It doesn't have to be specifically about the place you were born in, and it doesn't have to be road-related, but both are encouraged.
Rochester, NY, has a really good freeway network. Visitors from the East -and West- Coast seem to be impressed by it. On days when I have no other pressing obligations, I can loop around the entire perimeter of the city on my way home from work - during rush hour - often without stopping, or at least without stopping more than once or twice.
We have great food too - pizza, trash plates, Wegmans, etc. Supposedly there's this theory that anyone that was born and raised in Rochester and leaves, always ends up coming back to stay. Not sure how much truth there is to it, but I know if I had reason to move out of town, I'd want to come back and visit very frequently.
Two state roads "kiss" in the center of Ellington, Conn. --- CT-286 and CT-140. Technically, they are separated by Park Street, but that street is so short it barely qualifies. I have no idea how common this is.
Well Saginaw was a lumbering town back in the 19th century and turned into an automotive town in the 20th century. Now it's a declining city much like Detroit, Pontiac and Flint. There really isn't a lot special about Saginaw though it's an old industrial city with only one General Motors plant remaining. GM use to have a huge plant on southeast corner of the M-46 and I-75 interchange but that is now run by Nexteer and perviously Delphi between GM and Nexteer. The plant is about a mile long running north to south. When GM was there it was called Saginaw Steering Gear. A minor league hockey team once was in Saginaw and called the Saginaw Gears because of this plant. Saginaw still has a junior hockey team called the Saginaw Spirit. The downtown area is experiencing somewhat of a comeback. It's kind of a small city to have so many problems with it, only being about 18 square miles and having a population of about 50,000. Back in 1960, Saginaw had a population of 98,000.
Essentially it is the biggest ghost town that ever existed in the United States, good ole Detroit.
There is absolutely nothing special about the town I was born and raised for the first 11 years of my life, except that it is headquarters of Perrigo. Those who are familiar with the area will know immediately which town I am from. It also has a pretty cool fair in September, but I haven't been in 25 years. I hated the place growing up, mainly because I got made fun of for being in Special Ed and riding the "short bus." I moved back in 2013 and part of 2014 briefly and actually thought most of the people were real nice.
Here in Kalamazoo, we have a minor league hockey team, an amateur baseball team, and for those who like beer (I don't), lots of independent breweries. I would also say for the city being what it is, the public transportation is top notch. Kalamazoo isn't going to blow you away with world class activities, but it is decent for what it is.
My original hometown is the site of the most famous drug bust ever against a particular modern political movement.
For the town I was born in, which was Lumberton, NC, was where the film Blue Velvet (directed by David Lynch) takes place. A scene was actually filmed in Lumberton, but everything else is either a set or was filmed in Wilmington. which is an hour to the east (we've actually been to the apartment of one of the main characters).
Chambersburg, where I live currently, was burned down in 1864 by the Confederates. That's about it.
I am the special part of my hometown. :-D :pan: :bigass:
Quote from: noelbotevera on July 16, 2018, 10:36:16 PM
For the town I was born in, which was Lumberton, NC, was where the film Blue Velvet (directed by David Lynch) takes place. A scene was actually filmed in Lumberton, but everything else is either a set or was filmed in Wilmington. which is an hour to the east (we've actually been to the apartment of one of the main characters).
Chambersburg, where I live currently, was burned down in 1864 by the Confederates. That's about it.
Chambersburg has the Martin's bread factory. :D
Nothing too special about the place I live now -- just a low-tax suburb of Albany, NY.
Lived in Amherst, MA, though, which is famous for Amherst College, UMass and Hampshire College, as well as being where Emily Dickinson, Noah Webster and Robert Frost lived. Used to be quite dirty hippie liberal, but has become more yuppie liberal over the past 20 years.
Oh, and it is named after the guy that came up with the idea of trading smallpox-infected blankets with the local American Indians.
And, don't pronounce the "h" in Amherst, unlike the yokels in Amherst, NY do.
Lenoir, NC, the self proclaimed 'Furniture Capital of the South'. I imagine High Point would beg to differ. Home to a Google Data Center, high-ish poverty rates (but getting better), and the NC Blackberry Festival.
Smucker's
Fremont, NC. It's biggest achievement was getting a Dollar General.
The town I was born in, Joliet, IL is where Dairy Queen started, and Jake Blues was imprisoned there.
The town I consider my hometown, Plainfield, IL, was hit by the only F5 tornado in the US to strike in the month of August, effectively wiping out 1/5 of the town. Also Melissa McCarthy is from there.
The town I live in now has the "Morris Operation" nearby, which is the only de-facto high-level radioactive waste storage site in the United States.
Newark, NJ: home to Newark Liberty International Airport and Port Newark. And bodegas where you can find cats sleeping on top of bread.
Duluth/Superior-
-Westernmost point of the Great Lakes/most inland port in North America
-Bob Dylan's birthplace (Duluth and Hibbing, his childhood home, fight over who Dylan "belongs" to, which is ironic as Dylan himself wants little to do with either city)
-Duluth Rose Garden
-Aerial Lift Bridge
Superior has the most bars per capita of any city in Wisconsin. Yay, I guess.
