What's your town known for?

I mean like, has anything famous, historical, or just really weird or something happened there that made you get on the news or something?

Mine has a few.

1. The UFO thing.

2. About 10 years ago one of our degenerate police officers shot somebody's dog for no reason. There was a huge stink about it, and it got on the news.

3. Abraham Lincoln stayed in this house right across from McKendree College for like one night or something, back in the day. At least, I think it was Lincoln. Very Big Deal.

4. Charles Dickens also stayed in this town for one night. Very Big Deal II, although you'll notice that both stayed for one night and booked it the hell out. Smart guys.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Answers

I live in Rockford, Illinois. Our town is known for:

1. Being the home of the band Cheap Trick.

2. We're known for our three day Labor Day festival called On the Waterfront.

3. We're known as the screw capital of the world. (actually the companies like to call them "fastening systems" now) Peter Jennings was in town once and he actually said on the air "This is Peter Jennings reporting live from the screw capital of the world.."

I don't think we're known for anything else.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I'm living in this town of 13000 people in Eastern Finland. Nationally, we're known as Finland's most unhappy city. No, really, the leading newspaper-magazine-thing in Finland made some kind of research-thing on the some 100 cities in Finland a few years ago, and we were chosen as the most unhappy place to live. I couldn't agree more.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Hey, how weird! The only thing I believe my town is remotely renouned for is that Charles Dickens stayed here for one night.

And apparently Brampton in Canada was named after it, but I somehow doubt that, especially considering there's about ten Bramptons in Britain and then some, and none could be less happening than my place of residence.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in Melbourne, which really isn't a town, it's a city. Not a fairly big one by most people's standards, but big to ME. I don't think we're really known for much - probably the footy, I guess. And some great bands like Area 7, Grinspoon, Living End, etc came out of Melbourne. I guess.

We're not really known for anything.

*sniffles*

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

My town (St. Catharines, ON Canada) is known for it's donut shops. We're like the donut shop capital of the world or something dumb like that. Johnny Carson mentioned it once eons ago and everyone still talks about it to this day.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I'm from Williamsburg, Virginia. And we're known for being a HUGE tourist trap.

Come see me sometime :)

No, seriously, lots of historical, American Revolution type stuff happened there. Nowadays we've just got Busch Gardens and a lot of traffic problems. That's what happens when the roads were built for horses. Have you ever noticed how much skinnier horses are than, say, a Lincoln Tpwn Car? Yeah.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in Rockford, MI, and I think the only thing of interest here is that Dick York (the original Darin on Bewitched) lived here before he died. Coincidently, Sunday night I was watching some Entertainment Tonight thing at like 12:30 in the morning, and they were talking about Bewitched. It was extremely weird to hear Jan Carl say "Rockford, Michigan". (It's a pretty small town)

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I've actually been to Williamsburg before, in like third grade. I absofreakinlutely loved it there. I've been a history freak since way back in the day.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

My town is known for coffee, rain, yuppies made rich from software stock options, and lately lots of police brutality.

no extra day

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I hope you mean "home town" because Portland, OR is nowhere as interesting as Medford, OR where I grew up in the 70's and mid 80's!

1. It's the town on I-5 where you eat and get gas on your way to one of the "big" cities, Eugene, OR or Sacramento, CA.

2. The Harlem Globetrotters performed there once in the 70's but prefered to stay in Ashland, 16 miles to the South due to Medford's rumored informal "sundown" policy on "undesirables".

3. Many of the people murdered in my town were transients or homosexuals.

4. The hills around Medford are full of devil-worshipping cults. Actually there used to be several communes who raised their own food and probably an illegal substance or two and didn't really cause any trouble, but that's not very juicy gossip.

5. In the 70's and early 80's Medford was a major stop on the I-5 meth trade. Meth lab explosions happened occasionally but the local newspaper always reported them as "chemical fires" as if those happened all the time in ordinary households.

6. Another kind of fire that was common in the mid 70's there was arson. When the local economy collapsed then, people's failing businesses suddenly became flammable. Five businesses had "accidental" fires in one week!

