pre-unification East Berlin.

Concrete and anorak wearers everywhere.

by Anonymousreply 37December 13, 2022 2:34 AM

Department of Motor Vehicles.

by Anonymousreply 38December 13, 2022 2:35 AM

New, expensive homes are popping up in Wildomar. 600,000 and up. Wildomar is not a down and out community. It's yuppyish now.

by Anonymousreply 39December 13, 2022 2:37 AM

My would-have-been uncle was in Mauthausen. Then they sent him to Dachau, where they murdered him. I can only imagine what his last days, weeks, months were like.

by Anonymousreply 40December 13, 2022 2:41 AM

Jackpot Nevada. Even for a border casino town it's one of the saddest places I've ever been it has like three and a half casinos that haven't been updated or remodeled in years and literally a pot shop and the gas station. The casino itself that we went into was full but nobody seemed to be enjoying themselves at all just sad and wasted looking faces.

by Anonymousreply 41December 13, 2022 2:45 AM

A long, long time ago, I was in Salt Lake City, Utah, on a Sunday. Everything was closed and I found that depressing.

Any place that has state-run liquor stores is kind of depressing.

by Anonymousreply 42December 13, 2022 2:50 AM

This is why I live in New England. Yes, we have shitty areas, but they are NOTHING like the sad towns described.

by Anonymousreply 43December 13, 2022 2:55 AM

Vicksburg, Mississippi. Once a thriving town, it’s now just depressing and desolate. See also Clarksdale and Greenville in the same state. Actually don’t.

That said, just a little bit down south is Natchez, which is a really pretty town with a fun downtown.

If you can ignore the fact that most of the people you meet are either in a gang or the KKK.

by Anonymousreply 44December 13, 2022 3:04 AM

El Paso Texas has got to be a contender.

by Anonymousreply 45December 13, 2022 3:08 AM

Worcester MA has to be up there.

by Anonymousreply 46December 13, 2022 3:11 AM

Mistakenly getting off the interstate and instead taking U.S. Route 74 through Gastonia, N.C. Yech!

by Anonymousreply 47December 13, 2022 3:22 AM

Seacaucus New Jersey

by Anonymousreply 48December 13, 2022 3:24 AM

Amarillo.

All of Oklahoma.

Las Vegas, Nevada. (I like Las Vegas, New Mexico.)

Boston, Massachusetts. (I like Boston, England.)

Los Angeles. Bakersfield with money.

by Anonymousreply 49December 13, 2022 3:28 AM

Lima, Ohio

Joplin, MO

Clarksdale, MS

Gallup, NM

by Anonymousreply 50December 13, 2022 3:35 AM

The Philippines. Those bitches will suck ANY white dick to get outta there.

by Anonymousreply 51December 13, 2022 3:37 AM

Sedalia, MO.

by Anonymousreply 52December 13, 2022 3:37 AM

Birmingham, Slough, Luton, Hook - all in England. So, pretty much any place that I got sent to work in the aughts. However the weekends in the Cotswolds and London were delightful. Although I do draw the line at Elephant and Castle.

Oh and then two towns in NSW - Junea and Walcha. Not so much depressing as terrifying. Everybody’s related and doing lots of meth. Shudder!

by Anonymousreply 53December 13, 2022 3:57 AM

W39 when’s the last time you hung out there? It’s a scary run down litter box full of meth kitchens with FUCK JOE BIDEN flags. Do the homes come with turrets?

by Anonymousreply 54December 13, 2022 4:04 AM

Moose Jaw Saskatchewan

by Anonymousreply 55December 13, 2022 4:07 AM

R50- When I was a kid the most depressing thing I ever ATE were Lima BEANS.

by Anonymousreply 56December 13, 2022 4:17 AM

Laughlin, Nevada. Death's waiting room.

by Anonymousreply 57December 13, 2022 4:36 AM

Stockton, CA. A long deteriorating city. I was there for their Asparagus Festival (which actually didn't have much to do with asparagus) about 12 years ago. The waterfront was meh and downtown was a ghost town. Gangs, meth and a huge economic divide. Anybody with the means to do so lives in a gated community. I don't know if this is true or not, but a friend claimed it has the highest concentration of gated communities outside of Florida. Oh, and they recently had a serial killer who hunted for homeless victims at 2 or 3 in the morning. He was caught on a hunt.

by Anonymousreply 58December 13, 2022 4:38 AM

You tell me, OP.

by Anonymousreply 59December 13, 2022 4:40 AM

Taking the commuter train through Miami, FL. Or Atlantic City, away from the beach and the strip.

by Anonymousreply 60December 13, 2022 4:42 AM

The most depressing place I have ever been to was a Big Lots store. Terrible.

by Anonymousreply 61December 13, 2022 4:44 AM

The entire state of Indiana, which I've driven through on road trips. It has a sad, depressing feeling about it.

by Anonymousreply 62December 13, 2022 4:49 AM

Downtown San Antonio, TX, which is supposed to be one of the most important historic sites in the state, but was a dump and an embarrassment as a museum and historic building.

by Anonymousreply 63December 13, 2022 4:59 AM

[quote]The towns west of Riverside are worse - Homeland, Perris, Rainbow, Wildomar, really scary vibe.

None of those are west of Riverside, they are all southeast of Riverside. Homeland and Perris are dingy wastelands. Wildomar is just suburbia. Rainbow is an agricultural valley and actually pretty. Heavenly if you love avocadoes. All hot summer climates. Probably boring to most Datalounge types.

The depressing town west of Riverside is Los Angeles.

Hemet and San Jacinto are also pretty awful places and nearby is Scientology's notorious Gold Base - formerly a resort called Gilman Hot Springs. My sister once said, "As long as I don't end up in a trailer park in Hemet, I'll be happy." She ended up living in a huge log home she and her husband built in a forest in Idaho.

by Anonymousreply 64December 13, 2022 5:01 AM

Ignoring that I'm dead, if you viewed the very end of Season 2, Episode 6 of The White Lotus, you'll understand I can't even talk about it...

by Anonymousreply 65December 13, 2022 5:10 AM

I’ve been to Hemet, CA, when I was really young. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. Everybody seemed super old.

by Anonymousreply 66December 13, 2022 5:13 AM

I've never been to me.

by Anonymousreply 67December 13, 2022 5:18 AM

Any rural community in the United States. They’re all shabby with bottom-of-the-barrel standards of living.

It’s one thing to be in a shitty town in an underdeveloped country, but I think it’s way more depressing to be in the “greatest country in the world” and, unless you are wealthy, almost every community is dumpy and miserable. Shitty infrastructure, cheap houses, messy yards, sloppy people.

by Anonymousreply 68December 13, 2022 5:19 AM

There's some truth to that, r68. I've traveled extensively throughout the US and once you leave the coastal enclaves, a lot of this country is pretty bleak. Most people don't have much.

by Anonymousreply 69December 13, 2022 5:24 AM

R17 Tijuana is fkin awesome. You must be a bore.

by Anonymousreply 70December 13, 2022 5:25 AM

R45 don’t you think Laredo Texas would be worse than El Paso?

by Anonymousreply 71December 13, 2022 5:27 AM

Opelousas, LA

by Anonymousreply 72December 13, 2022 5:29 AM

Bombay Beach, CA. On the Salton Sea.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 73December 13, 2022 5:30 AM

Olathe, KS

by Anonymousreply 74December 13, 2022 5:50 AM

The Bronx

by Anonymousreply 75December 13, 2022 5:58 AM

I stopped by Salton City on Salton Sea just to see it for myself. A whole outlay of streets, but only the occasional house here and there, all in varying states of disrepair.

by Anonymousreply 76December 13, 2022 5:59 AM

Wisconsin

by Anonymousreply 77December 13, 2022 6:02 AM

to me.

by Anonymousreply 78December 13, 2022 6:03 AM

Camden, NJ

Baltimore comes next.

by Anonymousreply 79December 13, 2022 6:04 AM

Belgravia. A bleak cream-coloured concentration camp for the rich.

by Anonymousreply 80December 13, 2022 6:14 AM

Prince George, BC

by Anonymousreply 81December 13, 2022 6:18 AM

R76 I believe people still live around the Salton Sea. It’s pretty cheap to live there but there’s really no services.

by Anonymousreply 82December 13, 2022 6:21 AM

The Metro Blue Line between Long Beach and Downtown LA. It passes through some of the worst neighborhoods in LA including Watts. The contents of the train tends to reflect that reality.

The infamous Skid Row in DTN LA is also about as horrible as it can get.

by Anonymousreply 83December 13, 2022 6:25 AM

Centralia, Pennsylvania.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 84December 13, 2022 6:34 AM

Las Vegas and Atlantic City, where money just gets tossed down the drain. And they're so joyless doing it. What's the fun?

by Anonymousreply 85December 13, 2022 7:26 AM

R84 Burn Baby! Burn!

by Anonymousreply 86December 13, 2022 8:00 AM

Lima Heights, OH

by Anonymousreply 87December 13, 2022 8:10 AM

I've seen too many depressing places to choose one. If you take a long road-trip or Amtrak then you'll notice that every small, rural settlement is poor and depressing compared to a major city.

by Anonymousreply 88December 13, 2022 8:12 AM

Norco CA. Reeks of horse shit.

by Anonymousreply 89December 13, 2022 8:14 AM

Fresno, CA, Cincinnati, OH, and Boulder, CO.

by Anonymousreply 90December 13, 2022 8:18 AM

R31 I lived in Baltimore for seven years - can confirm.

by Anonymousreply 91December 13, 2022 8:18 AM

R34 Re Texas: get off the interstate.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 92December 13, 2022 8:31 AM

That's not true r88. Some are very fun, unique and/or interesting.

by Anonymousreply 93December 13, 2022 11:24 AM

R90 Boulder? Really? It's a beautiful town!

by Anonymousreply 94December 13, 2022 11:30 AM

Palm Center in Houston, 15 to 20 years ago - This is a shopping center that died and was turned into a center for government offices. I was going to be near there anyway and I needed to return library books and go to the post office, so I stopped by. Sweet fucking Christ, the area was so blighted I imagined there weren't even birds singing. And it was especially depressing because I remember when it was a busy shopping area. Since that last visit a YMCA branch was built and I think Metrorail runs nearby. Perhaps things have picked up, but I'm in no hurry to return.

by Anonymousreply 95December 13, 2022 11:44 AM

Many seaside resort towns in the UK are bleak and depressing AF. Their heydays are long over with the advent of cheap flights and the foreign package holidays. They’re crumbling crap towns now, and mainly attract ne’er-do-wells and the damned.

by Anonymousreply 96December 13, 2022 12:03 PM

Guam, unless you love snakes

Most of the state of Ohio (Dayton and Columbus excepted)

by Anonymousreply 97December 13, 2022 12:05 PM

Charleroi, Belgium

Youngstown, Ohio

Mayfair

by Anonymousreply 98December 13, 2022 12:14 PM

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

by Anonymousreply 99December 13, 2022 12:30 PM

Detroit (of today)

by Anonymousreply 100December 13, 2022 12:34 PM

Ohio. All of it.

by Anonymousreply 101December 13, 2022 12:45 PM

Men’s room, train station, Sigisoara Romania, 1981.

by Anonymousreply 102December 13, 2022 12:58 PM

Mississauga, Ontario

by Anonymousreply 103December 13, 2022 1:31 PM

R28/R30, do you mean Guin or Gu-Win (between Guin and Winfield)?

by Anonymousreply 104December 13, 2022 1:37 PM

I find Arizona exists in a knuckle dragging cultural state. It is sad because the younger people try to open a coffee shop or pizza parlor but they do it in a social environment that grips them by the balls. I think it drives out the intelligent while attracting the dim. The rely on tourist gimmicks and spirituality to do the cultural heavy lifting. Pitiful really.

by Anonymousreply 105December 13, 2022 2:39 PM

Rockefeller Center in December.

by Anonymousreply 106December 13, 2022 2:59 PM

I was on a business trip to Hawai'i. I was on the bad side of Honolulu. The hotel's address in our travel site wasn't their actual address. I didn't know exactly where I was so I called the hotel. The woman on the phone tried not to sound alarmed but she stayed on the phone as she gave me driving directions. It was getting dark and she asked me what kind of car I was driving and the license plate. When I pulled up to the front of the hotel, she gave me a hug. She said I was in the part of town that is invested with meth addicts.

