Fun Fact about your hometown/state

[Jester]

I think so, but it's been awhile since I've seen that one. Quite a few movies get shot in and around Pittsburgh, because many of the neighborhoods haven't changed much. They can easily represent other areas--for example, the Temptations miniseries (which was set in Detroit)...was filmed in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.

Well, this film was set in Pittsburgh, and I believe it was also SHOT primarily in PiIttsburgh, but I figured you would know more than I would....

I do feel slightly humbled, though, that after living in AZ for 20 years, I didn't know half of the stuff you mentioned!

You need to study your state history more. All of this was stuff I knew off the top of my head, to be honest.

do know, however, that the westernmost conflict of the Civil War occurred at Picacho Peak, between Phoenix and Tucson.

I knew that, but didn't mention it. Arizona has one Civil War casualty, total.

Fort Lauderdale, actually, although in the past two days, I've heard the same thing said about Orlando and Pensacola, too.

Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Pensacola....all lovely places. But the FACT remains that Tampa is the Lightning Capital of the World. And I don't say that from any bias or personal opinion, but simply from the fact of the matter that it's TRUE.

[MoonCat]

Hey Jester, I rode through Winslow, AZ once on a Greyhound bus! Of course that song went through my head at the time. Have to say I agree with you, didn't see much reason to hang around.

Always wanted to see the Grand Canyon...from the ground. Flying west, I went over it. It was a long time ago and I still have that picture in my head. There really are no words for it.

And FYI, the bars up here are open until 4 AM too.

[AccountingDrone]

Oh, and since I just thought of it, the city where I grew up, Fresno, CA, has the only university campus in the U.S. that has a licensed commercial winery. It's pretty good stuff, too.

Hubby's mom lives in Fresno, though he was born and lived for 4 years in Bakersfield, Mafia capital of California; he spent the next 14 years in Kerman. His mom used to live across the street from Sonny Barger's second in command until she moved to the Tower district.


Fresno is apparently known for an amazingly high proportion of millionaires, who knew. It has one of the oldest organized fire departments in the US.

[mikoyan29]

I took the train through Winslow....

Anyways...My State...Where to start:
We are called the Wolverine State although there hasn't been a naturally occuring wolverine for over 200 years (there were a couple a few years ago but they died).

We have the country's only floating Zip Code (48222)

We had the first sunken urban expressway (The Davision)

We had the first traffic light (of some form)

We fought a war with Ohio over Toledo....lost it and got the Upper Peninsula.

The only US state in the 48 where you can look south to Canada.

[Jester]

And FYI, the bars up here are open until 4 AM too.

Oh, I know that there are other places where the bars are open till 4. But down here, with the combination of the great weather and large number of bars, it just adds to the drunken insanity.

Just out of curiousity, where is "here"?

[drunkenwildmage]

oh..lets see.

A 'non-fighting' war between 2 states were fought over this city.. The only 'casualty' I believe was a horse.

We are considered 'Home of the Jeep' and it's still manufacturered here.

We are located on swampland that was drained in the 1800s to make way for farming.

Despite the fact that we are located in the US 'Midwest' we do have some sand dunes around here.

An Ex-Mayor is famous for (among things) for suggesting that 'We move all the deaf people to the Airport'

The Flight Director for Apollo 13 was born and raised here.

[CloserToSane]

It's a port city, among other things it's called the "Birthplace of America" as John Cabot sailed from Bristol to North America in 1497.

It's also called "City of Spires". This can explain why it was so heavily bombed during the Blitz.

We have the oldest Methodist church in the city centre.

Blackbeard once had a hideaway cave under St. Mary Redcliffe church. His original birthplace and childhood home are still on the harbourside. Oh and the pub he drank in.

St Mary Redcliffe was described by Queen Elizabeth I as, "the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England.".

Aardman animations (Wallace and Gromit, among others) are based in Bristol.

We've got, and I quote a local charity single "a really big bridge". The Cilfton Suspension Bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

We used to run on "Bristol time", about five minutes behind everyone else.

The world’s first commercially produced chocolate bar was made in Union Street Bristol by Fry’s in 1847.

The town wasn't meant to be called Bristol, it was Brigstow. However the dialect lends to the "L" at the end, and thus, Bristol.

Plenty of programmes have been filmed in Bristol (lots of BBC): Casualty, Holby City, Mistreses, Skins, Deal or No Deal, Teachers, Only Fools and Horses, House of Elliott, Being Human. We've also had a couple of films shot in the immediate area this year.

[EyeTeaGuy]

I'm a rarity - a Colorado NATIVE.

1. Over 75% of all land in the entire United States with an elevation above 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) is in Colorado.

2. All 54ish peaks in the Rocky Mountains above 14,000 feet are in Colorado - the Fourteeners.

3. Every square inch of Colorado is at least 3,000 feet above sea level. (914m)

4. The lowest point in Colorado (on Kansas border) is higher than the highest point in Pennsylvania.

5. Leadville, CO once was the richest city in the USA, if not the world, due to silver strikes. It is also the highest elevation incorporated city in the world.

6. Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 is the world's highest vehicle tunnel.

7. Denver claims to be the birthplace of the Cheesburger. The guy who invented it first tried chocolate as a topping.

8. The cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde are some of the oldest permanent structure residences on the American continents. Nobody really knows what happened to the Anasazi, who built them.

