Show your hometown

[Helder Carvalho]

Use this topic to show and talk about your hometown.

Mine is Guimarães, birth place of our country and our first king, it was here in 1143 that we told the spaniards to buzz of. It was our first capital and today it's one of the most important cultural centers in the country. In 2012 it was European Culture Capital, in 2013 is European Sport City. In 2001 our historic centre was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

[BTHarner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8iz4dh8AVk

Nice montage about my hometown of Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

[Helder Carvalho]

Looks great, I love these american small towns, specially in New England.

[krow]

here's a street 13 blocks from where i grew up. richmond hill, like most places in NY, looks prettier in winter. now i live in LA, so snow makes me nostalgic. i wish i could show you the house i grew up in, but google street tells me the new owners made dumb changes and it's not snowing anyway. (when i was 13 we had a white christmas. here's a WRONG NYT article about it. it was wrong because it did snow. the NYT later corrected itself with a photo of the bronx zoo that is no longer available for our viewing pleasure).

View onto 121st Street, Richmond Hill, Queens, NY by leonem, on Flickr

i also wanted to show you this photo, because it reminds me of summer twilight walks through forest park watching the street lamps flicker on, but the photog is a total jerk and made it unshareable. i thought about prntscreening it and re-uploading, but that seemed like a lot of effort. so because i can't punish the photographer, emilio guerra, that jerk, (emilio, if you're reading this from google: get over yourself and your mediocre photos. your foliage photos were cliche; your carrousel, deplorably amateur, although your 18th c queens cemetery shots were somewhat redeeming) anyway, i digress -- since i can't punish him, instead i have to punish you by posting this crappy empty bandshell. i learned how to drive in the parking lot behind it. (there were no good shots of it in winter, although i think google should do freshly fallen snow streetview and regular streetview and let you switch between them.)

i'm trying, here. richmond hill's not all that interesting. let's see. this is kind of neat, although not entirely factually accurate. damn hessians! hey emilio, you should have gotten some shots of this.

via wikipedia:

Richmond Hill [queens, NY] is rich in history [lol]. The Battle of Long Island, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, was fought in 1776 along the ridge now in Forest Park, near what is now the golf course clubhouse. Protected by its thickly wooded area, American riflemen used guerrilla warfare tactics to attack and defeat the Hessians.

as any student of revolutionary war history (faster, this week) knows, the british and hessians won the battle, and few died.

hey so this is a pretty cool list: does your town have the creator of skippy and jack kerouac?? (no, unless you grew up in my neighborhood, in which case you probably know my brother, drew, who says hi).

Notable residents

• Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr (1831-1919) - Author of the book Jan Vedder's Wife and an advocate of women's rights.
• Jack Cassidy - Broadway and television actor was born and raised in Richmond Hill.
• Percy Crosby - Creator of the comic Skippy.
• Rodney Dangerfield - Famous comedian who attended Richmond Hill High School.
• Morton Gould - Winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Kennedy Center Honor, and a Grammy Award.^[6]
• Alfred H. Grebe - pioneer in radio broadcasting.
• Anaïs Nin - French-Cuban author of The Delta of Venus and diarist. Lived in Richmond Hill prior to moving to Paris in 1924.
• Jack Kerouac - Lived in Richmond Hill from 1950 - 1955.^[7]
• Jack Lord - Actor famous for portraying Lt. Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O.
• Jack Maple - Former deputy commissioner of New York City Police Department that inspired the television series The District.^[8]
• Marx Brothers - The house is still noted with a commemorating plaque.
• John H. Myers - Former CEO of GE Asset Management (childhood residence).
• Jacob A. Riis - Documentary journalist/author, photographer and reformer was a Richmond Hill resident.
• Phil Rizzuto - Hall of Fame Baseball Player who lived and went to high school in Richmond Hill.
• Bob Sheppard - Yankee Stadium Public Address Announcer "The Voice of the Yankees" from 1951 - 2009 was born and raised in Richmond Hill.
• Dick Van Patten Actor was born (1928) and raised in Richmond Hill

behold the inevitable buzzfeed trend list that somewhat applies to my childhood: 43 Signs You Grew Up in Queens (#33, omg, terrible bus service).

as a fitting coda, here's a photo of some random couple from michigan or something enjoying a semi-white christmas in 2009 for no reason at all, except there are no pictures of the 1998 white christmas on the internet.

