AP: 30 cities so recognizable, no state name needed in articles and writings

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Back on topic, the 30 cities listed seem kinda dated now.

I mean, there's now a whole slew of sunbelt cities just as large and well-known, or even moreso in some cases, as places like Cincinnati, Indy, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, etc.

I'm thinking of cities like Austin, Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando, Tampa, etc.

Austin: older baby boomers (in the northeastern US at least) generally think about Austin in the way they think about Harrisburg or Albany... that it's the state capital. It's really not on their radar as a major city or "so recognizable" place.

Charlotte: the average Joe or Jane couldn't tell you in which Carolina it's located... it's probably the most anonymous big city.

Nashville: can stand on its own.

Orlando: Ibid.

Tampa: Ibid.

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Columbus falls into the same category as other cities that are big but have names that are just common enough that you have to qualify them with the state, if it is for national audiences: Columbus, Buffalo, Rochester, Richmond, Norfolk, Arlington, San Jose, and a couple others.

Columbus: kinda in the Austin state capital class, but even less so. Overshadowed by the other more recognizable "C" names in the state. Hasn't been nationally prominent for long enough yet to deserve "so recognizable" stand-alone status.

Rochester: not even close to being nationally prominent enough.

Norfolk: Ibid.

Arlington: Which soulless, bland suburb are we talking about?

San Jose: Which one -- the capital of New Mexico or where the soap opera takes place?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Austin: older baby boomers (in the northeastern US at least) generally think about Austin in the way they think about Harrisburg or Albany... that it's the state capital. It's really not on their radar as a major city or "so recognizable" place.

Charlotte: the average Joe or Jane couldn't tell you in which Carolina it's located... it's probably the most anonymous big city.

Nashville: can stand on its own.

Orlando: Ibid.

Tampa: Ibid.




Columbus: kinda in the Austin state capital class, but even less so. Overshadowed by the other more recognizable "C" names in the state. Hasn't been nationally prominent for long enough yet to deserve "so recognizable" stand-alone status.

Rochester: not even close to being nationally prominent enough.

Norfolk: Ibid.

Arlington: Which soulless, bland suburb are we talking about?

San Jose: Which one -- the capital of New Mexico or where the soap opera takes place?

Strong disagree on the Charlotte take. I think everybody knows it is in North Carolina since South Carolina has no major pro sports franchises.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Peoria, IL is historically the more well known one.

But Peoria, AZ (a Phoenix burb) is now the more populous one.


Peoria, IL 2020: 113,150

Peoria, AZ 2020: 190,985


However, Peoria, IL is still the central city of a 400K MSA, while Peoria, AZ is just a generic sprawlburb.

Peoria is a generic boomburb, except that it hosts spring training sites, so there are people in southern California and Washington state that are acutely aware of Peoria.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by pj3000

San Jose: Which one -- the capital of New Mexico or where the soap opera takes place?

What are you talking about?

[azliam]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Peoria is a generic boomburb, except that it hosts spring training sites, so there are people in southern California and Washington state that are acutely aware of Peoria.

The North Peoria area also serves as a primary residential and industrial support zone for the TSMC semiconductor boom in North Phoenix. Amkor also secured a massive 171-acre footprint near the Loop 303 in Peoria to package advanced computer chips produced directly by TSMC.

[xzmattzx]

Maybe he meant the capital of Costa Rica, which in world conversations would mean identifying both properly. I don't know if there are any small San Joses in the US, kind of like how there may be small Charlottes or small Buffalos or small Norfolks in other states, but clearly the California one is the most important and the only one someone from Delaware or Montana or Michigan or Georgia would know about.

[mhays]

People don't know secondary/satellite cities like San Jose, CA, even if they're large.

I'd guess that Oakland and Silicon Valley are both more well-known.

[Six Corners]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Peoria is a generic boomburb, except that it hosts spring training sites, so there are people in southern California and Washington state that are acutely aware of Peoria.

When I was about 12 or 13 I asked someone who told me they were from Peoria, Illinois, if they had been to any local spring training games. They were quite confused by what I was talking about.

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Strong disagree on the Charlotte take. I think everybody knows it is in North Carolina since South Carolina has no major pro sports franchises.

I dunno man. I bet if you asked Joe football fan in the midwest which state he thinks the Carolina Panthers play in he'd have to think about it. Because it sounds like they don't even want you to know what Carolina they are in.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

If the downstate weirdos get their way (they won't), Chicagoland will soon be kicked out of Illinois to become its own separate state.

While I certainly don't agree with pretty much anything those goofballs stand for, I gotta admit that "Chicago, Chicago" has a nice ring to it!

I believe I read somewhere that the new state is to be called Shaumburghia.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by mhays

People don't know secondary/satellite cities like San Jose, CA, even if they're large.

I'd guess that Oakland and Silicon Valley are both more well-known.

Funny anecdote time:

My wife was about to purchase plane tickets to attend a work conference out in California. I asked where the conference was and she was like "my coworker said it's is somewhere near San Francisco".

Being the curious type, I said, "do you know exactly where though? Because the bay area is kind of a big place."

Her: "I don't remember, but I'll just take a cab to wherever from the airport."

Me: "which airport?"

Her: (sounding annoyed) "the san francisco airport, duh"

Me: "babe, stop, and find out where the conference really is."


