@Timbeon

I've got an interesting one for you- wacky local car dealership commercials. Turns out most of them just buy scripts from the same Orlando, FL marketing agency, so you've got a pretty high chance of seeing the same basic weird commercial from car dealerships all across the US and Canada.

@Kellan__they-them

The "local weirdo" phenomenon has always struck me as quite sad, because in three of the places that I've lived, our "local weirdo" was someone with clear mental illness who was simply put out on the street because their family abandoned them and the local shelter or mental institute deemed them well enough to be on their own and they didn't have space for someone who "only" suffered from severe schizophrenia, dementia, etc. Our "local weirdos" were usually homeless, and their "weirdness" was probably the only thing keeping them taken care of by people who would donate to a local "celebrity" as it were. Although on a brighter note, in a fourth place I lived, our local weirdo simply liked dressing as a wizard and carrying a bright pink suitcase with him. He was eccentric but quite sweet when I spoke to him in line at the grocery store.

@jerotoro2021

One ironically common thing I noticed is the "world's largest X", usually found in towns and smaller cities. It's easy to come up with something that no one's ever built a giant version of, then build a giant version of it, even get it certified by Guinness as the "world's largest X", in an attempt to generate tourist draw and local pride for a small community.

@ICVRXS

Having recently moved from the US to Sweden, I have been introduced to the interesting phenomenon that is O'Learys "American" restaurant. It's interestingly decorated with Americana sports memorabilia, has sporty logos and graphics, and they play sports on the televisions, but it also has that dark green interior with dark wood and gold accents that you'd see in one of those fake Irish pubs in America. The name itself speaks to how it also seems to sort of want to be an Irish pub as well in spite of the fact that, if you've ever been to a sports bar and an Irish pub, you'd know they have pretty conflicting vibes from one another. It's so bizarre because it's a Swedish interpretation of American culture filtered through an American interpretation of Irish culture. They also have the blandest "guacamole" on the planet.

@BlastedRodent

I always considered those transit maps more of a shorthand for the city itself than a claim that the map was unique. They are compact, graphically pleasing maps of a place that double as being intimately familiar to people who live there as part of daily life. Often they also hint at the geography of the place. I have lived in Stockholm and Copenhagen and was never under any illusion that either city’s transit map was a unique graphic design (they are obviously copies of London’s, the OG and the only one who can actually lay claim to being a design icon), but seeing the lines, the station names and the shape (Stockholm is an hourglass, Copenhagen is a hand) instantly triggers memories of living in either city, places, people and routines, and I think that’s valuable even if the graphic design of either map is obviously unoriginal and every European city of any size has one.

@skipads5141

Interesting fact: The U.K. considers the subway map as one of the great inventions of the entire nation. London did have the first underground transit and the stylized map was actually invented for it. (The famous Tube Map)

@SophiaDalke

The thing about bubble tea is that because it's a relatively new phenomenon overall (literally invented in my lifetime) it didn't spread at a uniform rate. In the 90s and early 2000s it was an exotic thing you really only found in big coastal cities and virtually unknown in the Midwest or South. Sure, it's ubiquitous now (thankfully), but it was kinda unique back when I was a teenager.

@BOABModels

All of those maps for public transit were based on the London Underground map designed by Harry Beck. He based the designs on electrical circuit layouts. He also wasn't much of a businessman and designed many other cities' maps in his spare time for free!
The excellent YouTuber, Jay Foreman, just did a couple of videos about the whole process.