7. Medford built a high school football stadium using only season ticket sales, no tax dollars (except for the land I guess). You would have thought Medford was in the middle of Texas where football is second only to God. The school system had even been arranged to create the largest football team possible. Instead of two 9-12th grade schools, we had one 9-10th grade school and one 11-12 grade school so every senior football player in Medford could be on the same team. Naturally the district didn't spend a dime on the 9-10th grade school and it was a dump. After 1985 they were forced to convert the schools into two 4-grade schools like the rest of the country.

8. When I moved away in 1985, unemployment there had reached 22%. Even before the lumber industry collapsed an average mill worker could expect to be out of work one third of his or her employable life!

9. In the mid-80's Medford had the second worst air pollution in the country (after L.A. of course). It was a combination of the depth of the Rogue Valley which never allowed the air to blow away and the new wood stove craze which let everyone heat their house by burning garbage in their living room. Before the wood stoves started fouling the air, the enormous pear orchards kept their trees from freezing using thousands of polluting and wildly inefficient "smudge pots". Whenever it looked like the temperature would drop below freezing that night, local TV stations would scroll alerts on the screen so hundreds of workers could head out into the orchards to light metal cans full of oil. If you lived near an orchard like me, you knew not to paint your house anything but grey. Eventually the orchards figured out all they really needed to do was send heated water through the existing sprinkler systems! It was much much cheaper, caused no pollution and all you needed was one guy to flip a switch. Orchards would be enveloped in a strange fog that was an amazing sight.

Well that's enough about my little town!

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Anyone actually like their town? I think it's generally agreed that the suburbs suck, but it's not like you're destined to die there or anything. My town of Dracut, Ma is known for its farms. Oh, and if you look at a map of massachusetts, the border between it and new hampshire follows one line of latitude all the way from east to west until it hits Dracut. Yes, we're proud. And we've been around since like, the 17th century. Which is why I am going to be going to school in New York City in a few months. And I don't plan to return.

-dan

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Well, I go to school in Williamsburg and basically try to avoid all of the tourons. But my hometown is Manassas, Virginia, former home of Lorena and John Wayne Bobbitt... hehehe. They also tried to build that Disney America here a few years ago. And I guess Manassas is also fairly well known for its history, with battles in the Civil War taking place in a bunch of fields a couple of miles from my house. But I'm not really into that stuff, so it's not a big deal to me.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Ugh.

I live in Calgary, Alberta. And we're famous for... and I hate to admit it..the Calgary Stampede. The world's largest rodeo. 10 days of cowboys, cheesy wild-west related advertising material (I still don't know why the freakin' banks paint bucking bronco's on their windows) and other assorted rodeo stuff.

Hurray for Cowtown y'all.

--Matt

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in Kelowna, BC. Basically its a town for the newly wed or the nearly dead..and a bloody tourist destination, although I can't see why... We are known for our lake monster "Ogopogo." Basically it's the same deal as the loch ness monster in Scotland. We even had the TV show "Extra" out here for a few days ago doing a story.. and "Unsolved Mysteries" came out a few years back. It's fine having a monster in your lake...the tourists go insane for "Ogie" junk .. but, the locals tend to get sick of Ogopogo and his great legacy.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

A serial killer who worked a Target. However, I find that ultimately intriguing, none the less.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Oh, that's *really* weird - I share my birthday with Charles Dickens!! (9th June, in case you *really* wanted to know).

Anyway....I live in Milton Keynes, about 40 miles from London (England, this is, by the way) and we're known for...very little, but I guess the biggest thing is having the biggest shopping mall in Britain (it's nothing by American standards, though). We're also the home of Aston Martins (the sportscars often driven by James Bond in the movies) and, most interesting to me, the home of the Jackie Stewart Formula 1 racing team.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Falkirk, Central Scotland (almost half way between the great cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow). Some highlights from our illustrious history :-

1298 First battle of Falkirk - William Wallace defeated by English army

1600 Falkirk created a burgh

1746 Second battle of Falkirk - Jacobites under "bonnie" Prince Charlie defeat government troops under General Hawley

1759 Carron Iron Works founded (manufactured the "carronades" used by Nelson at Trafalgar)

c. 1790 Robert Burns stays for 1 night in Falkirk !