Quote from: jon daly on July 16, 2018, 03:54:44 PM
Two state roads "kiss" in the center of Ellington, Conn. --- CT-286 and CT-140. Technically, they are separated by Park Street, but that street is so short it barely qualifies. I have no idea how common this is.
I went to grade school next door in Rockville. Gene Pitney was from there and went to HS with my mother. I later lived in Manchester which is right down the road. I-86 went through these towns
Quote from: cjk374 on July 17, 2018, 08:08:35 AM
I am the special part of my hometown.
Admittedly, I laughed right out loud. Simsboro, from your signature, or somewhere else?
Quote from: Rothman on July 17, 2018, 08:18:20 AM
And, don't pronounce the "h" in Amherst, unlike the yokels in Amherst, NY do.
Irony of all ironies, I had to google "yokel". :-D
There are plenty of those around - but not in Amherst, which, by the way, is the largest suburb upstate. Population of 125K to the city of Albany's 98K.
Quote from: webny99 on July 17, 2018, 12:40:47 PM
Quote from: cjk374 on July 17, 2018, 08:08:35 AM
I am the special part of my hometown.
Admittedly, I laughed right out loud. Simsboro, from your signature, or somewhere else?
I have lived in Simsboro all 44 1/2 years of livin. Same house as well sans the 4 years I was in college. Those college years I lived in a most excellent bachelor pad at the dead end of Railroad Avenue here in Simsboro.
Strange thought: the longest amount of time I have ever been away from Simsboro is 3 solid weeks when I was working road construction in Pine Bluff, AR just after college.
Some Revolutionary and Civil War battles.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on July 17, 2018, 12:32:50 PM
Duluth/Superior-
-Westernmost point of the Great Lakes/most inland port in North America
-Bob Dylan's birthplace (Duluth and Hibbing, his childhood home, fight over who Dylan "belongs" to, which is ironic as Dylan himself wants little to do with either city)
-Duluth Rose Garden
-Aerial Lift Bridge
Superior has the most bars per capita of any city in Wisconsin. Yay, I guess.
Heh. This brings back memories of what people touted about the are when I lived there. Pointing out the Aerial Lift Bridge or the "most inland port" was half the time done tongue-in-cheek. :D
My hometown was the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, Caroline Ingalls.
My current town is the location of Wisconsin's first territorial capitol.
My current "home town" (as in the place where I have spent the majority of my life) is the birthplace of Pepsi Cola.
My true hometown (birthplace) Kalamazoo Michigan? I can't think of much other than the running joke I would get whenever I answered the question "Where were you born?" I'd say Kalamazoo and they'd retort "Well I was born in a hospital"(giggle snort giggle). "Well so was I, dammit, Bronson Hospital to be exact!" (lol).
Puyallup, WA has two "special" things about it:
- Nathan Chapman, killed on 4 Jan 2002, was the first casualty of the War in Afghanistan. He lived there while he was stationed in the middle east.
- John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) from "Person of Interest" is from Puyallup. Fictional character though.
Home to or hosted a few famous people:
-Kevin Cronin (born 1951), lead vocalist for rock band REO Speedwagon
-Dan Donegan, guitarist for band Disturbed
-Pat Sajak, longtime host of Wheel of Fortune
-Dwyane Wade, guard for Cleveland Cavaliers and three-time NBA champion with Miami Heat, attended Richards High School in Oak Lawn
Event wise: 1967 Oak Lawn tornado outbreak
Quote from: inkyatari on July 17, 2018, 08:58:17 AM
The town I was born in, Joliet, IL is where Dairy Queen started, and Jake Blues was imprisoned there.
The town I consider my hometown, Plainfield, IL, was hit by the only F5 tornado in the US to strike in the month of August, effectively wiping out 1/5 of the town. Also Melissa McCarthy is from there.
The town I live in now has the "Morris Operation" nearby, which is the only de-facto high-level radioactive waste storage site in the United States.
I can add to that.
Lived in Joliet most of the time I've been in NE Illinois.
In addition to the above, the F5 tornado did just as much damage to the west side of Joliet and part of Crest Hill (where most of the 29 fatalities occurred). It's also home to the crossings of the Lincoln Highway and US-66, US-30 and US-6, and one of two historically for US-6 and US-66 with the other being about 2,000 miles away in Los Angeles. It's also home to the largest collection of Scherzer rolling lift bridges in the US (4 - Jackson St, Cass St, Jefferson St, and McDonough St). May I also mention that Andy Dick, Anthony Rapp, John Barrowman, John Houbolt, Robert Novak, Lionel Richie, Fr. Lawrence Jenco, George Mikan, Roger Powell Jr (lived down the street from him at one point), Tom Thayer, and Mike Alstott either were born here or lived here for an extensive amount of time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Joliet,_Illinois
Some people who at one time lived in my (current) home town:
Mary Barra
Judith Guest
Glen Frey
several sports figures
And let us not forget Dr Death himself, Jack Kervorkian (I saw him in a hardware store once - I wonder what he was buying?)
EDIT:
And since someone wants more than just (semi-)famous people, in my home town two Indian trails meet. You can still see the depression through a side yard of a house (now a lawyer's office) where it wasn't covered up by a street.
