Is Your Hometown Famous For Anything?

[Dennis]

The city I was born in, Buffalo, New York, is famous for being the western terminus of the Erie Canal, but is probably more famous for Niagara Falls.

 

There's a Mark Twain essay called "Niagara Falls". It amuses me how much of a tourist trap it was even then, maybe 100 years ago. The narrator ends up being beaten up by a gang of Irish immigrants who are selling "authentic" Indian jewelry.

I loved going there as a kid. I remember how every plaque in the museum about people who'd gone over the falls seemed to list how many bones they broke and how long they spent in the hospital.

In spite of the commercialization, I've always found the sight and sound of the falls awe inspiring. I've also always wondered why any one would want to go over the falls in a barrel, or anything else for that matter.

[CheezeFlixz]

Other than me ... not much.

[Joe the Destroyer]

Spokane, WA. 

-Birthplace of actor Craig T. Nelson, Everclear bassist Craig Montoya, animator Chuck Jones, and Alter Bridge/Mayfield Four singer Miles Davis.  Childhood home of Bing Crosby, but not his birthplace. 

-Supposedly the site of the first live performance by Jimi Hendrix.  He opened for the Monkees in River Front Park and was booed off the stage.  One thing someone noted from the performance was that he hung upside down from a tree and played a badass solo. 

-Our last mayor, Jim West, was recalled from office on a gay sex scandal.  It was alleged that he was offering men high ranking city positions in exchange for sexual favors.  He also admitted to using office computers to have sexual chats and hook ups with other men.  The man wasn't out of the closet, though.  He was actually fervently against gay rights, and always voted against them.

-Location of the Expo 1974.

-We're regarded as the "sunny side of the state."  Everyone thinks of all of Washington as being rainy and dreary, but Spokane is usually dry during the summer.  We actually experience quite a few droughts. 

-Father's Day was started here.

-Home of "Bloomsday," the nation's longest timed race; and "Hoopfest," the world's largest three-on-three basketball tournament (not that there are many to contend with). 

-Filming location of movies like Home of the Brave, Benny and Joon,  Knockaround Guys, and Mozart and the Whale.

[retrorussell]

The Trailblazers.
Multibillionaire/Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Some of the best microbreweries in the U.S.
Outstanding public transportation systems.
Stonehenge Tower, one of, if not the largest radio tower(s) in the U.S. consisting of a number of local radio stations.
The most environmentally conscious city in the U.S.
Great bike and hiking trails and parks.
Bob Packwood, Tonya Harding and Sam Adams (groan).
Very dog-friendly, as I often see them on public transportation (not in carriers and usually NOT service animals) or brought into enclosed public places like bars and stores, TOTAL bulls**t!!!

[Newt]

MUDDY THE MUDCAT!  Entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest fibreglass fish (catfish?) in the world.  Yes, he was finally unveiled on Saturday...the crowds were enormous...people flocked to take their "Oh my goodness: look, they really DID stick a big plastic mudcat on a pole at an entrance to town!" pic's.

We're waiting for the rush to thin out.  Then we'll head on down for a pic or two of our own and drop by the bank to see about a loan to renovate the house into a B&B so that we too can cash in on the tourist influx.  It'll be a goldmine! 

[WilliamWeird1313]

I'm from a little armpit-of-the-universe kinda town in Pennsylvania called Nanticoke.

Our biggest claim to fame is that we have the only road in the entire United States where you can literally go from kindergarten to college without ever leaving said street. We have an elementary school, junior high, high school, and community college all on the same road. Which is actually kind of depressing when you get right down to it.

Also, apparently the only one-armed man to ever play major league baseball was born (and lost the arm) here. The actor Nick Adams and the famous criminal Albert Tannenbaum is from here too. All in all, that's about it.

I don't know if this is official or anything, but I'm pretty sure we have the worst potholes in America.

[SkullBat308]

I live in Halifax, the capital of the province of Nova Scotia in Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Regional_Municipality

It's famous for having the second largest ice free harbor in the world, where the Halifax explosion took place.

From Wikipedia....

The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows" section of the Halifax Harbor. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured. This is still the world's largest man-made accidental explosion.

Also Ellen Page and Sidney Crosby are from here.

[venomx]

Just crime and poverty. (that's sad)

[paula]

Lowell MA

Big Mill town back in the day.  Boxer Mickey Ward is from here and his bio pic with Mark Wahlberg and Chritian Bale should be out next year.  Parts of Rickey Gervais movie "The Invention of Lying" were shot here too.  OH!! and the documentary "High on Crack St."......that's all lowell baby!  proud proud

[Leah]

New Orleans
Insane Mardi Gras
Birth of Lil' Wayne
Filming location for The curious case of Benjamin button
a holy crap more....

[Rev. Powell]

New Orleans
Insane Mardi Gras
Birth of Lil' Wayne
Filming location for The curious case of Benjamin button
a holy crap more....

Great food.
Great music.
Birthplace of Louis Armstrong (a bit more famous than Lil' Wayne  ).
Most interesting city in the U.S.
You're lucky to live there... 

[AndyC]

MUDDY THE MUDCAT!  Entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest fibreglass fish (catfish?) in the world.  Yes, he was finally unveiled on Saturday...the crowds were enormous...people flocked to take their "Oh my goodness: look, they really DID stick a big plastic mudcat on a pole at an entrance to town!" pic's.

We're waiting for the rush to thin out.  Then we'll head on down for a pic or two of our own and drop by the bank to see about a loan to renovate the house into a B&B so that we too can cash in on the tourist influx.  It'll be a goldmine! 

Woo hoo! Congratulations. Dunnville is on the map now.

My hometown of Elmira, Ontario is in the Guinness Book for the largest one-day maple syrup festival in the world. The town is also known for being smack in the middle of Mennonite country (a town of 10,000 has about 300 Martins listed in the phone book), and it's a few minutes down the road from a major town-sized tourist trap called St. Jacobs. Elmira has also produced a number of NHL players over the years.

[Trevor]

My place of birth is Bulawayo, Rhodesia ~ oddly enough my two cousins Karen and Gary were born in the same hospital that my folks adopted me from. I never lived there but the last time I was in Zimbabwe going home in 1997, I phoned home from Bulawayo. Dad answered and he wanted to know where I was. I said "I'm home, but not yet." "Ah, you're in Bulawayo. OK.  " 

I grew up in Gwelo [now Gweru] which is about 150 km north of Bulawayo ~ nice town, one of those small places where if you went to the toilet, everyone knew when you went, why you went and what you did while you were there. 

I attended Chaplin High School ~ the former PM of Rhodesia, Ian Smith was head boy there in the 1930's ~ and after breaking much sweat over studying managed to pass my exams with an astonishing average of 000000000.1%.  It was tough growing up in a war with Dad away much of the time but the three of us survived. 

Incidentally, the word Bulawayo is derived from the Ndebele word gubulawayo meaning "place of the killing".  Strange place to be born in.

[Criswell]

Nothing ever happens in Tennessee, so no.

[Rev. Powell]

Nothing ever happens in Tennessee, so no.

I hear that stuff sometimes happens on Beale Street.  Also, the Memphis Tigers sometimes get Final Fours vacated, and that should count for something.