1913 Falkirk FC win Scottish Cup, defeating Raith Rovers 2-0 in the final

1922 Falkirk FC buy Sydney Puddefoot from West Ham United for WORLD record fee of #6000

1957 Falkirk FC win Scottish Cup, defeating Kilmarnock 2-1 in the final

1990s Bonnybridge (near Falkirk) becomes the Scottish "capital" of UFOs (i kid you not)!

2000 Falkirk celebrates 400 years as a burgh

Beat that !!

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in houston, tx now. well, I don't live in the middle of downtown but close enough [clear lake/nasa area] and I must say, we're known for the railway killer right now. the one who is being put to death for killing 9 people all over//not just in houston, but that's where they caught him.

erm, we have dicken's on the strande and mardi gras [probably not as big as the one in new orleans] in galveston, though. dicken's on the strande is very fun..ya get let in free if ya dress up victorian style..haha.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in Pinner.

Elton John was born here, went to school here. Bob Holness (old television presenter) lives around here. PC Quinnan from "The Bill" lives around here as well, his youngest son is in the same class as my sister's friend's little brother. ooh, some Porn star came from here as well, she was known as the Sinner from Pinner. Rachel Stamp (a favourite band of mine) have a sing about sin and there's a section that goes : "I'm a sinner, born with an original sin, straight outta Pinner with my bible and a class of milk"

This is cool actually. Not much else is famous about my town. We have a fair every year on the same day since last century?

- Katy

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in Red Oak, a small town of about 6000 in southwest Iowa. Meth capital of the world. (I kid you not...) This radio station- Z-92- out of Omaha, NE ripped on us for a couple of weeks about it.

Then there was the hepatitus (Sp?) outbreak 'cause of this guy at Burger King... and we had contaminated water for awhile.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

Our town is one of those sort of yuppie country towns. We've got lots of grass, huge huge houses. Both the President and Prime Minister reside in the town, (wow... that's urm -so- cool) There was a huge fiasco one time when one of the neighbour's pitbull's killed a man. That then stirred public interest in human safety from dogs. That's about it. It's all boring. Nothing exciting really happens.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2000

I live in Hope, Arkansas... and we're known for...

1.) President Clinton. Not that I'm proud about it, or anything. This is his birthplace (and my dad was actually Chelsea's pediatrician for a short time, before Clinton's presidency)...

2.) Our watermellons. They are AWESOME.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

my town sucks NOTHING has ever happened here wait MxPx came here and the floor of the club started to collapse, but they got every body out in time (damn). oh yeah our county also is the meth capitol of the world

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

But there can be only one methamphetamine capitol of the world! These dueling counties must fight, and make it once and for all known who is the true capitol.

-dan

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

I live in Camden, Maine, and we're known for quite a lot of things. Well, a bunch of movies have been filmed here, or at least parts. Thinner, The Man Without a Face, Message in a Bottle, Peyton Place, and others... Edna St Vincent Millay lived here for a bit and graduated from my high school. This year's national toboggan races were held here. Plus we're known for the pretty scenery and "quaint" inns and things, and all the stuff to do, like hike a mountain or the national park here, or take a boating trip or something, which is why the tourists clog the place and make my town of 4,000 multiply to 15,000 in the summer. Oh, and our blueberries are really yummy.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

Austin can be described in one word: BARS. We have a street that is famous for how many bars it has. Ever hear of sixth street? Oh baby, its really funny to see college guys get drunk and then go streak. heh

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2000

Oh, here's something else my town is known for. We think we're really cool because of it.

I don't watch soaps (I'll jump off a building first), but apparently this Mark Consuelos guy from "All My Children" went to high school here. (The Looking Glass Playhouse that they talk about in the bio is one of Lebanon's "attractions.") Very Big Deal.

Mrs. Lanter and the school secretary were looking through an old yearbook last week and talking about how they should sell all of those old pictures to the Enquirer or something. He was kind of scrawny and nerdy back then.

