What is the most pretentious city in America?

Dallas

I love San Francisco and I've lived there, but: San Francisco.

Seattle

Richmond, VA. Nothing but cunts.

Atherton, California

The most pretentious city in the U.S. is Los Angeles, with San Francisco a close second.

Boston thinks it's better than it actually is.

It's gotta be some wealthy smaller city where outsiders are suspect. Granted, many cities of this type want to fly under radar.

Concord, NH

R5, I'm in LA and had never heard of it....looks nice!

Wherever Cate Blanchett is staying at any particular time.

Many nasty snobs in Southampton and on the Vineyard.

R5 that was going to be mine as well!

R1: years ago I knew someone who left the Northeast to take a job in Dallas. Within a couple of years she was back saying, "They think they're sophisticated. They're [italic]not[/italic]!"

"Dallas."

Interesting choice - the whole "everything's bigger in Texas" attitude is indeed a sort of pretension.

R7 Sometimes an extremely simple thought can say so much about a person.

D.C.

Burlington "I have this huge trust fund so I'm going to open a restaurant and serve authentic Aztec food or what I think Aztec food would taste like" Vermont

Los Angeles & Miami.

New York, of course.

A subset of NYC, certainly, but overall I can't see it.

San Jose

^ Dionne

Trenton, NJ

Eagleton, Indiana

SF.

Your answer cracked me up!!

Maybe when it was all "WHITE" Trenton is a HELLHOLE!!

Madison, Wisconsin.

It's definitely San Francisco/Bay area. Take an environment full of wealthy techies who all think they are smarter and more hip than everyone else.

I'm going to agree with OP on this one.

I'm not sure "pretentious" is the right word for it but I'd say they're even more tard than PDX.

there's many, many hoods that are pretentious across the states... often where there's more clear divides between the upper and lower classes, and little in the way of a true middle class - such as the state capitals.

. . but towards to pseudo-intellectual neo-conservatism masquerading as a sophomoric liberalism with endless empty gestures from politicians, from any side, that largely only sets itself up to divide the greater public and line their pockets.. . Boston is definitely a front-runner. The political arena seem like a more functional Chicago. And it's probably of little surprise that much of the discourse on political extremism comes out of MA.. it's our canary in the coalmine for trends among both the far right and far left. . . although more tied to the happenings of the five colleges.

Savannah, Georgia

Charleston, SC

Star Island, Fla.

Palm Beach, Fla.

"but towards to pseudo-intellectual neo-conservatism masquerading as a sophomoric liberalism with endless empty gestures from politicians."

I enjoyed that sentence.

r32 it was overwrought.. but they have politicians that speak like uni administrators trying to placate to student groups, they look down upon their voters and present themselves as moral authoritarians no matter the cause. . . so, while they'll pose for many pictures with "the little people," it is they who are the hands of g-d and the ultimate arbitrator of all that is good and holy.

^ it's so over the top, the cynic in me (cough), just perceives it as they're more concerned about their "trustees" (whoever, other than the taxpayers, are fronting their financial support)

Washington DC didn't seem pretentious to me. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but I liked it.

DC is fine, it is just very inherently "not cool". The khaki pants of major American cities.

In the 19th century before the railroads, San Francisco and Boston had very close cultural and commercial ties thanks to the clipper ships that sailed between the two port cities.

Scottsdale.

Hillsborough, CA near San Francisco

I just made that up after seeing the movie "Butterflies are Free". This is where Edward Albert's character is from.

“You can drop the attitude, you work in a shop!”

Madison, WI

See, Boston actually has something be pretentious about: great universities, music, history, etc. When I moved to Dallas, and someone got snooty with me, I thought: "Bitch, you live in Dallas. Get real." I smiled and went on my way, but I kept bumping into that attitude.

This is true r43.

So many people in Dallas are under the embarrassing delusion that they live in some great place. As they say in the south, bless their heart.

New Orleans. Not the city at large, which is a warm, welcoming place, but the Uptown, Rex, Comus crowd. They think they're oh so sophisticated, but I moved here from NYC, where real society resides. The Swamp Donkeys down here think they're high falutin, but it's hardly Mrs. Astor's 400, and real society wouldn't scrape them off their shoe. They even have debutante balls! If you've ever seen that LSU gymnast who is social media famous, that's what all the NO "debs" look like, but 75% of them are fat.

