Is a medium-sized city like Dallas or Portland more fun than N.Y. or L.A.? Why or why not?

Depends on what you like to do.

Dallas is not a medium size city. It is a large city. New York, LA and Chicago are mega sized cities. Portland is a medium size city.

LOL OP thinks NY or LA are fun like it’s frickin 1996 and not the second year of the Apocalypse.

Dhaka is a big city and has a FABULOUS scene, OP. I suggest you go there.

Look into Bogalusa.

The more difficult a city makes it for their citizens to live there, the less attractive it becomes for a large percentage of people. NYC, LA, San Francisco especially make it so hard for anyone of normal means to live there. Eventually that has got to catch up with those cities and the attraction wears out.

Berlin took off as a scenester city because bohemians, hipsters, antimondialists/activists/lifestyle fetishists, and artists got priced out of other European capitals. And the housing stock for these groups was fantastic for about a decade.

I find it hard to imagine that sunbelt cities with their endless sprawl could be "more fun" than NY or LA...even if they are definitely cheaper for housing.

In the late oughts, people who had been in Berlin since 2000 started a buzz about Tel Aviv and Istanbul being the new fun cities. Tel Aviv had its brief star status but Istanbul never quite went international and Erdoğan put a chill on it. Pity.

This looks better than anything I've had on NYE.

I agree with R1. Depends on what you like to do. Also, R6 was right about the cost to live in a bigger city, which can cut into your entertainment funds.

Also, I live in Portland. For me, it can be fun and the people are friendly. Be warned, homeless camps everywhere and we have occasional protests and riots. The good side is we have pot dispensaries in many convenient locations.

It comes down to quality of life, doesn’t it? If you have to work 60 hrs a week to live with roommates and you have no disposable income left to go out or take trips, then I don’t see what would be fun about living in a mega city. If you have a trust fund or sugar daddy, it’s another story. Smaller cities vary a lot...you could be someplace with a lot of outdoor activities, with a lot of nightlife, easy access to other nearby cities, or you could be marooned in boring flyoverland. Every place has its pluses and minuses.

You can just live in Chicago--bigger and denser than Dallas with great architecture while being smaller and cheaper than NYC.

R2 Dallas is not a large city. It is a very large suburb that thinks it is a city but offers nothing in terms of what a real city can offer -- culture, entertainment, interesting people, gays who aren't pearl clutching republicans.

Dallas and Portland really aren't in the same size category. I guess there's "everything that's not NY or LA (and maybe Chicago)"

A small city with a university or good college as long as it has either public transportation or a walkable city center, or

A medium city with something to prove can be very nice places to live.

My ex lived in KCMO, which people here have slammed. He was an extrovert and had no problems meeting people. He had "ins" with people in the restaurant business, so he always had some new place to try out. He was an instigator, so even when he was living in a podunk town, he checked out every opportunity and got people together.

If you live in NYC, LA, or Chicago, you'll never run out of offerings. But if you don't just sit on your ass, you can make a good life in a smaller city, probably for less money.

OMG these fucking threads..... why do you care so much about trashing NY and LA? What is this obsession? Any city can be fun - it depends on what you’re into. I live in NY and I love Portland and Minneapolis (and I love LA). All 4 are fun for different reasons. I couldn’t live in Portland or Minneapolis because of the weather but they are cool places to live. So is NY depending on your life. So is LA.

I really thinks cities are what you make of them. DL is so into trashing certain places. It’s bizarre.

Any city is fun for a few years but after the newness wears off, what is left? I've lived in NYC for over 20 years and many of the guys that I hung out with in my early days have left for quieter pastures. I'm open to Boston or Seattle but for no other reason than it would be fun to live somewhere new and to have new guys to fuck.

Gurlfriend, I live in Dallas - and I got one word for you: HELLtoThaNo. This city ain't nothin but big box retail, chain restaurants, and evangelical megachurches. To be fair, most cities in the south...Dallas is just *extra* bland. The stereotype of the Dallas Blonde is real...never have I ever seen such a large city with literally nothing to do other than dine out and shop. The people are shallow, there is zero natural beauty, and what little there is masquerading as "culture" is all second - or even third- tier. (And I used to work within the area museums.) Sheeyit - even Fort Worth is better than us. Legitimate Old West history - and stellar museums. (Sister Wendy agrees - she loved the Kimball!) Avoid the South, and I predict you'll do just fine, babes. Kissies from DalASS.

Portland in the summer and fall is stunningly beautiful. But you have to be willing to put up with the endless rain in the winter months.

I don’t think I could do it. Maybe if I had a really hot perfect man to be trapped inside with. But tragically that’s not my situation.

In Portland you can't tell the homeless from the residents.

R19 agree, Dallas is the most insecure city you’ll ever visit. It has “always a bridesmaid” syndrome, 9th largest city in the US and 3rd largest in Texas (Houston and San Antonio are larger, respectively). The people are horrendous, all of them. There is a certain soullessness to Dallasites. As for the Gays, the Prada Lipgloss stereotype, often spoke of here on Datalounge, is not an exaggeration. The most high maintenance Queens you’ll ever meet, they are more obsessed with BMWs and Versace than Persians. They have that confident insecurity, where they’re secretly pissed that they’re not NYC or LA Queens, and they defend being in Dallas by telling you some long dissociative story that usually summarizes how “rich” they are, how great their career is, would never leave their family and how they’d would never live anywhere but Texas, especially not LA or NYC.