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2000

Oh yeah, we have a few actors from here. I remember in eighth grade when Blossom was on, my math teacher would brag about babysitting the guy who played Tony. I guess he used to live here and all that jazz. He also was on 90210 playing the dude with AIDS that Kelly became attatched to before he died (I used to like that show, shut up).

There was also this little punk kid named Ricky Busker who used to live down the street from me. He was in this movie called Big Shot. That was his only starring role. He used to live a block away from me and we used to play ghost in the graveyard.

Oh yeah. Then there's the voice of the Little Mermaid. She's from here. Rah.

I heard that we also have the largest water park in Northern Illinois. Uh, yay go us. That makes up for us being on the worst cities of the country list 3 consecutive years in a row, doesn't it?

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2000

Late answer, I guess... I'm from Hampton, VA, about 45 minutes south of Williamsburg.

Hampton is said to be the oldest permanent English-speaking settlement in the U.S. (1610, 3 years after Jamestown--Remember, the Virginia Company came first, NOT the fucking Pilgrims!)

Hampton is also the home of NBA star Allen Iverson (ick). Before he ditched Georgetown in his sophomore year to join the Sixers, he got himself arrested for starting a riot in a bowling alley. He was going to stay a jailbird but THEN Sports Illustrated made him a cover boy and told his tale to the nation, prompting the NAACP to push for his release on the grounds that it was stifling his chance to live a normal life. So now he's exonorated and untouchable and a complete asshole.

By the way, his nickname in school was Bubbachuck.

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2000

danville, va.

1) city of churches (more per square mile than anywhere else in the country--as you can imagine, this isn't a very tolerant place.)

2) supposed last capital of the confederacy (sure, this is historically untrue, but try telling that to these ignorant danvillians. and this also reads as : *LOTS* of racism. despite the fact that my city is 60% african american, the whites here still want to fly confederate flags on public buildings. not exactly a good idea.)

3) voted most conservative city in the nation. oh, yes. this is such a fun place.

bah. www.geocities.com/subhumans13@hotmail.com

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2000

wow. this all ties in.

i live in orlando, florida, which is probably best known for disney world.

disney world is also the place where i made out with the person who posted as matt from calgary alberta for a very long time. haha.

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2000

I feel so dumb for answering three times, like I'm all proud of my town or something. Wait, strike that, I like my town. Somewhat. Anyways, yeah, we're the home of the Rockford Peaches. Ya know, from the movie "A League of Their Own".

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2000

My hometown is Chilliwack, British Columbia. We're known for a few things: 1. The biggest extasy bust in Canadian history. Maybe world history. We were in Spin as the easiest place in the world to get drugs because of it.

2. Chilliwack was once in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most churches per capita.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2000

Oh yeah. RAMBO was filmed there too.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2000

Portland, Oregon - We're reputed to have more strip clubs per capita than anywhere else in the US, and I've heard that we have the largest lesbian population in the US as well, but I'm not really sure about either. A lot of hippies, although I think Medford boasts a larger number. Big city life in a not so big city I've heard some say. The annual Rose Parade. Elliot Smith, The Dandy Warhols and 2/3 of the band Sleater-Kinney call the city home. And I know nothing about great historical events because I'm a moron. But it's decent living.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2000

Hey I live in Quincy Massachusetts which is right outside of Boston but we have some stuff that seperates us I guess. 1. The Adams Family ll grew up and lived here (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Abigail..) 2. The First Blast Furnace (do people even use those anymore?) 3. You know it's something about a railroad but I can't remember what hahaha I tend to be in Boston more than here. I wouldn't dare try listing what makes Boston famous.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2000

Katie-- that's really cool that Mark Consuelos went to high school in your hometown! I'm an avid watcher of All My Children. The show sucks you in! So, what's my hometown known for? Hmmm, my little tiny town with a population of less than 5,000? I can think of 2 things: 1. Whitney Houston lives in our town. 2. Jockey Hollow, where Washington and his soldiers stayed for a winter.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2000

