/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17987289]

What are the most /lit/ cities? Tennessee Williams is reported to have said that New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans were the only distinct cities in America and that all the others resembled Cleveland.

[Anonymous No.17987322]

>New York
It's about to be a 1970 tier Detroit wasteland again, literal zombie apocalypse shit with druggies shambling around biting people. Also it has been nothing but a Jewish business enclave since the 20s

>San Fran
No culture since it became a hotspot for California richfags who don't want to live in LA. Result: they destroyed LA and San Francisco simultaneously. Great combination of richfag slacktivist mismanagement and overgovernment + hilarious decay of basic social services.

>New Orleans
Probably still has some culture. Anywhere with lots of blacks will make you leave within 3 years though

[Anonymous No.17987347]

>>17987322
>Probably still has some culture
Nah, New Orleans is a tourist trap.

[Anonymous No.17987493]

>>17987289
Not burger, but isn't Chicago meant to be cool?

At least historically

[Anonymous No.17987505]

>>17987322
>hilarious decay of basic social services
Nothing is funny about that.

[Anonymous No.17987521]

>>17987289
New York by default because so many authors are from there or move there and so much of the publishing industry is based there. Really, there are no cities in America or Europe which fit the bill anymore and information technology kind of made this sort of thing nonsensical. As for cities being “unique”, well, it’s not even clear exactly what he means. I personally like Boston, New York, and Chicago. New Orleans and San Francisco are heaps.

[Anonymous No.17987536]

>>17987493
Chicago wants so badly to be as cool as New York but it will never get there

[Anonymous No.17987561]

>>17987493
Yes but then no. Chicago is a surburb now.
>>17987521
I agree with this.

>>17987289
I think it's worth pointing out that even asking which cities have the most culture, NYC punches way above anyone's weightclass. London is a mess and the immigrant cultures are too new to properly influence culture, Tokyo is amazing but redundant, Berlin is tired and worn out, Paris is a ragged fossil, and Singapore is a dictatorship.

For better or worse, megalopolis is it.

[Anonymous No.17987563]

>>17987493
Chicago was like cheaper, more down to earth New York which made it probably the best city in the US for a while, but it’s gotten significantly worse as of late like everywhere.

The only genuinely decent city left in the US is Boston imo. There are others in the conversation but they all have at least 1 big problem.

[Anonymous No.17987582]

>>17987561
Tokyo is the best city on the planet in my honest opinion but I could see how it’s redundant. I’ve lived in Shanghai and Seoul as well. Not without drawbacks, but good cities. Just not lit. Paris is probably the single biggest fall from grace. I agree with London. I wonder about St. Petersburg and Moscow.

[Anonymous No.17987635]

>>17987561
>>17987289
Just for anons to help get why: NYC new bookstores are as well currated as most of your Midwestern university used bookstores (see: Strand, McNally Jackson, Book Culture, and Logos among many many others). I unironically think 2 years in nyc, in terms of raw exposure to cultural artifacts and learning, is more valuable than a Masters from Harvard. NYC doesn't even have Italian food anymore, they have Roman or Scicilian. The Korean bars even serve river or ocean eel. The best tapas are in NYC, not Barcelona. Yes, there are tons and tons of bugmen that are just as bland as the rest, and yes, it is endemic with greed, fame whores, and the like, but if you're just looking to learn and get exposed, NYC is incredible. Unironically, Cleveland has some great bookstores (Book Brothers and Logan Berry are awesome), but it is a suburb. Cars kill culture, and NYC is the only walkable city in the US. Also, unfortunately, all of the most talented people from the world end up there. There was literally a Japanese hair saloon I patroned that only had ex-Japanese people working there.

[Anonymous No.17987650]

>>17987582
Yeah totally agree and haven't been there. FYI, for anons that don't have the finances to travel, Parisians are so relatively poor they can't even afford food in their own cafés.

[Anonymous No.17987656]

>>17987289
Paris
Mexico City
Barcelona
Buenos Aires

[Anonymous No.17987683]

>>17987635
It’s not the only walkable city in the US but I see what you’re saying for the most part and I agree. It does punch above its weight class, which is saying a lot for how big it is actually. For better or for worse, it’s still global culture hub. It’s getting worse and fast though. Still, the problem with New York is not the “grittiness” which some people are so stupid as to think that’s a good but thing but the prices. I would move to New York tomorrow if I could but I make $50K in a remote job. I can’t afford it on that salary and competing for jobs in New York (the ones that pay a New York salary) is a fucking nightmare. The place has slowly transformed into like a young person harvester. It’s where young people go to pay way too much on rent and embody the corporate wage slave to its maximum. Really that’s what happens. You work all the time and spend all of your paycheck.

[Anonymous No.17987774]

>>17987683
>The place has slowly transformed into like a young person harvester. It’s where young people go to pay way too much on rent and embody the corporate wage slave to its maximum. Really that’s what happens. You work all the time and spend all of your paycheck.
This is unfortunately really true. Software engineers can avoid it and if you get lucky and get into IB or MC for two years, then you can jump and coast, but that's a really fair point. Though, desu, you don't need to work all the time and you can save if you're smart about it.

[Anonymous No.17987788]

>>17987563
Boston is overpriced as fuck and pretentious

[Anonymous No.17987813]

>>17987788
Yeah, it is but that’s partly because it’s the only actually good city in the US. New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are the only truly international mega cities in the US and Los Angeles isn’t really a city so that leaves New York and Chicago by default. But after that, you’ve got what? Like Boston, Philly, and that’s it. Philly is trashed. Only Boston is the only one that doesn’t have any one gigantic problem besides price.

[Anonymous No.17987846]

>>17987774
You don’t need to work all the time but if you get a job in New York, working for a corporation, you will whether you want to or not. That’s just how it is. I’ve always felt that you can tell about a city’s from its public transit system and the way people talk to coworkers after hours. In New York, the last train leaves really late and if you stay at the office until 8 pm, people ask why you didn’t stay until 9 pm. In Chicago, the last train leaves earlier and if you stay in the office until 8 pm, people feel bad for you and wonder “don’t you have a family or friends to go home to?” New York is, unfortunately, a meat grinder and every single person I know who moved there, which is a lot because I grew up in the distant suburbs and went to school in a nearby state, got ground down by the hustle. The grit is annoying but it’s not the only reason why people leave. People leave because they burn out and they get tired of spending 45% of their paycheck on a studio, which is what always happens.