@FrankJames

you're spot on, JJ, I too have always been suspicious of CCWRs (Crazy Crap-on-the-Wall Restaurants)

@popezosimusthethird269

Your City Isn't Unique checklist EUROPEAN EDITION :
- the pedestrianized area half the city wants to see expanded, half wants gone entirely
- "it's so hard to find a parking spot"
- neighbourhood named after a wall or a gate that hasn't been here for centuries
- very small remnants of the aforementioned wall or gate
- high-rise suburb built in the 50s or 60s with a whimsical name (bonus points if it has then turned into the impoverished crime-ridden problem area of the whole metro area)
- ruins from the old church that was tragically destroyed in a fire
- experimental modern building that doesn't fit with the rest of the urban fabric
- statue of a historical figure riding a horse (bonus points if most people can't really pinpoint when that historical figure lived or why it even is an important historical figure)
- the castle or what remains of it (it's on a hill so you get a great view of the whole city when you go there!)
- the marketplace where there no longer is a market taking place (bonus points if it was an indoor market hall that got demolished "after the war")
- large avenue named after a 19th century politician everyone only knows of because of how many things are named after him
- local government building named after a local 19th century or early 20th century politician no one remembers
- the film festival
- antique market in autumn
- the one place where you can get the local dish, not the version we sell to tourists, I'm talking about the real deal
- sneaky street art that has the same aesthetic across the town made by the elusive local street artist (may or may not have been commissioned by the city itself, artist is most likely not from the city itself)
- big party parachuted politician who claims to be from here because their grandparents lived there so that's where they spent their holidays

@NoFuqinIdea

"You should always be suspicious of the authenticity of businesses that have a bunch of stuff on their wall." ...we have a Mexican Restaurant in my hometown in germany that has a giant Buddha-Statue standing on the window. Always cracks me up.

@FiendishStormForce

I finally understand why you wouldn't drink the tap water when you visited England! We're raised to basically divide the world into "drink the water" countries and "don't drink the water" countries, and it never occurred to me that some people might take a city-by-city approach.

@ukeman1143

Murals. My city is supposedly "Known" for having a bunch of murals, but go to any city or downtown area that has recently gotten a re-vamp, and you'll find a collection of "sophisticated" and "deeply meaningful" murals all over. My city still might be special though, because we fit all of our murals into a 5-6 block by 5-6 block area, and they fit the laid back vibe well, unlike some places.

@SpiderMan-du1jf

I was always told that the water in St. Louis was the cleanest because the Budweiser brewery decided that it would be cheaper to use tap water to brew their beer instead of there own; so they decided to upgrade the public tap filters to their standards allowing better water and cheaper beer

@djstonedog

My city's "local weirdo" sadly passed away last year and the outpouring of love in the media and especially on social media for him was very touching. #RipMelvis

@SingingSpock

I’d like to add another perspective. I don’t disagree with the main point of the video about the lack of uniqueness, but I’d like to add that these things often are important in their individual manifestations in each city. Sometimes it’s in very tangible ways, e.g. a river often will quite literally define the basic geography of a city, and the specific shape of it will have a daily impact on how people move around the city. Other times it’s in more soft, cultural ways, e.g. every big city has its local weirdo, but this is our local weirdo. My friend used to make and sell local-themed t-shirts and I bought one that’s just our most recognizable “skyscraper” (it’s not that tall). It’s not actually unique to Fresno, but anyone who lives in Fresno knows it. These elements can create a communal identity, even if that identity isn’t too different from other similar cities.

@michaelzhuhovitsky3889

A comment on the previous video on this topic hit close to home: every mid size city started calling itself a "tech hub".

@jamesrodriguez8981

I think something that should be mentioned is when someone from where you live makes it “big”. I remember ten years ago people talked about Taylor Swift being from here which meant a lot to us since four years prior in 2008 Reading PA was declared the poorest city in the US and then to see this person make it out of here and make it big was inspiring. I think an important thing to do is to read into the person before you go around saying that they were from this poor area and made it “big”. She was actually from the ritzy suburbs of Wyomissing which is near Reading and she went to the school they have as well instead of the urban, underfunded, gritty school in the city. She was already rich she just wasn’t famous which was the difference.

@addictiontocars

I laughed out loud at the waterfront thing, I have lived in 3 cities in the UK and the 'not enough is being done about the water front' happened everywhere.

@txgsu43

When we are talking about objects of city pride (as opposed to corporate or business objects), it is less about the existence of the objects and more about the uniqueness and connection we derive from that object. Other cities have transit maps, but that is our transit map. Other cities have area codes, but that is our area code. Other cities have waterfronts, but that is our waterfront.