Before 1991, I would have said it's where Little House on the Prairie was filmed and the house from Poltergeist was. Post 1991, it's where the first Rodney King trial was held. Not really the thing you want to be known for ...
My hometown (Saginaw, Michigan) is also the hometown of Stevie Wonder, LaMarr Woodley, Draymond Green, Jason Richardson, Stuart Schweigert, Terry McDaniel, Anthony Roberson, Charles Rogers, Sam Sword, Curt Young and more.
Quote from: jakeroot on July 17, 2018, 03:11:11 PM
Puyallup, WA has two "special" things about it:
- Nathan Chapman, killed on 4 Jan 2002, was the first casualty of the War in Afghanistan. He lived there while he was stationed in the middle east.
- John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) from "Person of Interest" is from Puyallup. Fictional character though.
Arguably, pioneer-turned-historian Ezra Meeker is the most famous person from Puyallup. Without him, most of the reverence for the Oregon Trail wouldn't have been preserved, and thus the Oregon Trail video game would have never been made.
There's also that little fair.
Green Bay.
Besides the obvious, it is also the toilet paper capital of the world.
Orlando. Mmm lets see.
Ah, Disney World. Sea World. Universal. In the center of Florida near both sides of the state. Close to all beaches.
Shreveport, LA
-capital of Louisiana for 2 years during the Civil War
-named for Capt Henry Miller Shreve, who broke up a 180-mile long log jam on the Red River
-notable blues singer Huddie Ledbetter ("Lead Belly" ) from here, and Elvis Presley debuted his career on the "Louisiana Hayride" radio program
Road related:
-the oldest Red River bridge in Shreveport, which carries US 79 and US 80, was well known in the 90's when the city had it covered in neon lights
-crossroads of the Jefferson Highway and Dixie Overland Highways (they technically shared pavement on US 80)
iPhone
Interesting, a lot of responses have taken the route of "famous people born in my hometown".
I was thinking more along the lines of stuff you find valuable or unique or would miss if you moved away: food, weather, and so on - basically special currently as opposed to special historically - although both are interesting.
Quote from: webny99 on July 17, 2018, 08:33:00 PM
Interesting, a lot of responses have taken the route of "famous people born in my hometown".
I was thinking more along the lines of stuff you find valuable or unique or would miss if you moved away: food, weather, and so on - basically special currently as opposed to special historically - although both are interesting.
Currently:
1. I'm a townie in a tourist town that I have little time to take advantage of,
2. Can't think of anything special about Ellington or Manchester,
3. Rockville has a cool little Civil War museum (that also covers history :).)
Sherwood was an Old Railway Town, but we only started our 800% growth spurt in the 90s continuing to today. Also Portland and Metro seems to hate us more than other areas, prioritizing our city to become the next Portland over others it seemed, until our people rised up to fight that BS. Our city has a reputation to be very vocal when it comes to any huge city issue, like our recent Mayor Recall, and the UGB expansion prooposal.
Also we have no hotels o tourist attractions (the only city with no hotels in the Portland urban area)
Indianapolis is known for a really big auto race held during Memorial Day weekend.
Fort Smith has Judge Parker's courtroom (the hanging judge). Soon we will have a Marshall's Museum if the city quits wasting money.
Hmm... the town where we lived for the year after I was born became, many years later, the hometown of Robert Griffin III. Copperas Cove, Texas.
Food wise Saginaw is probably best known for the Giant Steak Sandwich from Tony's which is a local landmark and has several locations owned by various members of the Lagalo family. They started in an old grocery store ran by their grandfather who was named Tony and that is where Tony's got it's name. There was a Tony's featured on the Food Network and it is located in Birch Run about halfway between Saginaw and Flint. Around Saginaw there are seven locations and a few locations including the one in Birch Run are no longer owned by a Lagalo but have continued to use the Tony's name.
I'm also local to the city of Flint. Flint is known for Coney Islands, Big John Steak & Onion and Halo Burger. A Flint Style Coney is severed at coney island restaurants throughout Genesee County and beyond. A Flint Style Coney, the coney sauce is a little more meatier than Detroit Style Coney sauce and is mass produced by Abbott's Meat, one of two Flint icons the other one being Koegel Meats who produce the hot dogs. The best place to get a Flint Style Coney is from Starlite Diner & Coney Island in Burton it's open 24 hours serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and is a very popular 1960's style diner. It's located on Center Road (on the Burton side of the Flint/Burton city limits) and Davison Road. I've been going to Starlite for 30 years it opened in 1966 and have never got a bad meal or bad service from there, sometimes I've had to wait a few minutes before getting waited on but they are always busy and have a drive thru as well, the place is busy 24 hours a day they have people coming from every single direction, all of the east side of Flint, Burton, Davison and Grand Blanc eat there as well as the cops. Flint is a very dangerous city but has a few areas that aren't bad and downtown is one of them, being the dangerous city that it is Starlite attracts a rift raft crowd in the middle of the night and has security guards in the parking lot and building. There have been numerous fights but with the security they get the situation under control and call the cops.
