I’m born and raised in north Georgia about a mile from Chickamauga Chattanooga Battlefield. Moved to Chattanooga, moved away, came back. Where I live in East Ridge used to be the perfect place to live. My daughter was robbed at gunpoint in my driveway last year. It’s a sad commentary on the city. My kids grew up going to festivals, parades, outdoor concerts, fireworks and we always felt safe. Now I carry a gun everywhere I go. It’s still beautiful, but sad. That building you were looking at was an old foundry. Industrial iron works and things like that were everywhere and are all gone now. A lot of them have been razed but some carcasses remain. A lot of the old buildings have been turned into gorgeous townhouses, condos, and apartments which are too expensive for the average person. My maternal grandfather worked at the train station from the age of 17 til his death from cancer at age 54. He was the only one allowed on the train when President Franklin Roosevelt came through town. I remember going to the Choo Choo as a child when he was still alive. It’s a beautiful city, rich in history, but also flawed. Much like myself and most of us if we are honest. I still love it. Thank you for your interesting and honest video. It was so good! Well done!
I live in hixson a mile outside chattanooga and theres been a huge housing market increase in the past 5 yrs..idk where all the ppl qre coming from or how they afford all these cookie cutter 300k houses so close together that u can reach out your window and slap your neighbors thru theirs but they are going up everywhere and our roads cant handle it. The crimes are outrageous. Shootings everywhere
@@stanlee2200 They are coming from out west where there's no water. I live in Dayton and it's the same here. Like you said the home prices have tripled. It's getting so bad its hard for a yankee to find a house in the south. :)
I was born and raised in Chattanooga. That building was once Wheelen Foundry. The sight will soon be the new stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts Minor league baseball team. With shops, and restaurants.
I'm happy in a weird way to see someone appreciate the old buildings in my work city the way I look at them. ❤️ Thank you. I've been working downtown for years and love them.
As a Chinese foreigner, my first ever trip to USA was actually to Chattanooga just to visit a friend of mine. Everyone who go to USA for the first time probably would go to famous cities like Los Angeles or New York. I am not a big fan of big tourist cities and actually prefer seeing the real part of that country by going to rural areas. While I was in Chattanooga, I actually find it pretty peaceful and for once strangers saying "Hello" or Good morning to me. Anyways I went to Nashville later and didn't really like the big city vibe in there. My friend took me around Tennessee to see the local spots with road trips to Country Fair, Gatlinsburg, Smokey Mountain, shooting guns, seeing "Hill Billy" people like her parents, had Cracker Barrel. It was pretty fun trip, I am surprised none came and being hostile to me for being "From enemy country"
"From enemy country"🤣 How could you be the enemy? They outsourced all the production to China. Try to buy something in the US with a Made In USA sticker on it. Not gonna happen.
We don’t all look at it like that! I saw many Chinese tourists in Washington DC with shirts and hats with American flags! They were so friendly! Glad you got to visit!!
Old building you were asking about Was Wheland Foundry. And the first park you started at was Coolidge Park. Renaissance Park was where you got a good view of the aquarium.Good work. I enjoyed it. Learned a few things about my own city. That drone footage was 🔥🔥🔥
I grew up in Chattanooga and left in 1981 to travel, see other countries and meet the people of those other countries. To this day I love Moon Pies, but they're hard to find in Oregon. Chattanooga has always been a beautiful city, but like many cities today Chattanooga has its problems as well. There's always been a high percentage of poverty in Chattanooga, and like many areas in the South, wages are low for many jobs and have not kept up with inflation. However, Chattanooga is beautiful.
Hey man I was born in Chattanooga too! I left in the late 90s for CA and live in Western WA now. In Olympia the Ralphs carry moonpies if you're ever up this way.
Chattanooga looks like a nice historical city with modern buildings added in a tasteful manner. The stone church tower is noteworthy; I wonder why the rest of the church was not preserved. There is something about romantic old river cities that harkens to a bygone era, when lazy steamboats and trains were the means of travel, not zippy jets and cars on highways. Thanks for bringing us along on the tour!
I am a lifelong resident of Chattanooga. The rest of 1st Methodist was taken down when the church merged with centenary. From the 1950s to the late 1970s, Chattanooga went through an “Urban Renewal” and a lot of buildings were demolished that really should have been left.
Or the more fun/slang is "Chattaboogie". 😆 & yeah the choo-choo, lookout mountain, signal mountain, and a lookouts game are a must. Also, just outside of town is Hales Bar & Marina.... a well known haunted abandoned dam construction site.
Excellent video. It was nice to see a visitors perspective. One funny thing I noticed a while back. At my walmart, The Moon Pies, even though they're a snack cake, are kept on a different aisle than the Little Debbie's, which are made about 20 miles north in Collegedale. I believe there is rivalry.
Growing up in NW GA a few miles from Chatt Town, my dad always watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. As I always viewed it with dad, I remember clearly when I was 14 Cronkite announced from his news desk that Chattanooga was “the dirtiest city in America”. And he was correct. That was October 1969. It took many years for Chattanooga’s transformation to occur and clean up it’s act. There is so much to see and do in and around the city. Whether you love history, the great outdoors, or both, Chattanooga and the surrounding area has it all. Yes, according to various crime statistics, for a city of it’s size, Chattanooga ranks higher than most in violent crime. However, as with other cities there are areas to avoid, and Chattanooga has it’s share of gang violence. If you go looking for trouble you’ll soon find it. I lived there from 1993 - 2018 and never had a problem. 7:00 On the right in the video you captured the edge of what at one time was Chattanooga’s library aka the Carnegie Library. It was built in 1904 with a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was big on libraries, and many cities in the US benefitted from the grants and also built libraries. The former Carnegie library is now used for office space. Thanks for your video on Chattanooga! Cheers
Can't believe you didn't go to Point Park! Also, the thing about gas stations was weird. I've never had a problem at a gas station but I also wouldn't stop at ones in the crime pockets.