I agree with the Dallas pretension - at least by a certain subset of the population. That said, I always have a helluva time when I visit. Houston is less pretentious than Dallas and may have more to offer in terms of big city stuff - food, art, etc. And it has the "best" university of the two metros - though they both have decent higher ed bona fides overall.

San Francisco

I think Los Angeles too, especially when I lived there for about 3 1/2 years (2004-2007) after growing up in the San Diego area. LA people often think they hung the moon and are the most important people/city on the planet. I really didn't like living there.

I didn't feel that SF was like that at all when I lived there almost 15 years ago (moved there from LA), but maybe I was in my own bubble of work and a relationship (didn't really go out and wasn't all that social) and exploring the city.

I live North of SF now, and after living in NY (not NYC) for more than a decade in between San Diego and Los Angeles, I'd say that CA people in general tend to think their shit don't stink and everywhere else is so much lower than anywhere in CA. I beg to differ.

San Francisco has the most obnoxious people of any city. They think that they have it all figured out.

LA OWNS this thread.

Mediapolis, Iowa

L.A. for the win. But it has a lot of competition.

Not Brooklyn?

R53, No cunt.

R53 Brooklyn is still mostly a series of working class, ethnic neighborhoods. DUMBO and Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg residents have varying degrees of pretension but I suspect the majority of Brooklynites rarely venture past their individual enclave.

NYers are pretentious in that they think everywhere else in America sucks compared to NY. However the culture of NY itself not pretentious. NY is very brash and too the point and doesn't have time for people's bullshit.

r46 and Houston has a better art museum

This needs to be state by state and also differentiate summer communities versus year round. It would probably have 500 replies. The most pretentious places tend to be the most insular and local.

As far as summer destinations, I had an ultra WASP friend in high school who took me to her summer house for a week. This place—Onteora Park, NY—was terrifying. Loads of rich Greenwich people summer there and…drumroll…they’re artsy. Rich and artsy. The most pretentious people I have ever met. I have an Italian last name and it…confused people. I felt like Kunta Kinte on his first night on the plantation and I’m quite white.

R46 and R57 Houston has better food and art. They also have a better opera and Rice is better than SMU

[quote]New Orleans. Not the city at large, which is a warm, welcoming place, but the Uptown, Rex, Comus crowd. They think they're oh so sophisticated, but I moved here from NYC, where real society resides. The Swamp Donkeys down here think they're high falutin, but it's hardly Mrs. Astor's 400, and real society wouldn't scrape them off their shoe. They even have debutante balls! If you've ever seen that LSU gymnast who is social media famous, that's what all the NO "debs" look like, but 75% of them are fat.

The local newspaper/website devotes a whole section to debutantes every year.

From being on DL over the years, I think the popular consensus is that Houston is better than Dallas if people have to pick one.

I don't understand why r60 is a thing

R60 Why, that's 156 tits!

Definitely DC. Pretentious, self-seeking twats live there.

[quote] See, Boston actually has something be pretentious about: great universities, music, history, etc.

That Boston accent is nothing to be pretentious about.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

I dunno if it's the most pretentious but man I hated Boston when I lived there.

Dallas had lip gloss and Prada kweens.

New York City (particularly Manhattan)

Miami Beach

Not the native Brooklynites, R53

Peoria

Based on this thread, I'm going to change my answer to Boston:

Bruh I love LA, the guys and tge scenery. But LA is pretentious as fuck. Almost every aspect of it. From its academics to its ghetto folk. Nothing like it.

Camp Verde, Arizona. The millionaires will soon outnumber the cowboys. AND they're opening up their first "Cracker Barrel" in town.

Beverly Hills is FAR more pretentious than LA.

[quote] LA is pretentious as fuck. Almost every aspect of it. From its academics

LA is probably one of the least academic large cities in the country. It's not a city where people are going to ask you where you went to college (I can think of other cities, ahem, where that question looms as a bigger deal).

I don't even get what criteria

East Hampton

Yes, "pretentious" has a dictionary definition, but in terms of cities being pretentious what are the factors people are using to deem a particular city "pretentious." R76 points that LA is one of the "least academic" big cities and people aren't preoccupied with where you went to school - suggesting that residents' preoccupation with where you went to school is a way a city can be pretentious. What else?

[quote]years ago I knew someone who left the Northeast to take a job in Dallas. Within a couple of years she was back saying, "They think they're sophisticated. They're not!"

