America's Strangest People
http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-strangest-people?fb_ref=main&fb_source=profile_oneline
From December 2011
By Katrina Brown Hunt
Portland, OR, has earned a reputation for quirkiness: independent shops, locally produced cuisine, and—how to be diplomatic?—offbeat locals. You can see it in how they dress, perhaps, or through their love of bicycles, eco-conscious living, and craft beers.
Las Vegas resident Corey Lewis puts it more bluntly: “You see more mustaches in Portland than in a 1970s high school yearbook.” Even so, the communications professional says he loves the city for its all-natural, unconventional flair. “In other places, it would be called an Arts District,” he says, “but here, it’s really the whole city.”
Portland easily made the top five cities for America’s strangest people, as judged by Travel + Leisure readers. They evaluated 35 major cities in travel-related categories for our annual America’s Favorite Cities survey, and the inclusion of an offbeat category highlights how much travelers appreciate a little eccentricity in their getaways—mustaches and all.
How did voters define offbeat? For some cities, it likely reflects a long tradition of flamboyance and colorful people-watching—found in No. 1–ranked New Orleans. Other top 20 cities, such as Santa Fe and Providence, RI, have vibrant arts communities, ranking well in the survey for galleries, theater, and live music.
For other winning cities, the strange factor stems from a mash-up of alternative styles that can date back decades. For instance, here’s how Emily Williamson, communications specialist for Lusso Bags, describes her fellow residents in Seattle: “We still have a kind of hip-grunge demeanor going on around here—thrown in with business casual, business professional, and a streak of goth.”
You can also argue that kookiness is learned, rather than being an innate quality, and that some locals are striving for just that kind of compliment. After all, strangeness isn’t just something in the water—or even the locally brewed beer.
“In Austin, you’re really not a part of the scene until you’ve grown a beard, gotten a tattoo, and found the most ironic consignment-store clothing available,” says James Beswick, a technical author and consultant who recently moved to the Texas capital. Not that he dislikes the place. “The city is full of friendly people,” he adds.
No. 1 New Orleans
Is it any surprise? There’s a good reason that the Crescent City is also the No. 1 city for bars, wild weekends, and people-watching: every day can be its own form of Mardi Gras, from the Frenchmen Street area to the whole French Quarter. The locals aren’t hiding that offbeat nature, either: New Orleans also ranked No. 1 for civic pride.
No. 2 Santa Fe, NM
This longtime magnet for artists has an earthy, funky atmosphere, seen up close in the Plaza or along Canyon Road. Shop around a while, and you’ll start to blend in: Santa Fe ranks first for independent boutiques. Locals may be offbeat, but they aren’t off-putting; the city ranks highly for being friendly.
No. 3 Austin, TX
The college town that inspired the movies Slacker and Dazed and Confused has almost a cottage industry in hipness. Hot zones for slacker types are the areas around South Congress and the University of Texas campus. But you can also see the capital’s super-fit locals making the most of the great live music.
No. 4 Portland, OR
As the TV show Portlandia puts it, “Portland is where young people go to retire.” Residents love their bicycles, food trucks, and comfortable shoes—and they also seem pretty happy. Pioneer Square is a nerve center for homegrown types, but you can also find them relaxing over a local coffee or microbrew, both of which earned the city a No. 2 spot in our survey.
No. 5 San Francisco
Hippies are an integral part of San Francisco history, and plenty of folks proudly carry on the tradition. Even so, in the No. 2 city for diversity, there are also offbeat people with a nerdy bent, ranking highly for being both brainy and super tech-savvy. The Mission District and its Dolores Park make for great people-watching.
No. 6 Providence, RI
The Rhode Island capital gets its flair from loads of college students and artists. Head to the West End for a concentration of underground galleries and avant-garde performance spaces. After all, Providence ranked No. 3 for its theater scene. Even its No. 2–ranked pizza—often grilled—is quirky.