Flint is obviously still dealing with the water crisis and it's on the mind's of every Flint resident just about every day. Flint has seen better days and I always hope that they can revive the city of Flint but it will never be the city it was. General Motors dominated Flint and plant after plant was closed down and people were moving out of Flint as fast as they were moving out of Detroit. The downfall of the Automobile industry hurt the Michigan cities that relied on it, including Detroit of course, Flint, Lansing, Saginaw, Pontiac and Warren. Detroit once had 1.8 million people and this was in 1950 almost 70 years ago and now in 2018 there is probably about 650,000 people living within Detroit's 139 square miles. Detroit is starting to make a comeback, things are well underway and better days are ahead for Detroit I believe in that city. The opening of the new arena, having Comerica Park and Ford Field all within a four block area making Detroit the only U.S. city to have all four of it's major sports teams playing downtown is awesome. New buildings are starting to pop up and old buildings are either being torn down or renovated including the historic Michigan Central Station, one of the images of Detroit's ruins for many years as it's the first building you see as your coming over the Ambassador Bridge from Canada and on I-75 coming over the Rouge River bridge from southwest Detroit and Downriver. Detroit's motto is "Speramus meliora; resurgent cineribus," which translates to "We hope for better things; it shall arise from the ashes." which was pinned after a terrible fire swept through Detroit in 1805, now maybe this city can finally rise from the ashes of the 1967 Riots, which still haunt parts of the city. The area around 12th and Clairmount was never the same after the riots, 12th Street was renamed Rosa Parks Blvd.
I think one of the special things about Detroit is the Fisher Building. It sits a few miles off the river and isn't clustered in the downtown skyscrapers but the New Center area has a skyline of it's own it is dominated by the golden tower of the Fisher Building. The building is nothing short of an art deco lovers dream with the paintings and marble flooring throughout the building it's a masterpiece and a landmark in the city of Detroit. This is why WJR announces they are broadcasting from the golden tower of the Fisher Building, actually their transmitter is located in Riverview in the Downriver area. Part of WJR's original lease was that they had to mention the Fisher Building at the top of the hour. Right now their top of the hour is: From the golden tower of the Fisher Building, this is the great voice of the Great Lakes, news-talk 760, WJR Detroit.
For food in Detroit the best place to get a Detroit Style Coney is from Lafayette Coney Island located downtown next door to American Coney Island and as a diehard Lafayette person I have never stepped foot inside American Coney Island. The are rivals and have been located side by side beside the now demolished Lafayette Building for over 100 years. Detroit is truly a historic city but a lot of it's history has been torn down and rebuilt over the years making it appear as more modern city in areas. All of the new development in Detroit has been provided by Detroit native Dan Gilbert and since Mike Duggan has taken office as mayor things have improved in Detroit and I hope things continue to improve for this great American city.
Duluth has gotten swept up in the local sourced/schmancy food trend with places like Chester Creek Cafe, Duluth Grill, and Lake Avenue Cafe. If you're looking for greasy spoon stuff, your best bets these days are Gordy's Hi-Hat (only seasonally open) in Cloquet and the Anchor Bar in Superior. I never cared much for the Anchor, and calling it a dive bar is generous.
Sammy's Pizza is also a big thing, which is one of my favorite pizza joints.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on July 17, 2018, 11:55:24 PM
Duluth has gotten swept up in the local sourced/schmancy food trend with places like Chester Creek Cafe, Duluth Grill, and Lake Avenue Cafe. If you're looking for greasy spoon stuff, your best bets these days are Gordy's Hi-Hat (only seasonally open) in Cloquet and the Anchor Bar in Superior. I never cared much for the Anchor, and calling it a dive bar is generous.
Sammy's Pizza is also a big thing, which is one of my favorite pizza joints.
When I lived there, Duluth's big restaurant draws were the Canal Park ones all owned by Grandma's.
I think it was at the Lake Avenue Cafe where there was a piece of glass in some sort of beef dish I was eating.
Since it's not specified as to whether one's original home town or present domicile is to be discussed, I'll just do a brief synopsis of both:
Original (born & raised): Glendale, CA. Bedroom community of greater L.A. -- although now the site of some major corporate HQ. In the '50's and '60's (when I lived there) was the most sociopolitically conservative town still near downtown L.A. (IIRC, in 1962 it was something like 73% registered Republican). Original home of Bob's Big Boy and the various franchises that sprung from that concept; one of the smaller cities to have its own full-time symphony orchestra (which was conducted for many years by Carmen Dragon, father of Daryl Dragon -- the "Captain" of.....& Tennille!) Home of Forest Lawn Cemetery, where numerous celebrities are interred. A few celebrities came from (or through) Glendale over the years: Casey Stengel (lived down the street from me), Lindsay Wagner (I went to H.S. with her), Eva Mendes (graduated from the same high school as myself but about 25 or so years later!). The first section of the I-5/Golden State Freeway (except for the Newhall Pass 4-lane segment), actually constructed prior to Interstate fund disbursement, cut through the northwest corner of Glendale. I'd like to claim Baskin-Robbins ice cream as a Glendale institution -- but it was founded in next-door Burbank, and moved its corporate HQ to Glendale in the '60's. Oh -- the first Panda Express opened in town (the founding family's Panda Restaurant had been a Glendale institution since the '70's) back in the late '80's. For decades the 4th largest city in Los Angeles County; surpassed Pasadena to make it to 3rd after the '70 census (with L.A. and Long Beach occupying the two top spots, of course). Currently either 3rd or 4th; they tend to run neck-and-neck with Torrance for those honors. And my high school (Hoover) -- at least in its original "classic brick" form (torn down as an earthquake hazard in 1966-67) was seen nationwide in the title sequences of the "Mr. Novak" TV series in the early/mid 60's. Hey, when you're 9 miles from Hollywood, such things happen!
