Also, are those plaid shirts are real thing ? Do small towns have a tavern or bar where usually most people go to.


21 comments

  1. There were more people. More varied restaurants. I liked both.

    Yes. Plaid shirts are a thing and are a staple of most dude’s closet. 

    You will find at least one small bar in pretty much every town. 

  3. Flannel/plaid shirts are probably owned by at least half of the men in the US.

    Small towns have bars. A bar that serves food, a post office, a church, and a store can be found in basically any small town outside of the south…where the bar is replaced by another church.

  6. I would say the biggest adjustment so far is that I don’t know anything about the people around me, nor do they know anything about me. It’s simultaneously freeing and loneliness-inducing.

    Yes, plaid shirts are a real thing, but there is absolutely a difference between Vermont logger plaid and cape cod plaid.

  7. Was raised in a very small rural community and moved to a city over 1 million for many years. Now live in a medium sized city (happy medium). Off the hop:

    – Yes plaid is real, and it’s amazing, and you should jump on that train. I think most North American men in particular have some plaid. The world needs more plaid.

    – Most towns have taverns unless they are in dry counties. A small town in rural Utah that is devoutly LDS is probably not going to have a tavern. But a small town in Oregon or WA is going to have a tavern. It just depends on the demographic.

    Differences:

    – Way more anonymity in bigger cities. That can work for and against you. It is annoying to have everyone know about your business in small towns, but it also helps that everyone knows who you are n a small town. People in small towns are generally far more willing to help you IF they know you – and knowing you is easy because it’s a small town.

    – Big cities are kind of restrictive in a lot of ways in terms of freedom compared to a small town. There’s more people, more traffic, more noise, etc. Small towns kind of enable you to do lots of things you can’t do in big cities in terms of noise / space / etc. The flip side is that big cities have amenities small towns don’t have.

    – If you are younger and/or single, big cities just offer WAY more opportunity. Being young and single in a small town is often depressing.

    – Pace of life is generally just slower in a small town. People talk a lot more, generally take work less seriously than social life. In cities it’s the opposite.

    – You’re generally closer to nature in small towns and have closer and less restrictive outdoor opportunities.

    Overall I like the happy medium. Big cities I find a little depressing. Despite having so many people, the interactions are way more mechanical and you’re actually lonelier than in a small area with few people. But somewhere in between is perfect.

  10. My biggest adjustment? It was going from a place where everyone would assume you would be, think, and conclude one thing, to a place where no one expects you to hold the same opinion or perspective that they have. Very eye opening.

  11. Plaid shirts are very real, I still wear them. I just wear them more like Kurt Cobain now instead of buttoning them up and tucking them in. I grew up in the Bible Belt, so no bar. Drinking culture was centered more around gathering at someone’s house or in nature. (God forbid the pastor saw you drinking. God forbid you saw the pastor drinking.)

    The differences between a 350 person town and a 2.7 million person city are so numerous and drastic, I can’t adequately explain them all.

  12. I love plaid! I grew up in a dry county so it was liquor stores across the county line instead of taverns like Cheers or whatever.

    The good –

    – There’s a lot more to do. I didn’t go to a concert that wasn’t a blues cover band set up in the middle of a street downtown until after I graduated high school.

    – there’s a lot more opportunities. I’m an engineer and unless you want to work for the DOT there’s not much there.

    – a lot more people like me. I grew up feeling pretty disconnected from the people around me and being a black sheep so it’s kind of comforting to know that I’m not alone.

    – shit’s much closer. I don’t have to drive 20 minutes into town to go to the grocery store.

    The bad-

    – I feel much more disconnected from nature. Sure, there are parks and you can drive out to do hikes and stuff, but it’s just not the same. I want to hear birds and frogs in the park, not other people. I miss the stars and the produce (grandparents were farmers) and the woods.

    – My family never comes to visit. They’re rural folks who hate cities. If I want to see them, I drive six hours.

    – I feel like people just aren’t friendly. I’m an introvert, but I find myself talking to older ladies in shops or out and about. People my age are really unwilling to make small talk. It’s been hard to make friends for that reason too.

    – it gives me kind of a feeling that I don’t belong anywhere. I don’t fit in in the city because I refuse to lose my accent (though I AM capable of turning it off if I need) and I don’t fit in at home because I left.

  13. Vastly improved. I grew up rural and it was not the lifestyle I wanted. I have good access to gay spaces, niche hobbies, non-standard groceries and transit among other things that were rare or absent in rural areas. Here in Seattle, the plaid shirts are in the city and the country.

  14. We just made this change three years ago.. Denver > Twin Falls Idaho so not “small” but relatively small and a vast culture shift.

    The country is quiet, cleaner air, and people generally live and let live.

    I miss a few things from the city, friends most of all but I lived there over 20 years so you meet people over time.. But I miss the variety of food and bicycling infrastructure.

