kz's random cities pics

[kz1000ps]

As y'all may or may not be aware of, I'm in a band and we're out doing a lot of touring right now. I'm accumulating tons and tons of pictures and figure this would be a good way to share some of the random shit I've been seeing.

(Oh and hey--the Phoenix has my band, Gentlemen Hall, as a contender for Best Act 2012......head over to their page and vote!)

First up is Austin, TX:

We were of course there for SXSW:

This is what I see when I'm playing my drums:

Lots of random Texas.....

San Antonio:

Around Memphis:

Toronto:

The number of cranes on the skyline is redunkulous...they're literally everywhere:

Heading back for the states...

Virginia:

Philly:

New Yawk:

Indianapolis:

Pontiac, MI:

Chi-town:

Milwaukee:

Madison:

Louisville:

 

[Boston02124]

very nice! Philly has some nice tower's but the rest ??? Milwaukee looks great as do some of the other cities thanks for shareing!

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Daaaaaaaammmmmmmnnnn!

 

[Beton Brut]

Nice stuff! I'd love that Schlitz sign for my back porch.

 

[Patrick]

What was your take on Indianapolis?

 

[Lrfox]

What was your take on Indianapolis?

And Austin. I've never had a chance to go, but I've heard reviews from friends I trust ranging from "WAAAAYYY overrated" to "ZOMG COOLEST CITY EVER!!!"

 

[kz1000ps]

What was your take on Indianapolis?

Well, I don't like the Colts so that colors my opinion somewhat, but besides that I haven't seen much to differentiate it from any of the other cities in that mid-Midwest region. The one thing I will note is how uniform its suburbs are--house colors range from beige to buff to tan...no exceptions.

And Austin. I've never had a chance to go, but I've heard reviews from friends I trust ranging from "WAAAAYYY overrated" to "ZOMG COOLEST CITY EVER!!!"

My opinion falls somewhere in the middle...it definitely is better than 95% of the Texas I've seen (I like the state more than I thought I would but there's soooo much highway-spurred sprawl)(meanwhile Dallas is my biggest "hey this place is actually pretty nice!" surprise) but I didn't fall head over heels in love with the place.

Also, I'm not sure how good a taste I got of Austin considering I was there during the musical carnival that is SXSW, where you can't walk two feet without tripping over a guitar or food truck (those get good reviews from me!). We stayed at a bed and breakfast on the edge of the metro and enjoyed a near-perfect country setting to retire to each night (see the first "random Texas" picture).....that side of Texas was quite charming, though I will say the humidity f***ing sucks down there.

One final note--there is an over abundance of limestone with a particularly yellow tint to it that seems to cover all new suburban commercial development. It certainly gives Austin's burbs a distinct look, which is refreshing for someone like me who spends a lot of time among the highway wastelands.

 

[Lrfox]

^thanks!

I assumed that it probably falls somewhere in the middle.

I'm with you on Dallas. I went expecting to detest it and I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it has the sprawling single-family neighborhoods close to downtown, but downtown and uptown were nice. Some of the neighborhood centers were alright too. Plano, just down the road had a great downtown.

 

[underground]

Love the Schlitz sign. I've never understood people's blanket hate for neon.

 

[kz1000ps]

People hate neon?? I thought its popularity has increased in recent years as nostalgia for its heyday has set in.

 

[kz1000ps]

Time to revive this long dormant thread...

So hi everybody, long time no talk. I just got done with an all-engrossing 6-week tour that took us all over the country (everywhere except the desert Southwest) and as you might imagine I saw lots of amazing and/or random places and took lots of amazing and/or random shots (mostly the latter). Here's what it looked like.

Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights

Wisconsin

Airbnb in the Ozarks

Halloween in Arkansas

Texas highway ephemera

San Antonio

Cranetown Austin

Suburbs of Dallas

Gretna, an inner ring suburb of New Orleans

Airbnb outside of Atlanta

I don't know

Pittsburgh

Seriously the best convenience store ever. Sorry, Wawa fans

Albany

Detroit

Monroe, Michigan

Chi town

Iowa sunset

Lincoln, Nebraska

Heading for Denver and the Rockies

Wyoming

It's a different planet out there

Idaho, right after a storm struck

Outside of Boise

Kennewick, Washington

Seattle

Eugene, Oregon

And heading for California

Next up, the drive back through the gorgeous and barren canyons of Utah. Just unbelievable, unbelievable sights out there.

 

[Matthew]

Think you snuck a Manhattan shot into the 'Pittsburgh' section...

 

[bigeman312]

Thank you much for the photo set kz. That is incredible.

1. Sheetz is the best place in the world.
2. This is so USA:

 

[George_Apley]

Think you snuck a Manhattan shot into the 'Pittsburgh' section...