I grew up near Chattanooga. In the 1970's it was a cesspool. Industry had moved out, no work for anybody. Empty buildings and muggings were popular. Chattanooga has made a come back. But the poor were not included in their rebuild.
The powers-that-be don't see a place for poor people in the city, their solution for poverty is to get rid of poor people, it would not surprise me if they just start running entire groups of homeless people out of town, the new mayor of Chattanooga right around the time he was elected, had a homeless camp on his commercial property demolished, I think it was an old Yamaha dealership
Man thank you. I’m homesick as hell. And this is exactly what I needed! Chattanooga is absolutely breath taking! Yes that aquarium is amazing, and is now two parts I hear. I’m stuck in Winston Salem for another year. But before 2023 I will have myself a plot of land either on Suck Creek, Signal, Lookout, or Racoon mtn. Born and raised in Whitwell, Suck Creek, Red Bank area.
@Curt Richardson Would you welcome my wife back too? She graduated from Ooltewah high school 40 years ago and married me in Tampa Florida 37 years ago. She hates Florida and wants to move back when I retire in two years. We just buried her mother on June 4 at one of the most beautiful cemetery I’ve seen in Chattanooga. The same funeral home had some young kids funeral from what was a gang shooting.
Can’t blame her for hating Florida. I grew up in Tampa and have zero desire to live there. I also lived in Chatt as a kid and was there visiting, about a week ago. Cool city. Certainly not perfect, but what city is?
I’ve lived in the area my whole life and it’s changed a lot. They have really tried to play up the scenic city title and clean it up some. Crime is bad but you’re unlikely to experience it in downtown or any of the touristy areas (still don’t leave valuables visible in your car). Good tour hope you enjoyed your time in the city. You would have also loved point park and the views from there
@@tonytran07 The city kept pretending there wasn't a gang problem until it got out of control. Also the shooting have started spreading over into the tourist areas.
@@josephkiker4056 It is sad... I was thinking about moving there recently but as of late, seeing all those recent news of gang violence, I've now changed my mind.
We visited Chattanooga 8 years ago and it was much cleaner, safer, and more interesting than Atlanta was. I hardly recognize it in this video. Urban decay. What a shame.
Moved from Chattanooga to a rural county to the north 15 years ago. I had an art studio in the old Southern Saddlery building close to the Wheland Foundary. Even the tourist areas downtown were never clean (Graffiti, smelly restaurant food dumpsters, sooty, littered side walks), but lots to offer with the river walk, aquarium etc.
The Old building that you said was rotting into the ground was US pipe and foundry my father worked there for many years before he retired, and they shut it down. They made steel pipes. Now on the crime the car break ins are what are the worst
We moved to Chattanooga from Memphis last year. I have heard about the crime here, and how bad it can be. I’m bias towards it because I lived in Memphis for five years, within 10 minutes of some of the most dangerous parts of the city. We never had any issues there and to date, none here. I think it all depends where you are. Ive seen some of the sketchy parts of Chattanooga, but I have also seen many of the nice parts. All in all, I prefer it here over Memphis 1000x over.
Memphis has higher violent crime than Chattanooga by far. Like anywhere else, it has it's good and bad parts but Memphis has become even worse over the years.
@@jbmg28 I don’t want to say what town I live in specifically, but we live in Northern Chattanooga. If you look at a map of the city, it’s the area where Red Bank, Soddy Daisy, Hixson and Signal Mountain are. It was a great decision and we absolutely do not regret it one bit. To add to the case, there is significantly more to do here, plenty of great hiking spots, historical sites, tons of family friendly events/places and it’s also a really easy city to navigate. You can easily park your car down town, and walk the majority of down town chatt by foot. It’s also really nice to be within three hours of several things, such as Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta, Gatlinburg, the works. We have taken a few day trips out to Nashville, and Gatlinburg and it didn’t hurt the pocketbook like it would have coming from Memphis. All in all, as one person who has left Memphis, for Chattanooga, I could not recommend it more. Best of luck to you!
So ive lived in many places growing up. Alaska being the longest. I moved from Alaska to Atl back in '99. Lived there till 7 years ago, and then moved to Chattanooga . Chattanooga is a wonderful city . My wife and i love it here. It has changed since covid, and not for the better, but it is still home, and will be for a long time. The vibe downtown is awesome. We have plenty of music venues and concerts. Restaurants are good. If you like hiking and caverns, this is an awesome place for that. I havent been scared anywhere in town, and havent seen any crime up close .
I have been to Chatt more times than I can count. My favorite place to stay was the Reed House in downtown. I also loved going to the Riverbend Music festival back in the day.
I've lived in the Chattanooga area for over 20 years now and I've never felt scared at any time, whereas where I grew up you could get robbed going to the grocery store. In fact, when I was visiting my Mother back home in Fort Worth a couple months ago a friend of mine's wife got mugged while shopping at Walmart.
That old rusty ugly building you saw was the former US Pipe/Wheland Foundries. They made cast iron fittings, valves and hydrants. I am told they made most of the brake castings and drums in the US for quite some time. It is now owned by a developer. They plan to make a new baseball field there, but the cost has them slowed down. Thank you for the wonderful presentation. Really enjoyed it.
I drove down to Chattanooga from Nashville once. I stopped on the way on the Cumberland Plateau. I wanted to see the campus of Suwannee, University of the South. It is so beautiful up there and the campus is wonderful. I found Chattanooga to be very scenic also. I mainly went for the aquarium that features freshwater fish, excellent.
I grew up and have lived in Chattanooga my entire life. This video is an incredible representation of my hometown. Warts and all. I feel like you got a really good idea of the city and our culture. I'm a proud Chattanooga boy, I've worked for both Moonpie and the Choo Choo most of my life. Local businesses are the lifeblood of this city.
I'm really enjoying your web series, I get to see places I'm curious about but, practically, will never be able to visit in person. Thank you for the good work.
I was born here in Chattanooga, TN and moved to other places as a little child, then came back 8years old and I have been here ever since. I hope you both enjoyed yourselves. And yes, the crime has grew over the past decade here. There are beautiful places and homes here and also not so good areas and places here in Chattanooga. But I enjoyed your video & you both have a blessed week☺️.
