From state armholes to middle fingers of the country – some cities in the United States are known for being the least attractive urban settlements. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so not everyone finds NYC or New Orleans pleasurable, and perhaps some negative experiences would influence one’s preferences. But there are certainly a few cities that have no chance of not being called ugly and we hope you don’t live there.
Vega. Although I wouldn’t call it much of a city; it looked more like a set of buildings, neon, and wasted lives all sewn together in the middle of a bumf *** nowhere.
Gary, Indiana. The whole town was gray. No color. I thought I turned color blind until I got to Chicago.
After visiting Aberdeen, Washington, I felt I understood Kurt Cobain better. The natural surroundings are amazingly beautiful, but in the middle of it is this gray, dark, depressing city built on a swamp that feels like it’s sucking the life out of you. If a city could have feelings, this one would be completely hopelessly depressed.
LA. a depressing concrete hole and I’m glad I visited more beautiful cities in the United States. everyone was so angry/sad there.
Birmingham, Alabama. Half of the city is just banal brown brick buildings from the 80s, and the other half is basically abandoned ruins of banal brown brick buildings from the 80s.
Johnstown, Pennsylvania … You can almost feel the city dying slowly, worryingly dying …
Albuquerque, NM. Let me paint a picture. In a rental car after 14 hours of driving I drive about halfway into the city. And badly need gasoline. I drive to a pretty empty gas station. Only Some oily cardboard sheets are spread out here and there. Trees almost cover 3 / 4s of the sides of the building itself. I am ready to insert my card into the reader when 6 people start to come out of the cover of the trees. Three guys are sitting or lying on the scattered cardboard and three women/girls are in questionable age somewhere between 16 and 40 years old. My stadium approaches my car and tries to mow and chop and cough to get my attention. I withdraw my card, say “aww s ***, reject. F ***.” Get back in my car and hurry away. In my retrospect I see more people coming out of the trees. They did not look satisfied.
Independence, MO. – methamphetamine capital of the United States. Even the buildings look like they smoke stones.
Gary Indiana is the best reason to ever remove fast limits from highways. So you can get in and out of Gary in the shortest amount of time.
You know a city is bad when the local government brags that there have been less than a dozen murders and less than 20 dead babies this month!
Things are looking for Gary, Indiana!
No one mentioned Watertown NY, so I guess I’ll defend it. I grew up in the Watertown area. Since then he has traveled extensively throughout the United States. I’ve seen some really awesome places, but I’ve still seen a place that captures the same kind of energy that Watertown does.
Watertown is unique in that it has the perfect combination of a depressed economy, dilapidated infrastructure and bad weather. It is positively hammered with snow in winter due to its proximity to Lake Ontario and often sets records for snowfall and low temperatures. The winters are brutal and sometimes start as early as October and can last until May. It exists in what was once the bottom of an ancient glacial lake so the low altitude means a constant cloud cover that makes it gray and gloomy during the summer time.
On top of that, almost any art or music is written about the place is about how bad it is. Frank Sinatra’s Watertown album is depressing. Harry Chapin wrote the song “A Better Place To Be” while he was in Watertown. There are also more examples. It’s so depressing that it inspires people to write about how depressed it is.
Albany, NY just feels like a really big Greyhound bus station. In summer it gets a little dirty, but in winter it is a muddy gray spike. Whenever I was there, I felt like I needed to escape from it – probably in an old school bus with a razor wire laced around it with sharp broomsticks sticking out of the windows.
Laurel, MS. The attempt to accomplish it on the HGTV show, but it’s shit. Upgraded to the most violent city in Mississippi last year, if I’m not mistaken.
I can’t believe no one mentioned Rochester NY, Anything Beyond Culver Road. The worst parts are near Lyell and Monroe Ave. Place is sh * t hole.
Spokane, WA. It seems to have been in the late ’80s, when Seattle became a major destination with no vigor or anything appealing about the city in general. Just sets of residential areas with a few luxury eateries to keep it just outside the last place.
Watch this space for more information on that. Stay tuned to Feeta Blog for the latest updates about Architrcture, Lifestyle and Interior Design.