No. 7 Savannah, GA
Folks in this southern city tend toward the eccentric, whether they’re strolling River Street, poking around in cool antique stores, or filing into the famed Clary’s Café after church on Sunday. The city is strange in the most picture-perfect of ways, ranking first for its parks, fall visits, and romantic getaways.
No. 8 San Juan, P.R.
Locals are known for being almost raucously friendly, with a different definition of personal space than many other Americans. But voters were just fine with that: locals in the Puerto Rican capital won the survey for being good-looking, and came in No. 2 for being both stylish and charming. Strange has never looked better.
No. 9 Seattle
They don’t mind jogging in the rain and will wear Gore-Tex with everything. For the quirkiest of them, explore the Fremont and Capitol Hill areas, but before you make fun, take note that people in Seattle ranked as the smartest in the survey, and No. 3 for being the fittest. For extra motivation, they have the benefit of terrific and obsessed-about coffee.
No. 10 Portland, ME
Artists and fishermen in this New England city may or may not like to be referred to as salty, but you can soak up the waterfront vibe by walking along the docks, fish pounds, and bars on Commercial Street. Be sure to stop for a pint: the local microbrews ranked third in the survey. One thing that’s happily un-quirky about the locals: their good driving, which ranked No. 1.
No. 11 Philadelphia
They may get upstaged by their city’s top-ranked historical sites, but Philly locals still deserve a good gawking, even if it’s just for wearing a dizzying array of team logos (the city won the survey for most sports-crazed). South Street, Washington Square West, and gritty, up-and-coming Northern Liberties are a few areas to go in search of hip, artsy locals.
（中央社記者顏伶如波特蘭2日專電）哪一個美國城市的怪人最多？美國旅遊休閒雜誌Travel + Leisure舉辦讀者票選，結果紐奧良獲選第1，接下來依序為新墨西哥州聖塔菲、德州奧斯汀、波特蘭及舊金山。
12月號的Travel + Leisure雜誌報導，編輯部日前舉行讀者票選，讓讀者在35個全美城市當中，選出哪些城市有最多奇怪的人。至於「奇怪」的定義，則包括打扮得誇張豔麗的人群，或者特殊的當地節慶、飲食方式或生活型態等。
在這項讀者票選當中，紐奧良獲選擁有最多怪人的城市。理由是在這個城市可以看到各式各樣的人，有瘋狂的週末假期，酒吧也相當聞名。Travel + Leisure指出，在紐奧良的每一天都可以是狂歡節日（Mardi Gras）。
聖塔菲（Santa Fe）向來是藝術家聚集重鎮，特殊的獨立式小商店最受讀者青睞。奧斯汀（Austin）以大學城聞名，卻是非常酷的學術之地，經常可以看到身材保持得相當好的當地民眾，把現場音樂演奏發揮得淋漓盡致。
波特蘭上榜原因則是當地居民喜歡騎腳踏車，喜愛流動餐車，還有舒適的鞋子。
報導中指出，來自拉斯維加斯的溝通專家路易斯（Corey Lewis）表示，波特蘭奇怪之處在於留鬍子的人很多，「在波特蘭可以見到的鬍子，比可以在1970年代高中畢業紀念冊當中看到的鬍子還要多」。
他也指出，波特蘭另一個吸引人的特殊之處在於追求天然、顛覆傳統的風格，「如果在其他地方，這會被稱為文化特區，但在這邊卻整個城市都是這樣」。
事實上，長久以來，在波特蘭不管是商店、住家，甚至路上開的車子，經常會看到當地民眾貼著寫有「讓波特蘭更怪一點」（Make Portland Weirder）標語的貼紙，由此可見當地民眾對於「奇怪」的偏好。
Travel + Leisure分析，名列第5的舊金山，當地歷史原本就與嬉皮融合，許多民眾也把這個傳統繼續傳承下來。舊金山也在全美最為多元發展的城市排行當中位居第2名，當地居民不跟隨時尚主流，腦筋聰明，對於高科技也特別懂。