26:59 This marks the spot of the beginning of the Trail of Tears, (the Bataan Death March of Cherokee Indians) who were removed from TN and relocated to Alabama. This is not a spot to go in there and 'play with the water' but I understand if you did not know this. Elvis Presley never played a show in Chattanooga but he did vist the Chattanooga Train Station and there are a few photographs of him at this spot 14:07.
all the areas look clean. im always almost get a heartattack when i need to drive to san francisco. you have so many homeless people and crime here... i love the churchbell...you have it in europe all the time. the train station is amazing!! imagine the trains would still pass...just like in europe. a shame it all stopped...
I’ve lived in Chattanooga my whole life and I just want to say some amazing places to visit in that area are signal and lookout mountain, beautiful views tons of parks. My favorite place is a creek on a mowbray mountain in Soddy daisy. It is so beautiful
Thank you for posting this video. My mother was born in Chattanooga Tn. in 1924. I have been in the Chattanooga area many times as a child and never been down town. Just awesome. Is there a Jewish community there? Shalom
Hi Lord Spoda What a pleasure it would be for a Morning walker like me taking my walk over this longest pedestrian bridge in the world soaking the natural ambiance all over around with free breeze accompanying! Thanks for the video providing this virtual enjoyment.
I live in Ringgold, Georgia, just south of Chattanooga. I really have never felt in danger at a gas station in Chattanooga. Of course, that may be because I know where to stop in Chattanooga and we’re not to stop at night time.
I think that’s what people don’t understand. My family has lived and grown up here since the 1920’s and we’ve never felt unsafe or uncomfortable at any point ever. I’d say 90% of Chattanooga is safe to go out at anytime, but that 10% is all you have to avoid
"Yeah, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee Never knew how much that muddy water meant to me But I learned how to swim and I learned who I was A lot about living and a little 'bout love "Well, we fogged up the windows in my old chevy I was willing but she wasn't ready So a settled for a burger and a grape snow cone Dropped her off early but I didn't go home "Down by the river on a Friday night A pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight Talking about cars and dreaming about women Never had a plan just a living for the minute" - Chattanooga by Alan Jackson
Nice try. The Chattahoochee River is in Georgia and frequented for recreational water activities by residents of Atlanta due to its relatively close proximity.
Muy buenos tus videos, gracias por enseñarme lugares a los que se me hace imposible conocer me parece un sitio muy bonito y tranquilo. Saludos desde Argentina.
I've lived north of the city and worked in Chattanooga for my 58 years. If you visit the city stay north of Martin Luther King Blvd. and carry. If you're there after dark stay closer to the river. There are places where the police won't go so don't get lost. (I think we all know what I can't say) In the 90s Chattanooga started changing from industry to tourist town. Most all the major manufactures have closed. The good news is you can get a t-shirt almost anywhere. I wouldn't let the crime scare me off just be careful, aware, and carry.
Nope the homeless scattered everywhere is because they just tore down the biggest homeless camp on 11th street that had been there for decades with no good plan of where those people might go.
The old train station now a hotel "was" once the world's biggest freestanding dome of its kind. The are many other free standing dome buildings all over the globe that are larger.
I used to work as a contractor at memorial hospital. Ruff area. Wouldn’t go there after dark. This was 2013. One of the local guys working with me was an OG for the gangsta disciples. He said they were at war with the bloods. Good times! I never would’ve thought Chattanooga would be more crime ridden than where I normally work in Birmingham Alabama. The medical district of bham has cleaned up ALOT in the past twenty years.
My wife’s Uncle Charles worked and retired from Combustion Engineering and I remember the plant was located on the curve on the sw part of town. I was in construction and was part of a team assembling a Combustion Engineering power plant in Tampa Florida.
I lived in Chattanooga in 1986 I think. It is so beautiful there. The people there are so nice. It's like they cut a hole in the forest and made a town. Collegedale is where Little Debbies is just outside of Chattanooga.
I worked for McKee where they make little Debbie's and I worked for Chattanooga Bakery back in 1998. Both jobs were terrific although McKees pay was significantly more which is why I left the Bakery and went to McKee
Downtown Chattanooga left a weird impression on me. Surprisingly big and with wide streets for the size of the city. But, most of these big buildings on their ground floor either have no businesses that you can spend your money at as a visitor, or an occasional generic Irish pub kind of thing, or a nationwide chain like Chili's or Jimmy John's. Sure, there are some local spots, but it's all very sparse and there is no vibrant downtown energy, not many people on the street, even though it feels like there should be.
Most southern cities seem to grow by sprawling out rather than filling inwards/upwards. Zoning and tax policy probably contribute as well as the car culture.
I am watching this in Chattanooga right now and I have lived here all my life. The factory you were at was wheland foundry...they made brake rotors and other metals. It is considered an eyesore here as it is the first thing you see driving in from i24. Rumor has it the city is gonna tear it down and build a baseball stadium for our local Chattanooga Lookouts semi pro baseball team. My brother and I really enjoyed ur coverage of our hometown but your crime stats do not really represent what is going on down here. Thank y'all!
I am also a Chattanoogan, its been confirmed that they are going to be building the new Lookouts park there, as well as some commercial and residential properties. I can’t remember when they said they would be breaking ground but its nice to see. Our city has its issues, sure. However like you, I think that Chattanooga is doing its best to revitalize these old properties, and is focusing on updating the city and surrounding area’s. I’m not from here but we absolutely love it. It is way better than where we came from (Memphis)
Great video! Thank you for sharing it! I’ve lived in Chattanooga since 1996. Raised my family here and call it home. It is a beautiful, vibrant city. I noticed that you missed a Chattanooga treasure….Zarzour’s Cafe, the oldest restaurant in Chattanooga…it was right in front of you after you passed Exile Off Main, my daughter’s favorite nightlife hangout. If you look back in your video, it’s the building with the purple mural of its late owner, Shannon Fuller. Zarzour’s has been in the same location and run by the same family since it opened on January 18, 1918. Still owned and operated by Joe “Dixie” Fuller who also happens to have been a member of the band, Alabama. Also, The “Scenic City” is Chattanooga's official nickname because of the city's geographical location between the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau. The nickname alludes to the surrounding mountains, ridges, rivers, and lakes. In the 27 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never felt unsafe or had any issues at a gas station or any other crime. Chattanooga is a great place to raise a family.