The same could easily be said of anyone from the Northeast. The insularity/provincialism is on par with Dallas.

R72 Too gay?

[quote] what are the factors people are using to deem a particular city "pretentious."

Provincialism, not acknowledging that there's a huge world outside your city. No city has everything. Good year-round weather, good Chinese / Italian food. Some cities have a lackluster downtown (you look at it and think: that's it?). Not acknowledging your city's shortcomings, not acknowledging how another city has something yours doesn't have. That's pretentious.

The thing about L.A. (and I include Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Laurel Canyon, Malibu, the Valley, etc.) is that they think they invented American culture — movies, music, food, fashion, sexual mores, lifestyles —when it's clear they did not. They just threw money at it. A friend from there told me in college "no one in California has an accent. It's just standard American, and everyone in the other states would be lucky to speak this way."

The epitome of pretension.

R82, few Angelenos think they invented those things -- that's the realm of other cities with a larger-than-life need to feed their egos and claim their status as being the first pioneers of things (east coast). But you're amiss if you don't think LA has heavily influenced things like film and music.

Just because somebody invented something first doesn't mean you're still the best at it.

Malibu

R81 NYC has everything. Next.

Shelbyville.

You can find pretentiousness across the country, Every city has a part of town or enclave that deems itself above all. It can be refined or crass. There’s always a HS that chants ‘hey, hey, it’s ok, we’re going to be your boss someday’ at games.

It’s more of a relative of pretentiousness , but I find people in these river cities to be weirdly solipsistic: Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville and St Louis. By that, I mean they view themselves as the only places worth discussing, and there’s really nothing outside themselves to even consider. ‘Only one-ism’.

R79 You seem to be conflating sophistication with insularity. If you do that, then Dallas looks pretty good.

Does OP mean “pretentious” or “elitist”? I find Boston much more of the latter than the former. And the city council doesn’t do a lot of the showy SJW things you see out of SF’s.

Weah MASSHOLES!

Gary, Indiana

Yonkers

Wouldn't the most pretentious places be those where rich people hang out, eg. Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, the Hamptons, Palm Beach, Montecito, Aspen, Vail? I wouldn't know personally. I've never been, other than driving through East Hampton and Southampton.

Barstow

[quote]From its academics to its ghetto folk. Nothing like it.

L. A. has academics? Who knew!!!

There's still some Old Money in Nantucket, R92. Although [italic]arrivistes[/italic] arrived years ago.

DC has a lot of pretentiousness too especially the populated, upper echelon suburbs of the city.

You can’t spell douche without DC.

[quote] I find people in these river cities to be weirdly solipsistic: Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville and St Louis. By that, I mean they view themselves as the only places worth discussing, and there’s really nothing outside themselves to even consider.

Kind of hard to believe, but I'll take your word for it.

R94. There's 5 million people in LA.

[quote] but I find people in these river cities to be weirdly solipsistic: Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville and St Louis

Pittsburg is in California. And Kansas.

Presumably you meant PITTSBURGH.

Iowa City, Iowa

What about me living in fucking East Hampton for god’s sake! You want to talk about a bunch of assholes.

Hi Ina/r102!

There is nothing pretentious about Savannah, Ga.. Most people there are very proud of what they've done with the city, but they're not pretentious about it. Now Charleston, that's another story. People in Charleston think their city is the best on the planet. Most of them act like their shit comes out in plastic bags.

Beaver, Oklahoma

Is Greenwich, Connecticut pretentious?

"I find people in these river cities to be weirdly solipsistic: Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville and St Louis. By that, I mean they view themselves as the only places worth discussing, and there’s really nothing outside themselves to even consider."

But solipsistic doesn't equal pretension. They can overlap, but they're not the same thing. IMO, St. Louis isn't pretentious at all. Insular, sure. But not pretentious.

Montecito, California

Malibu

All you bastards raggin on Boston are carpetbagging transplanters. GTFO!

R110, There just a bunch of faggots.

[quote] Is Greenwich, Connecticut pretentious?

No. People who can afford to live in Greenwich have no need to pretend about anything. In fact, most old money rich go out of their way to not discuss their wealth. They see that as crass and tacky. They have nothing to prove. That's what people who didn't come from money but obtained it at some point do. They want everyone to see and be envious of their wealth.