I live in Salisbury, England. Its only real claim to fame is the cathedral, which at 404 feet high is the highest in England (Cologne has the highest spire in the world). Apart from that, the only other things of note are that Mick Fleetwoods mum lives on a local council estate, and I went to school with Ralph Fiennes. It is a very old area, with many Roman relics around, but to be honest, not a lot happens or goes on in this area. To see a decent band, we have to travel 40 miles. Not a lot to you Americans, I know, but a nightmare on British roads, in the dark, with some drunk idiot weaving in front of you. Still, Salisbury has its advantages in being a Church owned town. Nothing can be built above around 100 feet high, so the spire is visible from every direction coming into town. It is a welcome sight after a long trip!! This makes me sound like a church buff, but I certainly am not. Its just all there is around here!!

-- Anonymous, November 09, 2000

I live in Oceanside, Ny. It is on Long Island. It is home of Jay Fiedler, the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. For more info about Oceanside, NY, use a search engine to find it.

-- Anonymous, December 23, 2000

I live in Oceanside Long Island, known for great bagels and chinese food as well as Jay Fiedler, but I'm originally from Freeport Long Island and Freeport is known for Guy Lombardo, the hotel where Joey Buttafuocco and Amy Fischer did it, Blue Oyster Cult, Carmine Appice, Stock car racing (the hurricane hell drivers),Seafood and seafood restaurants, boating, fishing... Originally Freeport was called Raynortown, it was a summer home for many celebrities, including Mae West, WC Fields, Guy Lombardo and his friends. Guy Lombardo broke motorboat speed records in the waterways aroung freeport with his super fast boat in the 30's or 40's, I remember seeing the boat when I was a kid, it was like a mahogany or something, real hi-tech for it's day. Freeport is also known for Seth Bluestien, famous auto technician.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2001

I am from Montague, Michigan which is just a small town (2000 people) located right on Lake Michigan. Anyway we are home to the world's largest weathervane, Ms. America 1960 whose talent was sewing and also we are on the Environmental Protection Agency's 100 top environmentally polluted hot spots in the country and currently a superfund site.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2001

On the Environmental Protection Agency's 100 top environmentally polluted hot spots list, eh? Now there's something to be proud of. ;)

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2001

My town (notice how many people forget to mention theirs?) is Hayward, California. Boring, blah, gross, etc. The only thing I can think of is...back in the 70's there was this rapist named Archie Fane (sp?) who raped a young woman and chopped off her arms! She lived, ID's him, and he went to jail. There was a big hullabaloo when he was released because no one wanted him in his town, and he ended up in a seedy hotel in Hayward called the Green Shutter Inn. Gross.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2001

I live in Gas City, Indiana. I usually don't have to tell people much more than that, because after they hear the name of the town I live in, they start laughing. Gas City is known for whores. Around here, if anyone finds out that you are from Gas City, they immediately assume that you're a whore. Nothing really exciting that I can think of went on here, but it's five miles from Fairmount, Indiana--James Dean and Jim Davis' (creator of garfield) home. Yay.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2001

I was confused for a minute, as I thought this was a new thread and was really shocked by how many people had replied to it. But then I realised it was an ass-old thread that people had replied to again.. that seems to happen a lot here. In the spirit of things, I'll say that my town (San Francisco, CA) is known for its faggots. Yep.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2001

You say that as though it's something to look down upon and to be perfectly honest, there are more appropriate words used to describe a homosexual.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

Um... I could be totally wrong here, but I thought James was one himself.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

i live in bayonne, nj. my town is known for:

mariah carey video for "Someday" was filmed in our high school..so was pete and pete (nickelodeon show), pearl jam's jeremy (or so i've heard..) and montel williams did a short lived tv show and filmed half of it next to my house since that was montel's "house" in the show.. the movie men of honor was filmed at our military ocean terminal..which was an active military base up until about a year ago.. some scenes were shot in our public swimming pool area..we also have one of the largest steel arch bridges in the world, the duplicate of it is in sydney, australia..uhm, and lincoln stayed in one of the houses in my town.. they wanted to tear it down, but they proved it to be historic or something.. so they just fixed it up instead.. uhm, oh yeah and jackie gleason used to go swimming in the river that's a couple blocks from my house..

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001