Dixie is a good guy. He saw me eyeballing his restaurant one Sunday morning and let me inside to talk about its history. I love how he's kept it practically the same.
The old building you were asking about is US Pipe/ Wheland Foundry. (major war support during WW1) It was a metal foundry. It is being turned into a multi purpose area which will have new lookouts stadium, residential buildings, shops, restaurants, class-A office space, recreation areas. Those building you see will be demolished and new ones will be erected.
I love old buildings, so that kind of makes me sad. I think a building or two should be saved. The big building I drove past would make a great farmer’s market or even a cool, partially outdoor live music venue.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip The residents of Chattanooga want that building destroyed and wiped off the map. Blood sweat and tears shed in that building over many decades. I remember as a kid looking over from I-24 and seeing long pipes still glowing reddish orange from having just been cast. I can't wait to see that eyesore demolished. Walter Cronkite labeled Chattanooga the dirtiest city in the South because of that foundry and other steel and iron works in town. Millions were spent in a superfund clean-up about 20 years ago.
I actually work for the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. I even spotted my car in front of the dome lobby when you came by! By the looks of it, at the time this was filmed, we had just moved our front desk to the MacArthur Building where the traditional hotel rooms are. We have tens of millions of dollars worth of renovations happening all around our property over the next few months, which will include a complete overhaul of our Glenn Miller gardens area, Pullman car hotel rooms, and the traditional hotel rooms as well. I hope you'll get another chance to come back through and see some more of our city that we love so much!
Saying that the area is crime infested is not correct. I walk every day and never found any problems. Compared to San Francisco and New York, this is paradise. The police respond to any trouble within minutes. The streets are as clean as any City in the country. Too bad you have no training in reporting.
Hey, I do security in the Chattanooga area and yes, the crime is completely out of hand, and the homeless population seems to quadruple once the sun sets.
Sir, I live here, and you have understated and glossed over have dangerous and crappy this town really is. We have SUV's full of criminals that roam all streets that shoot up the houses all hours of the day. We have 20 drive by shootings daily and 'other' shootings 40 times daily, so we have 60+ shooting daily here. Mexican cartels are safer to be around!!!! Many leave their homes ONLY for work. Grocery and nothing else at ALL! Revisit CHAT-Town with a camera crew of 20 this time. Thank you and have a nice time.
The huge abandoned building you highlight beginning at 19:55, is the old Wheland Foundry. In the near future it will be torn down. That site will be used for a multipurpose stadium, primarily used for Chattanooga's AA baseball team, The Lookouts.
$350 million in development including the new Lookout stadium , residential and office is suppose to built there. It will definitely look much better when you come around Moccasin bend on the interstate.
A well done and accurate depiction of my hometown trying to get Tennessee. I'm a geologist and local tour guide and if you pass through again and would like more information on the old Limestone and brick construction, I would love to give you a complimentary tour of downtown Chattanooga from a geologist perspective ... You will notice the use of divine mathematics and proportion ( Fibonacci sequences) in the construction of some of our ancient churches, the steeple downtown till Remains solid as other brick structures around it continuously need repair or have fallen to the ground a the stone wall that Still Remains around it downtown.
I'm a contractor in chattanooga. Crime is terrible and the higher the homeless rate gets the higher the crime rate. Drugs is ruining cities around here.
You left out the part where a lot of homeless people are not criminals and just having a hard time, and a lot of criminals have homes and nice cars, no need to be Prejudice towards the poor, I am certainly not saying that you should convert to Christianity but I am saying that it's message of helping the poor is a universal truth that can be put into practice without having to adopt the religion, one case you weren't aware the founder of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, was a homeless man...
I spent a good deal of my life in Chattanooga. I’ve traveled ,moved away a few times but I always end back here. Its a beautiful city. Yes it has a lot of issues but I like that it has all the accessibility of a large city while not feeling like it.
I moved to the suburbs of Chatt nearly 3 years ago from ATL. I have visited many times before, so I don’t know why I never been to those water-steps! I didn’t realize the church steeple was a thing either. Anyhow, I miss the ATL, but I’m getting used to this slower pace around here. Never been to Champy’s either lol!
We stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel about a decade ago with the kids and stayed in one of the train cars. It was a fun place to go with the little kids.
Thanks for the ride along, looks like it was once a Grand City full of history. To be honest it still looks beautiful with all the modern improvements, and most have a story to go with it. The City just fell victim to the new age and people who have no respect for others or themselves. Those people are everywhere, so I feel it is still a Grand City full of History.
If you visit there again, you need to go to Tony's in the river arts district. We have been several times and it is great Italian food. They hand make their pasta and the prices are reasonable and portions are large. The Stone Cup is great for coffee too.
You were talking about the National park... Chickamauga Battlefield. And it was the SECOND bloodiest battle in the Civil War Right below Gettysburg in death total. Not 3rd for 4th. The place is so creepy. Never hardly hear or see any birds when riding through it. One of our properties backs up to it. Always gives me the heebie jeebies and it's more than the horrors of the civil war battles that's hallowed that ground and forest... something native american waaay before the war. There are also underground rail tunnels taking you into Dalton GA maybe even to Atlanta. But on that I can't say for sure. Everything you saw in downtown Chattanooga was actually the 2nd story of all those old bldgs. The original doorfronts are now basements bc of a huge mud slide and flood. The Choo Choo included. You can go to the basements and it will be the original entrances. The floors are all marble and so grand with amazing columns. Underground Chattanooga is so neat. The roads are all brick down there.