Another business trip, this time to Oklahoma. It was completely otherworldly. Nothing but a WalMart, Hone Depot, and every casual dining restaurant you could imagine. The Fed Ex office closed at 4 pm!

by Anonymousreply 107December 13, 2022 3:55 PM

Niagara Falls, New York. The Canadian side is mildly depressing, but the U.S. side is a pit in hell.

by Anonymousreply 108December 13, 2022 3:59 PM

Defuniak Springs Florida. Hot and horrible hellhole. We visited my Husband's former Mother in Law and her family. They are great people, but I don't see how anyone can live in the swamps. Some kid was in was in the middle of the road, hitting an alligator on the head with a stick. It wasn't a bad experience, but a lot of people there are poor, but really nice. Depressing though.

by Anonymousreply 109December 13, 2022 4:03 PM

American Samoa. My ship pulled I. Port for refueling and I had to stand a double watch because they had to send crew on shore patrol. And there was nothing but darkness and a crushing, humid heat. And some sailors on another ship in the battle group were medically evacuated to Japan because they were beaten and raped by a group of locals. It was a fight over a woman. I can just remember the crushing heat and a deep feeling of sadness, and fear because I was deeply closeted and ignorant; I thought that they were raped because they were gay and that they were being punished for it. You couldn’t convince my eighteen year old mind otherwise. And there was no one to talk to. The majority of the crew were deeply homophobic straight men and the ones who were suspected of being gay were predatory towards young boys who were away from home for the first time. I had already fought off an attempted sexual assault; there would be two more in my future. Fortunately we left the next morning. Everyone who was on liberty said that the port sucked. I’m certain that it did for those sailors who were raped.

I hate Samoa.

by Anonymousreply 110December 13, 2022 4:23 PM

Ship PULLED IN PORT….

by Anonymousreply 111December 13, 2022 4:23 PM

This thread is fucking dark as hell.

by Anonymousreply 112December 13, 2022 4:30 PM

Reno, NV (the gambling area), is kind of depressing. It's like the old part of LV, but not as good.

It's been a long time since I was in Reno. Maybe it's improved, but I doubt it.

by Anonymousreply 113December 13, 2022 4:39 PM

OP, I'm with you on the Great Lakes industrial cities like Erie and Toledo.

Riverside isn't uniformly terrible, though, and it's far better than some of the industrial towns near it like Beaumont and Banning, or dire shitholes like Temecula and the like.

by Anonymousreply 114December 13, 2022 4:43 PM

The New York City subway. The South Bronx in the 80s and 90s.

by Anonymousreply 115December 13, 2022 4:46 PM

[quote] but each feels stuck in a time capsule from an American decades ago. Strip malls, fast food, shotgun homes, white trash.

Sweetie, this is current America. Outside of the big cities, this IS America.

by Anonymousreply 116December 13, 2022 4:52 PM

Speaking of Las Vegas, don't ever walk further than the Fremont Experience. Nothing but liquor stores and pawn shops. It's bleak!

by Anonymousreply 117December 13, 2022 4:52 PM

A lot of people here seem to be urban snobs, blind to the ugliness, crowdedness, filth and living conditions of their own cities...

by Anonymousreply 118December 13, 2022 4:56 PM

R116 is right.

by Anonymousreply 119December 13, 2022 5:02 PM

R117 Is that north of downtown? I drove through once and I swear I must skid row with the drums burning on the side of the road and various street creatures.

by Anonymousreply 120December 13, 2022 5:23 PM

Have been in**

by Anonymousreply 121December 13, 2022 5:23 PM

My top 3

Baltimore MD

Albuquerque NM

Braintree MA

by Anonymousreply 122December 13, 2022 5:29 PM

Hemet, Ca. is where Scientology has that big base where they were said to keep people locked up in trailers for months with no furniture.

Augusta, Ga. has some beautiful areas, but most of the south side of the city, beginning at Tobacco Rd. (yes that Tobacco Rd.) is a vast wilderness of run down businesses. It reminds me a lot of the run down industrial looking areas of Los Angeles. I am a Georgia native and I've always considered Augusta the ugliest larger city in the state overall.

Venice, Ca. to me is one of the most depressing places on earth. I haven't been out there in 13 years so I don't know if it's gotten any better, but the last time I was there it was just run down and the few canals that remained smelled bad. And way too many sketchy looking people milling about.

by Anonymousreply 123December 13, 2022 5:54 PM

The area around the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power plant in Ohio (between Sandusky & Toledo); just this dead, gray area, even in the summer.

by Anonymousreply 124December 13, 2022 6:48 PM

Champaign-Urbana

by Anonymousreply 125December 13, 2022 7:05 PM

R107 Who invests with meth addicts? That sounds like terrible financial planning?

by Anonymousreply 126December 13, 2022 7:09 PM

Los Angeles

by Anonymousreply 127December 13, 2022 7:12 PM

I once had to attend a conference two nights on a weekend in Flint, Michigan. It was aboutv25-30 years ago. It was horrible. Just horrible. And I once had to drive through Cleveland. Ugh.

by Anonymousreply 128December 13, 2022 7:15 PM

R124 I've been to Sandusky, and it reminded me of that depressing steel town in The Deer Hunter.

by Anonymousreply 129December 13, 2022 7:16 PM

R129 I grew up in Sandusky. Why do you think I moved to LA and started fucking for a living?

by Anonymousreply 130December 13, 2022 7:19 PM

Indianapolis. And driving from Michigan to Chicago on I 94, passing through Gary Indiana. Ugly, depressing and horrible.

by Anonymousreply 131December 13, 2022 7:22 PM

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Yuma, AZ Phoenix, AZ

by Anonymousreply 132December 13, 2022 7:25 PM

Clearwater, Florida. The median age of its residents must be 82, and every street is lined with strip clubs and tire stores.

by Anonymousreply 133December 13, 2022 7:27 PM

Detroit ten yeas ago.

by Anonymousreply 134December 13, 2022 7:27 PM

I drove through Wheeling, W VA once. Very sad and depressing, like it reached its peak in 1960. For people who haven't been to these type of post-industrial cities/towns along the Ohio River, just watch Silence of the Lambs when Clarice goes to Fredrika Bimmel's house--looks just like that, sad and depressing. That was over a decade ago, maybe it's improved some...

by Anonymousreply 135December 13, 2022 7:32 PM

R131 I concur re Indianapolis. Depressing and creepy, too.

by Anonymousreply 136December 13, 2022 7:33 PM

Suzhou, China. They call it the “Venice of the East” while other areas of the city were scenic, the actual canal they are supposedly famous for are awful. It backs on to some restaurants and row housing primarily. . You can see into some people’s filthy homes. Dirty rugs and laundry hanging over chairs and railings I guess to dry out after being washed in the filthy smelly canal we boated through. The piece de resistance was seeing a number of dead dogs floating in the water as we boated past, that had fallen in and couldn’t find their way back out. .

by Anonymousreply 137December 13, 2022 7:41 PM

Hemet has a downtown? It seemed like a cluster of orange fields and trailer parks.

by Anonymousreply 138December 13, 2022 7:52 PM

Your bedroom, OP. Worst night of my life.

by Anonymousreply 139December 13, 2022 7:52 PM

R68 Total bi-coastal myopia. There are countless pleasant little towns in the U.S. No doubt boring by New York or L.A. standards, but the idea that they're mired in poverty with no infrastructure is ludicrous.

by Anonymousreply 140December 13, 2022 7:56 PM

London, Ontario. The one gay bar was okay in a small-town way. The people were cold and standoffish but being English I am used to this.

by Anonymousreply 141December 13, 2022 7:56 PM

Newburgh, NY

by Anonymousreply 142December 13, 2022 7:57 PM

I was born and raised in the Rust Belt and live on the West Coast now.

I get some of the depressing places listed here - Gary is truly dire.

But some of them have nice areas mixed in with some very rundown, sad areas. Erie's east side has been decimated but it also has a beautiful lakefront and peninsula. You can drive 10 minutes out of the cores of both Cleveland and Pittsburgh and find both beautiful, updated areas as well as rusting, decimated and ignored areas.

Many towns in Western PA and Central PA are trying to promote tourism and their natural resources to attract visitors and money. It sounds weird to go to, say, Johnstown as a tourist, but there's beautiful mountain ridges just outside of town.

I think maybe many posters really don't grasp the economic freefall that many places went through after industrial businesses - especially the steel mills - left many areas.

There's a PBS documentary that talks about Moundsville, WV and it's typical of many smaller towns. Gone, and trying to come back.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 143December 13, 2022 7:59 PM

Gary, In. should have been firebombed decades ago. Same with Camden, NJ. It looks like a place zombies would hold up.

by Anonymousreply 144December 13, 2022 8:04 PM

Beautiful Camden, NJ.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 145December 13, 2022 8:07 PM

So going by the responses here so far, pretty much anywhere in the U.S. is depressing.

by Anonymousreply 146December 13, 2022 8:07 PM

Good points R143, but I think of this thread as being those places that you drive through thinking "dear lord, please don't let my car break down"

by Anonymousreply 147December 13, 2022 8:11 PM

The bedroom, with my “husband”, of 37 years 😂.

by Anonymousreply 148December 13, 2022 8:12 PM

Camden NJ is like going to a third world country. You can't believe it until you've seen it.

by Anonymousreply 149December 13, 2022 8:14 PM

I will add another location to my CA votes upthread of Richmond and Oakland: Vista, CA. I don't know what it's like now, but back in the 90s I lived in an apartment complex there and it wasn't unusual to hear gunshots from local gang activity.

by Anonymousreply 150December 13, 2022 8:15 PM

Going to the Carribbean or Mexico and seeing the poverty and little tiny kids begging in the streets.

by Anonymousreply 151December 13, 2022 8:22 PM

Y'all live with thousands of rats and roaches in NYC, you're the pot calling the kettle black.

by Anonymousreply 152December 13, 2022 8:23 PM

R150 where IS Vista, anyway?