[Anonymous No.17987862]

Im not american but Chicago always seemed extremely comfy and very /lit/ but eh. What do I know

[Anonymous No.17987868]

>>17987656
>Mexico City
>Buenos Aires
redpill me on latin /lit/ cities

[Anonymous No.17987915]

>>17987289
London always seemed very /lit to me. Dunno how it is now with all the immigrants and politics.

[Anonymous No.17987929]

Clueless normalfag tier
>Paris
>London
>New York
Pseud tier
>Boston
>Berlin
>Amsterdam
In the know tier
>Dublin
>Zurich
>Tokyo
Intellectual tier
>Kyoto
>Vienna
>Prague
Elder god tier
> Tehran
> Moscow
> Samarkand

[Anonymous No.17987946]

>>17987493
It's a warzone. It's called Chiraq for a reason.

[Anonymous No.17987974]

>>17987946
It’s really not. Same as every American city, the crime is confined to a handful of neighborhoods for the most part and I would venture so far as to guess that crime spills over into normal areas far less in Chicago than in a city like Philadelphia, where it’s become not uncommon to hear about Temple undergraduate students being robbed or killed.

[Anonymous No.17987980]

>>17987929
Kyoto and Prague are very pretty but they’re not /lit/.

[Anonymous No.17987988]

>>17987521
Forgot to mention that I also like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia I love/hate.

[Anonymous No.17988011]

what makes a city /lit/?

[Anonymous No.17988029]

>>17988011
it must inspire

[Anonymous No.17988034]

>>17988011
Screaming schizophrenic black people fighting in the street and taking shits on the sidewalk 2 blocks away from the hipster area where twinks with old timey moustaches and girls with tattoos get their rent paid for by their parents

[Anonymous No.17988042]

>>17987289
Xi'an

[Anonymous No.17988048]

>>17987988
Are you from Pa?

[Anonymous No.17988057]

>>17987946

fucking retarded.

[Anonymous No.17988059]

>>17988042
why?

[Anonymous No.17988070]

>>17987980
this.

there is no lit city. we've all been hegemonized into the great white void.

[Anonymous No.17988075]

>>17988057
>Chiraq is a nickname given to Americas third largest city, Chicago. Chicago was given this nickname because there are more murders and violence that occur in Chicago than the war in Iraq.

[Anonymous No.17988086]

>>17987868
Both are /lit/ and have inspired and hosted many writers.

[Anonymous No.17988100]

>>17987974
Temple is surrounded on all sides by the ghetto. They've done alot to make it seem nicer but walk a few blocks off campus in any direction and it gets weird pretty fast.

[Anonymous No.17988114]

Is burgerland really in such a mess as its media is making it out to be?

[Anonymous No.17988124]

>>17987289
>Tennessee Williams is reported to have said that New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans were the only distinct cities in America and that all the others resembled Cleveland.

[Anonymous No.17988164]

>>17988114
It's worse. Filthy shitholes with enclaves for the rich to pretend it's not happening, like >>17988100 said. The rich people in the enclaves spend all their time talking about how they love diversity.

Many areas in major cities are no-go areas, black crime is so bad it's like a country within a country.

[Anonymous No.17988212]

>>17988114
Nah. Bored media + bored population = sensationalized media. There are problems but the media hypes them up and our political system makes it even worse.

[Anonymous No.17988252]

>>17988114
Some of it. However, the media oftentimes will make things seems larger than they are in order to draw ratings.

[Anonymous No.17988263]

>>17988114
burgerland media suits the needs and expectations of burgerland. make of that what you will.

[Anonymous No.17988272]

>>17988048
I am, but I’ve lived in a few places now.

[Anonymous No.17988280]

>>17988100
That’s true but still I think you’re more likely to see that shit spill over into Center City in Philly than you would be to see the same spill over into the Loop in Chicago.

[Anonymous No.17988291]

>>17988114
Yes and no but the real scoop is how dog shit media is.

[Anonymous No.17988344]

>>17988272
I don’t see many people from Pa on here. I don’t know if that’s good or not. I’m from the suburbs of Philadelphia myself. I wouldn’t call it lit but it’s an underrated city. Lots of history and the citizens seem to have a blue collar Rocky Balboa mentality and stay in their own lane for the most part

[Anonymous No.17988616]

>>17988344
I’m not from there but I lived in Bala Cynwyd. My feeling on it is yeah, it’s underrated but it’s also shit at the same time. Hence love/hate.

[Anonymous No.17988719]

>>17987929
Dublin has gotten insanely expensive for rent

[Anonymous No.17988773]

>>17988616
>Bala Cynwyd
Lol shoulda figured. How can you love or hate Philly? You've only ever been a tourist

[Anonymous No.17988818]

>>17988616
That other anon isn’t me. It’s hard to explain Philly. There is a lot of doom and gloom but also hope. A person can earn respect here by being hardworking and never giving up. Sports fans love the “hustle” player who lays it all out even though he might not be the most talented. Philly will always get behind an underdog who has fight in him. It is almost like the remnants of 1776 lives on in the blood of Philadelphia to this day

[Anonymous No.17988828]

>>17987505
The humor of irony is plentiful

[Anonymous No.17988859]

>>17988773
Okay, faggot. I’ve also lived in Old City and Rittenhouse but I didn’t want to be the faggot that said that, but if you love South Philly so much do you I guess.

[Anonymous No.17988875]

>>17988818
I hate that about Philly to be honest but I always found it to be basically a facade. Maybe it’s my personality or something, I don’t know. I’m like apathetic and laid back. I don’t have this hustle attitude and I didn’t get along with most of the people I met there. The city is also just physically not clean, kind of run down, and really busted up from drugs and crime. Kensington is top 5 worst places I’ve ever seen in the United States and I’ve been to a lot of cities. There are good things about it too I guess but like I said I really do love/hate.

[Anonymous No.17988886]

I am Providence.