Wow, didn't know you'd been here last summer! I'm right outside the Chickamauga Battlefield which isn't too far from Chattanooga. Been in Georgia since I was a 6 yr old kid and California before that so I guess I"m more of a southerner than anything. Hope you and your wife got to go inside the aquarium, that's the best part of the whole city! Rossville's also pretty run down, its right outside Chattanooga and always looks like a slum.
The park with the fountain and carousel and large grassy area at the beginning of the video is called Coolidge Park. It is right next to Renaissance Park. It may actually even be a park within a park. Very nice vid.
Another great video. What surprises me is the size of the industrial buildings most closed down take the old iron foundry for instance where did the workers go? There seems to be trend with your video's Town's cities going into decline crime and homelessness why do people stay or can they not move? With all these empty shops and businesses do they still have to pay rent?
The idled industrial workers usually moved to where workers were needed. I passed thru Chattanooga a few times in 1975, 1976 and 1977 when checking out employment opportunities in the South during extended layoffs at my Easy Chicago steel plant. Was told in Knoxville that nothing was going on there so bypassed it. I ended up moving to East Texas in late '77 due to it's booming economy that was drawing in young idled workers from the Rust Belt and Southern States. The collapse of the oil field 10 years later sent many of those in all directions looking for work.
That run-down building you said was from a more prosperous time is the old u.s. steel building or u.s. pipe it is soon to be the new home of the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team
Chattanooga is beautiful, but I only ever come here for work, We live in North Georgia and left there due to the crime rate. To many people wanting to steal, shootings, and more so.
I live here and I've always lived here my whole life in Chattanooga..... In reality is no different than anywhere else you go in America. It's got it's good places and it's got its bad places for crime. If you have the money and you don't want to be around the crime then you move to Hixson,ooltewah, collegedale,East brainerd ,Middle valley or Soddy-Daisy... If you don't have the money then you probably have to live in brainerd, East ridge, East Chattanooga, or somewhere like that but even in these places there are still good little neighborhoods that don't suffer the crime rate as the other ones do... People that live here basically have a love hate relationship with this city and this Hamilton county... It is a pretty place to live with the mountains around you and the river but if you try to get on the roads you'll hit every pothole that there is because the roads are terrible... We also don't have a lot of natural disasters here a tornado here and there and that's about it.... The pros and cons about this place are probably are about the exact same but in relative terms most of the time it's a safe place to live if you are in the right place to live.
Chattanooga looks like a great city. I visited a few years ago and check out their real estate. I can't think of another comparable city with so much new residential development in its downtown area. Lots of well designed apartments and condos. Old former industrial areas are being revitalized. Love the riverfront and Hunter Museum. It's located near the Smokies and other beautiful natural scenery. Also close enough Atlanta for a short trip. Tennessee is a great state as well.
Sorry you missed Rembrandt’s, Hunter Museum of American art & Tony’s in the art district… Frothy Monkey next to the Choo Choo and Chattanooga Billiards Club. Of course Lookout Mountain overlook Park, St Elmo’s Incline Railroad used to transport munitions during the Civil War.
You missed the world-famous Comedy Catch at the ChooChoo and its oldest and best-known nickname is Choo Choo town. I successfully ran a shop for 18 years in one of those pockets of crime. Its just certain gas stations. It was part of US pipe. My best friend worked there for a while. I filmed the explosion when they blew up the cupola. 22:38 David was also the last person to drive a motorcycle across that bridge the day they shut it down. If you see the old news film you can see him on a white 1966 Harley Davidson Electra Glide.
hey there,, i actually grew up in chattanooga,, and even though i moved away to the BIG city at 18, i have returned to retire,, thank you for giving chattanooga a good tour,, but as a local you missed several IMPORTANT areas,, go check those out if you ever make it back to chattanooga. Firstly,, the HUGE building you drove around that didnt know what it was,, it was an old steel mill that closed YEARS ago and is soon to be demolished and turned into housing and shopping areas,, dont have a clue as to when but it IS going to happen and get rid of that blighted area. Second,, you missed the BEST restaurants in chattanooga , most of which have been there WELL over 100 years. If you come back to chattanooga,, visit these restaurants,, Beas,, which is down near the georgia border, a lazy susan buffet which in my opinion has the BEST fried chicken around,, and then visit another 100 year old restaurant called Zarzours which is in the downtown area. Also if you visit any restaurants outside of downtown in the burbs,, check out wallys,, there are 2 locations of that place and both have EXCELLENT southern cooking.
Thank you for another great high quality video. It is much appreciated. On a side note: @8:04 I believe you mean to say gigaBIT and not gigaBYTE. The latter would be quite the achievement indeed 😁
I’m born and raised in north Georgia about a mile from Chickamauga Chattanooga Battlefield. Moved to Chattanooga, moved away, came back. Where I live in East Ridge used to be the perfect place to live. My daughter was robbed at gunpoint in my driveway last year. It’s a sad commentary on the city. My kids grew up going to festivals, parades, outdoor concerts, fireworks and we always felt safe. Now I carry a gun everywhere I go. It’s still beautiful, but sad. That building you were looking at was an old foundry. Industrial iron works and things like that were everywhere and are all gone now. A lot of them have been razed but some carcasses remain. A lot of the old buildings have been turned into gorgeous townhouses, condos, and apartments which are too expensive for the average person. My maternal grandfather worked at the train station from the age of 17 til his death from cancer at age 54. He was the only one allowed on the train when President Franklin Roosevelt came through town. I remember going to the Choo Choo as a child when he was still alive. It’s a beautiful city, rich in history, but also flawed. Much like myself and most of us if we are honest. I still love it. Thank you for your interesting and honest video. It was so good! Well done!