And Philly! Pittsburgh is probably my favorite rust-belt city. Also really well positioned economically compared to some of its peers.

Awesome pics kz, looks like an awesome tour.

 

[commuter guy]

Glad to see you made it to Lincoln, NE, where I spent my undergrad years at the Univ. of Neb. and I'm guessing you probably drove through my hometown of Omaha which is about an hour east on the highway from Lincoln. Great pics and congrats on touring all over the country!

 

[kz1000ps]

Think you snuck a Manhattan shot into the 'Pittsburgh' section...

Hah, everything from the Sheetz shot on isn't in Pittsburgh...I got a little lazy on the captioning in there

1. Sheetz is the best place in the world.

How do they do it? I see like four gas stations a day when on tour and am sick of every single one of them, BUT somehow I'm always excited when we're on I-80 and we see a Sheetz. Is it the endless variety of chips? The surprisingly decent prepared food? The red and yellow color scheme? There's something about that place...

Glad to see you made it to Lincoln, NE, where I spent my undergrad years at the Univ. of Neb. and I'm guessing you probably drove through my hometown of Omaha which is about an hour east on the highway from Lincoln. Great pics and congrats on touring all over the country!

Thank you! Yeah, we drove through Omaha (I'll have a pic or two of it coming up) but stayed in Lincoln in a brand new hotel right next to the arena one night, and we had quite the good time bar hopping. Then the next morning I got out and walked around a tiny bit and was even more impressed with what I saw. Lincoln wins my "I had no idea!" award for this tour, hands down. I look forward to going back there!

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

How do they do it? I see like four gas stations a day when on tour and am sick of every single one of them, BUT somehow I'm always excited when we're on I-80 and we see a Sheetz. Is it the endless variety of chips? The surprisingly decent prepared food? The red and yellow color scheme? There's something about that place...

Finally got to hit one up when I went to Tennessee recently. Totally lives up to its reputation. I'll hate driving up 95 to Boston EVEN MORE now knowing there is only McDs and Subway along the way.

 

[commuter guy]

Thank you! Yeah, we drove through Omaha (I'll have a pic or two of it coming up) but stayed in Lincoln in a brand new hotel right next to the arena one night, and we had quite the good time bar hopping. Then the next morning I got out and walked around a tiny bit and was even more impressed with what I saw. Lincoln wins my "I had no idea!" award for this tour, hands down. I look forward to going back there!

A lot of people do seem to be pleasantly surprised. However, I often think it may be the case, at least in part, because expectations are low. It is Nebraska after all. Lincoln has always had a fairly nice downtown since it is home to the flagship state univ. and the state capital. Also the given it's job mix, the city never had much poverty nor any significant problems with crime. The local city planners have always seemed to be focused on keeping downtown Lincoln attractive and vital. For example the municipal parking garages feature ground floor retail and wide substantial awnings, similar to the block long awnings on the old Filenes in Downtown Crossing. The university is adjacent to downtown and that keeps the bar hopping scene pretty lively. My hometown, Omaha, on the other hand, is much larger, it's not a large city, perhaps feeling slightly larger than Springfield or Worcester, albeit more suburban, but it has suffered from larger city problems over the years; crime, poverty, blight and abandonment in older neighborhoods. Although, Omaha has turned the corner in the last few years and there is enough going on downtown etc to entertain the wanderlust visitor who happens to pass through

 

[kz1000ps]

^ Thanks, I appreciate your fleshing out the place's story for me. And yeah, my expectations were set to zero upon going there, not least of which because originally we were going to stay elsewhere, and the name "Lincoln" only entered my ears about an hour before we checked in. Had we stayed at some dump on the outskirts of town (which is the case 80% of the time) I'd probably have nothing at all to say, but since we stayed downtown right next to all the bars, it enabled us to go out on one of our few nights off and actually have a pretty damn good time. And I definitely did note how attractive and clean the place looked; I especially liked the old steam locomotive parked next to the old train station.

 

[kz1000ps]

Alright, after a lovely little layover in Carmel, CA it was time to drive allllll the way back to the east coast, and we took what must be one of the central-most routes possible, going by Vegas as we headed for the middle of Utah and Colorado on I-70, which has to be one of the most remote and beautiful routes in the US. Then we hit I-80 to I-90 as we made our way through the not-so-beautiful Midwest.

Here we are leaving Carmel and California

The Tehechapi Pass Wind Farm, which made a number of appearances in the movies back in the '80s and '90s

St George, Utah

And then it got dark and we drove through all of Colorado (including the Rockies), stopping just over the border in Nebraska. These last few shots bring us through most of the Midwest, with our last stop before home being in South Bend, Indiana.

First up is a small sliver of Omaha

And now we're into Iowa

And that's it for this tour! Back home to lovely, chaotic NYC.