Darien, CT

R38. You are a pretentious twit. The period between clipper ships to SF vs. the transcontinental railroad was quite short—not even 20 years . Jeezus, learn some proper California history.

What SF and Boston share us the pretense of being far more important politically and financially in the past than now—each were superseded by their closer rival. Both are generally considered very liberal politically, but each are really defined by insularity of old, established neighborhoods.

[quote]each are really defined

Oh, dear!

Fairfield County used to be Old Money, but the remnants of it eclipsed by hedge funders and such decades ago.

R114 Is pretense the word you were looking for? It doesn't make sense.

Here is some more information about Boston merchants’ and California in the 19th century.

Thanks for the interesting info, R112.

Another bone headed thread- ask a stupid question and you get stupid answers.

so many eye-rolls given to the Bostonians, but but but muh colleges, music, we're not pretentious at all, we're hip, we're cool, we're 45, fellow kids. And the inability to recognize their own class privilege which elevates these things beyond it's own fragmented and disappearing culture, including that of it's ethnic/cultural minorities.. which feel drive out by political extremists (activists) and Bostonian based gangs (mostly white supremacy groups) that are seemingly more mentioned in other parts of the nation. Now, we can say their politicians are skilled in double speak like the video clip above in which it's transparently a P.R. stunt that provides the illusion of being active while sitting on their hands because they haven't found the right person yet (an equity hire that represents all the colours of the rainbow, well, the new pride flag and ultimately, be easier to control on the budget front by offering little else than continuing decades old approaches with a new p.r. spin. Personally, I'd rather travel via a retrofitted car from 1986 than a plastic monstrosity that folds like an aluminum can but yes, of course, there's weight concerns, heavy, so half a fraction slower, additional energy use and chinese companies with starving wage slaves that need to work).. They like the appearance of being progressive but being so detached from the problems in their city, let alone the state or the rest of the nation.

Boston.

There's nothing there to merit the self-perpetuating hype of the last couple of centuries.

Well, Charleston and Savannah are hideously pretentious too, as are Miami, Dallas and (Christ, what a shit hole) Denver.

The James River is much more important to the nation’s history than the Charles River ever was.

R118 thank for an interesting post. I was a bit cavalier with my pity comment, but I stand by the intent. Your link goes a long way to proving my point. That early rare in tallow and hides was not martial nor meaningful, especially in lighg of what came later. Spain/Mexico paid very little attention to that trade, and “San Francisco” did not even exist. Let’s be clear: the gold rush was the key trigger for creating a firm commercial and politic connection between those two places—and that came about only 15-20 years ahead of the railroad. End.

* pithy

Some of you clearly need to learn what the word "pretentious" means.

*An attempt to make something that is not the case appear true.” Pretty easy to understand the meaning of pretense…it was used properly in posts above, for the most part.

Why did you hate Boston, R67?

Greg. —at that zip code: are you in hospital? Psych wing? MGH?

Some places are pretentious in a boosterish, aw shucks way like Indianapolis or Columbus. The more inflated ego version of this is Atlanta, where nothing is to trivial to be boasted about.

Re upthread: I've spent enough time in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St Louis to know they are nothing alike. Parochial, but so are lots of places.

[quote] Greg. —at that zip code: are you in hospital? Psych wing? MGH?

Don’t be ridiculous, R140.

MGH is 02114

02116 is Back Bay proper. In other words, it includes just the Back Bay grid: Beacon Street to Boylston Street (Beacon, Marlborough, Commonwealth, Newbury, and Boylston) and Arlington Street to Mass Ave.

Just for this Greg^

What point are you trying to make, R133?

Back Bay proper includes:

Beacon Street to Boylston Street (Beacon, Marlborough, Commonwealth, Newbury, and Boylston).

And the cross streets which are English-named and alphabetical: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, Hereford, and terminating at Massachusetts Avenue.

Berkeley was Irish (Kilkenny), not English.

The Back Bay’s alphabetically arranged cross streets, perpendicular to Beacon, Marlborough, Commonwealth, Newbury, and Boylston bear the monikers of English earldoms: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Gloucester and Hereford.

The one exception is Fairfield Street. It’s clear that city planners longed to retain their royal connection. A lot of the Brahmans were Anglophiles. Fittingly, the Back Bay became the most popular neighborhood in the city, considered more exclusive than Beacon Hill.