[Anonymous No.17989030]

Geneva ofcourse

[Anonymous No.17989074]

>>17988859
>Rittenhouse
>Old City
Wow we got a fancy guy over here. What does your dad do?

[Anonymous No.17989085]

>>17989074
His the parliament twink. But hey atleast my city is /lit/

[Anonymous No.17989089]

>>17989085
The what?

[Anonymous No.17989097]

>>17988886
providence is a shithole barely better than hartford
t. ur neighbor who knows better

[Anonymous No.17989104]

There is no such thing as a /lit/ city.
True patricians move out into the countryside or the woods.

[Anonymous No.17989109]

>>17989089
smooth, thin or in shape male, and normally very attractive. Its the gay communities equivalent of babe or chick. Negative interpretations describing twinks are normal associated with the same type of males that are in the heterosexually community, that describe attractive young in shape women as stupid, sluts, bimbos, air heads, ECT. to help make up

[Anonymous No.17989127]

>>17988886
is it just me or does that statue look like a 3d render

[Anonymous No.17989136]

>>17987289
What abut China? Is Beijing /lit/? What about Lhasa, Tibet has a reputation for being soulful

[Anonymous No.17989157]

I was in the Appleton/Green Bay area a few weeks ago. Maybe not /lit/ but pretty cool places.

[Anonymous No.17989173]

>>17987289
I'm from Eastern Europe, isn't NY basically just a jewish mecca?

[Anonymous No.17989181]

>>17988875
Brotherly Love is often used ironically so I get what you mean. There are horrible ghettos in every major city though. It’s just the nature of the beast. I grew up there so I’m sure I’m biased. It can be an apathetic city in its own way though. Besides some isolated incidents here and there, Philly seems to stay out of the bullshit politics of today compared to most cities. A lot of people just stay in their lane. I’ve always felt Boston had a similar blue collar mentality like Philly but is much more of a facade

[Anonymous No.17989195]

>>17988034
Tóp kék

[Anonymous No.17989208]

>>17988034
so downtown los angeles

[Anonymous No.17989229]

Boston is probably the coolest because of its history and in certain parts great beauty. Any city is going to have shitty aspects, you know, but Boston doesn't seem to be in the headlines too much.

[Anonymous No.17989289]

tfw new england countryside is the most /lit/ possible area to live in the usa

[Anonymous No.17989415]

>>17989289
No countryside is /lit/. I’m absolutely convinced that if you didn’t grow up in a major city or move to one when you were younger, your odds of becoming a successful novelist, for example, are slim to none.

[Anonymous No.17989428]

>>17989136
> Beijing
No.
> Shanghai
No, but less of a no.
> Lhasa
No clue but I highly doubt it.

[Anonymous No.17989493]

>>17989415
This may be very true

[Anonymous No.17989541]

>>17987289
None.

[Anonymous No.17989574]

>>17989415
I’m 28 and I’ve never lived in a city. I kind of feel like it’s completely over for me for that reason alone.

[Anonymous No.17989603]

>>17987493
Chicago is like New York, but with more industry (at least historically speaking, most of it has left now) and fewer Jews (unless you count the suburbs, which you shouldn't.) I don't know if I'd call it /lit/. The Newberry Library probably counts for something, although you have to be an academic or a student to access their collection. Their yearly book sale is great, though. The Chicago Public Library has a pretty decent collection, but their facilities are godawful. Not only are most of the buildings homeless magnets, but all the new libraries constructed over the past couple years seem to have been designed to minimize the amount of space dedicated to books. This is a problem all over the US, but it's particularly bad in Chicago. The Harold Washington Library, the main branch where most of the books are, is also an abomination. It looks kind of nice from the outside, but the interior is a complete nightmare to navigate and has all the ambiance of a municipal courtroom crossed with a truck stop bathroom. There are good used bookstores all over the place, but none of them are as big as the ones in New York. The Powell's Books near the University of Chicago has a lot of good stuff as a result of students and professors using it to get rid of their old books.

[Anonymous No.17989610]

>>17989109
I know what a twink is lol. But who is "the parliament twink?"

[Anonymous No.17989615]

>>17989574
We know, we know. You moved back to your college town or some shit. You have been posting about it so much lately.

[Anonymous No.17989622]

>>17987322
niggers ruin everything

[Anonymous No.17989623]

>>17987493
Chicago's always been an industrialized, 20th century city and this is reflected in its design and demographics. Most of the city is actually single family homes indistinguishable from its suburbs.

It has some absolutely beautiful parts and cool urban places to live, but they're islands in a sea of mediocrity (or dystopia, if you're including the worst parts).

Great place to live if you want "big city living" on a budget (it's much cheaper than NYC/Boston/LA/San Fran), but it's still a compromise.

[Anonymous No.17989633]

>>17987289
dont know if anyone else has been there, but i really liked Leden in the Netherlands. Its built in a start fortress and is a collage town that not as crazy and weed/busy/hipsterladen as amsterdam.

Its nice and relatively quite with the right amount of touristyness. did a study abroad there.

[Anonymous No.17989635]

>>17989615
What are you talking about?

[Anonymous No.17989653]

>>17989635
You mean you're not the 28 year old anon who wants to move to NYC because he's never experienced city life and he hates his job and the town he lives in and so on? He's been all over /lit/ lately, whining about his life

[Anonymous No.17989655]

>>17987846
Chicago's definitely the kind of city where you go home at 4-5PM, and then either settle in or get a change of clothes and a shower before going out of the night. Only drunks and young people in their 20s hit a happy hour straight out of the office.

[Anonymous No.17989668]

>>17989653
no im 17 and i came here to become radicalized when all i get is /int/ repackaged.

[Anonymous No.17989677]

>>17989603
Found a human turd on the sidewalk the other day in one of the more affluent areas of Chicago. Second this year!

Been accosted by three rambling schizophrenics in three days, too. You know that means it's going to be a hot summer.

[Anonymous No.17989681]

>>17989603
Harold Washington is awful, and Jackson Red Line stop is like the #1 place to become the victim of a violent crime if you're a tourist.;

[Anonymous No.17989683]

>>17989677
I never get this kind of shit in boston. maybe i go to places where they die or are kept out or is too far to hobble to.