Present (2012-?; previous stints from the mid-'70's to late '80's), San Jose. Just surpassed 1M population, making it the 3rd CA city to do so (tying TX with their 3). Home of: Oracle, Cisco, Ebay, and numerous other tech or electronic media companies. Physically large city, with tentacles reaching south into Coyote and Almaden valleys, but with a decidedly underwhelming downtown (dominated by SJSU). Closest-in major airport (Mineta), located immediately north of downtown (and the reason for building height limitations downtown); the approach pattern is right over my office south of downtown. Traffic department dominated by urbanists; road diets are S.O.P. (about 60% of them work well -- but the ones that don't are abject failures). Home base of VTA (not turntables' Vertical Tracking Angle); the local transit authority, responsible for bus and LR in Santa Clara County. Coincidentally, home of one of the weirdest LR configurations around -- back when the system was being formed in the mid-80's, it was decided to use it as an "experimental" exercise in futuristic urban planning -- reversing the concept of employment in the center and hub-and-spoke out to the periphery, it was built around central housing and "Silicon Valley" employment centers around that same periphery. In doing so, its service to lower-income residents was given secondary consideration -- to get to the poverty-ridden East Side from downtown, one must travel first NNW out almost to Alviso, at the lower end of S.F. Bay, then curving back SE to the east side -- rather than a more direct route. This was done because of several major employers (the aforementioned Cisco and Oracle at the forefront) at or around the point where the line turns either east then SE toward the East Side, or west to Sunnyvale and Mountain View (while passing, wonder of wonders, Levi Stadium [SF 49'ers] and Great America amusement park). VTA's LR system caters to the tech world and its denizens rather than the general regional population -- and it's ridership is perpetually lower than originally projected. The saving VTA grace is, generally, the bus system (which does go where the ridership is!). Although a bit bipolar (it can't seem to decide whether to prioritize the express buses or local servers, so it "toggles" between the two on a regular basis), at least it has plenty of neighborhood lines -- if underserving some of the industrial areas.
If I'm sounding like I don't care much for SJ -- that certainly isn't the case in general -- just their approach to transportation issues. I suppose one can't fault the system for trying something new -- but they seem reluctant to acknowledge that their experiment hasn't been a resounding success -- and that serving the regional population base is equally important to "making a point" with their planning priorities. The OP asked for "something special": well, there it is ( in the vein of Dana Carvey's "Church Lady": Welllllll.....isn't that special!) :poke:
Quote from: Bruce on July 17, 2018, 06:42:26 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on July 17, 2018, 03:11:11 PM
Puyallup, WA has two "special" things about it:
- Nathan Chapman, killed on 4 Jan 2002, was the first casualty of the War in Afghanistan. He lived there while he was stationed in the middle east.
- John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) from "Person of Interest" is from Puyallup. Fictional character though.
Arguably, pioneer-turned-historian Ezra Meeker is the most famous person from Puyallup. Without him, most of the reverence for the Oregon Trail wouldn't have been preserved, and thus the Oregon Trail video game would have never been made.
There's also that little fair.
Totally forgot about Meeker. His mansion is by far one of the most beautiful homes in Pierce County, there's a giant statue of him downtown, there's a street and school named after him; I just assumed that I heard so much about it him growing up because he was a local guy.
Thought about mentioning the fair, but wasn't sure if it was that special. Considering the size and number of visitors, I guess it is rather special.
I
was trying to think of things that people not from the area might know.
My hometown was one of the first cities in Alabama, along with being the original state capitol. We also helped get man to the moon, and are soon the be the largest city in Alabama.
A noteworthy folk art installation made by a local eccentric in the mid 20th Century.
Quote from: inkyatari on July 17, 2018, 08:58:17 AM
The town I live in now has the "Morris Operation" nearby, which is the only de-facto high-level radioactive waste storage site in the United States.
We also have in Morris several state parks...
Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area
Heideckie Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area
Morris Wetlands State Natural Area
William G. Stratton State Park (basically a huge boat ramp, but still has its charms)
Gebhard Woods State Park
Gebhard Woods is also the HQ for the Illinois and Michigan Canal State Trail
There's the Aux Sable aqueduct about 6 miles to the east, the been-collapsed-for-6-years-but-dont-have-the-money-to-rebuild Nettle Creek Aqueduct (which is a shame, as it causes one of many gaps in the I&M trail that haven't been fixed due to funding,) the grave site of Chief Shabbona, the Grundy County Corn Festival (which is a big deal and has one of the largest parades in Illinois,) and a quaint historical downtown that Wal-Mart didn't destroy.
My actual place of birth is also the childhood home of "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Denise Richards.
That's Randy Poffo of the Cardinals farm system.
