Tallahassee: Florida’s Up-and-Coming Cool City

Tallahassee: Florida’s Up-and-Coming Cool City


"Color me biased, but I think Florida gets such an undue bad rap these days. When I was a kid growing up outside Jacksonville, my home state was known for its beaches, great college football, awesome Cuban food (and Mexican food, and seafood in general), and retirees. But by the time I was attending Florida State University it had undergone a terrible rebranding to the state of apocalyptic weather, pythons devouring alligators and then exploding, bath salts-induced cannibalism, @FloridaMan, and retirees.
Haters gonna hate, but I love the Sunshine State. Miami is among the best American cities for beaches and nightlife, and St. Petersburg has transformed into a millennial yuppie capital on par with Austin or Portland. And now another incredibly unlikely suspect is adding its name to the list of Florida cities that all the cool kids my age want to be in.
The boring, bureaucratic state capital that was once a Southern Georgian cultural castoff with a pathetic facade of urbanness is now growing and changing faster than any city I’ve ever seen. This week as I visit some old college friends, I’m loving what I’m seeing in Tallahassee."