[Anonymous No.17989688]

>>17987289
Isn't Iowa City supposed to be /lit? It was put by UNESCO as America's first "city of literature", now Iowa City and Seattle are the only two. I'm openly retarded though and only know this from wikipedia

[Anonymous No.17989703]

>>17989677
Streeterville resident here, I saw someone take a shit in the lobby of a Chase bank in Gold Coast last week.

COIVD has just made them more aggressive.

[Anonymous No.17989711]

>>17989683
not the guy you're replying to, but I just spent a week in Boston and the homeless and crazy there just can't compete with the homeless and crazy we have in Chicago. Boston's are almost charming and whimsical in comparison.

[Anonymous No.17989721]

>>17989711
wonder why. we got homeless in the crack pot old factory towns though.

[Anonymous No.17989738]

>>17989688
I would only guess it made the list because the University of Iowa has a very famous English department and MFA program, but I've never personally met a grad that was anything special.

[Anonymous No.17989754]

>>17989681
>Jackson Red Line stop
I don't know what the fuck the people who designed the Red line stations downtown were thinking, it's like they were trying to create the ideal environment for a stabbing. I'm getting anxious just looking at this picture.

[Anonymous No.17989760]

Buenos aires
Rio de janeiro
Mexico city

Bonus:
Santiago
Havana

[Anonymous No.17989832]

>>17989415
>>17989574

Meh. Shakespeare grew up in Stratford, a small provincial town, and lived in London, which was an illiterate shithole (literally, people dumping chamber pots out windows spreading plague) of 180,000 people. Homer lived in 800 BC when there were vanishingly few literate people in existence. Tolstoy grew on on an estate and lived in utter luxury and sloth until he was well into his 20s.

You don't NEED a city

[Anonymous No.17989858]

>>17987289
In the US, Seattle is the whitest big city (read: the most white people, virtually zero blacks, latinos, or jews) and it's generally safe to wander anywhere without worrying about entering the wrong neighborhood. More people have library cards and use them than in any other city in the US.
There are great cultural amenities including symphony, opera, and ballet.
There is a large university right in the city (UW) which has a beautiful campus to walk around. The yearly bloom of cherry blossoms in the Quad is a sight to behold.
Is your idea of /lit/ the beauty of nature and majestic landscape? The city surrounded by bodies of water and two serious mountain ranges on either side. You can leave the middle of downtown and be hiking up a mountain far from civilization in less than an hour. Three major national parks (Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic) are within easy driving distance if you want to get away from it all.

[Anonymous No.17989900]

>>17987683
do you realize how many millions of people live nyc on less than 50k? saying nyc is too expensive is pure cope

[Anonymous No.17989939]

>>17987929
did vienna manage to maintain its charm and identity ?

[Anonymous No.17989952]

>>17989677
Sounds like literally every American city

>>17989683
Except for Boston. It’s why I said it’s the only nice city.

[Anonymous No.17989957]

>>17989688
No. Iowa City has some creative writing course and Seattle is wannabe writer central. They’re forced memes. Just look up notable 21st century American authors. The majority of them will live in or be from New York.

[Anonymous No.17989973]

>>17989832
>You don't NEED a city
Yeah, you could just grow up in 800 BC or a wealthy estate instead. Easy peasy.

[Anonymous No.17989979]

>>17989653
No but honestly it sounds more like something you’ve honed in on then anything else considering I have no idea what you’re talking about.

[Anonymous No.17989983]

>>17987289
DCfag reporting in. AMA

[Anonymous No.17990112]

>>17987683
I'm about to start college in New York to study writing. Should I be excited or have I made a mistake?

[Anonymous No.17990147]

>>17990112
I would be excited. If you want to write, it’s pretty much the place to be. If I were 18 again, I’d just go straight there.

[Anonymous No.17991077]

>>17987493
>Chicago
Yea its nice
A little money goes a long way. Its Americas one reasonably priced big city. Dollar for dollar the best major city in the states.

[Anonymous No.17991113]

Buenos Aires (when lefties and niggers aren't wreaking havoc)

[Anonymous No.17991116]

>>17987289
Cities are cringe and stultifying — you must be able to walk and sit in nature unmolested

[Anonymous No.17991134]

If we call /lit/ cities the cities with nicest libraries/bookstores/etc, NYC is an obvious first choice. I will say though (and I know this will spark some level of controversy) that Portland is up there for the used/thrift bookstore culture and Powell's Books alone.

In terms of /lit/ aesthetics or history, I would say Tangier, Koenigsburg (fuck calling it Kaliningrad), Toledo, Sapporo, and Prague.

Paris, Berlin, and Seattle are tied for cities with extremely high highs and unbelievably low lows.

[Anonymous No.17991792]

>>17988114
Where are you from? If you tell me I will tell you the media perception I have of where you are from and you will tell me how it is inaccurate and most people don't care about that BS and what the media reports is to push a political agenda.

[Anonymous No.17991830]

>>17987289
Crescent "City"
Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, city so nice they named it twice (or Apizaco)
Mérida
Winniemucca
Redding
Richmond CA
Needles-Bullhead City area
And of course, Slab City

[Anonymous No.17991841]

>>17987322
New Orleans is the worst, like a fucking zoo.

[Anonymous No.17991867]

So what's it like actually living in a city?

[Anonymous No.17993262]

>>17991867
Shit air quality, unending noise, homeless junkies, whores, faggots, pseuds, expensive, etc...
You can rarely find a moment of quiet/solitude, even when in your own home.
It can be fun if you take advantage of the things your city offers you, my favorite parts of living in NYC were the museums and the food.

[Anonymous No.17993323]

>>17987929
Tehran is a decaying shithole lol

[Anonymous No.17993456]

>>17991867
It depends on the city. New York was a totally different experience than living in Tokyo and Shanghai were.

[Anonymous No.17993520]

>open thread
>search my City
>nobody mentioned it

[Anonymous No.17993532]

>>17987493
Yeah go to Chicago. But don't talk to anybody that city is full of fucking morons. Just eat some hot dogs and look at the decay.