My hometown, Arlington, WA, hosts one of the largest "fly-in" airshows in the United States. 50,000 visitors and 1,600 planes every July. We were also on the shortlist for a new University of Washington campus until the project was canceled during the early recession.
It also has more bus service than Arlington, TX, despite being ten times smaller.
Quote from: Bruce on July 18, 2018, 09:59:04 PM
We were also on the shortlist for a new University of Washington campus until the project was canceled during the early recession.
Had no idea that UW was gonna build a northern campus beyond Bothell. Any idea what the areas of study might have been?
Quote from: Bruce on July 18, 2018, 09:59:04 PM
My hometown, Arlington, WA, hosts one of the largest "fly-in" airshows in the United States. 50,000 visitors and 1,600 planes every July.
Oshkosh, WI says hi.
Quote from: Big John on July 18, 2018, 10:46:29 PM
Quote from: Bruce on July 18, 2018, 09:59:04 PM
My hometown, Arlington, WA, hosts one of the largest "fly-in" airshows in the United States. 50,000 visitors and 1,600 planes every July.
Oshkosh, WI says hi.
"one of"
Robert Wadlow, who was the tallest man ever to live, died in my hometown after visiting for the 4th of July parade in 1940
Quote from: jakeroot on July 18, 2018, 10:03:39 PM
Quote from: Bruce on July 18, 2018, 09:59:04 PM
We were also on the shortlist for a new University of Washington campus until the project was canceled during the early recession.
Had no idea that UW was gonna build a northern campus beyond Bothell. Any idea what the areas of study might have been?
There was a huge squabble in the legislature about the campus in 2007/08. The Everett Station area was seen as the frontrunner, and would have been the smartest place to put the campus (strong transport connections, an urban environment similar to Tacoma, and near-zero displacement). The Riverside area of Everett (roughly north of the trestle, but also including some of the currently-developed areas just south of Hewitt), Smokey Point (around I-5 & 152nd), and Lake Stevens (US 2 & SR 204) were the other finalists.
Would have cost $750 million to build and have 5,000 students, about the same size as Tacoma's campus. A final decision was never reached, due to the budget cuts.
Bothell was originally built to serve Snohomish County, but is rather poorly located relative to major transit corridors. Everett made a lot more sense, and would serve the growing north county/Skagit/Island triangle.
Deep-dish pizza :bigass:
^^ Yeah, abe and I have had a cross-thread convo about Dusty Lenscap. I thought he was denying that he was crying and blaming his tears on the dust. I didn't realize some folks in marketing at or on behalf of K-Mart came up with a trench-coated character to shill for their Photo department.
Quote from: webny99 on July 16, 2018, 03:21:35 PM
It doesn't have to be specifically about the place you were born in, and it doesn't have to be road-related, but both are encouraged.
Rochester, NY, has a really good freeway network. Visitors from the East -and West- Coast seem to be impressed by it. On days when I have no other pressing obligations, I can loop around the entire perimeter of the city on my way home from work - during rush hour - often without stopping, or at least without stopping more than once or twice.
We have great food too - pizza, trash plates, Wegmans, etc. Supposedly there's this theory that anyone that was born and raised in Rochester and leaves, always ends up coming back to stay. Not sure how much truth there is to it, but I know if I had reason to move out of town, I'd want to come back and visit very frequently.
There's truth to it. If there was a living to be made in my field there, I'd consider returning without hesitation. A lot of people are keen to leave the area once they graduate; for a time, around the turn of the millennium, places like North Carolina were competitive at attracting residents away from cities like Rochester, but they weren't always found to have the cultural and social staying power to keep those transplants, and many considered returning.
I've never noticed people being especially impressed with our expressways (other than that we don't have traffic issues to compare with larger metros), but they are dazzled by Wegmans. Of course, Wegmans is now poised to become the greatest new "best-kept secret" that NYC has recently discovered and that nobody else knows about in the world; there's sure to be a BuzzFeed article about it soon.
Wegmans is very much a double-edged sword, however. For some time they've stood imperiously over the city in terms of community planning; there's but a single store left in city limits, and it only stayed because they were able to raze the whole block and expand on site. Their exemplification of, and participation in, the Great White Flight has been a sore spot for many city residents.
At the same time, Wegmans has long held a title as one of the top employers to work for in the U.S., with generous benefits such as health and education, even for part-time employees. Another Rochester institution with similarly high marks is ESL, and the two big educational centers (plus the surrounding ones) attract their share of jobs, along with the cultural and intellectual base that a vibrant community needs.
Oh, and it's Garbage Plate™–"trash plate" is just what you have to call your menu item if you're not Nick Tahou. :-)
I think there's some roadgeek interest in Rochester expressways; Rochester seems to have had more meets (at least recently) than Buffalo and Syracuse have.
I'd love to return to Rochester (which may not happen any time soon since promotion opportunities there in my career line are few and far between), though I'll admit, Albany is more centrally located to the places that I'm most interested in traveling to, and it's nice being close to the Adirondacks.
Quote from: vdeane on July 24, 2018, 01:31:15 PM
I think there's some roadgeek interest in Rochester expressways; Rochester seems to have had more meets (at least recently) than Buffalo and Syracuse have.