It seems to be where all my scam calls originate from these days. That and a town amusingly called Pine Valley, CA.

by Anonymousreply 153December 13, 2022 8:25 PM

I visited friends many years back who owned a vacation condo in a beautiful high rise in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Their condo was on the 5th floor. On the second night I left the balcony doors open in my bedroom so I could enjoy the nice sea air. I woke up the next morning to the strangest sounds outside. I went to the balcony and looked down and there was a group of about 30 huge, filthy, loud hogs rooting around in the plants.

by Anonymousreply 154December 13, 2022 8:28 PM

About 42 miles North of San Diego, CA. Considered to be part of the "North County" of San Diego. Not far South from Camp Pendleton. Very near to Legoland (lol) which wasn't there when I lived there.

by Anonymousreply 155December 13, 2022 8:28 PM

Thanks R155. I assume also not far from Oceanside.

Which despite a never ending array of hot guys (one assumes Marines) was kinda sad and depressing to me.

by Anonymousreply 156December 13, 2022 8:30 PM

Vista, CA, is also inland. The only nice inland town (in that area) that I can think of would be Rancho Santa Fe, which is where Desi Arnaz lived.

There's another inland town called Poway, where a friend of mine lived. You forget you're in southern CA when you're in a town like Poway.

by Anonymousreply 157December 13, 2022 8:35 PM

Mea culpa, R107. That should be "inFested," not invested.

by Anonymousreply 158December 13, 2022 8:36 PM

Yes, r156, Vista bleeds into Oceanside, it's to the East of it. Oceanside used to be kind of like a small town, but definitely Marinetown central and always had an unsavory underbelly (usually to do with drugs and probably gangs as well). No clue what it's like now.

RSF is snobtown USA. I lived in Poway also for a time, but spent from age 10 to 18 in Ramona, CA (the sticks, and meth lab capital of SD at the time). We moved to the inland area after spending over 5 years living on the coast/beach towns. What a change! Shitkicker central (Ramona was), rife with cowboys, 10 gallon hats, dually trucks, rodeos, etc. We had 2 black kids the entire 4 years of high school. Tolerance was not a word back then in Ramona. Mexicans were referred to as "wet backs" or "beaners" and were the slave labor on the chicken farms. This was in the 80s.

by Anonymousreply 159December 13, 2022 8:39 PM

I should add that I lived in RSF (Rancho Santa Fe) as well, as Oceanside, Cardiff, Encinitas and briefly in East SD (now THAT was some *shit*).

by Anonymousreply 160December 13, 2022 8:49 PM

My late husband's grave.

by Anonymousreply 161December 13, 2022 8:52 PM

TJ Maxx on a Saturday afternoon.

by Anonymousreply 162December 13, 2022 9:40 PM

Nordstrom Rack in Culver City in the 00s. What a depressing, overcrowded (racks, clothes and people) hellhole. Not worth the time or aggravation.

The same can be said for (any) Costco.

by Anonymousreply 163December 13, 2022 9:46 PM

Resorts of yesteryear gone to seed.

by Anonymousreply 164December 13, 2022 9:55 PM

All I remember about Sandusky is Cedar Point Amusement Park. That place is awesome!

by Anonymousreply 165December 13, 2022 10:12 PM

My bed, last holiday season, laying in it 24/7 for weeks on end, drinking wine until i passed out while watching Love Boat on Plutotv nonstop.

by Anonymousreply 166December 13, 2022 10:23 PM

Considering what it once was . . .San Francisco

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by Anonymousreply 167December 13, 2022 10:26 PM

Technically I’ve been to McKeesport, but it was in the late 80s. It was a working class town that had seen better days like many in Western Pennsylvania. But damn, it looks East St. Louis or Camden level bad now.

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by Anonymousreply 168December 13, 2022 11:01 PM

I’ve always been shocked how often Cairo, IL is mentioned on DL. First drove through 25 years ago - by accident. Never thought anyone had ever heard of it. Since I’ve been on DL, not only has it been repeatedly mentioned on DL, it’s been the star of its own threads. This is how I Know - these are my people. A truly depressing, yet fascinatingly decrepit, obscure little town in southern IL.

by Anonymousreply 169December 13, 2022 11:27 PM

Texas and sun city arizona.

by Anonymousreply 170December 13, 2022 11:34 PM

The inside of Lindseybelle Graham's recctum.

by Anonymousreply 171December 13, 2022 11:55 PM

^^ The lifting of the paywall always brings out the cleverest among us.

by Anonymousreply 172December 13, 2022 11:59 PM

It's been awhile, but, downtown Omaha, NE.

Just sad.

Even semi-abandoned Appalachian mining towns and slums in Sub-Saharan Africa didn't feel so soul-deadening.

by Anonymousreply 173December 14, 2022 12:06 AM

[quote]The lifting of the paywall always brings out the cleverest among us

Definitely.

by Anonymousreply 174December 14, 2022 12:09 AM

My neighbor, Barb’s, house.

by Anonymousreply 175December 14, 2022 12:17 AM

Tampa is pretty depressing. So is Washington D.C. and Cincinnati. Birmingham is pretty depressing as well. Unpopular opinion, but I find Nashville to be depressing as well.

by Anonymousreply 176December 14, 2022 12:18 AM

[quote] The inside of Lindseybelle Graham's recctum.

It continues to amaze me that 65 year old men post grade school humor like this in the mistaken belief it is witty

by Anonymousreply 177December 14, 2022 12:21 AM

Key Takeaway: Eldergays are fucking miserable wherever you put them.

by Anonymousreply 178December 14, 2022 12:21 AM

Moscow airport, most of Buffalo, most of West Virginia

by Anonymousreply 179December 14, 2022 12:28 AM

The intersection of DataLounge and Saturday Night Road.

by Anonymousreply 180December 14, 2022 12:29 AM

The desert surrounding Las Vegas - it actually looks like the top of a landfill. Ugliest scenery I've ever seen.

by Anonymousreply 181December 14, 2022 12:30 AM

The suburbs of Buffalo are beautiful and affordable. But the racism and Trumpism is a real thing. As are low paying jobs.

by Anonymousreply 182December 14, 2022 12:35 AM

The posts about Southern California here confirm what my visits there suggested: life on the west side of things near the ocean, very nice; life to the east, San Bernadino way, grim. We think of the chasm separating rich from poor in NYC as being more dramatic, but I got the impression it was worse in L.A. In NYC it was always possible to find somewhere tolerable to live, connected to Manhattan by train, but in L.A. a bad neighborhood seems like a life sentence without parole.

by Anonymousreply 183December 14, 2022 1:01 AM

Portland, OR.

by Anonymousreply 184December 14, 2022 1:14 AM

A poster mentioned the train ride from Long Beach to Downton LA. JFC! I did that once when I landed at the airport in Long Beach and I though I would save a few bucks by taking the train to LA instead of a cab. It was Ghetto Central. I was shocked at how BIG the ghetto was - it kept going on and on. I had no idea that it stretched for so long.

by Anonymousreply 185December 14, 2022 1:15 AM

I live in CA and enjoy it. But the beauty of the coastal area is, quite frankly, somewhat overstated. A lot of Southern California is so densely populated that it's just unattractive. Things are worn down and look dilapidated and used at a rate much higher and faster than, say, a regular Target or grocery etc. you'd find elsewhere.

The intense daily sunshine doesn't help - it tends to bleach things out and it all gets weatherbeaten.

The fantasy beachfront areas that don't have hideous housing or hideous retail spaces are in a price bracket way beyond the affordability of most people. Areas like LaJolla, Newport Beach, Santa Barbara, etc. are much too costly.

by Anonymousreply 186December 14, 2022 2:08 AM

R168 McKeesport is like Braddock, where Senator Elect John Fetterman served as mayor.

Literally 90 percent of the businesses and people left there - so yes, it looks like that.

I thought years ago that someone should raze one of those towns and build some studio spaces and film processing types of things - Pittsburgh is the site for so many movies and needs a place like that. It could become another Chicago in terms of hosting filming of shows.

by Anonymousreply 187December 14, 2022 2:11 AM

[quote] I live in CA and enjoy it. But the beauty of the coastal area is, quite frankly, somewhat overstated.

I totally agree. But I think people (in the last 20 posts or so) are just contrasting the coastal towns to the inland towns. In general, coastal towns are much more pleasant as places to live.

Half Moon Bay is beautiful, IMO. But you can't get into the water.

The southern California beaches are meh, IMO. Zuma Beach in Malibu is probably the nicest so. Cal. beach that I've been to.

by Anonymousreply 188December 14, 2022 2:13 AM

r186 I grew up in SoCal, have lived in OR and NYS (not the city) as well. I live in NorCal now, and the beaches in SoCal are UGLY compared to the raw beauty of the coast up here. It's amazingly gorgeous.

by Anonymousreply 189December 14, 2022 2:17 AM

Your pussy

by Anonymousreply 190December 14, 2022 2:19 AM

Phnom Penh - lots of ghosts.

by Anonymousreply 191December 14, 2022 2:19 AM

[quote] But I think people (in the last 20 posts or so) are just contrasting the coastal towns to the inland towns.

Agree. But I don't hate some of the places I know inland and in the so called Inland Empire. I find Pasadena, Claremont and Redlands to be charming. And while Riverside wasn't quite as charming, I didn't think it was hideous. There are some charming areas there.

by Anonymousreply 192December 14, 2022 2:21 AM

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Thunder Bay, Canada

Atlantic City, USA

Tampa, USA

Valletta, Malta

Blackpool, England

Sheffield, England

Doha, Qatar

Moscow, Russia

Goose Bay Labrador, Canada

Kabul, Afghanistan

Dubai, UAE

Calcutta, India

by Anonymousreply 193December 14, 2022 2:32 AM

Anaconda, MT. Or it’s neighbor Butte, MT.

by Anonymousreply 194December 14, 2022 2:45 AM

Its neighbor…

by Anonymousreply 195December 14, 2022 2:45 AM

The complete Inland Empire of California. Hideous.

by Anonymousreply 196December 14, 2022 2:48 AM

All of Oklahoma...its a place where souls go to die. Its a special kind of hell there. Especially Oklahoma City. All of Arkansas Anywhere in the Midwest, deep south, really.

NORTH DAKOTA, ESPECIALLY MINOT, ND!!

Coshocton, Ohio

by Anonymousreply 197December 14, 2022 2:53 AM

Freeport Bahamas

Memphis

Clearwater FL

All dumps.

by Anonymousreply 198December 14, 2022 2:59 AM

Temecula is far from a hellhole. It's upper middle class and has numerous wineries.