What’s a Brahman? Is that a Bro who sells bras?

R138 He’s a tits man. Lol

Austin Texas

I was gonna say “Dallas”, but agree with

Austin, TX.

A Brahmin is a pretentious Bostonian.

I nominate Atlanta in line with R43's good logic. It's a regional magnet for people from backwards backwater Southern towns who had the wherewithall to escape, but not far enough. Their dreams were too small and, poor things, they landed in the shithole called Atlanta, a place with nothing to recommend or to distinguish it beyond being the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Atlantans think their city is the crown jewel of the South, a place that embodies the history the architecture, the literature, the folk culture, the food traditions and innovations, the music of the South. No. It's none of those things, just a sticky flytrap to catch the fat, the dumb, the self-satisfied, the syrupy voiced mama's boys, the slow moving, the going nowhere anyway dreck of pissant hick towns to a cesspool of ignorance, bad taste, and too small dreams. Too small even to make it to New Orleans, if you can imagine.

That Atlantans are so pleased with themselves and their city tells you they've been nowhere.

[quote] A Brahmin is a pretentious Bostonian.

No, that is not at all correct. There are lots of pretentious Bostonians but they are not necessarily Brahmins. And, again, a Brahmin would likely be elitist but not pretentious.

The term refers to a class of wealthy, educated, elite members of Boston society in the nineteenth century. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonists are typically considered to be the most representative of the Boston Brahmins. Names associated with the Boston aristocracy include Winthrop, Dudley, Saltonstall, Winslow, Shaw, Adams, Forbes, Gardner, Emerson, Jackson, Lawrence, Lodge, Lowell, Parkman, Otis, Peabody, and Lyman.

Cultivated, urbane, and dignified, a Boston Brahmin was supposed to be the very essence of enlightened aristocracy. They were marked by their manners and once distinctive elocution. Their distinctive Anglo-American manner of dress has been much imitated and is the foundation of the style now informally known as preppy. Many of the Brahmin families trace their ancestry back to the original 17th- and 18th-century colonial ruling class consisting of Massachusetts governors and magistrates, Harvard presidents, distinguished clergy, and fellows of the Royal Society of London (a leading scientific body), while others entered New England aristocratic society during the 19th century with their profits from commerce and trade, often marrying into established Brahmin families.

The Boston Brahmins are definitely not just pretentious Bostonians.

R133 McLean's zipcode in Belmont is 02478.

Something "Gracefully Insane" is the place for a pretentious Bostonian from the Back Bay.

Thank you, R145

“A Boston Toast,” the famous poem by John Collins Bossidy, sums up the Brahmin culture:

And this is good old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots And the Cabots talk only to God.

Has to be a new money suburb. Like Carmel, Indiana (home of DL icon Herb Baumeister).

I cannot say which is most pretentious but San Fran definitely is sick with it. Going to Art school there I noticed less than 20 percent of the students were really anything like serious artists. Mostly they were rich kids wanting to dress up and go to openings while doing drugs and appeasing mommy and daddy. Laying on pretension as status currency.

R144. Thank you.

Where are you, Proper Bostonian?

R121 Baby, are you OK?

Final answer: whichever City “Greg” happens to be in at any given time…that’s the most pretense you’ll find anywhere.

R149 you’ve described every art school on earth 👀

R145 Greg could not afford those McLean rates…

[quote] I've never been, other than driving through East Hampton and Southampton.

Where could you possibly be going that you would drive through East Hampton? That makes no sense as all of the land between the Village of East Hampton and the ocean are part of the Town of East Hampton.

After spending some time in Boston, I know why Greg cooks so much. Other than a few Italian restaurants, the food in Boston is atrocious.

R76 Well, the LA Area does have Caltech, UCLA, JPL, the Claremont colleges, Occidental, the Rand Institute, the Getty Institute….

R155, and how do you know that? I suspect that I could. Although perhaps I'd have to sell my beach house to do so (I am not selling my place in Boston).

[quote] After spending some time in Boston, I know why Greg cooks so much. Other than a few Italian restaurants, the food in Boston is atrocious.

The food in Boston is hardly atrocious, R156. Other than a few Italian restaurants? Like where? Boston has plenty of excellent places to eat.

