Move over NYC, New Orleans gets top city rankings

Reuters India ^ | 10/10/2009 | Patricia Reaney

[Saije]

Looking for romance? Head to Honolulu. But if you are single, like live music, boutique hotels and want a wild weekend, New Orleans is the city to visit.

In its latest survey of America's favorite cities Travel and Leisure magazine asked readers to pick the best places for everything from the most attractive, intelligent, stylish and the friendliest people to where to find the best museums, restaurants, bars, museums and affordable hotels.

"The big news this year is that New Orleans received the most number one rankings over New York," said Travel and Leisure Assistant Editor Stirling Kelso.

...The city known as the "Big Easy" also came out tops for people watching, singles scene and the metropolis with the best bars and concerts and bands.

...Miami topped the charts for the most attractive people, followed by San Diego and Charleston but southern charm seemed to come into play with Nashville, New Orleans and Charleston having the friendliest folks.

New York was the U.S. city with the most stylish residents with Miami and San Francisco and Los Angeles also coming up with high marks.

But when it comes to most intelligent Minneapolis/St. Paul took the crown, followed by Austin and Boston. The twin cities also scored top marks as the cleanest city.

..."In regards to culture, Washington D.C. and New York really tied in that category. New York got the No. 1 ranking for classical music and theaters, and Washington D.C. did for historical sites and monuments and museums and galleries. It was a nice East Coast tie," Kelso said.

For more sedate family fun, Orlando, Florida was the top choice with Washington D.C. coming in second, and San Diego third. If money is a consideration, Cleveland scaled the chart for best affordable getaway.

[Saije]

I've never spent any time in New Orleans but have had the impression that after Katrina things were a mess. Apparently not.

Minneapolis/St. Paul has the most intelligent people? Really?

[Ditter]

I love New Orleans but I haven’t been back since Katrina. I hear the tourist parts have come back.

Those smart people in Minnesota sure got themselves a top notch senator in the Al Franken and did they have a bang up governor who was a wrestler?

[eclecticEel]

New Orleans is also our murder capital.

[hometoroost]

Bring protection - lots and lots of kevlar.

[GeronL]

This is bogus. This is the craziest thing I have ever heard. Must be humor or something.

[ccc_jr]

Theres nothing more family friendly then muggings in our nations capital!

[supremedoctrine]

Oh, believe me, things are a mess. I was there April 1-10
, about 7 months after Katrina. I was working on my nephews double shotgun house, which miraculously was hardly damaged, being on high ground, but only a mile or so away from the Lower 9th Ward. There was NO police presence anywhere, and the city was only about 40 % repopulated. I spent half the time working, and half the time cruising the entire city with my nephew, and I wound up taking hundreds of photographs. I have no idea what kind of deal was made with Travel & Leisure magazine to get them to promote the city that way, but it can’t have been their independent idea.

[Boiling Pots]

Didn’t Katrina wash away a lot of the riff-raff?

[nralife]

bump/bookmark

[AlexW]

New Orleans was great fun for me in the 60s and 70s.
It is also where I became addicted to Oysters on the half shell.
Sometimes we would take the train from Memphis, sit in the club car and drink our way to Bourbon St.
Oh, for the good old days.

And yes, people are friendly, because most of the tourist and locals are SOUTHERNERS :)

[fieldmarshaldj]

I think it’s criminal they have even allowed rebuilding of ANY areas below sea level in NOLA, most especially the Ninth Ward. It’s a deathtrap.

[bobby.223]

wow, good memories huh? remember when the great Al Hirt was a minority owner of the city’s NFL Saints? what a time....

[willyd]

Yes...to Houston...thank you Mayor White for all the additional murders and crime...

[kcvl]

Stirling Kelso
Intern at Gruner & Jahr Printing and Publishing Co

Stirling Kelso worked in Production on the TV show Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet.

The results were based on an online survey of more than 60,000 people who rated 30 U.S. cities in various categories. Five new cities, Providence, Kansas City, Cleveland, Houston and St Louis, were added to the survey this year.

New Orleans - Best Feature - Wild weekend

Rank - #29 Cleanliness - Score - 3.29

Rank - #29 Safety - Score - 3.30

New Orleans

The city known as the "Big Easy" also came out tops for people watching, singles scene and the metropolis with the best bars and concerts and bands.

But when it comes to most intelligent Minneapolis/St. Paul took the crown.

Two words...AL FRANKEN

[kcvl]

Most Intelligent People

1.Seattle
2.Minneapolis
3.Austin
4.Portland
5.San Francisco
6.Boston
7.Washington, D.C.
8.Denver
9.Chicago
10.New York

http://tinyurl.com/ykyrprb

Most Stylish People

1.New York
2.Miami
3.San Francisco
4.Los Angeles
5.Chicago
6.Charleston
7.San Diego
8.Austin
9.Las Vegas
10.Santa Fe

[Mila]

“and the city was only about 40 % repopulated.”

New Orleans proper, which is to what I think this travel article is referring, pre Katrina was about 450,000, now it’s about 312,000. That’s about the 69% mark of repopulation. What is referred to as the Greater New Orleans area is not just New Orleans proper, but is made up of seven parishes(counties) and pre Katrina had a combined population of about 1.3 million and now has a population of about 1.13 million. It takes a fairly long time to get a population that large back on it’s feet after a devastating flood situation, but we’re getting there.

http://blog.nola.com/news_impact/2009/03/CENSUS031909.jpg

[supremedoctrine]

Didn’t mean to knock anything about NOLA.
I love the place, and my nephew, who was an acclaimed
musician,and is now a painter, wouldn’t live anywhere else.
When I say it was a “mess”, I was referring to it in the aftermath of Katrina, and like I said I was there in the early spring following the late summer deluge.My nephew interestingly was supposed to go on tour with his band,
and literally they had to hit the road in their band as scheduled , a few days before Katrina hit. They were on the road THREE solid months, all over the country, and when he returned, with no solid information as to what may have happened to his house, he was one of the very first people that Law enforcement let back in. When HE came in, by van, the city was literally about ONE percent repopulated, beyond the stubborn holdouts who never left in the first place.I couldn’t wait to go down there, and see for myself what the place actually looked like, since I never trusted MSM coverage of ANYTHING. Hell, even Cable,when it has people like Geraldo and his insufferable grandstanding during the active flooding, was enough to make my blood boil, so I HAD to see it for myself. I was unfamiliar with the NOLA website until after Katrina, and it was my sister, his mother, who referred me to it, and its message boards all during that late summer and fall period, to try to figure out if anyone knew the fate of my nephew’s house. I was very impressed with the entire site, and am wondering whether it was appreciably better after Katrina,than before. Either way, and even though I haven’t revisited it in a few years, it was far different and far more interesting than just about any major city website I’ve seen.

[Mila]

"Didn’t mean to knock anything about NOLA."

Oh, no problem I didn't take it as a knock. It was very nice of you to give me the back story of your New Orleans post Katrina experience. Things were certainly awful here in those early days after the storm.

My family and I live on the West Bank of New Orleans in Gretna and, compared to the city,we sustained very minor damage. The worst part was the feeling of isolation. No mail, grocery stores, restaurants or many other businesses were also nonoperational and it took forever to reach a place of normalization again. From what you describe with your nephew, I'm sure you know what I mean.

We had evacuated to Birmingham and returned to our home three weeks after the storm passed. Even with all of the TV coverage, we weren't totally prepared. It was hard seeing entire areas of a city like New Orleans looking like they had been hit by a bomb.