The bad thing is that it's full of Trumpsters.

by Anonymousreply 199December 14, 2022 3:17 AM

R199 Well, a lot of it is a bland suburban hellhole. The old downtown has some charm but it's soulless in lots of other places.

And yes, the Trumpsters. To be expected anywhere there's tons of military.

See also under: Huntingdon Beach

Even a beautiful place like Balboa Island is filled with Trumperstilskins.

by Anonymousreply 200December 14, 2022 3:23 AM

Detroit since the 70s.

by Anonymousreply 201December 14, 2022 3:27 AM

[quote]The infamous Skid Row in DTN LA is also about as horrible as it can get.

How is Downtown Los Angeles such a sketchy scary dump this long? Every major hotel chain has a fairly pricey outpost there, the Disney Concert Hall is nearby, it has public transportation from the airport and a big concert/sports arena, yet it is still considered unsafe to walk around at night.

I thought all the new pricey commerce would lift it up by now?

by Anonymousreply 202December 14, 2022 3:32 AM

I went to that Grand Central food hall in downtown LA and so much of what was around it looked as bad as Buffalo, to be honest.

by Anonymousreply 203December 14, 2022 3:34 AM

For 40 years Los Angeles has been trying to find a solution to the ever growing homeless population. Nothing has worked. They need to move all the social services to another part of the county. It's sad a lot of places don't even have the money to knock down abandoned buildings. If all you care about or observe in an area is drive by drive through aesthetics then yes much of the country is "depressing." However in all these places there are natives who still love their cities and towns. Spend time with them. Let them show you around. You might see things differently.

by Anonymousreply 204December 14, 2022 4:27 AM

When I was a kid I lived for a couple of years in Sierra Madre, and that whole area is very pretty still, I believe. Sierra Madre and Altadena had so many nice places to hike, there was Eaton Canyon (waterfall) and it was very small-town. (Examples of SoCal inland towns that aren't hell holes (North San Gabriel Valley). Very hot in the summer though.

by Anonymousreply 205December 14, 2022 5:52 AM

If you think the DMV is bad, try the Unemployment Office in you local city. If you ever need to go in person or apply for food stamps be prepared to be in the company of the dregs of humanity.

by Anonymousreply 206December 14, 2022 7:05 AM

Welch, WV

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by Anonymousreply 207December 14, 2022 8:44 AM

Coney Island in the dead of Winter.

by Anonymousreply 208December 14, 2022 9:04 AM

I don't like windy cities. The worst are windy towns in the shadow of mountains. Horrific.

by Anonymousreply 209December 14, 2022 9:34 AM

So sad, so depressing, so hopeless: Gaza City.

by Anonymousreply 210December 14, 2022 9:53 AM

While Wheeling, WV is a largely abandoned city, some of the architecture is amazing. If ranking the most depressing places, I would not say Wheeling. Yes, economically depressed and some scary people - but the historic architecture alone redeems it.

by Anonymousreply 211December 14, 2022 12:03 PM

R211 Wheeling does have some rusty bits but also has some charms. I agree.

Steubenville, on the other hand......mercy.

by Anonymousreply 212December 14, 2022 12:09 PM

Worked with Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel (consulting) and had to go between their high rise headquarters in downtown Wheeling (where smoking indoors was allowed - in 2005!) to their plant in Steubenville. It was like going to the gates of hell. The size and scale of the steelworks, the age and decrepit condition, the huge, fiery smelters - and the men who had to work there every day (and were fighting to keep their relatively well paid jobs).

One of my life experiences that I always reflect on when I think my job /life sucks. Experiencing life in Steubenville - even if you’re “lucky” enough to work at the steel mill - made me understand why “deaths of despair” run rampant there.

by Anonymousreply 213December 14, 2022 12:16 PM

R213 And it's still that way today, post mills. It's just.....unlivable.

Most of my ancestors came from in and around Johnstown and that area has similarities, but not quite as bad. Some people have moved on. Steubenville feels like it's stuck in time.

by Anonymousreply 214December 14, 2022 12:22 PM

Steubenville has a lot of hot Franciscan monks.

by Anonymousreply 215December 14, 2022 12:38 PM

R52 was in Missouri and thinks Sedalia is the most depressing place she's ever been?

To get to Sedalia takes going through Missouri's Little Dixie, a secessionist slavery hole where people still regret Lincoln making it to 1865, or the KC area, which is ugly and trashy, with spots of glitz that look like tinsel in a dirty alley.

Sedalia, on the other hand, has the State Fair, which is wonderfully absurd like all of them are, Goody's Steakburgers and the grand Bothwell Hotel, the most reliably scary and haunted hotel I've ever visited (three times), where staff refuse to leave the lobby desk on the night shift because of the "activity."

by Anonymousreply 216December 14, 2022 1:01 PM

Tubac, Arizona.

by Anonymousreply 217December 14, 2022 1:02 PM

R215 ha, thanks for reminding me.

There were monks who would show up at our small little neighborhood gay bar in Pittsburgh every so often. Or were they Jesuits? Hmm.

by Anonymousreply 218December 14, 2022 1:04 PM

R122 Braintree MA wanted to lock up Liza!

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by Anonymousreply 219December 14, 2022 1:05 PM

....

by Anonymousreply 220December 14, 2022 1:08 PM

The dead were frightened of half naked Liza?

by Anonymousreply 221December 14, 2022 1:08 PM

McCook, Nebraska. I was cheering on the tornado.

by Anonymousreply 222December 14, 2022 1:09 PM

Omaha was OK.

But Kearney NE is dreadful.

by Anonymousreply 223December 14, 2022 1:10 PM

The thing about many, if not most, of the small rural towns all over the US is that most of the people who live in them long term live there because that's exactly the environment they love. They want nothing to do with big cities. They love the peace and quiet and the fact that little to nothing exciting ever happens in those places. And I can understand city people who think living in places like that would be hell on earth.

So, one man's hell is very often another man's heaven.

by Anonymousreply 224December 14, 2022 1:59 PM

R224 exactly.

My sister loves living in the little podunk town where we were born and raised. She's horrified if she has to go anywhere near a big city. Partly because of the sheer number of people, and a little because she's just a little bit racist and doesn't see many black folks so she's a bit intimidated.

She doesn't understand why I don't shop at Walmart every day or how I could possibly survive without one nearby.

by Anonymousreply 225December 14, 2022 2:10 PM

OK. IMO it's depressing states too. Like Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, large swaths of Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Arkansas, Texas and Florida.

by Anonymousreply 226December 14, 2022 2:45 PM

I have been to every state in the union, except Alaska. And I have found wonderful things, places, and people in every one of those states. Anyone who would find an entire state depressing is someone who is easily depressed, or someone who has never traveled much.

by Anonymousreply 227December 14, 2022 3:32 PM

Twitch's house.

by Anonymousreply 228December 14, 2022 3:38 PM

Has anyone ever been to Centralia PA? I can only imagine how desolate it must be…

by Anonymousreply 229December 14, 2022 4:59 PM

Yes, R229. It’s weird. It’s surrounded by forested hills. A girl I used to be in love with back in college, in the late 90s, lived nearby. Maybe if we’d gone at night it would’ve been different, but it was in broad daylight and there wasn’t really a creepy vibe to speak of.

by Anonymousreply 230December 14, 2022 5:02 PM

R193 this is supposed to be a list of places you’ve actually been to, not a list of random places you don’t like the sound of.

by Anonymousreply 231December 14, 2022 5:15 PM

[quote]The towns west of Riverside are worse - Homeland, Perris, Rainbow, Wildomar, really scary vibe. Wildomar really freaked me out, they all seem like places you would be murdered or abducted or possibly a Hills Have Eyes type situation...

We'll always have Perris ...

by Anonymousreply 232December 14, 2022 5:17 PM

[quote][R17] Tijuana is fkin awesome. You must be a bore.

r70=Melania, reminiscing about her donkey show days

by Anonymousreply 233December 14, 2022 5:17 PM

[quote]Hemet, Ca. is where Scientology has that big base where they were said to keep people locked up in trailers for months with no furniture.

They get to stay INDOORS? Sounds like paradise to me. How do I get there?

by Anonymousreply 234December 14, 2022 5:18 PM

[quote] It was horrible. Just horrible.

But was it "ghastly! Just ghastly!"?

by Anonymousreply 235December 14, 2022 5:18 PM

[quote]When I was a kid I lived for a couple of years in Sierra Madre, and that whole area is very pretty still, I believe. Sierra Madre and Altadena had so many nice places to hike, there was Eaton Canyon (waterfall) and it was very small-town. (Examples of SoCal inland towns that aren't hell holes (North San Gabriel Valley). Very hot in the summer though.

Sierra Madre has been able to retain that charming, small-town atmosphere. Partially because it's somewhat isolated (neither the freeway, the light rail, nor any major streets goes through it, and it's at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.) And I guess they have very strict zoning laws. Just to the south, Arcadia is nice, but not charming in any way. They have the race track (Santa Anita), a huge shopping mall, and LOTS of Asian immigrants who tear down the mid-century housing stock to build tacky Italianate McMansions.

by Anonymousreply 236December 14, 2022 5:22 PM

Trust me, Darfur Orphan, you absolutely do not want to visit Gold Base.

If you do go to the Hemet / San Jacinto area, visit Idyllwild instead. It's just right up the hill from there.

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by Anonymousreply 237December 14, 2022 5:29 PM

R233 Donkey show with a smidge of Sticky Vicky and a side of Atlantic City nightclub revue

by Anonymousreply 238December 14, 2022 5:34 PM

CA can almost be divided lengthwise, the further east the worse it gets in general.

I live in Corona Del Mar (part of Newport Beach) and it's not Trumper central. Orange County went for Biden in the last election.

by Anonymousreply 239December 14, 2022 5:47 PM

[quote]Arcadia is nice

What’s the difference between Arcadia and Acadia, and why are the two of them allowed to have such similar names?

by Anonymousreply 240December 14, 2022 5:48 PM

[quote]Anyone who would find an entire state depressing is someone who is easily depressed, or someone who has never traveled much.

Indiana. The End.

by Anonymousreply 241December 14, 2022 5:49 PM

A lot of studio people live in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. There are lots of unbelievably charming houses.

I lost touch with one friend, but he bought a guest house in Altadena, which was a normal sized 3 bedroom house from a lot that had been subdivided from the adjoining mansion. It included the most beautiful pool that was completely out of scale, but his pride and joy. Tile work from the 20s.

by Anonymousreply 242December 14, 2022 6:14 PM

[quote]If all you care about or observe in an area is drive by drive through aesthetics then yes much of the country is "depressing." However in all these places there are natives who still love their cities and towns. Spend time with them. Let them show you around. You might see things differently.

Why? The question OP poses is about places, not about how people who've never been anywhere better feel about where they grew up and lived their lives.

