I didn’t want to say anything at first, but now that another publication finally pointed it out I guess it’s OK for me to jump in, too.
Ready? OK, here it goes:
The people of Philadelphia are ugly. And by ugly I’m not speaking metaphorically, I’m talking pure aesthetics. Worse yet, I’m not talking about the infrastructure or the colonial era architecture – it’s all about the people.
Yes, according to the world-wise and high-brow folks at Travel + Leisure magazine, Philadelphia is home to the least attractive people in America. Actually, Philadelphia ranked dead last amongst the 25 American cities for attractiveness in a poll of travelers. It's all printed in the latest issue. Check it out.
Philadelphia also rated next to last in the stylishness of the people in the city, 23rd in safety and action/adventure getaway, 22nd or 21st in a place for a girlfriend’s getaway, cleanliness, athletic/active people, and a place for a romantic escape.
The city also rated poorly in the worldliness of the people, a place to go to relax, access to the outdoors and the friendliness of the people.
Yeah, it was pretty rough.
Be that as it might be, the attractiveness of the people is the one that hurts the most. After all, I can think of examples of how out-of-towners can get to some outdoorsy places to do their athletic-type things (though it might take a ride on the overly congested and unfriendly Schuylkill to get there), and romance is more of a state of mind than anything else. Plus, truth be told, there are friendly and unfriendly people everywhere. Perhaps Philadelphians are simply being penalized because they seem to enjoy taking delight in the failure of others more than any other group of citizens on the east coast.
And we generalize because we can.
But the ugly thing… ouch.
Here’s why that hurts: because it just might be true. Don’t believe me? Go hang out at the airport where folks are waiting to board plans. There one will find the craziest-looking array of people outside of a big top. Worse, when waiting to board my flight to Denver last week I didn’t have to wait too long to see the bearded lady – there were already three of them sitting at Gate C17.
I wish I was exaggerating, but it’s true – when at the airport last week I called my wife to ask her if there was a news report about a prison break or something. Later, when I arrived in Denver and checked in with all of the other baseball writers, I asked if anyone else had noticed the trend regarding Philadelphian’s uneasiness on the eyes.
I wish I had better results to report.
Fat, mean and ugly is no way to go through life.
Perhaps enhancing the epidemic of Philadelphia’s curse was the fact that I was jetting off to Denver where the folks rated in the top 10 in attractiveness, friendliness, fun and intelligence. In the athletic/active category, Denver was No. 1 overall.
Yeah, it was a tough room.
Nevertheless, I’ll apologize if I (or my relatives) ruined the city’s ranking. Certainly, I’m not the beau of the ball and truth be told, when the famous rock group KISS finally took their makeup off to reveal themselves, I said, “Look, it’s my uncles!”
But then again, Grace Kelly was from Philadelphia. So too were the Barrymores, Kevin Bacon, Will Smith, Tina Fey, Richard Gere, Maria Bello, Kim Delaney, Hall (but not Oates) and Wilt Chamberlain.
Just because Broderick Crawford, Ben Franklin, Norman Fell, Chuck Barris, Oates (but not Hall), W.C. Fields and Larry Fine come from Philly doesn’t mean it should be held against the rest of us. We’re doing all we can with what little we have.
Regardless, it wasn’t all bad for our homely brethren. Though we won’t be mistaken for the hottest Hollywood star or starlets, we have plenty to occupy our minds.That’s because when it comes to culture Philadelphia was hard to beat in the Travel + Leisure poll. Though Philadelphians might be boorish and rude and more interested in watching sports than actually taking part in them, the city ranked in the top five in classical music, museums, restaurants, cheap eats and farmers’ markets. Better yet, Philadelphia was No. 2 overall behind Washington, D.C. in the historical sites category.
In other words, Philadelphia is good to look at as long as one doesn’t look at the natives.
To read how Philadelphia rated in the categories of the Travel + Leisure poll, click here.
To see how travelers rated all of the American cities, click here.