Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Certainly Miami, New Orleans and Savannah, and college/tourist towns like Charlottesville or Asheville. But yeah, that scene isn't common in the South. But again, it's one street, for a few blocks, with mostly mall chain stores.
And I get the appeal. There are a few residential blocks, near the Battery, that are outstanding and unique, by any standard. And there's a larger prewar area that's pretty solid. I just wonder why Charleston is such an outlier, and so endlessly praised/beloved for being different, when 98% of it looks like any other newer Sunbelt metro, and the people moving there are in typical sprawl.
Like why not Mobile, or Richmond, or Knoxville? No one from Syracuse or Dayton goes crazy for those places, and they too have a few special blocks, milder weather, and water? Mobile has a really interesting core, and zero hype, plus ocean and it's just as hot.
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I know I'm biased, but the Lowcountry aesthetic, which can be found all over the region, is pretty alluring. The mature oak trees draped with moss with Palmetto trees sprinkled in, historic sites, and water views in various places in the Charleston area makes for an overall attractive place along the coast. James Island, John's Island, Daniel Island, Isle of Palms, Mount Pleasant, Goose Creek, etc all have that in spades, and other suburban areas aren't too far away.
Unlike the other cities you mention, Charleston has long promoted itself and been known as a tourist location, even before its modern reinvention in the 70s under former mayor Joe Riley. Knoxville is nothing like Charleston so I don't know why you mentioned it. Richmond certainly shares similarities but it's not coastal and hasn't really promoted itself in the same way as Charleston, plus it has a reputation for crime. Mobile is an interesting case as it does have an interesting historic downtown but it also razed a lot of what it had. Even still it also suffers from a lack of self-promotion. You can't underestimate the benefits of selling yourself, especially when you get some big-name companies to create lots of jobs in the region like Charleston has over the past several years (Boeing, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, etc.).