'Small Town Living' Poll

[Lapis Lazuli]

It was a very mild winter here too until a few weeks ago. I miss snow days! Those were the best haha. Right now I can't wait for spring.

[mela489]

Me too. NC was in the 60's it was so nice and now NJ is in the 20's! crazy! I love the spring, my favorite time of year.  I bet spring in Stars Hollow is nice.   Haha definitely looks it on TV anyways, lol.

[Left Field]

One thing I don't like about small towns, and it was brought up on another thread a few months ago (by me I think), is the lack of tolerence, or at least the percieved lack of tolerence towards people of different colour or ethnicity.  In some towns it's not noticable, but if you go to some of the town in Northern NSW and Southern USA you can almost feel the racial tension in the air.

[mela489]

Oh, that is a good point.  I wouldn't know, but I can understand that.  But, if everyone in the town got along then it would be good.   The thing about small towns it doesn't mean there are 100 people in the town and the town is 20 miles wide.  I would like a town the size of stars hollow, that you could easily walk if you wanted to, and still not super crowded.

[Gilmore_Lover]

I do admit, it would be kinda nice to run around with neighbors and walk down the street and know everyone...but other than that I think I'd die in a small town. Growing up 15 minutes outside of Los Angeles, I don't think I could leave all the "hustle and bustle" to sound extremely cheesy.
If it was stars hollow I think I'd deal just because it's so cool there, but I went to visit my uncle in Tennessee and when the told us the drug store was the center of the town (the man running it prolly mid-60's in a pair of overalls) and that there were polly about 15 chuches and 70 houses.....i kind of made up my never-going-to-live-in-a-small-town mind for good.

[The27thGilmore]

I lived in a town in Alberta (population: 7 000, but 50 000 during the stampede!!) and I loved it. Of course, it was full of cowboy rednecks, so you didn't get to know everybody easily, but everything was close by, especially the best 7-11 in the world. And the library. And Tim Hortons. And some Fridays, DQ would have 59¢ burgers.
Oh, the small town world... how I miss it...
**sniff**

[Canuck]

 ... especially the best 7-11 in the world. And the library. And Tim Hortons. And some Fridays, DQ would have 59¢ burgers.
Oh, the small town world... how I miss it...
**sniff**

Come to Toronto then!  There a few Tim Horton's downtown and tonnes in the suburbs. There is a DQ in the Eaton Centre and a 7-11 right on Yonge St. 

[SnowPrincess]

I wish I lived in Stars Hollow, I live in a middle sized town (does that make sense?) It's not small but it's not huge either, you recognize alot of people after a while when you see someone at the grocerystore you could be like "hey, I've seen that person before" but you don't nessecarily know everybody personally, like you couldn't tell is someone was new unless they came right out and told you. I like it here, but I wish people were closer and you could walk to stores instead of having to drive everywhere (it would probably take me half an hour to walk to our nearest grocerystore where as a car ride is about 10 minutes).

[dadancingmuffin]

I live in the middle of an annoyingly suburban suburb in NJ...I have to drive 10 minutes to get to the nearest supermarket/store and the only place I can walk is my neighbors house and the rest of the jillions of developments around me... I think it would be really nice to live in a town like Stars Hollow...I wouldn't want it to be too small, but it's nice being able to know most of the people and being able to walk to places easily...

[mela489]

yes, definitely.  My town in NJ is huge.  It takes 15 minuts of driving to get from one side to the other.  I really like the small town idea.  there are so many people in my town its not close to everyone knowing everyone, which is one of the main things I want in a town.

[Nitro]

I spent my life thru my teens in a small town.  It was OK until I came of age.  The plus side is that a small town is a great place for a kid to free range.  Coming home late isn't a great cause for concern and a lad can get out from under parental/adult supervision quite readily.
Certain sticky bureaucratic issues like getting a cheque cashed a day early or an insurance claim approved in an emergency is pretty straightforward and  can be readily worked around. 
The commute is pretty much hassle-free and everything one needs one can walk to.

  Now for the drawbacks:

The fact that everyone knows everyone cuts both ways.  If one is inclined to be somewhat "different" from the town norm, EVERYONE feels free to share their ill-informed  opinions about what it is you are up to.  If people don't know the facts about a certain situation, that doesn't inhibit them from "sharing" about it  - almost always with the worst spin imaginable.  This is what makes "sharing" fun.  Also, since life in a small town could safely called boring, one can spend literally YEARS living down some relatively small transgression.  This tends to make dating/relationships somewhat daunting, since both parties catch flak.  I NEVER dated there.

Unlike Stars Hollow, there simply weren't colourful characters. The peer pressure has a tendency to be dull, mediocre and mean. 

The small town refrain: "It's soooo boring!   There's NOTHING to doooooooooooo!"

Effectively NO hope of seeing a major act live unless you're willing and able to shell out for a trip for what amounts to leaving your time zone.

Should the one major employer shut down, so does the town.   This brings me to my final point.

What is it, exactly, does Stars Hollow DO?

[Lapis Lazuli]

What is it, exactly, does Stars Hollow DO?

Good question. I guess it's popular with Tourists with all the Inns and bed & breakfasts and antique stores around.

Interesting post, Nitro. Thanks for sharing. It's a problem a lot of places in Canada (and the US) to see live bands. They only visit the major cities like Toronto or maybe Vancouver.

[1giantGGfan]

I think it would be fun to live in a small town.

Where I am, you don't know anyone other than friends. You have to take a car everywhere. My mom, my dad, and I walked to get food one night and it took up like 25-35 minutes to get there. And nowhere would you drive down a street and see kids playing outside. That just doesn't happen. Partly because its too hot during the summer, partly because parental supervision is necessay and lets face it, not many adults want to go out side just to watch their kid play. (No offense to those adults who do.)

And I think anytown would have the "It's soooo boring, theres nothing to do!" problem. We have that problem here and we are pretty big.

[Kitty]

As for the question

What is it, exactly, does Stars Hollow DO?

I would guess that while there are people that do work there, it more than likely is a bedroom like community as well in this day and age.  Tourism would play a  part, but I would say there are a lot of people that live there that probably commute for their jobs in and out of town daily.  They want to live there-but they do not work there. 

[Lapis Lazuli]

I have to say that's not the impression I got. It seems too self-contained to be a bedroom community. Of course I've never really gotten a sense of how big Stars Hollow is exactly, so maybe there are just enough jobs for everyone living there!

On the other hand Jess was working at Wal-Mart... was that in Stars Hollow or another town over? I can't remember.