Who the fuck want to travel to ugly, down at the heels, depressing places to find the residents who protest that it used to be nice?

[quote]Anyone who would find an entire state depressing is someone who is easily depressed, or someone who has never traveled much.

Quite the contrary. People who have travelled extensively know when they are wasting their time in some dump where the only attraction is "the county's best soft-serve ice cream" and a downtown of which people who didn't know better used to be proud.

by Anonymousreply 243December 14, 2022 6:28 PM

R73 here. A documentary called “Bombay Beach” really captures the depression and hopelessness of the area. If you run across it try to watch it.

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by Anonymousreply 244December 14, 2022 7:07 PM

R204 Bravo! A lot of brainless shallow bourgeois fucks on DL, with their "design" sensibilities. "A more detestable set of creatures I never saw," as Virginia Woolf said of a certain kind of society lady.

by Anonymousreply 245December 14, 2022 9:48 PM

Immokalee, FL…migrant farm workers (slaves pretty much) make up most of the town. The average family income is about $22k.

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by Anonymousreply 246December 14, 2022 10:14 PM

R213 is spot on.

These old industrial towns, now hollowed out by de-industrialization, would have been depressing to most people even at the height of their success. “My life’s dream is to live in a small town totally dominated by a steel mill/coal mine and the associated union”, said no one ever.

These places were bearable if: (1) you fit in with the local blue-collar community and had no aspiration to a middle-class life; and (2) you had lots of relatives and friends in town and enjoyed socializing with them. Otherwise, they were terrible places to live that people were fleeing if they could, even back when the mills and mines were booming.

BTW, I’m not talking about Detroit, Cleveland or Pittsburgh. Big cities had a lot more going on and were much more livable. I’m talking about places like Youngstown, OH or Pottsville, PA.

by Anonymousreply 247December 14, 2022 10:52 PM

The most depressing place I’ve ever visited was Minersville, PA, next to Pottsville in Schuylkill County (the armpit of Pennsylvania, and that’s saying something). It was not even particularly abandoned. It was just so closed off and hostile to outsiders, so grim and ugly, with its narrow streets lined with rowhouses that had had any semblance of attractiveness stripped off in favor of siding and ugly, ungainly additions. The stores throughout Schuylkill County (this was about 20 years ago; things may have changed) were no-name, gritty, scruffy-looking places. No Target, no Giant, not even a Walmart. There was absolutely nothing anywhere that signaled life in 21st century America. People who like to moan about Walmart et al. don't realize that in small towns across the country, the stores they replaced were not cute boutiques, classy faux-old-time hardware stores, and organic produce shops but nasty, grim, overpriced little places with no selection and proprietors who were only nice to you if they liked you, and they only liked you if they had known you for 40 years.

Driving back down Rte 61 toward the Philly suburb where I live, my car crested the steep hill that marks the boundary between Schuylkill and Berks Counties. There, off to the right, floating like a vast, brilliantly lighted aircraft carrier on the hillside was a huge Cabela’s – the first sign of anything that spoke of modern America. I’m not a sportsman by any means, but it was a relief to see that big, clean, modern chain store, and the sprawling developments of cheap but NEW houses.

by Anonymousreply 248December 14, 2022 10:58 PM

[quote] However in all these places there are natives who still love their cities and towns. Spend time with them. Let them show you around. You might see things differently.

People are describing towns where the "natives" seem hostile. They're not going to take the time to befriend an outsider and show you around.

by Anonymousreply 249December 14, 2022 11:03 PM

Johnstown, PA where they filmed LAll The Right Moves”. I remember watching that movie and thinking how dirty & depressing the place seemed.

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by Anonymousreply 250December 15, 2022 3:40 AM

That movie looks more depressing than that grind and depressing town.

by Anonymousreply 251December 15, 2022 9:38 AM

R219 My friend's mom claimed she watched that scene being filmed, but I think she was confused as the majority of the film was shot on the North Shore - Manchester by the Sea, Beverly, Gloucester (Hammond Castle) - which is where she was from. I still sometimes drive by the place that was supposed to be a fishmonger's (James Coco) in the movie but at the time was a real estate office, or something.

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by Anonymousreply 252December 15, 2022 1:21 PM

The opening scenes of The Deer Hunter are an exquisite portrayal of Pennsylvania mill/mining towns and their people.

by Anonymousreply 253December 15, 2022 3:00 PM

The DL

by Anonymousreply 254December 15, 2022 11:36 PM

Arcadia vs. Acadia vs. Arcata:

Arcadia is a medium-sized city in southern California, east of Pasadena.

There is no Acadia in California, but there is Acadia National Park in Maine.

Arcata is a small town on the coast of northern California.

by Anonymousreply 255December 15, 2022 11:55 PM

The Porcupine Mountain area in Michigan. Thought I would love it, but the Lake in the Clouds was just ok, the people were poor, grouchy Republicans and the best restaurant was a place where they fed wild bears so you could watch them while dining.

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by Anonymousreply 256December 16, 2022 12:05 AM

R248 I had mentally blocked out my time in Eastern PA. Holy crap, you brought it all back, including the sighting of civilization in the form of a Cabela’s.

by Anonymousreply 257December 16, 2022 12:12 AM

You should have sent up to Houghton instead r256. Beautiful area, and especially up the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor. I saw the northern lights up there Labor Day weekend and the moat beautiful sunsets.

by Anonymousreply 258December 17, 2022 5:38 AM

You should have sent up to Houghton instead r256. Beautiful area, and especially up the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor. I saw the northern lights up there Labor Day weekend and the moat beautiful sunsets.

by Anonymousreply 259December 17, 2022 5:38 AM

Shreveport Louisiana, decay, violence and great poverty

A firetruck went on call and broke down, they sent a backup which also broke down, they only buy the old used equipment from a neighboring city.

There is a periodic sewer spill into the lake that the city gets it water from, they never fix the spill, they just put up no fishing signs and caution tape, they never fix the problem.

by Anonymousreply 260December 17, 2022 6:22 AM

R256 wins! I think I’d rather spend a night in downtown Cairo. Google street view even doesn’t seem to want to revisit. You also had to put up with that goofy Yooper accent, didn’t you?

Minersville looks like the kind of place to get gang raped on a Saturday night. Just pick your tavern.

by Anonymousreply 261December 17, 2022 4:31 PM

R258 I’ve been to the Keweenaw Peninsula and loved it, so I was hoping the Porkies (that fucking name) would be similar. Not really. Maybe the presence of Michigan Tech gives a little more culture/smarts to the Keweenaw area.

by Anonymousreply 262December 18, 2022 12:19 AM

R260 I hooked up a few times with a beautiful boy whose daddy had been the sheriff of Shreveport. It might be a hellhole, but they produce some lookers in that town!

by Anonymousreply 263December 23, 2022 3:48 PM

Any Trump rally.

by Anonymousreply 264December 23, 2022 4:12 PM

Any of the Greg threads.

by Anonymousreply 265December 23, 2022 4:16 PM

Pittsfield New Hampshire

Atlantic City NJ

Philadelphia PA (just the small part I was in for work, but when even when I was in the city- the vibe was like no other city I had ever been in. It felt like a lot of people struggle there..

by Anonymousreply 266December 23, 2022 4:17 PM

You can see the bears from the "dinning area"

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by Anonymousreply 267December 23, 2022 4:25 PM

I grew up in Toledo Ohio. Left it the day I could.

by Anonymousreply 268December 23, 2022 4:43 PM

[quote]Philadelphia PA (just the small part I was in for work, but when even when I was in the city- the vibe was like no other city I had ever been in. It felt like a lot of people struggle there..

The vibe there is insular, unfriendly, and low-energy.

by Anonymousreply 269December 23, 2022 8:34 PM

Decayed, depopulated, industrial towns in New England. Mini rust belt. Extra depressing when half assed and failed attempts of revitalization are present. "Artists Lofts!!!!" "Artisanal Shops!!!!"

by Anonymousreply 270December 23, 2022 8:38 PM

Montgomery county MD. Filled to the brim with scum of the earth assholes with horrible personalities. And a lot of ugly soulless strip malls and bland beige brown architecture.

by Anonymousreply 271December 23, 2022 8:43 PM

East Hampton

by Anonymousreply 272December 23, 2022 8:48 PM

R269- I lived in Boston at the time and I had never been so glad to be home- The energy of the two cities was so different (and I am not that big of a Boston fan) I had to travel for work throughout the Philly area and I stayed at nice hotel (Westin William Penn) and it was just very sad. I am sure Philly as great aspects that I just wasn't there long enough to see.

by Anonymousreply 273December 23, 2022 8:56 PM

R270- Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill Mass kind of fit what you are saying...

by Anonymousreply 274December 23, 2022 9:08 PM

Philidelphia has a small-minded vibe and is a horrible town for gays, who are insular and insecure...spend an evening at Woody's.

by Anonymousreply 275December 23, 2022 10:49 PM

R273, when was this? I moved to the Philly area 25 years ago - hated it then, tolerate it now - and it has changed a lot. It's much less insular then it used to be. It also depends on where you went and who you were working with. The Main Line is no longer the WASP paradise of Hollywood image; it's full of people from somewhere else and much more worldly and sophisticated than it used to be. The Univ. of Pennsylvania Health System has also grown dramatically and brought a lot of professionals into the area from other parts of America and all over the world.

That said, Philly has a gritty, blue collar, isolated feeling to it. It's like parts of Queens or Brooklyn, but there's no Manhattan to offset it. Then again, I'm from DC (Montgomery County, in fact, R271), everybody's favorite punching bag, so what do I know?

by Anonymousreply 276December 23, 2022 11:12 PM

R276- This was a long time ago- 2010.

by Anonymousreply 277December 23, 2022 11:16 PM

Tuckahoe, NY

by Anonymousreply 278December 23, 2022 11:16 PM

I lived in Philly from 2004-2007 and found the people there icy, aloof, and totally insular. And low-energy. Even before that, I remember being in Philly looking for the venue The Electric Factory, and I tried to stop two different people to ask for directions (I was vaguely close to the venue at that point), and both of them ignored me like I was a lowly beggar or something.

This was not at all the case when I moved to NYC in 2007.

My ex-gf is from the Main Line, and even when I was getting to know her circle of friends, I found them all to be very guarded and extraordinarily difficult to get to know. Another friend of mine, not a Philly-area native, had the same experience with them, independent of mine.

Anyway, I realize this is all anecdotal, but it was what it was. I would never move back there for any reason.

Another thing: the audience at Philly rock shows are always the lowest energy I’ve ever witnessed. Obviously NYC has insane energy, but even PITTSBURGH has more life in its people than Philly does. I don’t know what it is. Something in the Delaware River water.

by Anonymousreply 279December 24, 2022 1:01 AM

As a Philadelphia, I can say that the city has something of an inferiority complex. It's not even on maps anymore. Baltimore is put on maps more than Philadelphia, despite Philly being larger. But we are also sandwiched between NYC and DC, so there's that as well. And yes, it has an insular, sometimes bigoted feel in certain neighborhoods.

by Anonymousreply 280December 24, 2022 2:27 PM

As a PhiladelphiaN!

by Anonymousreply 281December 24, 2022 2:27 PM

[quote]But we are also sandwiched between NYC and DC, so there's that as well.