Thank you for the great comment, Cathy. 😀
Lets go i lived in east ridge
I live in hixson a mile outside chattanooga and theres been a huge housing market increase in the past 5 yrs..idk where all the ppl qre coming from or how they afford all these cookie cutter 300k houses so close together that u can reach out your window and slap your neighbors thru theirs but they are going up everywhere and our roads cant handle it. The crimes are outrageous. Shootings everywhere
@@stanlee2200 They are coming from out west where there's no water. I live in Dayton and it's the same here. Like you said the home prices have tripled. It's getting so bad its hard for a yankee to find a house in the south. :)
@@stanlee2200 yeah
I was born and raised in Chattanooga. That building was once Wheelen Foundry. The sight will soon be the new stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts Minor league baseball team. With shops, and restaurants.
Love your videos. As a truck driver, it’s nice to see what’s beyond the highways in the cities I drive through. Thanks.
Awesome. Thank you for the kind words! :)
Like your username.
I like your work. It looks simple and it is perhaps very simple but people are not appreciating It’s uniqueness of the content. Thanks
Most people appreciate it. My channel has a 97% like to 3% dislike ratio.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip glad to know that. You deserve it.
I'm happy in a weird way to see someone appreciate the old buildings in my work city the way I look at them. ❤️ Thank you. I've been working downtown for years and love them.
As a Chinese foreigner, my first ever trip to USA was actually to Chattanooga just to visit a friend of mine. Everyone who go to USA for the first time probably would go to famous cities like Los Angeles or New York. I am not a big fan of big tourist cities and actually prefer seeing the real part of that country by going to rural areas.
While I was in Chattanooga, I actually find it pretty peaceful and for once strangers saying "Hello" or Good morning to me. Anyways I went to Nashville later and didn't really like the big city vibe in there.
My friend took me around Tennessee to see the local spots with road trips to Country Fair, Gatlinsburg, Smokey Mountain, shooting guns, seeing "Hill Billy" people like her parents, had Cracker Barrel. It was pretty fun trip, I am surprised none came and being hostile to me for being "From enemy country"
"From enemy country"🤣 How could you be the enemy? They outsourced all the production to China. Try to buy something in the US with a Made In USA sticker on it. Not gonna happen.
Nah us Americans welcome you guys. My in laws are foreigners from Vietnam and love it here in the states and they honestly love it.
Your government is the enemy but I welcome you and hope you enjoyed your time visiting my home state
@@bluecollarbuilds sad thing is, some folks can't differentiate between Politics and normal people.
We don’t all look at it like that! I saw many Chinese tourists in Washington DC with shirts and hats with American flags! They were so friendly! Glad you got to visit!!
Old building you were asking about Was Wheland Foundry. And the first park you started at was Coolidge Park. Renaissance Park was where you got a good view of the aquarium.Good work. I enjoyed it. Learned a few things about my own city. That drone footage was 🔥🔥🔥
I grew up in Chattanooga and left in 1981 to travel, see other countries and meet the people of those other countries. To this day I love Moon Pies, but they're hard to find in Oregon. Chattanooga has always been a beautiful city, but like many cities today Chattanooga has its problems as well. There's always been a high percentage of poverty in Chattanooga, and like many areas in the South, wages are low for many jobs and have not kept up with inflation. However, Chattanooga is beautiful.
I got you brother! How many banana ones
You want!?
Loved those Double Cola's also!
Hey man I was born in Chattanooga too! I left in the late 90s for CA and live in Western WA now. In Olympia the Ralphs carry moonpies if you're ever up this way.
In WA...they have them in the Dollar Store. My kids love em!
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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Chattanooga looks like a nice historical city with modern buildings added in a tasteful manner. The stone church tower is noteworthy; I wonder why the rest of the church was not preserved. There is something about romantic old river cities that harkens to a bygone era, when lazy steamboats and trains were the means of travel, not zippy jets and cars on highways. Thanks for bringing us along on the tour!
You're welcome, Stephen! :)
I am a lifelong resident of Chattanooga. The rest of 1st Methodist was taken down when the church merged with centenary. From the 1950s to the late 1970s, Chattanooga went through an “Urban Renewal” and a lot of buildings were demolished that really should have been left.
That huge building at 20:29 used to be U S Pipe company. My dad worked and retired from there,
Chatt town is the real nickname, glad yall like the city come back and see us. That drone shot was beautiful 🕳
Chatt town!!! Yessir
Make sure to catch a Lookouts Game! And tell your friends about Rock City!
You skipped Shufferds BBQ!!!!!
Or the more fun/slang is "Chattaboogie". 😆 & yeah the choo-choo, lookout mountain, signal mountain, and a lookouts game are a must. Also, just outside of town is Hales Bar & Marina.... a well known haunted abandoned dam construction site.
My brother in law called it Chattanigga!
@@seerstone8982 WOAH
Excellent video. It was nice to see a visitors perspective. One funny thing I noticed a while back. At my walmart, The Moon Pies, even though they're a snack cake, are kept on a different aisle than the Little Debbie's, which are made about 20 miles north in Collegedale. I believe there is rivalry.
I had no idea Little Debbie’s was made so close by. Fascinating! 😀
Growing up in NW GA a few miles from Chatt Town, my dad always watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. As I always viewed it with dad, I remember clearly when I was 14 Cronkite announced from his news desk that Chattanooga was “the dirtiest city in America”. And he was correct. That was October 1969. It took many years for Chattanooga’s transformation to occur and clean up it’s act. There is so much to see and do in and around the city. Whether you love history, the great outdoors, or both, Chattanooga and the surrounding area has it all. Yes, according to various crime statistics, for a city of it’s size, Chattanooga ranks higher than most in violent crime. However, as with other cities there are areas to avoid, and Chattanooga has it’s share of gang violence. If you go looking for trouble you’ll soon find it. I lived there from 1993 - 2018 and never had a problem.
7:00 On the right in the video you captured the edge of what at one time was Chattanooga’s library aka the Carnegie Library. It was built in 1904 with a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was big on libraries, and many cities in the US benefitted from the grants and also built libraries. The former Carnegie library is now used for office space. Thanks for your video on Chattanooga! Cheers
Can't believe you didn't go to Point Park! Also, the thing about gas stations was weird. I've never had a problem at a gas station but I also wouldn't stop at ones in the crime pockets.