I wonder how that is impacted by the number of roadgeeks from the area.
I can actually think of more forum members from the Buffalo area than Rochester - and none from Syracuse (although there may be some I'm not aware of (meaning they're not active here very often)).
Quote from: empirestate on July 24, 2018, 01:04:18 PM
I've never noticed people being especially impressed with our expressways (other than that we don't have traffic issues to compare with larger metros)
I find the overall setup and layout of the network to be very conducive to serving a metro population of around 1 million.
Perhaps the fact that we don't have the traffic issues makes people underestimate the size of the city, rather than value the free-flowing conditions. Consider that Salt Lake City, Birmingham, New Orleans, and Tucson, are among the metro areas similar to Rochester in size. I'm fairly confident those cities have more congestion woes than Rochester does (and I'm sure the fact that I-90 runs well south of downtown is a bonus - as far as traffic, though not necessarily the economy, is concerned).
Yet there are still a number of widenings and auxiliary lanes that would lead to improved peak-hour flow. It's evident that the planners of the day failed to predict a number of growth trends, the most notable being extensive growth to the southeast resulting in I-490 between Exits 25 and 27 being chronically congested/moving below speed.
Consider also the priority given to movements towards/away from downtown, as that was thought to be where most people would be commuting to. In fact, Brighton, Henrietta, and Victor are now the major employment centers, while suburb-to-downtown commutes are on the decline, resulting in traffic flows that the system simply wasn't designed for. Take I-390, for example, where the northbound exit only lane at I-490 is being switched from the right lane (eastbound/downtown) to the left lane (westbound/western suburbs) as part of the ongoing reconstruction. This single, and very minor, change in alignment will bring massive improvements to afternoon traffic. There's simply not enough traffic headed towards downtown in the afternoon to warrant an exit only lane, while the left lane(s) clog for miles with commuters headed homeward from employers in the southern suburbs.
Quote from: jon daly on July 24, 2018, 08:21:59 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on July 24, 2018, 07:51:30 AM
Deep-dish pizza :bigass:
Threads are crossing.
Don't cross the threads.
Why?
It would be bad.
I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?
Try to image all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Total protonic reversal.
Right. That's bad. Okay. Alright, important safety tip. Thanks Egon.
Quote from: webny99 on July 24, 2018, 10:19:21 AM
Quote from: jon daly on July 24, 2018, 08:21:59 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on July 24, 2018, 07:51:30 AM
Deep-dish pizza :bigass:
Threads are crossing.
It happens. At times, stuff will spill into multiple threads, and in multiple boards, too. Alanland comes to mind, but there are plenty of other examples.
Fictional highways might be the hardest obsession discussed here for me to grasp.
While I have lived in Upstate New York for 20 years now, I was born and raised in Smithtown, a town on Long Island. Legend has it that the town's founder rode around the boundary of the town on a bull.
http://longislandgenealogy.com/bull.html (http://longislandgenealogy.com/bull.html)
There's also a bull statue in town.
https://patch.com/new-york/smithtown/smithtown-a-history-whisper-the-bull-statue (https://patch.com/new-york/smithtown/smithtown-a-history-whisper-the-bull-statue)
New Britain, CT is (was?) the home base of The Stanley Works, a.k.a the tool people. Roger Clemens won his first pro ball championship here with the 1983 New Britain Red Sox. 2017 World Series MVP, #4 George Springer, is from here. However...so is Paul Manafort. (His father was mayor when I was born in 1971.) We can also claim speed pitch record holder Steve Dalkowski and Pepperidge Farms' old man who remembers...Charlie Welsh.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on July 17, 2018, 12:32:50 PM
Superior has the most bars per capita of any city in Wisconsin. Yay, I guess.
You might need to come up with a source for this, because those are fighting words in some parts of Wisconsin. I've heard the same claim made for Cudahy, Kenosha, LaCrosse, and Eau Claire, and a little bit of googling will give you stats that say it's Rhinelander or Whitewater or Sheboygan.
Kenosha (my hometown) has electric streetcars that run on a 2 mile loop around downtown.
https://www.visitkenosha.com/things-to-do/electric-streetcar-circulator
Quote from: tdindy88 on July 17, 2018, 08:58:36 PM
Indianapolis is known for a really big auto race held during Memorial Day weekend.
My claim to fame with Indy is that I went to school K-12 within a mile of the track!
My current hometown is home to:
- Leitner-Poma -- Makers of ski lifts, chairs and gondolas, and also the ones who created the gondolas for the huge Las Vegas Ferris Wheel.
- LOKI -- Makers of unique outerwear -- like winter coats with built-in gloves, or gloves where you can un-zip the tops if you need to use your fingertips in a pinch (no pun intended).
- Enstrom's -- Makers of "world famous" almond toffee.
San Francisco Mission Bay home of the Biotech startups also the other west coast home of Venture Capitalists, Startup Accelerators outside of San Jose. Plus tourism in Norcal
South San Francisco "The Industrial city" now known for biotech because of Genentech.
Vallejo, CA known for Cal Maritime and the West Coast branch for Touro University and the Bankruptcy at the 2008 recession. Plus Vallejo is best known where the Zodiac killer conspiracies come from
Sacramento, CA state Capital of California and the scapegoat for splitting California into different parts. Plus gold processing/Trade took place in Sacramento before they became the capital of California (Note Benicia was the previous home for the California State Capital) before they went to Sacramento.
