Post
by Professor Tiger » Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:47 pm
Let me begin by saying I have lived in Atlanta (my first 18 years), near Chicago (the last 15 years), and sorta near NOLA (Jackson MS, 5 years, from which I frequently visited NOLA). Of the three, I freely admit I am less familiar with NOLA than Atlanta or Chicago.
I am fond of all three, but for different reasons. Atlanta will always be special because it is my hometown. But it has no culture except for the World of Coke, the Cyclorama, and Stone Mountain. For food, I love the Varsity and Hickory House. Yes, I still miss Aunt Fanny's Cabin. But overall, ATL's downtown that is a ghost town after business hours, and beyond that just a vast landscape of suburban strip malls and new subdivisions.
NOLA is one of the most unique cities in America, with its one-of-a-kind Cajun/Creole culture. I am particularly fond of Gallatoire's, Cafe du Monde, and Brennan's. The food is excellent, but one-dimensional. NOLA restaurants excel in three kinds of food: Cajun, French, and Cajun. The French Quarter is quaint. Preservation Hall is really cool. But it is also overrun with hustlers, hookers, transvestites, drunks and addicts, voodoo doll salesmen, and reeks of public urination. If you are into that sort of thing, then NOLA is your town.
But if you want diversity of cultures, restaurants, architecture, attractions, universities, Chicago blows Atlanta and NOLA away. Neither Atlanta nor NOLA has anything like Chicago's skyline, the Board of Trade, Sears Tower, Wrigley Field, Greektown (or countless other ethnic urban neighborhoods, each with fabulous restaurants in their own style), a University of Chicago, a Chicago Art Institute, a Museum of Science and Industry, a Field Museum. Atlanta's aquarium rivals Shedd, but that's about it.
It is true that the weather in Chicago absolutely sucks in the winter. And you are equally likely to get murdered in all three crime-ridden cities. The traffic is terrible in all three too. Chicago and Louisiana are also a tie for the most hopelessly corrupt governments in the nation. O'Hare and Hartsfield are a tie.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident… by the — you know — you know the thing.” - Democrat Presidential Candidate Joe Biden