Turns out her conference was at some hotel in San Jose like 3 miles from the San Jose airport. I saved her two very long and expensive cab rides.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

I believe I read somewhere that the new state is to be called Shaumburghia.

Schaumburg is in cook county, so no dice.

Their goal is force chicago and cook county out of the state so that they can retain the "Illinois" name and identity.

Those knuckleheads can have it

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Funny anecdote time:

My wife was about to purchase plane tickets to attend a work conference out in California. I asked where the conference was and she was like "my coworker said it's is somewhere near San Francisco".

Being the curious type, I said, "do you know exactly where though? Because the bay area is kind of a big place."

Her: "I don't remember, but I'll just take a cab to wherever from the airport."

Me: "which airport?"

Her: (sounding annoyed) "the san francisco airport, duh"

Me: "babe, stop, and find out where the conference really is."


Turns out her conference was at some hotel in San Jose like 3 miles from the San Jose airport. I saved her two very long and expensive cab rides.

caltrain!

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

caltrain!

SJC is even simpler!

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Funny anecdote time:

My wife was about to purchase plane tickets to attend a work conference out in California. I asked where the conference was and she was like "my coworker said it's is somewhere near San Francisco".

Being the curious type, I said, "do you know exactly where though? Because the bay area is kind of a big place."

Her: "I don't remember, but I'll just take a cab to wherever from the airport."

Me: "which airport?"

Her: (sounding annoyed) "the san francisco airport, duh"

Me: "babe, stop, and find out where the conference really is."


Turns out her conference was at some hotel in San Jose like 3 miles from the San Jose airport. I saved her two very long and expensive cab rides.

OAK recently changed their name from "Oakland International Airport" to "Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport" as well, to help add to the confusion.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Strong disagree on the Charlotte take. I think everybody knows it is in North Carolina since South Carolina has no major pro sports franchises.

I really, really don't think that Charlotte is strongly associated with major pro sports at all.

Charlotte only has two teams... and the Hornets are the only team with "Charlotte" in the name... and they even lost the team and changed names TWICE in their relatively short history. They were the first pro sports team located there and didn't even come into existence until the 88-89 season. Both the NFL Panthers and the NHL Hurricanes use the "Carolina" name instead of Charlotte... and the Hurricanes are based in Raleigh anyway... Charlotte is not even prominent enough to command the location of the state's NHL team.

I'd bet a sizeable chunk of NFL fans don't even know that the Panthers play their games in Charlotte. If "everybody knows it is in North Carolina" it definitely ain't due to pro sports.

Originally Posted by Six Corners

I dunno man. I bet if you asked Joe football fan in the midwest which state he thinks the Carolina Panthers play in he'd have to think about it. Because it sounds like they don't even want you to know what Carolina they are in.

Right, it goes right along with my claim above that Charlotte is the most anonymous big city.

Originally Posted by craigs

What are you talking about?

Exactly.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by mhays

People don't know secondary/satellite cities like San Jose, CA, even if they're large.

I'd guess that Oakland and Silicon Valley are both more well-known.

"Silicon Valley" is shorthand for the South Bay, where San Jose is located.

[Steely Dan]

I don't think knowing what state a city located in is all that important to a city's brand recognition.

I mean, a large % of americans probably couldn't even tell you what state Chicago is in.

Just ask Dan Quayle.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I really, really don't think that Charlotte is strongly associated with major pro sports at all.

Charlotte only has two teams... and the Hornets are the only team with "Charlotte" in the name... and they even lost the team and changed names TWICE in their relatively short history. They were the first pro sports team located there and didn't even come into existence until the 88-89 season. Both the NFL Panthers and the NHL Hurricanes use the "Carolina" name instead of Charlotte... and the Hurricanes are based in Raleigh anyway... Charlotte is not even prominent enough to command the location of the state's NHL team.

Every millennial had a Charlotte Hornets nylon jacket in the 1990s... And no one knows why. I would argue that more people are aware of Charlotte than are aware of Austin. Austin is well known among people who are aware of SXSW, people who live in Texas (because it's the state capital), and pretty much no one else. If you don't know what SXSW is or you don't live in the state of Texas, you're unlikely to be very aware of Austin.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by craigs

"Silicon Valley" is shorthand for the South Bay, where San Jose is located.

To many people, Silicon Valley is basically the name of all tech in the region even if the majority is in the South Bay. Sometimes even our Seattle area companies are referred to as part of it! For much of the public, it's as much about an industry as it is a location.

In any case, a second name will dilute the value and recognition of the first name.

As for Charlotte, I'd say Sacramento, Tampa, and Columbus might be even more unknown though Charlotte is certainly in that group.

[Lobotomizer]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Every millennial had a Charlotte Hornets nylon jacket in the 1990s... And no one knows why. I would argue that more people are aware of Charlotte than are aware of Austin. Austin is well known among people who are aware of SXSW, people who live in Texas (because it's the state capital), and pretty much no one else. If you don't know what SXSW is or you don't live in the state of Texas, you're unlikely to be very aware of Austin.

Other reasons that people would be aware of Austin:
The University of Texas
Austin City Limits tv show and festival
Circuit of the Americas track hosting F1, MotoGP, and Nascar
Austin FC of MLS
Being a prominent tech hub
LBJ presidential library
Largest urban bat population in North America
Well known for it's film/music/art scene