NYC 2009 by ~$hutterbug~, on Flickr

[mattygs]

My hometown, and where I still live, is a beach resort town called Mt Maunganui, commonly known simply as *the Mount*.

It's part of the city of Tauranga in the North Island of New Zealand.

The Mount is actually built on a sandbar and is a tombolo landform, with Mauao at the northern end of the sandbar. This means it has both a calm harbour bay on one side, and a surf beach on the other. Awesome.

I guess the other big thing that the Mt has, is the Port of Tauranga, one of the busiest in NZ.

It is a busy enough place in winter, but it's summer when the place gets taken over by tourists, it's one of NZ's biggest Summer holiday spots. Usual location for national surf life saving/ beach volleyball comps etc etc.

The mount with Mauao and Matakana island

View of Mt Maunganui from the summit (I live around the smaller hill area)

Tauranga City

Mt Maunganui main street - I live just round the corner

Mt Maunganui Represent

[yoshi]

The Kiwi Gold Coast. I'll try to find some decent pics of Bristol later.

[BTHarner]

I love the street banners with Santa on the beach.

[paul]

[paul]

muir woods / my church

[paul]

Vaillancourt Fountain......despised in sf ..... i :wub: it

gg park ...

....oh of course it has a beach

more later time to head out again

[paul]

old disaster flick set in sf.......gotta see it

the building in the flick ...glass tower...compared to the transbay tower entries ....the pelli one is being built for real.......i liked the middle one

[yoshi]

Bristol, SW England:

The Clifton Bridge, designed by I.K.Branagh

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Clifton.bridge.arp.750pix.jpg

The Avon Gorge between the city & the Severn

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Bristol%2C_Avon_Gorge_from_Clifton_Down.jpg

Bristol Cathedral

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Bristol.cathedral.west.front.arp.jpg

St Mary Redcliffe, our 'mini cathedral'

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Bristol-St_Mary_Redcliffe-Docks.jpg

Corn Street, the historic centre

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/BristolTheNails.jpg

The infamous Ashton Gate stadium

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Ashton_Gate_%26_Bridge.jpg

The modern heart of the city, Cabot Circus

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/CabotCircus.jpg

Bristol's newish Harbourside leisure area

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Millennium_Square_07.jpg

Pero's bridge in the Harbourside

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Peros_bridge_arp.jpg

Temple Meads station, another Brunel landmark

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Bristol_Temple_Meads_frontage_-_DSC05672.JPG

And finally, the most famous Bristolian, Banksy

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Banksy-ps.jpg

So, all told, not the best place in the world, but definitely not the worst either.

What the...why hasn't that worked???

[mattygs]

I really like that fountain Paul.

[Sir Rols]

I'm going to be slack and report some pics and commentary from a similar thread we did previously:

There's not much use posting pics of tourist Sydney - you all know what it looks like: a harbour, a bridge, a big funny white building, a few dozen beaches. And the suburb where I live is nice, but not overly picturesque. What i will do though, is post a few pics of the area of Sydney I've spent nearly all my life in various suburbs - the Inner West. It's traditionally been a working class area, still was when I grew up, but in recent decades has gentrified dramatically and is now a pretty popular and sought-out district in which to live.

When I was born we lived in Balmain, a tradional dock-workers suburb on its own peninsula in the harbour. Because of its location it was one of the first inner western suburbs to gentrify ad now is home to a lot of show business types, professionals, actors and actresses etc. It's probably my fave suburb and I've moved back a few times (it's where I used to commute by ferry from). But too pricey for me to buy when it time to give up renting and get my own place.


Balmain is also where our great swimmer (and former neighbour of mine) Dawn Fraser grew up. Dawn Fraser Baths, an "open" pool established in 1880 on the harbour where she used to train, is named after her:


The suburb (like most of the inner west and inner east areas of Sydney) is known for its many, many old Victorian terrace houses, a very distinctive feature of some of Oz's older cities like Sydney and Melbourne. I used to live in one in one of my rare ventures to live outside the inner west, when I lived in Surry Hills, close to Sydney's CBD:


And this is Birchgrove Wharf (a sub district of Balmain, where I used to catch the ferry each morning (I lived on Louisa Rd):

Next up, Annandale, where I spent most of my teenage years. It's known for having wider streets, and grander old houses, than much of the inner west.