[Anonymous No.17993579]

>>17991867
it very much depends on the neighborhoods you live and spend your time in. you will have access to a lot of interesting things (and people), but only if you make the attempt. the tradeoff is that your living conditions will likely be cramped, noisy and expensive.

some personality types will not thrive in cities, but even to them I think it is very much preferable to the grey purgatory that is american suburbia.

[Anonymous No.17993643]

I live in Louisville Kentucky (a moderately sized American city) in an upper class neighbourhood. I almost never leave my house though.

When I talk to my friends from New York City, LA, Chicago and San Fran they always tell me how much they loved it but then they’ll casually say stuff like “Yeah I got stomped out by a group of blacks hanging around the subway entrance and robbed” or they talk about getting mugged or randomly attacked. One girl I knew got carjacked while she was in the back of an Uber and a gun put in her face.

This has never happened to me. Is it really common for violence to be so widespread and common so as to desensitise someone like that? They all mention these episodes of violence without any kind of horror.

I have a good amount of money and I’m tired of living like a recluse and thought maybe relocating to a big city like New York, San Fransisco, Seattle, Portland, Boston or Atlanta might help me overcome this rut I’m in but I really don’t want to get attacked by black people...

[Anonymous No.17994132]

>>17993643
Bumpkins that live in quiet little towns like yours won't understand, especially shut-ins like you.
Living in the city means being exposed to danger, to reality. This is how you accrue life experience.
Getting mugged and beaten by inner city thugs is a unique experience that will help you write a gritty realistic novel that strikes a chord with the urbanite crowd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg

[Anonymous No.17994442]

>>17994132
Living in a city means you're choosing to pay more to be exposed to high rates of violent crimes, it's not "more real" or some other retarded wigger-like statement, it's just worse.

[Anonymous No.17994490]

I live in a certain eastern-european capital.
I always thought it was a shithole but recently realized that I don’t have much to complain about. I have a low stress job which pays for rent in a decent apartment, food, clothes and other.
Also, not many racial minorities, immigrants, no western neo-liberalism mindset - in other ways, an escape from the clown world into a post-soviet environment with cute girls and cheap (but quality) food and drinks.
Nothing prevents me from writing and I use the opportunity.

[Anonymous No.17994501]

>>17994490
>ways
words
dumb phoneposter etc

[Anonymous No.17994563]

>>17993643
>Is it really common for violence to be so widespread and common so as to desensitise someone like that?
can't speak for my friends, but lived in nyc for 10 years now, i've been jumped, assaulted, and threatened many times in the subway, have also broken up many fights or prevented them from happening. also saved a dude who fell onto the tracks from getting run over by the f train. nyc is a shithole, all the people that "love it here" have cars or dont need to take the subway very often.

[Anonymous No.17994604]

>>17994563
Mostly by blacks right?

[Anonymous No.17994639]

>>17993643
Yes and there are retards like >>17994132 who think that’s a good thing because it’s “gritty”. I’ve said in many times in this thread. Boston is the only “good” city in the United States. Pittsburgh is also not that bad. Cities like New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia are tolerable at best.

>>17994604
Of course

[Anonymous No.17994647]

>>17994563
I’ve had people try to start conflicts with me in the street or on the train in Philadelphia but I’ve never actually been robbed or mugged or jumped or anything.

[Anonymous No.17994678]

>>17994563
This is also why people live in the suburbs. As much as it sucks, it lets them live in a place where they won’t get shot or stabbed over $20 dollars or because some psycho decided to flip out because you wouldn’t buy his mixtape on the subway. They can work and mingle in the city and not have to worry about that stuff.

Living in East Asia, was eye opening for me. Those cities have problems too same as anywhere else but it made me realize just how fucking awful European and American cities have gotten. American small towns and suburbs are easier than American cities and Asian cities are easier than any American city or suburb by a mile.

[Anonymous No.17994680]

>>17994639
I guess Boston it is then

[Anonymous No.17994685]

>>17994647
The regional rail? I could see the el or subway. Most people are cool if you aren’t a target and stay in your own lane. Worst is nigs trying to sell loose cigarettes or cologne

[Anonymous No.17994690]

>>17988114
its worse

[Anonymous No.17994699]

>>17994678
East Asian is cleaner and safer isn’t it?

[Anonymous No.17994705]

>>17994639
Get a load of this hipster.
>"Oh look at me, I live in Boston, I got to MIT and drink Starbucks every day while complaining about the lack of black people in my gentrified neighborhood."
*spits* You better stay there boy, your soft weak ass wouldn't last a day in the Big Apple.

[Anonymous No.17994711]

>>17987289
Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Freiburg, Zagreb, Mostar are ones that I can personally attest to.

[Anonymous No.17994715]

>>17987929
where are montreal and quebec city on this list? havana? seattle? st. petersburg? madrid, milan, rome, barcelona?

[Anonymous No.17994718]

>>17994685
All of the above. In streets, on trains, at bars, even on a trolley 30 minutes outside of the actual city. American cities have a real fucking problem with quality control people-wise. They make living in any real American city almost unbearable unless you’re rich enough to insulate yourself or just a workaholic who never leaves the office. My friend had all of his fucking teeth stomped out by a gang of urban youths while walking home from work and he still talks about how he loves the edginess and hustle and bustle of the city. He works all the time and when he’s not working, he’s getting his teeth knocked out. How wonderful. Only upside for him is that he has a hot Asian girlfriend who didn’t leave once he started eating from a straw.

[Anonymous No.17994729]

>>17994699
Yes. They’re just better in every way. I felt safer and more comfortable in Tokyo than I did in my tiny little rural American college town.

[Anonymous No.17994738]

>>17994705
Actually, I live in Philadelphia now which is the worst aspects of both and a hell of a lot darker

[Anonymous No.17994753]

>>17994738
Wonderful! You can write a novel that people want to read after having lived in such a harsh and unforgiving city.

[Anonymous No.17994754]

>>17989415
Today, absolutely. Historically, not at all.

[Anonymous No.17994769]

>>17994753
You have to live in or grow up in New York City or Seattle to get published today, as other anons have mentioned.

[Anonymous No.17994775]

>>17994729
Story time? Maybe just elaborate briefly on the differences you noticed.