So far, in the 48 years that I have been alive, I have lived in the home cities of blues music (as well as the only major-league ballpark with ivy-covered outfield walls and rooftop bleachers across the street), the Hollywood film industry and Boeing/Microsoft/Nintendo.
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on July 25, 2018, 03:54:41 PM
New Britain, CT is (was?) the home base of The Stanley Works, a.k.a the tool people. Roger Clemens won his first pro ball championship here with the 1983 New Britain Red Sox. 2017 World Series MVP, #4 George Springer, is from here. However...so is Paul Manafort. (His father was mayor when I was born in 1971.) We can also claim speed pitch record holder Steve Dalkowski and Pepperidge Farms' old man who remembers...Charlie Welsh.
Dalkowski: The original Nuke LaLoosh.
I was so disappointed when NB lost their affiliation with the Red Sox.
That went to Trenton in 1995. In 2018, the Red Sox affiliation is with the Portland Seadogs of Maine. Trenton today? The Yankees, of course!
The Twins left New Britain. That affiliation went south to Chattanooga.
And NB is now an independent team while Hartford has the Yard Goats.
5 things about Indio, California I like to share with you all:
1. In a climatic desert, below sea level (from here to the Mexican border) and inland about 120-140 miles from L.A., we will be an awfully warm place: summer high temps can reach as high as 122f/50c and it has a few times in the past month.
2. The Coachella! Since 1999, the annual music and arts festival grew to become one of the world's largest, held in the Indio or Eldorado Polo ground. Nearby are the towns of La Quinta - it didn't really exist when I was born in 1980 - now has 50,000 (half of Indio's size), Indian Wells (an affluent place of 5,000 with an annual tennis tournament), and Coachella down the former US route 99, now one of 5 out of 9 cities to have more year-round residents than the famous center, Palm Springs.
3. US route 99 (Indio Boulevard) was where the first yellow divider stripe was painted - over a century ago in 1915, an idea suggested by local physician Dr. June McCarroll, she wrote to the state dept. of transportation and it became a common road feature worldwide.
4. Celebrities come here for a visit or to buy a second home, but a very few celebrities are from Indio Cal: I can name Alan O'Day, Audrey O' Day of Danity Kane (no relation), director Cameron Crowe, Oscar Lua in the NFL, and Vanessa Marcil.
and 5. Dates! The fruit that grows on palm trees is raised in the Indio area, a perfect place for date palms. We host an annual date festival/county fair in mid-Feb. (around my birthday) and it long had an Arabian Nights/middle-eastern theme.
Quote from: Desert Man on July 28, 2018, 11:59:00 AM
3. US route 99 (Indio Boulevard) was where the first yellow divider stripe was painted - over a century ago in 1915, an idea suggested by local physician Dr. June McCarroll, she wrote to the state dept. of transportation and it became a common road feature worldwide.
I thought the first center line was in Michigan?
Quote from: jakeroot on July 28, 2018, 01:29:28 PM
Quote from: Desert Man on July 28, 2018, 11:59:00 AM
3. US route 99 (Indio Boulevard) was where the first yellow divider stripe was painted - over a century ago in 1915, an idea suggested by local physician Dr. June McCarroll, she wrote to the state dept. of transportation and it became a common road feature worldwide.
I thought the first center line was in Michigan?
The first centerline was painted by Edward N. Hines in the Detroit area in 1911 on a city street.
Quote from: Flint1979 on July 29, 2018, 03:29:02 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on July 28, 2018, 01:29:28 PM
Quote from: Desert Man on July 28, 2018, 11:59:00 AM
3. US route 99 (Indio Boulevard) was where the first yellow divider stripe was painted - over a century ago in 1915, an idea suggested by local physician Dr. June McCarroll, she wrote to the state dept. of transportation and it became a common road feature worldwide.
I thought the first center line was in Michigan?
The first centerline was painted by Edward N. Hines in the Detroit area in 1911 on a city street.
And to back that up:
https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9623_11154_41535-126420--,00.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20111225193353/https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620_11057-264983--,00.html
The first rural center line was on what used to be US-41/M-28 (now County 492) between Marquette and Neguanee, Michigan.
https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9623_11154_41535-126379--,00.html
As for Dr. McCarroll, she thought of the idea in 1917, not 1915, well after Mr. Hines in any respect. Hers came the came year as Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Peter Rexford thought of the idea in Oregon.
The concept in Europe may be even older. http://nathanjbaker.com/rexford/1947%20Rexford%20Retirement.pdf
I see that Desert Man actually specified a "yellow" centerline in his post.
I'm not aware of any yellow centerlines in the US until the 60s, unless other places had been toying with the idea?
A piece of a Soviet satellite, Sputnik 4, landed here, in the middle of one of our main streets. We have a cool festival to celebrate it every September, around the time it landed, and we even made a replica of the piece which we keep at our local art museum nearby.
As for anything road-related, we have a carferry that runs across Lake Michigan and is part of US 10, making it one of the only highways in the country connected by ferry.