Oh and the whites ones who moved to Dallas from wherever... Bumfuck, TX... will make the rural double-wide trailer on 17 acres where they grew up sound like Tara in Gone With The Wind and donkey that kept the coyotes away was a “thoroughbred”. Daddy isn’t a School Maintenance man “he works in Education Management” and Ma who sits at home all day watching Jerry Springer & soaps, well “she’s just never had to work”.

Now, god forbid you meet a gay who legitimately has family money in Dallas, those monsters will eat your face off in some power tripping attempt to act the long lost faggy version of J.R. Ewing. Expect to be grilled in the first 5 minutes of meeting about your education, bank balance(s) and who your family is. If you think they’re hot though, you can probably find them legs up in the local bathhouse late on Saturday night, drunk & Adderall’d out of their mind taking on all who want to interact.

Since it's NYE I think that I would move to any medium, large, to mega city in the US, if I had someone there with me to love. I'm 29 and I've never even been in a relationship. I moved to one of the "mega" cities that r2 mentioned from a small city. I love it here, and I'm happier thanks to our strong gay community, but nothing would make me happier than a man.

I could give two shifts where I need to live as long as I'm not persecuted, if there is a man I love by my side. I'm sure I'm a bit naive, but these city comparison really don't matter as much as the actual people and experiences. Being lonely in NYC, LA, or Chicago can not possible beat finding a normal boy from Dallas or Portland that wants to spend some of their lives with you. You might find a better stock of men in those medium and small cities since the pond is smaller.

Wow, my grammar reflects one too many drinks. Sorry gents ^

While they're both mega Texas cities and there is some cultural overlap and I don't think I'd really want to live in either, I find Houston much better than Dallas - as crazy as that may sound. It seems to be at peace with itself and not insecure like Dallas.

Austin is in a different category all together, IMO. Never been to SA.

R23 you sound like you think you’re hot. Post your face and hole pic.

R22, MARRY ME! Also, please describe every other city in the US. ♥️♥️♥️😘😘😘

Big cities are so anonymous,as if individual people don't matter or have any meaning. Two people, if passing each other in a big city, would not even acknowledge each other's existence. The same two people, if passing each other in a tiny town, would greet each other and likely have a short conversation, even if they previously didn't know each other. The setting determines the social fabric.

r22, that was a read for the ages.

R28 - there are neighborhoods in big cities. You can get to know your neighbors if you want. It would drive me batshit crazy to have to speak to every person I pass on a street in some tiny town. Give me a fucking break. And before you start with your self-righteous morally superior response... that does not make antisocial or an asshole.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Portland is a real riot these days.

For all the cunts on here, I said "is" which means in general, over time. Okay, assholes?

these threads are pointless. no american city is worth living in compared to most cities in other other countries.

I have lived in small towns, large cities and mid sized cities. I have enjoyed them all - though cities of about 300,000 to 600,000 seem to be the magic number for me. I enjoy being able to bump into people I know, and be part of a “scene”.

But, I enjoy always having stuff to do in a big city.

In the end of the day though, the people who usually feel “bored” in a small city and never go out, are the same people who will stay home in NY or LA.

I was born and raised in Portland and I frankly would not recommend living here. I appreciate the natural landscape and grew up in the region, so the rain doesn't bother me one bit, but the city proper is headed toward serious decay. Rich yuppies (largely from California, though they've come from all over the country) have gutted the real estate—new apartment buildings have sprouted all over in the last 5-10 years, mainly on the east side, but they are ridiculously overpriced. It's simply not affordable, and on top of that, the infrastructure is completely fucked. Traffic has gotten exponentially worse over the last 10-15 years, and the local government's only response is to add more bike lanes downtown and push Tri-Met/their outdated, inefficient MAX light rail, where, as a rider, you're likely to watch a murder happen and/or get murdered by a schizophrenic communing with Satan. Most of downtown is boarded up currently due to protests and riots, crime rates and shootings have spiked, and there are homeless camps and trash strewn everywhere, especially along the freeways going into the city. It truly looks like you're entering Calcutta. Back in the '80s and '90s, there were definitely seedy areas (Old Town on the west side, most of NE Portland, Lents), and there's always been a sizable homeless population here—but in the last couple of years, the whole city has developed an aura of utter despair. It's depressing.

"Big cities are so anonymous,as if individual people don't matter or have any meaning. Two people, if passing each other in a big city, would not even acknowledge each other's existence. The same two people, if passing each other in a tiny town, would greet each other and likely have a short conversation, even if they previously didn't know each other. The setting determines the social fabric."

There's not denying there's a certain level of ingrained anonymity in big cities - and even more if you so choose. But, I still generally disagree.

You can choose to stay put in a certain neighborhood and you'll know many of the people around you. Beyond that, people don't live in a whole city, if that makes sense. If you live in LA or Chicago, you're not continuously rotating through every location in the city. There's specific areas where you work, live, play, go out - and you really get to know people. Is it as concentrated and intense as a small town - rarely. But still, it's far from anonymity and never recognizing people and never talking to anyone.