[Anonymous No.17994812]

>>17994775
I don’t know how much of a story there is to tell. They’re just safer, cleaner (for the most part), more polite, more civilized, better public spaces, better transportation, even the food and restaurants are usually better. They’re still cities so they have problems of being cities but they’re not at all the dystopian like “navigate around the hypodermic needles and chicken bones and then make it past the gang of black thugs to get to work” hell scapes that American cities have become. Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Sapporo alone are significantly better than any Western city in my honest opinion.

[Anonymous No.17994853]

>>17989688
Iowa City is a small fry city with college bars and a number of 3 star restaurants on one end, on the other housing projects and trailer parks. St. Louis and Minneapolis are larger, more significant places in the Midwest for a similar rent.

[Anonymous No.17994855]

There are plenty of great provincial writers. Even writers such as Dickens and G. Eliot wrote about provincial settings despite spending a good part of their lives in London. Anyone who is blaming their place of birth is just coping.

[Anonymous No.17994865]

>>17994853
I’m 27, have lived in America my whole life, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a place called “Iowa City”

[Anonymous No.17994870]

>>17994769
So, move? You already admitted you are living in a shithole, moving to another one shouldn't make much of a difference except that you have a shot at getting published.

[Anonymous No.17994876]

>>17994855
HP Lovecraft never left Providence Rhode Island except for two years he lived in Brooklyn while he was married where he became ill and got robbed.

[Anonymous No.17994895]

>>17994870
Well, I was trying to move abroad last year actually and coronavirus put a halt to it so I haven’t figured out what I’m doing yet.

[Anonymous No.17995014]

>>17994718
I’ve lived around Philadelphia my whole life and have been in poor areas often. I’ve never been messed with. You guys must have targets on your back

[Anonymous No.17995028]

>>17995014
Yeah it must be just us. That is, just us and all those other “targets” that give this city the highest violent crime rate of American cities with population over a million. All those Temple students who get killed just wear targets too. They should know better than to be students.

[Anonymous No.17995365]

>>17994442
>>17994678
>>17994718
>>17995028
t. never lived in a city. this is just suburbia cope.

>>17993643
yeah, you'll have to deal with some antisocial behavior in cities. its a consequence of of density, you're in an environment where you can't avoid human interaction. still, nyc's the safest it's ever been right now.

in america your only other alternatives are living in bumfuck meth country, or a dismal suburbia that will subsume your soul and turn you into a bugman.

[Anonymous No.17995446]

London
Zurich
Paris
Santiago
Buenos Aires
Mexico DF
Vienna
Saint Petersburg
Tbilisi

[Anonymous No.17995447]

>>17994865
Iowa writers workshop and associated professors make this town more lit than populations 100x its size.

[Anonymous No.17995469]

>>17995365
3 of the comments you quoted are me and I lived in New York for most of my life. It’s bizarre how you people just default to “t. flyover” when someone says something you don’t like.

[Anonymous No.17995481]

>>17995446
> London
No
> Paris
No
> Zurich
I don’t know but I doubt it
> Vienna
No
> Saint Petersburg
Possibly but Moscow is more likely

[Anonymous No.17995491]

>>17995365
I lived in New York City for half a decade, bugman. I would much rather live out in the country where I'm not paying top dollar to be a cog paying rent and getting preyed on by criminals that the politicians say are just a victim of the system.
Oh no, woe is me, I actually own my property and have acres of land to enjoy rather than being a bugman living with roaches. How ever will I live without constant stimulus to distract me from all the shitty parts of my city? OH WAIT, I don't live in one and so I don't actually need to constantly distract myself to be 'happy'.

[Anonymous No.17995530]

Imagine concerning oneself with cities that most people have heard of and thinking the greatest essences of /lit/ will be found there.

[Anonymous No.17995627]

>>17995469
so where do you live now that's such a paradise?

[Anonymous No.17995650]

>>17995365
>nyc's the safest it's ever been right now.
i will defend nyc's safety for the most part even though i hate living here, but this is bullshit, crime is insane right now and parts of manhattan are closer to the '80s than they've ever been. walk around the new penn station, it's a fucking wasteland.

[Anonymous No.17995670]

>>17995650
yang is gonna get that shit cleaned up quick, sign a new lease while the gettin's good

[Anonymous No.17995694]

>>17987289
Rome

[Anonymous No.17995704]

>>17987635
Strand is shit and they most definitely do curate these days, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything other than your usual classics, cheap cookbooks, some nuyorican retard poetry and the latest Amy Klobuchar memoir. There’s a noname bookstore a block down that is leaps and bounds better.

[Anonymous No.17995721]

>>17987929
>No Skt Petersburg

You're subhuman

[Anonymous No.17995722]

>>17995028
Most crime in Philadelphia is insular. It’s largely black on black or rican on rican. There aren’t many temple students killed. There are a couple isolated incidents here and there

[Anonymous No.17995748]

>>17995491
i will admit that there is an appeal to living in true wilderness, and there are probably some types of personalities that thrive in it.

however to most people living comfortably on acres of your own land is about as remote as owning a townhouse in manhattan. to most people, living 'outside the city' means a mcmansion in a grey commuter suburb or a trailer park outside of town.

living like a rat in an interesting slum does seem preferable to that

>>17995650
ok things are fucky lately. i think it's a secular uptick though. i was roadtripping through the southwest a few months back and all the people were looking at me strange, acting off. feels like the kali yuga

[Anonymous No.17995782]

>>17991134
Toledo, Ohio?

[Anonymous No.17995817]

>>17995028
Philadelphia is also the poorest American city with a population of over a million. See a connection, perhaps? I've been living here for 10 years and the worst thing to ever happen to me has been getting into an argument with some asshole after he almost hit me with his car. I know a handful of people who have been robbed but that's about it.

[Anonymous No.17995881]

>>17995365
>nyc's the safest it's ever been right now.
This is completely wrong.

[Anonymous No.17995885]

>>17995722
Only 6 students on average being murdered in cold blood every year. No big deal, right?

This insular shit is nonsense. It spills over in Philly more than anywhere else, I think.

>>17995817
Oh just a handful? Is that all? Well, since you’ve never had a hard time then surely we could just assume the millions of us feel the same.