Hunter Baillie church, round the corner from my Annandale home:


The Annandale Hotel, a pub (most Australian pubs are called "hotels") which these days is the centre of the Sydney live rock music scene:

Continuing on my tour of Sydney's Inner West.

Next stop Newtown, next to Sydney University (and close to where I live now) and the centre of Sydney's youth and alternative culture. Also, slowly joining the Oxford Street/Darlinghurst area as the city's second “gay” area (some of Priscilla was filmed in one of the better known gay/drag venues nearby here). Full of restuarants – it's probably one of the two main areas I would regularly go to eat out.


Newtown's well known for its murals and street art across virtually every large wall.


The Imperial Hotel, home of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”

[runningrings]

Love the Imperial- my local!

I live in nearby Enmore. Rols - Birchgrove is stunning! Love the view of Sydney from the wharf at the end of Louisa Rd! Sydney at its finest!

[Helder Carvalho]

My hometown, and where I still live, is a beach resort town called Mt Maunganui, commonly known simply as *the Mount*.

It's part of the city of Tauranga in the North Island of New Zealand.

The Mount is actually built on a sandbar and is a tombolo landform, with Mauao at the northern end of the sandbar. This means it has both a calm harbour bay on one side, and a surf beach on the other. Awesome.

I guess the other big thing that the Mt has, is the Port of Tauranga, one of the busiest in NZ.

It is a busy enough place in winter, but it's summer when the place gets taken over by tourists, it's one of NZ's biggest Summer holiday spots. Usual location for national surf life saving/ beach volleyball comps etc etc.

The mount with Mauao and Matakana island

View of Mt Maunganui from the summit (I live around the smaller hill area)

Tauranga City

Mt Maunganui main street - I live just round the corner

Looks amazing, New Zealand, together with Denmark, Norway and Sweeden are the best this planet has to offer in terms of quality of life. I would gladly exchange my country's famous beaches and weather to be living in a country like these.

[Mr Tickle]

I just moved from here, Stamford, Lincolnshire in the UK

to here, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Birth place of one Oliver Cromwell

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Totally different bridge, radically different church, rivers that are worlds apart : )

[Helder Carvalho]

The first pic reminded me of Ashford in the Water in the Peak District, lovely place with a great Pub, Ruthland Arms.

[JMarkSnow2012]

Here's another for the mural collection, from my current home-town.

[yoshi]

Nice one, where is that then? Looks like a cannon in the open space

[Sir Rols]

Love the Imperial- my local!

I live in nearby Enmore. Rols - Birchgrove is stunning! Love the view of Sydney from the wharf at the end of Louisa Rd! Sydney at its finest!

I'm a Dulwich Hillbilly these days. I realised you were nearby when you mentioned you were in Albanese's electorate as well during the federal campaign.

[runningrings]

Here's another for the mural collection, from my current home-town.

Nice one, where is that then? Looks like a cannon in the open space

It's Gulliver !

[Victor Mata]

This is Maceió, state capital of Alagoas, Northeast Brazil. Very warm place and a major regional sea port.

You will notice most buildings have the same height. That is to avoid blocking the lightouse at the plateau right in the center of the city.

This is another lighthouse and coral reefs during low tide

Fishermen do their work early morning

The fishermen also work taking tourists in their rafts to dive near the reefs. Prices skyrocket during the summer.

This is by 5PM, when the weather gets most pleasant. The ground is still warm but the wind is a slightly colder.

This is where I jog (almost) daily

We have a lake and channels west of the city centre

Historic buildings at the Port Area

Carnaval and other Folk parties are usually near that area. This one is a Christmas Act. Mixed Portuguese-African heritage

This is Quadrilha: Brazilian dramatic folk dance usually about a marriage in the Hinterlands. It features the bride, the groom, bandits, clowns, the priest, etc. It's a much beloved June Festival tradition here.

[JMarkSnow2012]

It's Gulliver !

http://www.lakestay.co.uk/swift.html

(And the cannon commemorates the spiking of the town's guns by John Paul Jones*)

* The 18th-century sailor one

[yoshi]

I've been to Whitehaven, & never seen that mural. Never knew of the Jonathan Swift connection, but I did know about John Paul Jones. We didn't spend long there, & mostly walked in the harbour area, & went to the Beacon. I know Cumbria very well, having lived in Kendal, been to Barrow, Grange, Windermere, Cockermouth, Penrith, Keswick, Carlisle & some others.