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Winston-Salem

Winston does suck, I'm afraid. I don't get students shying away from Wake due to the town as they could easily spend 99% of their time on or near campus and/or with friends anywhere, but I agree it is a strike against when trying to lure a coach who might think Berkeley, CA is a kickass town (it's not, but it has cool stuff going all around).

FWIW, Princeton NJ is an awesome town too. It reminds me a little of an Oxford, England. Small, lots of shops, meandering streets, nice countryside. My great great great great great great granddaddy gave the university most of the land the university is now located on, fucked up his business and died almost penniless. Way to go asshole
 
Having graduated last May, Winston is on the rise from my perspective. Lots of students are going downtown almost every night of the week for the restaurants and bar scene. Even a new club called Status.

Pretty sure there's a good amount of development in the works. A friend of mine is even opening up a CrossFit gym downtown this summer. Definitely trending upward.

There's at least 2 within the downtown vicinity already...
 
Richmond is only marginally better than W-S, and almost entirely by virtue of the fact that it's a state capital.

W-S is not the problem. It's worlds better than a whole lot of other American cities its size. Not every place can be NYC or LA.
 
eat shit. I live in New Brunswick right now for school, and it destroys Winston-Salem in terms of being a "college town".

OP was right - Winston is kinda lame. Apologies to all who are still there.
Wake and Rutgers. You poor bastard, you're in sports hell.
 
Sucked in the 90's. Much better now. Downtown was a scary dump back then. There wasn't a hint of a college presence. The bars, with the exception of Freddie B's, did not even have Wake pennants or posters up. You partied on campus on weekends, spend Thursday Nights at Black Bear, Tap Room, West End Opera House, old school Ziggy's....there were a few other spots. Rose's Deli always kicked off the weekend with cheap pitchers. Rush Dances and Homecoming at the Millennial Center. Dottie's Diner at 3AM. Bell Bros. and Cloverdale Kitchen. Thisty Thursday Warthog games in the Summer. But except for the wealthy core of Reynolda the town was a dump. And it was in no way a college town. When I went to law school at UF and hung with my hometown friends who were slow tracking undergrad I realized the massive difference. That said, I wouldn't have wanted 4 years of UF undergrad life. The one year I got while they were there before I became a law school recluse in an Irish Pub was pretty awesome though.
 
Richmond is only marginally better than W-S, and almost entirely by virtue of the fact that it's a state capital.

W-S is not the problem. It's worlds better than a whole lot of other American cities its size. Not every place can be NYC or LA.

lol. no.

I don't blame Maya for avoiding the city downgrade, if that's actually why such a hire never happened. Winston has a lot of work to do.
 
Downtown is considerably nicer than it was 10 years ago, hell 5 years ago, and it's getting better every year.

I'd like to hear what people who think Winston sucks want from a city. Like tangible things that they actively seek when wanting to live somewhere.

Of course the WFU/Salem (wife an alumnae) thing gets us back to the area, but we'll go just for a "weekend getaway" a few times a year. Overnight at one of the twin City Quarter hotels (or the must cheaper Wingate; not bad) and you can walk west towards Foothills/Filling Station, south to Meridian, north to the Arts District (6th & Vine, Finnegan's, Sweet Potatoes) and everything in between w/o worrying about taxis or drinking/driving. Like some of the others who have been out of school for a while have commented, I'm amazed at sitting in a 2nd floor bar on 4th Street and seeing all the energy on the street below. Throw in the surrounding foothills/Piedmont and the Moravian cultural influence (arts, food, etc.) and I'm good.
 
Of course the WFU/Salem (wife an alumnae) thing gets us back to the area, but we'll go just for a "weekend getaway" a few times a year. Overnight at one of the twin City Quarter hotels (or the must cheaper Wingate; not bad) and you can walk west towards Foothills/Filling Station, south to Meridian, north to the Arts District (6th & Vine, Finnegan's, Sweet Potatoes) and everything in between w/o worrying about taxis or drinking/driving. Like some of the others who have been out of school for a while have commented, I'm amazed at sitting in a 2nd floor bar on 4th Street and seeing all the energy on the street below. Throw in the surrounding foothills/Piedmont and the Moravian cultural influence (arts, food, etc.) and I'm good.

You go to W-S for a fun weekend? Damn. Things must be really depressing down east.
 
I've spent a ton of time in Greenville the last 18 months (better than every other weekend) and I like it, but I would say that Greenville and Winston-Salem are on the same track with Greenville a few years ahead of winston. I think winston is very under rated.
 
Shaka turned down UCLA too; guess that means Southern California would be awful place to live while raking in a couple of million+ a year. :rulz:

Blaming W-S for Shaka turning down WF is so ridiculously dumb. With all due respect to the former capitol of the confederacy, if local quality of life was the determining factor in Smart's decision of which college coaching job to take, you really think that Shaka Smart would choose Richmond?

Without getting into the argument of Richmond versus Winston, Smart stayed at VCU because he has a lifetime contract there. He can recruit whomever he wants. He has reached the Final 4 there. He competes in a league that he can dominate, and if a top 10 program opens up, he is just as likely, if not more likely, to get the job from VCU than he is from WF. Duke, UNC and other ACC schools are not going to poach a conference coach.

I am amazed that anyone would think that if W-S had the "swanky" nightlife of Greenville, SC or Richmond, Smart would be coaching WF now. Get a clue.
 
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According to the 2010 census W-S proper is the 85th largest city in America. Which in itself is somewhat of a surprising stat, since it always felt smaller than that to me. Winston also has nearly 25K more residents than Richmond.

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

A lot of the other cities around it are suburbs or are part of a larger metro area. But the ones that are not, and are stand alone cities include:

Fort Wayne, Jersey City, Laredo, Madison, Durham, Lubbock, Reno, Baton Rouge, Boise, Birmingham, Rochester and Richmond.

So if you want to judge Winston I'd compare it to those places, not NYC or Chicago nor some small podunk college town.
 
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