I don’t know how you could defend it to be honest. This is why 7/11s need bulletproof glass and then have them taken down because they’re racist or whatever. This city is a shithole statistically and anecdotally. How you could possibly spend 5 minutes even driving through North Philly or god forbid Kensington and not see that plainly and truthfully is beyond me. Must be retarded or a liar to be perfectly frank.

[Anonymous No.17995898]

Kensington is fine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBoDT-3oM0

[Anonymous No.17995927]

>>17995898
You just don’t get it. These people just put targets on their backs. It’s not real.

[Anonymous No.17995938]

>>17995898
Kensington operates like a business. Open air drug dealing on many corners. They want their money so they are going to police it somewhat. Most crime is junkies trying to scam or lure naive junkies. You almost never hear of a white person being killed because they are the money source. Now, not sure if it’s gotten better but Strawberry Mansion is a place I wouldn’t wander through as a white person.

[Anonymous No.17995950]

>>17995885
You realize you could say the same thing about literally every major city? The Temple kids probably ran their mouth when they shouldn’t have or where easy targets wandering drunk at night and fought back for their $20 bill in their wallet. Not saying they deserve it but they probably handled themselves poorly in an altercation

[Anonymous No.17995956]

>>17995950
>The Temple kids probably ran their mouth when they shouldn’t have or where easy targets wandering drunk at night and fought back for their $20 bill in their wallet. Not saying they deserve it
jesus the apologetics you people get up to, what must it be like to live in a white liberal's mind?

[Anonymous No.17995979]

>>17995950
>You realize you could say the same thing about literally every major city?
No you can’t because the statistics are what they are. There was a Temple student just a year or two ago, and I remember this one because I had known about him through a friend, who was shot and killed for his bike when he was just sitting on his porch with his girlfriend. The thing was even caught on camera. He literally just got ran up, shot and murdered. He was 21 and a Business student. This city is in disarray and the fact that people like you will still defend it for the simple fact that you’re desensitized to it or because “Hey, not my problem. It’s never happened to me.” is pathetic.

[Anonymous No.17995983]

>>17993643
the best part is when you say you don't like that kind of casual violence and they suddenly get mad and say
>IT'S JUST A CITY!!! ALL CITIES ARE LIKE THAT IT'S JUST A CITY THEY ARE ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED THE ONLY REASON ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS IS IF YOU'RE IN THE WRONG AREAS JUST KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU AND LOOK AROUND ALL CITIES ARE UNSAFE AND IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT THEY ARE ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED YOU PROBABLY MOUTHED OFF TO THE WRONG CRACKHEAD!!!
they are so convinced of it that they're willing to die for it, and more than that, kill others by giving them bad advice and by letting the situation continue

[Anonymous No.17995988]

>>17995950
i cant believe people actually defend this shit. i bet money this guy has never even been in Philadelphia.

[Anonymous No.17995995]

What a beautiful city! If you have a problem with it, you’re the problem!
https://youtu.be/hPG6JjuxjWE

[Anonymous No.17996005]

>>17995995
I am become Brazil

https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/anarcho-tyranny-u-s-a-5/

[Anonymous No.17996025]

>>17995956
I’m not liberal and I don’t like niggers or spics. I’m not saying the kids deserved it but they put themselves in a bad situation. Just like a drunk girl passed out in an alley put herself in a bad situation doesn’t deserve to be raped. I have a feeling you either don’t have many street smarts, common sense, or look soft

[Anonymous No.17996033]

>>17996025
>i don't like niggers that's why whenever i see someone criticizing crime i tell them YO THAT'S THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE YO I BET YOU SOFT I BET YOU REAL SOFT GET HARD LIKE ME GET BIG LAW OF THE JUNGLE

ah okay so you're just a retard

[Anonymous No.17996046]

>>17995988
Unfortunately I’m no stranger to Kensington. I got clean 10 years ago.

[Anonymous No.17996055]

>>17996005
That’s a good article and I think the Philadelphia convenience store bullet proof glass fiasco fits it to a T.

[Anonymous No.17996082]

if you’re an American in this thread and you’re worried about pretending that you’re in a literary city over your survival, you’re basically retarded. I live in St. Louis and it actually manages to be safe downtown because nobody is there except for office workers and homeless

[Anonymous No.17996093]

> They were probably running their mouths, dude! This is just what it’s like to live in a city!
https://youtu.be/TtKBego5f5M
https://youtu.be/yDpJ_r_9ELc
https://youtu.be/ru1Ae6bc-e4

[Anonymous No.17996105]

>>17996082
>actually manages to be safe downtown
>45% black

[Anonymous No.17996113]

>>17996033
This is the same kind of poster who believes in “might is right” fascism

[Anonymous No.17996117]

>>17995782
Kek, no. Toledo, Spain. It's something out of Don Quixote, really beautiful.

[Anonymous No.17996118]

The guy just wouldn’t let go of his $20! Doesn’t he know this is just part of living in a big city?!
https://youtu.be/ayLiyuaaYPo

[Anonymous No.17996123]

>>17996082
>St. Louis
>safe

[Anonymous No.17996124]

>>17996105

yes, but it’s empty. you can see someone trying to kill you from a mile away. I have more problems with the roving bands of white heroin addicts down there than blacks

[Anonymous No.17996145]

>>17996124
Camden is the same way but only because it’s such a shithole that it’s basically been deserted.

[Anonymous No.17996156]

>>17996113
what the hell are you talking about? i was making fun of him/you for not understanding that they are two different questions. you can be like "lol what are you retarded why did you go to the shit area of town at 2am" guy and "we need to fix our town by not voting for incompetent corrupt politicians" guy at the same time.

responding to someone saying their crime-filled shit city sucks by implicitly boasting that you aren't "soft" is a non sequitur, nobody cares about your WWF monologue about how nobody fucks with you and you are very streetwise, the point at issue is politics

probably an actual pussy white liberal who has never had to live in a real shit area and thinks everything can be solved by carrying a switchblade.

[Anonymous No.17997587]

It’s got to be St. Petersburg. When I think of /lit/ cities I think of where the greats were writing and that’s namely, Paris, London, New York and St. Petersburg. Of those, the only city which isn’t undeniably a shell of its former self overrun by the consequences of runaway ultra-modernism and unrestrained liberal policies is St. Petersburg. Those harsh Russian winters are probably pretty conducive to staying inside and reading or writing books too.

