Nashville is friggin’ Great

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It kind of reminded me of Downtown Orlando

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The only problem with Orlando though, aside from the people and things there, is that it’s an existential purgatory of humidity, congestion, and commercialism.

Did you get to meet hawk tuah

I don’t drink so I did the same thing except vape. Fun arse times on Broadway

Hit the smaller bars in Printers Alley. Less crowded, less Kid Rock type shite, no cover and live music.

Agreed. I think it’s actually regressed in the last 10 years as far as appeal. More corporate, more woke, more expensive, more crowded, less of a Southern, hometown vibe.

FYI, it’s a terrible place to live

Did you encounter any drunk, fat girl bachelorette gangs? The bride to be has on the crazy wild cowboy hat not the regular hats.

They have short dresses on (even though they are large) with cowboy boots (isnt that cool).

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The only bar of note is Tootsies

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You misspelled Robert's Western World. If I'm forced to go to Broadway, that's where I'm going.

It still boggles my mind that Nashville has become such a tourism hot spot. Growing up, you'd have your geriatric country fan that'd do the old Hall of Fame, Studio B, the Opry, and sightseeing tour of country star's houses. Post-2010 Nashville is a weird place to me. We've had a huge influx of flaming liberals in the core and extreme MAGAs in the burbs. Drunk tourists everywhere. Those of us that grew up here are just kind of looking around like "wtf is going on? Can we please get Dancing in the District and less traffic back?"

I’ve visited Nashville about every year on business for the past several years. It’s truly astounding how quickly it keeps growing. I spent several months in Nashville while in college 20+ years ago. Never would have imagined it being where it is now.

I agree that it’s a lot of fun. Great food and cocktail scene in addition to the Broadway area bars.

To that end; it does feel like it’s been Disney-fied a bit. I do miss the old school honky tonk vibes. Feels like Robert’s is about all that’s left.

It’s also become incredibly expensive in recent years. Traffic is nightmarish.

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I've been trying to put my finger on the time when Nashville was just a city rather than Nash Vegas. When was this and what was it like? Was it troubled like Memphis or just kind of there?

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I grew up there. The city developed sort of it's own unique vibe in the 70s - it's why Robert Altman made his hit movie Nashville; he wanted a place where the city was the main character and the colorful cast were just supporting players. It wasn't New Orleans or San Francisco, but it had a "feel". And it was also a cool place to settle down and raise a family.

In the 80s things got a little gritty thanks in part to some bad local politicians. Downtown was a bizarre mix of white collar and blue collar workers, drug addicts, country music tourists and bad apples. There were dive honky tonks and trinket stores but there were also wharehouses, flop houses, peep shows and adult bookstores and some old school eateries. Absolutely nothing like today. I remember playing in an abondoned wharehouse on 2nd avenue and feeling like I was about to fall through the rotted floor and land on some homeless drifter. That's prime real estate now. East Nashville, now super trendy and gentrified, was a dump.

In the mid-90s things started to change. I think Market Street Brewery and Wild Horse Saloon kick started it. Country Music exploded in the early 90s - Garth, Clint, Alan Jackson, Shania Twain, all the CMT video stars. This made live music a much bigger thing. They renovated and re-opened the Ryman as well as a lot of other venues. The built stadiums for the Predators and Titans and new political initiatives started bringing in a lot of businesses.

Slowly but surely Nashville became a magnet city for young college grads from the South who felt that Atlanta was "too full and too bland" and transplants from the midwest looking to escape the economic malaise of the rust belt. And then Californians looking for cheap real estate, low taxes and enough of an arts and culture scene to keep them happy.

I have no idea how the bachelorette party thing started. I guess someone with a lot of market savy realized that (1) women are gluttonous sheep and will do whatever the popular girl is doing - see fashion, hairstyles, consumerism, and (2) there was no real female equivalent to the male batchelor party. Showers, dress tryings...sure, but not the blowout weekend out of town. This phenomenon was like pouring gas on the fire of tourist corporatization that was already taking over downtown.