9. In south-central Colorado lies the remnants of an ancient super-mega-hyper-duper volcano (La Garita Caldera) which went KABLOOEY about 25 million years ago. Only one eruption since the time of the dinosaurs MAY have been larger. Mt St Helens let loose 1/5000th of the material that La Garita did. Ash likely fell on the eastern seaboard and the Carribean. (And for you non US-types, Colorado a couple thousand miles away from places like NYC/DC.) 100,000 times larger (energy wise) than the Tsar Bomba, largest nuke ever detonated. Most energetic event since the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

10. Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, CO celebrate a person who was kept on dry ice in a shed by his family/sons, in hopes of being resurrected. Coffin races, that kind of thing.

11. Boulder, CO is probably the most liberal city in existence outside of San Francisco or Cal-Berkley, and even then it is a tossup.

12. Pueblo, CO has the highest amount of living Medal Of Honor recipients anywhere.

13. Mosquito Pass, in the mountains of Colorado, was named because the settlers couldn't settle on a name, then shut their book - and where they would have written said name, they squashed a mosquito.

14. To build Denver International Airport, they moved 1/3rd the volume of earth moved to build the flippin' PANAMA CANAL.

15. DIA's land area is larger than the island of Manhattan.

16. Had the aliens in Independence Day had brains, Colorado would have been hit first - the "Golf Balls" on Buckley AFB in Aurora are radar dishes that relay information to NORAD for missle defense. Yes, the NORAD that was in Cheyeanne Mountain, and now at an AFB down in Colorado Springs.

17. The makers of Die Hard 2 freaked pretty much the entire city OUT - that plane crash in the movie? Yeah, that was filmed at our airport at the time, which was about 6 blocks north of my house. Seemingly half of the city called 911.

18. Look up "The Sleeper House" - a really weird house on I-70 a bit into the mountains, that looks a bit like a soft taco on its side. Was where Woody Allen filmed a movie. I've been in it - my cousin was the one who purchased it a few years ago and renovated/added on to it. It is JUST as weird and futuristic-y and Jetson-y on the inside. On a clear day, you can see the new airport from it, which is somewhere between 40 and 50 miles away. (64-80 km away)

For some absolutely fascinating reading, try and get a copy of "Colorado" by John Fielder - an awesome photographer, he went around re-creating exactly some shots from a photographer that was around 100 years before his shots, and it is fascinating how the places change and some stay the same.

[Treasure]

One of the four States that border Mexico, and I believe the one with the longest border with Mexico.

Sorry to disappoint you sir, but that distinction does in fact belong to Texas, we call it the Rio Grande, its a river, maybe you've heard of it?

the AZ/ Mex border is only 389 miles long, whereas the TX/Mex border is 1254 miles long....

[reimero]

My hometown:
1. Was the former headquarters for Studebaker.
2. Is the (current) home of the College Football Hall of Fame.
3. Is the hometown of actress Vivica Fox, women's basketball player Skylar Diggins and NASCAR driver Ryan Newman.

[Jester]

4. The lowest point in Colorado (on Kansas border) is higher than the highest point in Pennsylvania.

And higher than the highest point in Florida. Easily. I didn't look this up, mind you. I just know how flat and low Florida is. There is just no way that any part of Colorado is lower than any part of Florida.

7. Denver claims to be the birthplace of the Cheesburger. The guy who invented it first tried chocolate as a topping.

So does Buffalo, New York. Seems like we have an East-West battle heating up....

Sorry to disappoint you sir, but that distinction does in fact belong to Texas, we call it the Rio Grande, its a river, maybe you've heard of it?

the AZ/ Mex border is only 389 miles long, whereas the TX/Mex border is 1254 miles long....

I did say that I believed that to be the case. I have also been known to say, repeatedly on this site, that I reserve the right to be horribly and even embarrassingly wrong.

Such as at moments like, say...this.

[morgana]

My home town is the only town of its name in the world.

Plattsmouth, Nebraska, is named for its location at the point where the Platte River meets the Missouri River. Platte's Mouth.

Only significant fact about my hometown. *shrug*

[dalesys]

I knew that, but didn't mention it. Arizona has one Civil War casualty, total.

It may be more now.

A fellow I've worked with was in the Arizona Highway Patrol 70s/80s working 3 days on / 4 off (12 hour shifts).

On his off days he and his buddy would research old mining claims and then go out exploring and try to find them.

He got far enough into one tunnel to need his headlamp, turned it on... and he warn't alone!

There was a Union courier, apparently wounded by Indians, still holed up in there.

His uniform (wool) in in a museum and Mr. D has the soldier's revolver plus a commendation from the DOD because they were able notify the soldier's next-of-kin after 110 or so years.

[bhskittykatt]

The only US state in the 48 where you can look south to Canada.

Hate to burst your bubble but....here in WA state we can look south to Canada, too. Victoria is the only provincial capital south of the 49th, I believe. It's actually SW of where I'm at right now, in the US. So...one of two states in the 48 where you can look south to Canada. (In Point Roberts, you can look directly south on the Gulf Islands.)

[dawnfire]

I live in Whittlesea, just outside Melbourne.

We have our own country music festival and host the victorian country music awards.

We have a show (kind a like a fair) that is 150+ years old.

We were the hub for alot of the relief efforts after black saturday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Victorian_bushfires). A lot of the relief centers were outside my street (i didn't live there at the time).

slightly further afield

we have the oldiest water supply for melbourne (yan yean reservoir, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Yean_Reservoir )

parts of mad max was filmed locally

a roadhouse which is up pretty sally just outside wallan (http://www.madmaxmovies.com/making/m...use/index.html)

where Goose rolls the UTE which is on Bridge Inn Road (ttp://www.madmaxmovies.com/making/madmax/BridgeInnRoad/index.html)