And Baltimore ISN'T?

by Anonymousreply 282December 24, 2022 5:15 PM

People pay attention to Baltimore r282…

by Anonymousreply 283December 24, 2022 8:36 PM

R282, no. Baltimore is in the shadow of Washington specifically. Some people commute from the city of Baltimore to DC by train, and plenty of B'more suburbanites commute to jobs in the MD suburbs of DC. When I was a kid, Columbia, MD, halfway between the cities, identified more closely with Baltimore. Today, it's a DC suburb all the way.

I don't know why Baltimore is on maps more than Philadelphia, but they both suffer from being in the shadows of bigger, more famous and important cities. Some people like that second-rate city feeling. Others find them provincial.

by Anonymousreply 284December 25, 2022 12:25 AM

I'd be happy to be in a smaller City in the shadow of larger ones. You can enjoy the benefits of a large city without being overwhelmed by it

by Anonymousreply 285December 25, 2022 8:27 AM

Peru, Indiana- Circus City Capitol of the World! Imagine how poor Cole Porter feels being stuck here for eternity by his beard; an abysmal place from which he couldn't wait to haul his sophisticated gay ass.

R62 and R241 are correct.

by Anonymousreply 286December 25, 2022 9:15 AM

Forgot to add Mr. Porter is nothing more than tourist trap for the fat old wealthy MAGATS the town wants to attract. A mayoral candidate once ran with the slogan, "Make Peru Great Again".

At least Fairmount shows a lot more respect to James Dean!

by Anonymousreply 287December 25, 2022 9:20 AM

Los Angeles.

by Anonymousreply 288December 25, 2022 9:34 AM

Do post industrial European countries have with sad depressed towns and cities too?

by Anonymousreply 289December 25, 2022 9:56 AM

Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 290December 25, 2022 4:18 PM

Los Angeles is a lousy answer. It's too large with too many cities.

Brentwood, fabulous. Downtown, depressing.

by Anonymousreply 291December 25, 2022 5:49 PM

Downtown San Francisco.

by Anonymousreply 292December 25, 2022 5:53 PM

Brentwood is not a city, it is a neighborhood in Los Angeles.

by Anonymousreply 293December 25, 2022 6:01 PM

My local Walmart store in White Plains, N.Y.

Thankfully it went out of business in 2018.

by Anonymousreply 294December 25, 2022 6:03 PM

The Savoy bar behind Port Authority. Never have I seen a place that had such an end of the world feel about it. Samuel Delaney liked it though.

by Anonymousreply 295December 25, 2022 6:26 PM

R192. On mo map ever made, or dreamed of are Pasadena OR Claremont part of the Inland Empire. ¡Dios mío!

by Anonymousreply 296December 25, 2022 6:53 PM

*no. NO.

by Anonymousreply 297December 25, 2022 6:53 PM

R270 throw in a “craft” distillery and an overpriced small plates restaurant.

by Anonymousreply 298December 25, 2022 7:23 PM

Jasper Tx - with an edge of scary thrown in.

by Anonymousreply 299December 25, 2022 7:24 PM

R293, I'm well aware of Brentwood. No one says I live in the "Brentwood". area. People consider it a town or city.

by Anonymousreply 300December 26, 2022 1:09 AM

Allentown, PA about 20 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 301December 26, 2022 1:44 AM

Let's just say I've finally been to me.

by Anonymousreply 302December 26, 2022 1:57 AM

Omaha stockyards

by Anonymousreply 303December 26, 2022 2:19 AM

Yeah they do, R300. Brentwood is not a city, consider whatever you like, it won’t change the reality. If it helps, it’s very common in LA. I hear people say all the time, “I live in the City of…Mar Vista, San Pedro, Venice, North Hollywood, Palms, etc. “ Personally, I think it because of history, the way that Los Angeles grew, and was developed. Natives are not much better than transplants. I’ve never lived anywhere else where it was so commonplace.

by Anonymousreply 304December 26, 2022 3:22 AM

R304,5th gen CA here, we're both saying the same thing. Unless you've ever heard someone who lives in BHPO for example, say I live in LA. They would never, just as someone in Brentwood wouldn't say LA to a local, native or transplant.

by Anonymousreply 305December 26, 2022 4:57 AM

The dreary flatlands of eastern Colorado.

by Anonymousreply 306December 26, 2022 4:59 AM

[quote]I'm well aware of Brentwood. No one says I live in the "Brentwood". area. People consider it a town or city.

It IS a city. Just not where you think it is.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 307December 26, 2022 3:41 PM

Oh, blow it out your ass.

by Anonymousreply 308December 26, 2022 4:35 PM

To me,

by Anonymousreply 309December 26, 2022 4:42 PM

Kolkata India during the monsoon. I win

by Anonymousreply 310December 26, 2022 4:46 PM

Pittsburgh. Shittiest people in the whole country.

by Anonymousreply 311December 26, 2022 4:52 PM

Port Henry, New York.

by Anonymousreply 312December 26, 2022 5:23 PM

^^^ I say that having been to concentration camps in eastern Europe.

by Anonymousreply 313December 26, 2022 5:23 PM

I might pick a place in the former Yugoslavia or the former Eas Germany, or even outside Frankfurt Airport where I saw a junkie die right near the entrance. Or maybe some sad corner of the American South.

But for me, it's the microcosm that was the most depressing, the most enervating, and the most regrettable:

My classroom. A career and a life ill-spent.

by Anonymousreply 314December 26, 2022 5:43 PM

[quote]Pittsburgh. Shittiest people in the whole country.

Fuck yeah. I wish I could move from the hellhole that is Pittsburgh.

by Anonymousreply 315December 26, 2022 5:46 PM

Years ago, before GPS and Smartphones, a friend and I were returning a rental car to the Newark airport and got lost in Newark, NJ at 11:00 at night. We drove around the streets of Newark for over an hour trying to find the airport.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

I've been in some bad areas in my time and I was never afraid that anything bad would happen to me, but that night in Newark I was genuinely scared that my friend and I were going to be attacked or shot. It was like driving through a fucking war-ravaged third world country. No exaggeration.

by Anonymousreply 316December 26, 2022 5:55 PM

Knots Landing, CA

by Anonymousreply 317December 26, 2022 6:13 PM

R316, I had a similar experience once, also some years ago, when I got off at the wrong exit on the Harlem River Drive and drove around in East Harlem trying to find the ramp to get back on southbound.

It was exactly as you describe. Empty buildings, shadowy figures on street corners (at 1 a.m. on a frigid winter night), no stores, dark streets. I finally gave up on finding the ramp and headed over to Fifth Avenue, which at least was wide and well-lit, to get downtown to a street I knew would take me over to the FDR Drive. I'm sure that area is much better now, but that was the only time I was scared in the 5 years I lived in New York and sent all over the city by car and subway.

by Anonymousreply 318December 26, 2022 11:55 PM

^^^ "WENT all over the city"

by Anonymousreply 319December 26, 2022 11:57 PM

R312, what makes Port Henry especially depressing? It would think being right on Lake Champlain and in the Adirondacks would make for a very pretty setting.

by Anonymousreply 320December 26, 2022 11:58 PM

Port Henry in the late 80s was a tiny town in a former mining and mill community that had been unemployed for decades. Nothing to do. Most families on welfare. The high school kids would literally go hang out in the parking lot of the town's only grocery store on Saturday nights. It was 36 miles to the nearest traffic light or movie theater. The town's school was featured in a Time Magazine cover story called Babies Having Babies -Teenage Pregnancy in America. I knew a junior girl who rode the same school bus as her daughter every day... The local big events were The Pageant (Junior Miss?) for the girls, and playing football for the boys. Even the homeliest girls were prodded into getting a gown and entering the beauty pageant, so they could have a moment in the lights. Grown men in their fifties would still talk about their high school football careers as the high point of their lives -and tell their sons and grandsons that after high school football life was all downhill. A black family bought a house in the area and locals burned it down to prevent them from moving in. Drugs and alcohol rampant among the kids (I knew a 7th grader who had been in rehab for four years at that point)...

Need I go on, R320? Of course there was a lot of scenic beauty, but when there are 25 feet of snow piled up and it's twenty below outside, you long for things like cable television and places to go to like shops, theaters, etc. I will say that I met some very lovely, kind people there. But I also met some scary, racists, and got hit on by both the town's priest and Baptist minister.

by Anonymousreply 321December 27, 2022 1:00 AM

r318 similar to your experience, I was told many years ago "If you ever get lost driving in the Bronx or East Harlem, just get over to Park Avenue as quickly as you can and keep going south. Doors locked and windows up."

by Anonymousreply 322December 27, 2022 2:02 AM

Baker's Field, CA

Page, AZ

by Anonymousreply 323February 10, 2023 1:34 PM

[quote]What’s the difference between Arcadia and Acadia, and why are the two of them allowed to have such similar names?

Acadia refers to the Acadians, the French colonists in Eastern Canada, the Gaspe Peninsula, etc. - "New France". It's sort of a misspelling of Arcadia. This also includes Northern Maine, where Acadia Natl. Park is. Arcadia is a town in suburban LA (SGV, as already noted).

by Anonymousreply 324February 10, 2023 2:11 PM

OP I was born, raised and still live in Erie. It is nothing like you described. POS

by Anonymousreply 325February 10, 2023 3:10 PM

Yuma, AZ

by Anonymousreply 326February 10, 2023 3:11 PM

Watertown New York. Don't go there. It's a wasteland, a forgotten place of dead malls and wide open spaces

by Anonymousreply 327February 10, 2023 3:11 PM

Aberdeen, Washington. It's a haunted city

by Anonymousreply 328February 10, 2023 3:13 PM

[quote]The towns west of Riverside are worse - Homeland, Perris, Rainbow, Wildomar, really scary vibe.

