America's Most Underrated Cities: What Do You Think?

[Ed Wetschler]

I'm just back from the annual meeting of the Northeast Chapter of SATW. We held it in Baltimore, which blew us away with its extraordinary museums, restaurants, historical sites, and, uh, vibe. Definitely an egregiously underrated city. Last year we met in Pittsburgh, another city that doesn't get enough respect. What other cities belong in this category? 

[Sam Scribe]

I nominate Philadelphia. Primo restaurants, museums, colonial sites that we just don't have here on the West Coast, Fairmont Park, and kooky murals. As some of you know, though, I'm a Californian. How do you travel writers from the eastern seaboard feel about Philadelphia? 

[Northeast News]

Most underrated cities? Good question. Ed, Cleveland should be on the list because the Cleveland Museum of Art, Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Jacobs Field where the Indians play baseball, restaurants, and some of the building designs are worth the trip. But Philadelphia, Sam? You're out of date because those of us who live in the East already know it's a swell town. 

Do you media folks agree with me about Cleveland? What cities would you categorize as underappreciated? 

[Darryl Musick]

Kansas City, Cincinnati (particularly across the river in Newport, KY), and Louisville.

[Darryl Musick]

I also agree Cleveland's underrated (and agree with Ed about Pittsburgh). Had wonderful times in each of those cities.

[Allan Lynch]

Geez, Ed. If we tell you, aren't we cutting our throats marketwise? :-)

[Ed Wetschler]

Darned right, Allan. I'm planning to corner the market on Newport, KY!

[James Ruggia]

Paterson & Newark are incredibly underated & overlooked. The Paterson Falls inspired the great William Carlos Williams to write Paterson, one of the five greatest poems in our literature. A young Alexander Hamilton helped design the Silk Mills in Paterson. The world's first submarine is there in the Paterson Library & it was tested in the Passaic River. Paterson's downtown is a beautiful, if run down, testimony to America's climb out of colonial agrarian into the young industrial revolution. Rogers Locomotives, built in Paterson, near the falls helped manifest Manifest Destiny.

Readers of Phillip Roth should know the power of Newark. Just go there and walk around. It's a beautiful city with a great museum (see the Tibetan collection), some great restaurants & they're not all Portuguese, and beautiful parklands. You don't have to go all the way to DC for Japanese Cherry Blossoms, you can see them in Newark.

[Ed Wetschler]

I know what you mean about Newark, Jim; there's some terrific architecture, too (although the cathedral, beautiful from a mile a way, looks somewhat prefabricated when seen close up). But Paterson? This is new to me. Thanks to you, I'm going to check it out. 

[Lillian Africano]

Ed, I was born in Paterson, so I have a soft spot in my heart for it, in spite of the way the downtown has deteriorated. I've seen for myself everything Jim mentioned, and there's even more. Paterson was known as Silk City (My dad, as a very young man, was a silk weaver, until the industry died.) The infamous Silk Strike of 1913 took place there, and it was covered by such writers as Upton Sinclair. The workers met at the home of Italian weaver, Pietro Botto in nearby Haledon (the mayor there was a socialist and sympathetic to the strikers). Today the Botto house is a labor museum.

In a lighter vein, Lou Costello (of Abbott and Costello) was born and raised in Paterson; in 1992, the city put up statue of the comedian in Federici Park.

And if you like Middle Eastern food, there are many excellent restaurants and grocers.

[Ed Wetschler]

Silk City, the Silk Strike, Upton Sinclair reports, a labor museum -- who knew? And Lou Costello was, to put it mildly, the talented one in the Abbott-and-Costello team. Many thanks. 

[Darryl Musick]

We've got two of them here in my area, Ed. Lou Costello is buried here and Upton Sinclair's house is just about a mile away from where I'm sitting now.

[Ed Wetschler]

Moral of the story: Whether you're a muckraker or a New Jersey vaudevillian, if you're not careful, you end up in L.A.