    The positives out weigh the negatives for me. In my twenty years in Denver my vehicles were broken into countless times, I was assaulted on the bike trail once, and I had a person point a gun at me in my backyard. I know anything can happen anywhere but I feel *much* safer in the country.

    I also agree with another poster here that said towns that are not TOO small are great. Twin is almost 60k and I think between 50k-100k is a good size. You have *some* amenities but when you go to the city you can enjoy many more.

    Plaid shirts, cowboy appearal, (that’s actually used and not just fashion), and trucks that actually get dirty and work are all real and pretty common.

    Smaller towns are good places to grow up, then move away from as a younger adult, and then consider moving back later.

  15. I moved from a small town to a small city across different regions both geographically and culturally. For starters there is a lot more to do where I am. Our small city is only 15 minutes from a signficantly larger city and an hour from a major city. Therefore if we don’t have it in town it’s nearby. People are as in touch with nature like people are back home. This is a big cultural difference. I grew up in the Appalachians where society and nature had to cohabitat. That’s not the case where I am. Although, I do find it funny when people freak out over small game such as squirrels getting somewhere they shouldn’t be. My one biggest gripe about where I live is that the city tries to function as if it’s a small town and it drives me fucking crazy. It’s such a thing that people that live here will claim it’s a small town. A city of 32,000 and one of the bigger places in the state, 15 minutes from a city of over 175,000 is not a small town. A town of 2,000 45 minutes away from a city of 30,000 where I grew up is a small town.

  16. I moved from a small town to a big city, then moved back to my small town.

    1) more choices of shopping and restaurants. This was a significant improvement.

    2) more people. This is both a pro and a con. Pro in the sense that you don’t know any of the massive horde of people around you, so it’s freeing in a way. You can look ugly as heck running to a store and no one would bat an eye. But the con is that it’s hard to meet people and make friends, and the traffic is always fucking awful. (This was enough of a con that this is one of the biggest reasons I moved back)

    3) there’s more things to do. In a small town, you have to make your own hobbies. I would go kayaking, plant a garden, crochet, read, whatever. Versus in a city, you don’t have to have a hobby if you don’t want to— there’s always museums, concerts, sporting events, etc etc to distract you.

    And yes. Plaid shirts exist, lol— I’m a big fan of rugged Minnesotan guys in their logger flannel plaid shirts.

  17. I like having anonymity. It’s nice to go to the store and not have to talk to anyone. Or getting the odd comment about seeing my car parked out of X place and having to answer questions about it

  18. It’s a dream come true. Even though I’ve been in the big city for almost 15 years now I still walk around in awe like a kid in Disneyland.

    The anonymous feeling you get walking around a city and the generally more reserved vibe from people took some getting used to, but I prefer it now. At least in Chicago, people are incredibly friendly here, they just don’t engage with strangers unless there’s a reason to. Once you realize the inner friendliness and curiosity to engage with others is there within almost every city person, things start to feel like a good balance between being communal but still more private.

    I love going and visiting rural from time to time. You can’t beat the slower pace of life. But I’ve become spoiled by walkability and the wider variety of food available.

  19. A million times better. I don’t have to drive 35 miles for groceries or entertainment. I’m close to everything that I need or want. Not having to travel long distances is the main thing that makes me happy about no longer having to live out in the boonies.

    Um, yes plaid shirts, or flannel shirts as most people would call them exist all over the country, it’s not just a country type clothing item.

    Where I lived there weren’t really main stream bars or pubs, out in the country they would have what they called juke joints. Basically it was alcohol and dancing, my dad called it going out jukin’. He did that quite a bit of jukin’ before he married my mom.

  20. Pros:

    – I now have much easier access to goods that small towns sometimes don’t have. Instead of driving 20 miles to buy clothes or electronics, I only need to drive 2 miles.

    – There’s a lot more to do. I’m really never sitting at home struggling to figure out what I can do this evening.

    – I get paid more. Cities come ripe with better job opportunities.

    – My friend network has expanded, both personal and professional. Bigger cities means more opportunities to meet people.

    – I can go out and not be recognized. Sometimes I just want to run to the gas station then fuck off. In small towns, it’s certainly not uncommon for someone you know wanting to talk to you.

    Cons:

    – Living expenses are much higher. Housing and groceries in the city are far more expensive than small towns. With what I pay for a mortgage in a typical residential neighborhood, I would be able to afford my house plus more land if I moved out of the city.

    – Traffic. I hate other drivers.

    – Noise. I used to wake up to the sound of birds and the wind through the trees. Now it’s some jackass in his muscle car doubling the speed limit at 7:00 AM.

    The nice part is that I live on the very edge of town. So if I want to get away from the more populated areas for a bit, it’s only a 15 minute drive.

  21. Moving out of the country is so good for me. I hate being so isolated.

    My number one uniform is plaid shirts, but I don’t go to bars anymore. Otherwise, that’s my everyday wear even if I’m wearing shorts.

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