[quote] Final answer: whichever City “Greg” happens to be in at any given time…that’s the most pretense you’ll find anywhere.—You can skip the cut/paste Boston “history”

Awww....R153, having a bad day? You don't even know the meaning of pretense. Why are you such a mean little bitch?

Isn't Dallas mostly shop bottoms?

Debutante diversity

I’m sorry Greg. I’ve been to Boston for several work meetings and every restaurant we have been to has been “okay” at best. A friend of mine moved there a few years ago and every time we go out to eat I have been disappointed. The only times the food was better than “okay” has been at traditional Italian restaurants. They were nothing special, but the food was good. Maybe NYC spoiled me, but I dread visiting Boston because the food really is that bad. I don’t get the hype of Boston. At all.

Related to another post.

You know how you can tell someone is a real asshole? They use quotation marks when there is no quotation. You also see this on signs at clam shacks and ice cream stands. They are usually written by teenage girls. For example "French" vanilla ice cream. "Ice cold" drinks. "New England" lobster roll. Everything made "fresh" daily. Truly the sign of a careless writer.

Look at R153:

[quote] Final answer: whichever City “Greg” happens to be in at any given time…that’s the most pretense you’ll find anywhere.—You can skip the cut/paste Boston “history”

Placing my name in quotation marks and also placing 'history' in quotation marks is the sign of someone with no proper education. R153, quotation marks have a purpose. Don't just go putting them around words that you think look better with them. There are other ways to emphasize what you write. Or continue doing it. It just makes you look as stupid as you undoubtedly are.

Okay, R163, I was hoping for names. I can think of quite a few restaurants in Boston that are in the very same league as fine restaurants in NYC.

Where does your friend live in Boston? Please let me know if you would like some recommendations for places to eat while you're in town (seriously).

“Thanks” for the “lesson,” asshole. See what I don’t put in quotes?

You're welcome, R166. You really needed that lesson. Seriously. You don't want to advertise how ignorant you are, do you?

Please tell me you didn't go to Boston Latin. I know young people who go there and they have a much better understanding of how to use quotation marks than you do. You didn't go there, did you?

I spend 2 months out of the year in Santa Barbara.

Thanks, Greg. She’s by the seaport, but I feel like I’ve gotten a pretty good sampling of most of the city. Her husband is a good cook and I much prefer his cooking or a standard Italian restaurant over anything else I’ve had in Boston.

I know you take a lot of heat on this site, but I’ve always liked your posts!

As an aside, I feel like Boston is bitterly cold in the Fall and Spring when the weather in NYC is pleasant. I think the Seaport area may have something to do with it, or maybe I’ve just been unlucky when I’ve visited.

My grandmother did time at McLean in the 1960s.

My cousin started at Boston Latin but graduated from Milton.

Did Grandma sample Albert De Silva’s chunky?

Thanks, R163/R169. I appreciate your nice words.

Yes, the spring here in Boston can still be quite cold. September, however, is some of the most beautiful weather we have. September in Boston is usually lovely.

The Seaport area is very cool, I think. And I remember when much of it was just industrial or large parking lots. When I'm there it feels like an entirely different city. Some Bostonians dislike it, but I like that we have traditional Boston Victorian neighborhoods like Back Bay and the South End, and the charm and history of Beacon Hill with its cobblestone streets, Federal-style and Victorian town houses, and gas lit street lamps. And then we have the very modern Seaport District—and all of these neighborhoods are very successful.

Boston is a very livable and successful city.

[quote] I wouldn't know personally. I've never been, other than driving through East Hampton and Southampton.

Fine, R156. Maybe the correct term is "drove around". In other words, my brother and I specifically chose Southampton and East Hampton as destinations. We just drove around trying to catch glimpses of the mansions, which is hard to do. Where the really rich people live, the houses are surrounded by very tall hedges. You might get a brief glimpse of the house through the gate as you drive by. Sometimes the house is off to the side on a long driveway and you don't see it all. The point I'm making is that I'm not really familiar with these towns and their people the way I would be if I lived there all my life.

I spoke to a really pretentious person on the phone. She was a sales person at the Hermes boutique in Holt Renfrew in Calgary, Canada. I live in another city. She spoke with what she thought was an upper class accent. It sounded phony and annoying.

R96 D.C. suburbs are the worst. Rude, petty snobs.

… does “Greg” agree with this “best of” list?

DC has small d energy.

I don’t respond when my name is in quotation marks. To do so would seem to encourage stupidity.