United States: Pennsylvania: Harrisburg

allogenes
Nowhere

Not worth visiting!

Untitled

I will someday inherit a house here. If my life is still in disarray I may actually return. It could be a good place to retire, but … if you are young or have an actual active life it is not for you.

Comments:

Alan Hochberg
Harrisburg

Harrisburg IS worth it.

I’m not sure what part of the city allogenes saw, but if he thinks there are no young people here, he should try getting a parking place on Restaurant Row (2nd St) on a Saturday night, or squeeze past the crowds trying to get into Eclipse and Dragonfly. (OK, I’m WAY too old for those clubs, but I do see the crowds.) What about the city’s free Jeffrey Gaines concert last weekend? Senators games on City Island? A fantastic and affordable symphony orchestra? Innovative Susquehanna Art Museum? Mantis Collective? Side Door Cinema, Midtown Cinema and Moviate? A convenient airport? A city full of affordable Victorian houses, in various states of renovation? Riverfront Park? Decent sushi? Hurray for Mayor Reed and a bunch of people who have put this city back together. All we need is a Trader Joe’s and it’ll be perfect here.

allogenes
Nowhere

That is what works about the 43_____ sites, everyone gets a vote

Well…your mileage may vary and all of that, but no, I’d have to disagree. (Currently it is 6 against and 5 for in the overall voting and when you compare it to other places I’ve seen rated here at 43 places that is a really bad score. So I’m obviously not alone.)

For the record, I lived there for 19 of my 36 years of life, and during the part of my life that I haven’t lived there I have spent, on average, more than a week a year there. I’ve been all over the place.

HBG is way behind the cultural curve from my perspective. Everything I have learned to use, count on, or need for my life seems to have come to HBG last-if at all-long after the other places I have lived. It is more livable now, with the internet for shopping and stuff, but…

I once described HBG as being too big to have the benefits of a smaller town and too small to have the benefits of a larger city. I stand by that. With the caveat that if everything has changed during the last 1.5 years (I won’t be back till this Christmas, so it’ll be two years between my next and last visits) then I might change my opinion. But the HBG of a year and a half ago still had what I didn’t like about it.

I really don’t like the attitude of many of the people there. Pennsylvania is technically a swing state, but I’ve never met the HBG liberals, myself. I’m sure that they are there, but I’ve always felt opressed by the overall attitudes and beliefs. Not comfortable!

You mention music—I expect a real music scene with lots of performances pretty much continuously, small clubs especially. I had that in Miami, Boston, LA, NYC, even smaller town NJ! I can also find it Fullerton CA of all places! So I don’t think that it is unreasonable to expect it. (And I disagree with your assessment of the symphony, with the same caveat as above.)

The affordable housing is great, I’ll grant you that, but everytime I have looked, there are just too many job/career types that are not supported by the environment there. I can’t get work there, not because they won’t hire me, but because the sort of work I do isn’t there. Same for a lot of job types. I can afford a house, but no one needs my skill base for work.

I don’t like baseball, but baseball lovers might want to check out the Senators, as you suggest.

I live in places with hundreds of museums, not just a few. Dozens of clubs, not just a few, 35 sushi places within a 20-30 minute radius, not just… Well, you get the point. I would argue the same applies to all that you list.

Cities and the density of the coasts were made for the young. As I get older HBG grows in attractiveness to me, though I’m not quite there yet, but choice is not one of HBG’s blessings.

And this is from someone who, if push comes to shove, can live without the Trader Joe’s! :-)

snap
Harrisburg

I've got your liberal HBGer!!!

.. right here buddy! We’re here! Don’t let the buggers in the greedy state house and senate (for now) or the old people at the symphony fool you.

Thanks for your honest opinion, though. I’ve always had the perception that hbg wasnt a place for young people too.

What do you mean specifically by “behind the cultural curve?” Are you solely referring to quantity of available places to spend your money or entertainment options or population density?

There are shows on a pretty much continuous basis at small venues. It ain’t NYC or LA, but you are comparing apples to oranges to grapes—com’on. Check out http://www.hbgonline.com/ (no I dont work for them) when you are in town next and pick a few places to go. There’s more here too than what’s on the site or has been mentioned and you can find it if you look and ask.

While there are different kinds of food here, admittedly it can be difficult to find what you want sometimes. Harrisburg ain’t no Georgetown either, but it’s only a few hours away ;).

allogenes
Nowhere

Well, as more people have commented that they like it, I am not so locked into my position anymore.

Whether or not a person likes a place is a personal choice, which I tried to emphasize in my previous reply. Let us just say that it still isn’t my cup of tea.

My main complaint is still the attitude of people I see when I am there. Although you can buy books now (something missing when I was growing up there) and see shows, etc., I still am not particularly happy with the people I see there. And I just don’t like the way of life.

As I said previously, this is obviously a function of who you meet and such, so I am not saying that everyone there is a jerk or anything and I am willing to believe I have just had bad luck in meeting people there. But it is still my experience even on recent trips.


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