I grew up near Chattanooga. In the 1970's it was a cesspool. Industry had moved out, no work for anybody. Empty buildings and muggings were popular.
Chattanooga has made a come back. But the poor were not included in their rebuild.
The powers-that-be don't see a place for poor people in the city, their solution for poverty is to get rid of poor people, it would not surprise me if they just start running entire groups of homeless people out of town, the new mayor of Chattanooga right around the time he was elected, had a homeless camp on his commercial property demolished, I think it was an old Yamaha dealership
thanks for passing through my home town.
Love your video! Glad you all enjoyed the trip to Chattanooga! Come again.
Man thank you. I’m homesick as hell. And this is exactly what I needed! Chattanooga is absolutely breath taking! Yes that aquarium is amazing, and is now two parts I hear. I’m stuck in Winston Salem for another year. But before 2023 I will have myself a plot of land either on Suck Creek, Signal, Lookout, or Racoon mtn. Born and raised in Whitwell, Suck Creek, Red Bank area.
@Curt Richardson Would you welcome my wife back too? She graduated from Ooltewah high school 40 years ago and married me in Tampa Florida 37 years ago. She hates Florida and wants to move back when I retire in two years. We just buried her mother on June 4 at one of the most beautiful cemetery I’ve seen in Chattanooga. The same funeral home had some young kids funeral from what was a gang shooting.
Can’t blame her for hating Florida. I grew up in Tampa and have zero desire to live there. I also lived in Chatt as a kid and was there visiting, about a week ago. Cool city. Certainly not perfect, but what city is?
@@clifhellner1493 I’m getting tired of all the Yankees moving here and their attitudes.
Dunlap TN here.
I worked at Chattanooga Bakery back in 1998. Great job!
NICE JOB WITH THE VIDEO. GREAT DRONE VIEWS. BEAUTIFUL CITY. GOOD VOICE. GREAT HISTORY NOTES. GREAT JOB.
What a great video! You took your time and showed alot of stuff and had a lot of facts.
Thanks so much!
I’ve lived in the area my whole life and it’s changed a lot. They have really tried to play up the scenic city title and clean it up some. Crime is bad but you’re unlikely to experience it in downtown or any of the touristy areas (still don’t leave valuables visible in your car). Good tour hope you enjoyed your time in the city. You would have also loved point park and the views from there
what happened?
Why did it got so bad?
@@tonytran07 The city kept pretending there wasn't a gang problem until it got out of control. Also the shooting have started spreading over into the tourist areas.
@@josephkiker4056 It is sad...
I was thinking about moving there recently but as of late, seeing all those recent news of gang violence, I've now changed my mind.
We visited Chattanooga 8 years ago and it was much cleaner, safer, and more interesting than Atlanta was. I hardly recognize it in this video. Urban decay. What a shame.
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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Moved from Chattanooga to a rural county to the north 15 years ago. I had an art studio in the old Southern Saddlery building close to the Wheland Foundary. Even the tourist areas downtown were never clean (Graffiti, smelly restaurant food dumpsters, sooty, littered side walks), but lots to offer with the river walk, aquarium etc.
The Old building that you said was rotting into the ground was US pipe and foundry my father worked there for many years before he retired, and they shut it down. They made steel pipes. Now on the crime the car break ins are what are the worst
We moved to Chattanooga from Memphis last year. I have heard about the crime here, and how bad it can be. I’m bias towards it because I lived in Memphis for five years, within 10 minutes of some of the most dangerous parts of the city. We never had any issues there and to date, none here. I think it all depends where you are. Ive seen some of the sketchy parts of Chattanooga, but I have also seen many of the nice parts. All in all, I prefer it here over Memphis 1000x over.
Memphis has higher violent crime than Chattanooga by far. Like anywhere else, it has it's good and bad parts but Memphis has become even worse over the years.
Which part of Chattanooga did you move to? I'm living in Memphis and am thinking of moving to Chattanooga in the next few years.
@@jbmg28 I don’t want to say what town I live in specifically, but we live in Northern Chattanooga. If you look at a map of the city, it’s the area where Red Bank, Soddy Daisy, Hixson and Signal Mountain are. It was a great decision and we absolutely do not regret it one bit.
To add to the case, there is significantly more to do here, plenty of great hiking spots, historical sites, tons of family friendly events/places and it’s also a really easy city to navigate. You can easily park your car down town, and walk the majority of down town chatt by foot. It’s also really nice to be within three hours of several things, such as Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta, Gatlinburg, the works. We have taken a few day trips out to Nashville, and Gatlinburg and it didn’t hurt the pocketbook like it would have coming from Memphis.
All in all, as one person who has left Memphis, for Chattanooga, I could not recommend it more. Best of luck to you!
@@spody22 I completely agree.
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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So ive lived in many places growing up. Alaska being the longest. I moved from Alaska to Atl back in '99. Lived there till 7 years ago, and then moved to Chattanooga . Chattanooga is a wonderful city . My wife and i love it here. It has changed since covid, and not for the better, but it is still home, and will be for a long time. The vibe downtown is awesome. We have plenty of music venues and concerts. Restaurants are good. If you like hiking and caverns, this is an awesome place for that. I havent been scared anywhere in town, and havent seen any crime up close .
I have been to Chatt more times than I can count. My favorite place to stay was the Reed House in downtown. I also loved going to the Riverbend Music festival back in the day.
I've lived in the Chattanooga area for over 20 years now and I've never felt scared at any time, whereas where I grew up you could get robbed going to the grocery store. In fact, when I was visiting my Mother back home in Fort Worth a couple months ago a friend of mine's wife got mugged while shopping at Walmart.
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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Chattanooga Tennessee one of the most beautiful city in the United States 💪💪💪
I can't argue that. :)
I agree. And that's coming from me, who grew up in Alaska
That old rusty ugly building you saw was the former US Pipe/Wheland Foundries. They made cast iron fittings, valves and hydrants. I am told they made most of the brake castings and drums in the US for quite some time. It is now owned by a developer. They plan to make a new baseball field there, but the cost has them slowed down. Thank you for the wonderful presentation. Really enjoyed it.