Perris is the town where the Turpins kept their kids chained up for years.

by Anonymousreply 329February 10, 2023 3:14 PM

R313, I believe Port Henry ranks in the top 10 of worlds most depressing places

by Anonymousreply 330February 10, 2023 3:18 PM

What may be a depressing shit hole for some, is a charming little town for others

by Anonymousreply 331February 10, 2023 3:21 PM

I have been all over the US and have driven across it twice. The most hellish place is Wyoming. Nothing but miles of highway dotted with dilapidated trailers and extreme poverty. Horrible.

by Anonymousreply 332February 10, 2023 3:37 PM

R332 And lots and lots of smushed prairie dogs.

by Anonymousreply 333February 10, 2023 3:47 PM

Boston.

by Anonymousreply 334February 10, 2023 4:21 PM

Detroit. It feels like a war took place, empty and depopulated.

by Anonymousreply 335February 10, 2023 4:51 PM

Port Henry, NY is so depressing that it transcends borders, over to the Canadian side near the US border where Port Henry Ontario is really an army base with a few homes

by Anonymousreply 336February 10, 2023 4:53 PM

R332, my ex partner and I drove across country in the mid-90s, including across the state of Wyoming. I remember we stopped at a truck stop to use the restroom, and inside the stall someone had written on the wall, "The only pretty women in Wyoming are tourists." That both cracked me up and struck me as very depressing at the same time.

by Anonymousreply 337February 10, 2023 9:25 PM

Googled Port Henry images. Wowzers. It's a place stuck in the 18th century

by Anonymousreply 338February 10, 2023 9:27 PM

R337 That seems like a snarky comment by a local who is not happy with the choice of women in the vicinity. But I am pretty sure he's no prize either.

by Anonymousreply 339February 10, 2023 9:27 PM

I spent a few summers in the area of Port Henry with my grandparents. These are beautiful areas. Pretty country in that area . Interstate 87 & The Adirondack Northway are pretty low key places but pretty bucolic scenes to see.

by Anonymousreply 340February 10, 2023 9:48 PM

[R160]: When I was a hospice nurse, from 2007-2015, I’d travel all over San Diego County, but mostly up north, in RSF, Oceanside, Vista, Poway, and the coastal areas. All of them had their nice areas, but it was clear there were a lot of rundown areas, too.

Oceanside had a.lot of thrift stores, as well as businesses catering to military, like bars, strip clubs, and Army & Navy stores. It always had that kind of reputation. And the marines seen around town, immediately recognizable by their high & tight haircuts, were young and lean and edgy looking. Not the kind of place for casual shopping.

by Anonymousreply 341February 11, 2023 1:57 AM

[R224]: When I lived on Kaua’i, in the late 80’s, I met perfectly nice people who had never been to Honolulu, and never wanted to go. They’d spent their whole lives on Kaua’i and had no interest in going anywhere else.

And they hated New Yorkers!

(They were actually very nice to me, probably because I was volunteering for the local AIDS project. I found, if you want to live some place, it’s good to volunteer to help the people who live there.)

by Anonymousreply 342February 11, 2023 2:33 AM

NYC, for reasons thst are well lnown to it.

by Anonymousreply 343February 11, 2023 2:35 AM

Modesto, CA

by Anonymousreply 344February 11, 2023 2:35 AM

South Beloit, WI

by Anonymousreply 345February 11, 2023 2:43 AM

A while back I had a friend and we both liked the tv shows about haunted hotels and haunted places. We decided to go to one and together took a trip to a haunted hotel that had been on one of the 'Haunted Travels' shows on the Travel Channel. The Hotel Monte Vista. built in 1927. Opened during the prohibition era, had a profitable bootlegging operation out of Flagstaff’s most popular speakeasy. More than one hundred movies were filmed in nearby Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. Hosted famous guests like Jane Russell, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, John Wayne, and Bing Crosby during these filmings. In one of the hotel rooms, a scene from Casablanca was filmed. John Wayne claimed he saw a ghost in his room when staying there. Ghost stories abound in the place. Haunted Bellboy knocking on door, ghost of a woman in one room in a rocker, noises from the speakeasy that is now gone. Shootouts, suicides murders, tunnels under the hotel for rum running, on and on with the stories so we thought 'cool, maybe we'll see a ghost'. This was back when the hotel still looked just like the 20s, it has since evidently been renovated. When we went over ten years ago, it wasn't.

The reality: It was a winter month, it was Flagstaff, Az. and it was cold.

We each took a room each separately, she came with her partner and I with mine. The walls I swear were gray. The sheets were thin. The WALLS were thin. The floors were old looking with dirty old rugs. The windows curtains were old. The mattresses were old and thin. Yes, you got the complete feeling of the 1920s but not in a good, 'hey lets put this on tv! way'. More like 'I'm in the Twilight Zone way. There were many empty rooms around and you had the feeling the town knew better. When we went to bed we were freezing all night!

It was a long cold night, no ghosts and the only sound was the chattering of my teeth. I don't know if I got any sleep as with the rest of us. In the morning all of us looked haggard and tired and we left asap.

Actually, looking back on occasion I wondered if the 'depression' we all experienced was paranormal but there WERE a lot of reasons for it to be NOT paranormal. But we all talked for years about how depressed it made us.

I don't say it's bad to go there, maybe that was just our experience. It seems to have been spruced up but man that was a most depressing night.

by Anonymousreply 346February 11, 2023 2:49 AM

I have good memories of Aberdeen when I went there to visit Kurt Cobain's childhood home a few autumns before the pandemic. The place was then a heritage site, unsure if it still is.

by Anonymousreply 347February 11, 2023 3:00 AM

I'll add one more for Detroit. It's a scary city. I visited Detroit in 2012 and I don’t ever want to go back. I s aw dead animals linking the streets, dogs walking the streets, lots and lots of churches which were closed down. Many abandon buildings. To make matter worse, we got caught in the middle of a police chase. It felt like I was in war torn Sarajevo

by Anonymousreply 348February 11, 2023 3:07 AM

r231 bit late with my reply but yes some of us have travelled somewhat extensively in our lives, not sure why my post seemed so unbelievable to you.

by Anonymousreply 349February 11, 2023 3:44 AM

Ft. Lauderdale Airport.

by Anonymousreply 350February 11, 2023 3:57 AM

Fort Apache: The Bronx

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 351February 11, 2023 4:08 AM

Depends on who you're shopping for!

by Anonymousreply 352February 11, 2023 5:28 AM

Youngstown, Ohio

by Anonymousreply 353February 11, 2023 11:30 AM

Seattle, WA

Beautiful. Soulless.

by Anonymousreply 354February 11, 2023 12:43 PM

Wherever I am.

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by Anonymousreply 355February 11, 2023 1:18 PM

My fucking hometown of Dalton, Georgia. Prime Marjorie Taylor Green territory. Clueless, stupid, white trash.

by Anonymousreply 356February 11, 2023 1:27 PM

Kamiah, Idaho.

Boring as shit, nothing to do there. Only reason we traveled there was due to meeting up with a business partner of ours.

I got to see some captive wolves up close though.

by Anonymousreply 357February 11, 2023 1:31 PM

US: St. Louis, MO; Johnson City, TN; every single town south of the San Francisco City/County line until you hit Santa Barbara.

Italy: Naples, Brindisi

France: Marseilles

Hungary: Budapest

England: Every town north of Oxbridge

Australia: The entire state of Victoria

New Zealand: The entire west coast of the South Island

Thailand: Bangkok

Canada: Winnepeg, Edmonton

by Anonymousreply 358February 11, 2023 1:37 PM

👻 Eerie, PA ?

by Anonymousreply 359February 11, 2023 1:48 PM

South Bend, Indiana

by Anonymousreply 360February 11, 2023 2:25 PM

[quote]👻 Eerie, PA ?

"Eerie" is in Indiana.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 361February 11, 2023 2:28 PM

Datalounge during primetime.

by Anonymousreply 362February 11, 2023 2:29 PM

NYC mainly because of what it has become in the last 10 years

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by Anonymousreply 363February 11, 2023 4:58 PM

New York 1986. All the gays thought they were going to die. Happily, they didn't

by Anonymousreply 364February 11, 2023 5:16 PM

Virginia City, Nevada c. 1870, completely lawless.

by Anonymousreply 365February 11, 2023 7:18 PM

Mar-a-lago

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by Anonymousreply 366February 11, 2023 7:58 PM

[quote]The most hellish place is Wyoming. Nothing but miles of highway dotted with dilapidated trailers and extreme poverty.

Hu? You sound like some shallow city queen who thinks what makes a place great is bars, restaurants and big retail chains. Miles of highway? Did you happen to notice the beautiful landscape? Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park?

by Anonymousreply 367February 12, 2023 7:13 AM

R354 Seatt-hole is beautiful? Yuck. Why? The people are gross and repellent. Way too many scary homeless for my taste.

by Anonymousreply 368February 12, 2023 9:00 AM

The focus here is of course the USA. A few posts have mentioned parts of the UK and some true hellholes like Calcutta. The flightpath down into Calcutta is truly horrific. Same for Dehli. Nigerian slums like Makoko are hell on earth.

What what I take from the 368 replies so far is that even the wealthiest countries on earth have the wealth concentrated in pockets of the large cities, behind gated communities and in towns where property starts at a price far, far beyond what the average person could ever afford.

Everyone else if living in 'meh' at best. Some are living in decay, blight and damp ugliness. None of these places can compare the true hellscapes found in the developing world but they're perhaps closer to that than they are to Mayfair and Beverly Hills and the beautiful streets of the 16th arrondissement.

Jobs in factories, mines, docks and warehouses are disappearing or becoming so poorly paid that you can never buy a home without a high earning spouse. Customer service, clerical work, data entry, secretarial work....all becoming outsourced, replaced by bots or redundant.

Most people can not become an engineer or a coder or a lawyer or an accountant. They are not capable, end of. We are soon going to have a big chunk of the population that is left with very few options. They will be competing for the few unskilled/semi skilled jobs left and those will not pay them enough to live with dignity because the market blah blah

I don't have an answer, I haven't seen any workable answer. Most say move to the already crowded, sprawling cities. Some say universal income. Some say work 3 jobs until you die or get rich!

In the meantime these towns and neighborhoods are not going to get any prettier, the people are going to remain vulnerable to conmen giving them a group of people to blame or giving them a prayer (for a donation of course!)

by Anonymousreply 369February 12, 2023 12:41 PM

[quote]I don't have an answer, I haven't seen any workable answer. Most say move to the already crowded, sprawling cities. Some say universal income. Some say work 3 jobs until you die or get rich!

The problems are systemic, and the solution has to be in government. As long as the working and middle classes have to shoulder the tax burden, rather than the rich (which has been true since the 80s), as long as corporations have the same rights as individuals, as long as our politicians are mostly supported in their careers by corporations with powerful lobbies, and people have to pay more and more for health care, and college becomes more and more unaffordable, etc., etc., most of us who aren't hugely wealthy will be screwed.

by Anonymousreply 370February 12, 2023 12:50 PM

R303, there are no stockyards left in Omaha.

But the fact that Omahans still are there does keep it very depressing.

by Anonymousreply 371February 12, 2023 1:55 PM

As goes Omaha, I'll say this in defense of it: Many metro Omaha residents are politically aware and or thoughtful to the extent that the U.S. House Congressional district centered on it has voted blue twice recently (in 2008 and again in 2020) a fact which has infuriated the red state republican population that overwhelmingly dominates the rest of the state (except for Lincoln).