[Anonymous No.17998533]

for me it's boston massachusetts

[Anonymous No.17999401]

>>17995950
It's worse than I thought, Americans really are battered housewives to their niggers.
I grew up in Belgrade Serbia which has wild gypsy encampments popping up in any unzoned land, and it's still safer lmao fucking retards

[Anonymous No.17999653]

>>17987868
a person I knew went to Mexico city, took a taxi and was robbed, shot dead and his corpse was found in a trash container a few days later

[Anonymous No.17999691]

>>17987493
Don't go to Chimpcongo.

[Anonymous No.17999709]

>>17988034
lol

[Anonymous No.18000573]

There is literally no other answer

[Anonymous No.18000659]

>>17987289
Honestly, Athens is very based

[Anonymous No.18000661]

>>17987289
Wouldn't that make Cleveland the most American city

[Anonymous No.18000728]

>>17989688
Have you ever fucking been to Iowa City? It's a college campus spread across mid sized corn town. Place fucking blows and the students weren't good enough for Illinois/Michigan/Wisconsin

[Anonymous No.18000748]

>>17987289
New York is honestly one of the biggest dumps on earth. The negative aspects outweigh the positive by a huge margin now. San Fran is even worse and they should never have let the new tech bros come.

[Anonymous No.18000766]

>>17987582
> Tokyo is the best city

This and it's not close. Vancouver used to be up there too but it has fallen massively in the last decade or two. Montreal is pretty great especially if you stick to old town.

[Anonymous No.18000796]

>>17987974
> the crime is confined to a handful of neighborhoods

That "handful of neighborhoods" consists of like 60% of the city now. Shootings and murders happen regularly in places that had basically no crime 15 years ago. The problems are only getting worse too.

[Anonymous No.18000928]

>>17995898
This is disgusting. The US needs Judge Dredd.

[Anonymous No.18000994]

>>17995898
Pure concentrated sovl
Beautiful display of diversity here
Just look at them enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city, even in the dead of the night
This is the kind of gritty realism that creates life experience you need to write a good novel people want to read

[Anonymous No.18001594]

An underrated city that people should look into is Pittsburgh. It’s not that big and it’s not that /lit/ nor is it as nice as Boston but it’s kind of just decent all around and while it has bad areas, it’s nothing like that video of Philly up above. Pittsburgh is honestly the most American city I’ve encountered.

[Anonymous No.18001655]

>>18000796
That’s disappointing to hear. I always liked Chicago because it felt like a smaller, cheaper, cleaner, and (practically, not statistically) safer version of New York but it sounds like that’s maybe not the case anymore.

[Anonymous No.18001926]

Is New York actually worth it? I grew up in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, which is like the outermost edge of what the New York City metro area touches and I've always thought about moving to New York, especially since it's the biggest hub of publishing and literature in the country. I like visiting the place but it's just so expensive, dirty, and lately, seemingly unsafe. Are there any NYC dwellers that can confirm or deny? I've lived in Philly before and as other anons have mentioned, I found it pretty not great.

[Anonymous No.18002139]

>>18001594
I was just there 36 hours ago. Nice place. I wouldn't mind living there but I think i ran out of all culutural tourist activities in two days lol

[Anonymous No.18002831]

>>17987946
>Chiraq
I prefer "Chicongo", personally.

[Anonymous No.18003362]

Apparently 1 in 10 people living in Iceland publish a book, most of them living Reykjavik. That probably speaks more to the idea that there’s nowhere left to go rather than anything particularly awesome about Iceland to be honest.

[Anonymous No.18003629]

Americans are fucking dumb

[Anonymous No.18003790]

>>17989858
Annoying stoners + rampant homelessness + chink/god knows what kind of African immigrants = not lit

[Anonymous No.18004182]

>>17987868
where i live it´s comfy, the only thing i don´t like is the hot summer and yes, we also have an annual book fair, i buy a bunch of the classics from there

[Anonymous No.18004306]

>>17989229
Boston sucks because of the weather.
its either way too hot or way too cold.
also the city is a mish-mash of different styles that make it kinda unsightly, especially with the weather.
also a lot of the people are either total snobs or total meat-heads.

[Anonymous No.18004328]

no idea what makes a city /lit/, but I just moved to frankfurt recently and it's pretty cool. Kinda like a smaller sized tokyo, except for the criminal hotspots

[Anonymous No.18004447]

>>17989688
Kek are you the same anon who always posts Iowa City in these threads? Based

[Anonymous No.18004480]

>>18003790
These are 100x worse in Portland, Seattle is as good as it gets in the PWC

[Anonymous No.18004886]

>>18004306

Boston being a war between drunk Irishmen and poetic Irishmen seems nice

[Anonymous No.18004928]

>>17995885
I used to live in north philly and lived in port richmond near kensington. I've done a lot more than "drive through" these neighborhoods. If you're gonna be such a bitch just leave, goddamn

[Anonymous No.18005305]

salt lake city

[Anonymous No.18005371]

>>18004480
Seattle is not as safe as you make it sound and it’s still filled with homeless junkies and alcoholics.

[Anonymous No.18005880]

>>18001655
Chicago isn't as bad as some anons make it out to be. Well... it is, but the parts that are violent shitholes are heavily segregated from much of the city. They're practically two different cities if you know where to go during the day.
>>18001926
Worth it for what - publishing opportunities and literature communities? There are a few yuppie gentrified niches where they're active but not what you're probably looking for. I was a teen there for a couple years. There was a time when NYC was like nowhere else in the world and some of ethic kitsches in places like Brooklyn before gentrification (and the tragedy of '75) were unforgettable. It made the melting pot idea of America sound real and appealing. But that NYC is dead and covid put the nail in the coffin, it'll never be the same as it was before 2020. Also how sure are you that you can afford it?

[Anonymous No.18006180]

>>17987536
Blame the democrats

[Anonymous No.18006185]

>>17987289
>Tennessee Williams is reported to have said that New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans were the only distinct cities in America and that all the others resembled Cleveland.
Not true literally (Seattle, Chicago etc) but directionally true.