When some company from Atlanta was trying came to business school for their recruiting visit, they spoke excitedly of how much "Hotlanta" was like New York. The only example that stuck with me was, "People wear a lot of black."
Well now, Atlanta, you can add "naming your kid Isabella or Josh," and "pushing a stroller somewhere besides in a mall" and "parades celebrating what, exactly, nobody knows" to your Big City resume'. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, early morning "stroller parades" around the Atlantic Station urban retail entertainment experience destination [aka, a privately developed outdoor mall] are all the rage with the young families. And by families, they mean moms.
Meanwhile, New York's outdoor mall, SoHo, is full of stroller-pushing Atlantans doing Christmas shopping at the same chain stores they left behind. In other convergence news, look for Charlotte to take up stroller parades by about 2010.
Atlantic Station courts families with stroller parades [ajc.com via dt reader jj daddy-o]
"... New York's outdoor mall, SoHo..." LOL! So true.
I agree that Atlanta is about as culturally, architecturally, and geographically different from New York City as you can get and still be in the same country. OK, maybe Orlando is slightly more opposite. It is amusing to see sprawling suburban areas try to emulate urban centers by creating "urban mall experiences" like Reston Town Centre.
Incidentally, I'm currently in Paris, where people wearing black parade their strollers all over the place. So it's almost like living in New York, or even Hotlanta!