Nebraska is one of only 2 U.S. states that splits it's electoral votes according to how each district voted in the Presidential Election.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 372February 12, 2023 2:21 PM

Naples, Italy, has great museums.

by Anonymousreply 373February 12, 2023 5:19 PM

And that's depressing r373?

by Anonymousreply 374February 12, 2023 5:25 PM

[quote]Nebraska is one of only 2 U.S. states that splits it's electoral votes

Oh, dear.

by Anonymousreply 375February 12, 2023 6:02 PM

The antics of Miss "Oh dear!" the grammar & apostrophe monitor prudie are as tiresome as finding p**p on a dick.

Get over yourself, Twatina!

by Anonymousreply 376February 12, 2023 7:40 PM

The nursing home my mother was in for a year before she died. I went by after work 3 times a week.

by Anonymousreply 377February 12, 2023 8:09 PM

No, R374, duh. It was an answer to someone who said it was depressing. It's really not.

by Anonymousreply 378February 12, 2023 9:24 PM

Mass deportations r369. Frees up housing, our schools, overcrowding, saves billions on welfare and wages would go up. Even since those disastrous changes to immigration laws in the 1960s, our country is now a shithole.

by Anonymousreply 379February 13, 2023 3:03 PM

Tukwila, WA

by Anonymousreply 380February 14, 2023 12:31 PM

[quote]R372, the Omaha Defender: it's

Oh, dear.

by Anonymousreply 381February 14, 2023 12:56 PM

The old sections of Omaha are charming. Tree-lined streets with brick houses. I believe Warren Buffett, who could afford to live anywhere, lives in that area. The newer sections surrounding Omaha, built much more recently, are just ugly suburban blandness and strip malls.

Glacier National Park is in Montana, not Wyoming.

by Anonymousreply 382February 14, 2023 2:06 PM

[quote]I believe Warren Buffett, who could afford to live anywhere, lives in that area.

I think you meant, I CAN'T believe Warren Buffett, who could afford to live anywhere, lives in that area.

I'm really noticing words missing everywhere on the internet these days - articles, comment sections, discussion forums etc. Seems like everyone is in a mad rush to post whatever's on their minds.

by Anonymousreply 383February 16, 2023 7:06 PM

It's like reading Burroughs.

by Anonymousreply 384February 16, 2023 7:16 PM

Lately the United States is getting kind of depressing.

by Anonymousreply 385February 16, 2023 7:20 PM

The smoking room of The Trees of Mystery Motel, across Hwy 1 from Babe the Blue Ox in Klamath, CA. The harpy at the front desk stuck us in there because we were traveling with a cat. Upon entering the room, and being sprung from his carrier, the cat immediately disappeared. After a frantic search inside and outside the room, we found him under the platform bed. In his terror (the place looked and smelled like many, many bad things of the David Lynch variety had taken place within its pine paneled walls), he'd managed to squeeze between the platform and the mattress. We followed his instinct and got the fuck out of there.

by Anonymousreply 386February 16, 2023 7:22 PM

[QUOTE]Where's the most depressing place you've ever been

An Atlantis cruise

by Anonymousreply 387February 16, 2023 8:34 PM

R295 You make me want to go there immediately!

by Anonymousreply 388February 17, 2023 2:51 AM

Backwoods Tasmania. Some very very damaged white trash DNA there that is the stuff of late night B-movie nightmares. Which makes it the most fucked up place I've ever been as well.

by Anonymousreply 389February 17, 2023 2:57 AM

Duluth, Minnesota. God that place is depressing and people eat fish out of cups. in public.

by Anonymousreply 390February 17, 2023 3:06 AM

Purgatory...

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by Anonymousreply 391February 17, 2023 3:14 AM

Buffalo. I was lucky to get out of there even dead.

by Anonymousreply 392February 17, 2023 3:34 AM

What R391 said

by Anonymousreply 393February 17, 2023 3:36 AM

David Sedaris did a good interview before where he said that he was shocked to discover France had red necks. Shocked at the neighbours in rural France who were nothing like he’d imagined. I’ve heard similar comments over the years from Americans who move to Europe. They generally underestimated the poverty, the lower salaries, the red necks and crazies and dreariness (and often decay) of working class areas. Yet, they find a beauty in it. They’re not offended by it in the way they are offended by Alabama!

It works the other way around too. So many European celebrities buy homes in Florida or California. I think on any given day there may be more British and Irish “star” power in Florida than at home.

For those of us who don’t have the money to nest away in a French chateau or an English cottage I do wonder how much of it a case of “grass is greener”

I once spent a week in the south of France in January. It was awful. In the absence of blue skies and bustling streets, the place was so depressing! Closed hotels, stores that open 3 hours per day, people rushing to work, those decaying buildings housing McD’s and Nike. The hookers outside the train station. The junkies laying in train seats, graffiti everywhere. I used to think I’d move there if I won the lottery but I know for sure that I could never spend a winter there. I’d be every bit as depressed as listless as I am at home.

I’m starting to think the only way is several homes across the globe, move with the seasons, and somehow have those properties be near enough to services and “life” but also away from urban blight and rural poverty….and somewhere friends will visit so near a major airport…I think reincarnation is more likely!

by Anonymousreply 394February 17, 2023 10:48 AM

^ But it always sounds so much prettier en Français.

by Anonymousreply 395February 17, 2023 5:01 PM

E Palestine, Ohio. Went for a vaca there and then I died.

by Anonymousreply 396February 18, 2023 12:21 AM

There is trash everywhere! Even France!!!!!!

by Anonymousreply 397February 18, 2023 12:26 AM

Well, it could be worse R391 There's no traffic and plenty of parking.

by Anonymousreply 398February 18, 2023 3:09 AM

Next to the Tonopah Clown Motel is a very old graveyard. It's depressing, with graves of babies, young people and many who all died on same days due to mining fires, a plague, etc. The attached story describes the area and circumstances. There are pipes sticking up out of the ground in case someone was buried alive I'm guessing. They could yell up to get people to dig them back up.

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by Anonymousreply 399February 18, 2023 4:42 AM

Most depressing place I haven’t been: East Palestine, Ohio 🚂

by Anonymousreply 400February 18, 2023 5:08 AM

Russell Springs, KY is the biggest dump I’ve ever seen.

by Anonymousreply 401February 18, 2023 5:15 AM

A dead mall in Ohio

by Anonymousreply 402February 18, 2023 6:14 PM

Any cheap motel in the middle of nowhere next to an interstate. My Lord how depressing!

by Anonymousreply 403February 19, 2023 3:11 AM

These days Brussels is even more enchanting in winter.

Faeces smell so much nicer as fèces with an accent!

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by Anonymousreply 404February 19, 2023 10:09 AM

[QUOTE]Where's the most depressing place you've ever been

The 2023 Grammys.

by Anonymousreply 405February 19, 2023 1:19 PM

Careful R15. You don't want to dispel the long held claims by so many people here who want everyone to think there are no bad places in California. California is just one big Beverly Hills.

by Anonymousreply 406February 19, 2023 1:26 PM

Buffalo NY

by Anonymousreply 407February 19, 2023 1:50 PM

Any city in Florida that used to be a sunny, happy, vacation spot - is now just one big MAGA rally. The whole state is lost forever, and will never come back.

by Anonymousreply 408February 19, 2023 4:15 PM

Temecula, San Jacinto, Riverside: America’s largest drug den.

by Anonymousreply 409February 19, 2023 4:16 PM

R408 One of my much younger staff told me he and his wife were seriously considering moving from NY to Florida in about 5 years time because he loves the warm weather. His primary concern the last couple of years is the MAGA and DeSantis people and how that mentality is poisoning the entire state. He is now considering alternative options.

by Anonymousreply 410February 19, 2023 7:57 PM

R408 This reminded me of waiting for a flight from Miami back to L.A. Two older white men were hanging out where I was waiting for my flight. They were LOUDLY proclaiming Donald Trump would handily win this last election because he was so damned brilliant, manly, and had done a fine job as President during his past four years. They looked around the waiting area and sneered at all of us Angelinos waiting to board our flight back to HeLL-A. I silently vowed never to return to Florida, which for me has become the armpit of America.

by Anonymousreply 411February 19, 2023 8:37 PM

[quote]South Bend, Indiana

"South Bend! It sounds like dancing!"

by Anonymousreply 412February 19, 2023 9:18 PM

Houston. Denver. Omaha.

by Anonymousreply 413February 19, 2023 9:40 PM

Much of California

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by Anonymousreply 414February 19, 2023 10:48 PM

R409, Temecula is upper middle class and has some of the best schools. San Jacinto, I agree. Replace Temecula with Hemet.

by Anonymousreply 415February 20, 2023 5:02 AM

Amarillo followed by Barstow, CA

by Anonymousreply 416February 20, 2023 5:37 AM

The endless Harry and Meghan threads on DL.

by Anonymousreply 417February 20, 2023 7:28 AM

I did mean "I believe Warren Buffet...," not "I can't believe Warren Buffet..." I am certain that he did live in the old part of Omaha around 2005 but am uncertain if he still lives there.

by Anonymousreply 418February 20, 2023 1:37 PM

San Angelo Texas. I think they may have hung gays there at some point in time

what a dreck! It is miles and miles of bush

by Anonymousreply 419June 1, 2023 2:37 AM

Wisconsin Dells.

by Anonymousreply 420June 1, 2023 2:56 AM

The northeastern Pennsylvania region

by Anonymousreply 421November 12, 2023 2:37 AM

Art historians and fans of hot dogs don't feel the same way about Toledo, OP.

by Anonymousreply 422November 12, 2023 2:40 AM

[quote]I did mean "I believe Warren Buffet...," not "I can't believe Warren Buffet..." I am certain that he did live in the old part of Omaha around 2005 but am uncertain if he still lives there.

B-U-F-F-E-T-T

He's not a Golden Corral.

by Anonymousreply 423November 12, 2023 3:16 AM

Toledo used to be nice. They had a Steve's Ice Cream in Portside.

by Anonymousreply 424November 12, 2023 4:02 AM

The art museum is one of the best in the country, in Toledo.

by Anonymousreply 425November 12, 2023 4:03 AM

The Great Plains states

by Anonymousreply 426November 12, 2023 4:03 AM

Every part of Ohio and Florida. Honorable mention to Buffalo, NY.

by Anonymousreply 427November 12, 2023 5:47 AM

R427, Buffalo is not that bad

by Anonymousreply 428November 12, 2023 7:57 AM

Padua, Italy. Fall of 1996. Graffiti everywhere and lots of litter that no one bothered to pick up. Depressing as hell city.

by Anonymousreply 429November 12, 2023 8:04 AM

Victorville, California is more depressing than Barstow (someone up thread said Barstow). I’d rather be dead than live there.

by Anonymousreply 430November 12, 2023 8:08 AM

R169 I drove through Cairo once. At least three people asked if I was staying after sundown.

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by Anonymousreply 431November 12, 2023 2:56 PM

Hunts Point Seattle. The richest people in the world live here and this is all they did with it?

by Anonymousreply 432November 14, 2023 3:16 AM

Ludlow, CA

by Anonymousreply 433November 14, 2023 3:22 AM
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