I loved that old building. It would be cool to save it for some kind of multi-purpose use. :)
@@JoeandNicsRoadTripthe build is not safe and has exposed lead, so there is not a good way to save for a different use☹️
I drove down to Chattanooga from Nashville once. I stopped on the way on the Cumberland Plateau. I wanted to see the campus of Suwannee, University of the South. It is so beautiful up there and the campus is wonderful. I found Chattanooga to be very scenic also. I mainly went for the aquarium that features freshwater fish, excellent.
Glad you enjoyed your visit & safe travels.. BTW if you're making your way through Georgia may I suggest Amicalola Falls in Dawsonville
I grew up and have lived in Chattanooga my entire life. This video is an incredible representation of my hometown. Warts and all. I feel like you got a really good idea of the city and our culture.
I'm a proud Chattanooga boy, I've worked for both Moonpie and the Choo Choo most of my life. Local businesses are the lifeblood of this city.
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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The city has its problems, but I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Its got better in the last 30 years.
I'm really enjoying your web series, I get to see places I'm curious about but, practically, will never be able to visit in person. Thank you for the good work.
Thank you. :)
Same here. You hit the nail on the head
Great Video as always. I miss the drives at the beginning, but always entertaining and easy listening. Thanks guys.
Thank you, Olin. I miss doing the drives as well. I’m glad you liked them - I’m going to start doing them on some videos again. 😀
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Thank you!
I was born here in Chattanooga, TN and moved to other places as a little child, then came back 8years old and I have been here ever since. I hope you both enjoyed yourselves. And yes, the crime has grew over the past decade here. There are beautiful places and homes here and also not so good areas and places here in Chattanooga. But I enjoyed your video & you both have a blessed week☺️.
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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I love your channel and absolutely LOVE Nicole!! So glad she has a mic now!!
Thank you, Kelley! :)
26:59 This marks the spot of the beginning of the Trail of Tears, (the Bataan Death March of Cherokee Indians) who were removed from TN and relocated to Alabama. This is not a spot to go in there and 'play with the water' but I understand if you did not know this. Elvis Presley never played a show in Chattanooga but he did vist the Chattanooga Train Station and there are a few photographs of him at this spot 14:07.
Great video. I’m moving to the Chattanooga area in the next few months. I love it there.
all the areas look clean. im always almost get a heartattack when i need to drive to san francisco.
you have so many homeless people and crime here...
i love the churchbell...you have it in europe all the time.
the train station is amazing!! imagine the trains would still pass...just like in europe. a shame it all stopped...
I haven't come across a video of you visiting my city Las Vegas or the state. I'd like to know what your thoughts were about it.
I’ve lived in Chattanooga my whole life and I just want to say some amazing places to visit in that area are signal and lookout mountain, beautiful views tons of parks. My favorite place is a creek on a mowbray mountain in Soddy daisy. It is so beautiful
Thank you for posting this video. My mother was born in Chattanooga Tn. in 1924. I have been in the Chattanooga area many times as a child and never been down town. Just awesome. Is there a Jewish community there? Shalom
Hi Lord Spoda
What a pleasure it would be for a Morning walker like me taking my walk over this longest pedestrian bridge in the world soaking the natural ambiance all over around with free breeze accompanying!
Thanks for the video providing this virtual enjoyment.
It is really nice there. :)
I live in Ringgold, Georgia, just south of Chattanooga. I really have never felt in danger at a gas station in Chattanooga. Of course, that may be because I know where to stop in Chattanooga and we’re not to stop at night time.
I think that’s what people don’t understand. My family has lived and grown up here since the 1920’s and we’ve never felt unsafe or uncomfortable at any point ever. I’d say 90% of Chattanooga is safe to go out at anytime, but that 10% is all you have to avoid
Rossville Blvd, East Lake, Alton Park. Those are the areas that should be avoided
"Yeah, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee
Never knew how much that muddy water meant to me
But I learned how to swim and I learned who I was
A lot about living and a little 'bout love
"Well, we fogged up the windows in my old chevy
I was willing but she wasn't ready
So a settled for a burger and a grape snow cone
Dropped her off early but I didn't go home
"Down by the river on a Friday night
A pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight
Talking about cars and dreaming about women
Never had a plan just a living for the minute" - Chattanooga by Alan Jackson
Nice try. The Chattahoochee River is in Georgia and frequented for recreational water activities by residents of Atlanta due to its relatively close proximity.
Adrian Coker ...LOL! I didn't even notice! 🤣
Chattahoochee not Chattanooga, lol
Yeah it's in Georgia, Chattahoochee
LOL! :)
I was born in Chattanooga and I live about 30 miles up the road. It is a beautiful city.
Muy buenos tus videos, gracias por enseñarme lugares a los que se me hace imposible conocer me parece un sitio muy bonito y tranquilo. Saludos desde Argentina.
I've lived north of the city and worked in Chattanooga for my 58 years. If you visit the city stay north of Martin Luther King Blvd. and carry. If you're there after dark stay closer to the river. There are places where the police won't go so don't get lost. (I think we all know what I can't say) In the 90s Chattanooga started changing from industry to tourist town. Most all the major manufactures have closed. The good news is you can get a t-shirt almost anywhere. I wouldn't let the crime scare me off just be careful, aware, and carry.
Lived here my whole life and didn’t know a lot of this thanks for this video
Nope the homeless scattered everywhere is because they just tore down the biggest homeless camp on 11th street that had been there for decades with no good plan of where those people might go.
Came here to say this. There have been several homeless places dislocated over the past few months.
Because TN recently made it a crime to live on public property. It will be interesting to see in our police enforce this law.
The employment office would be a good destination.
@@adamrice1087 or help them...you are one heartbeat from being homeless.
@@jasonnorthcutt3771 No. Mental Illness. It could happen to you...and trump lost.
The old train station now a hotel "was" once the world's biggest freestanding dome of its kind. The are many other free standing dome buildings all over the globe that are larger.
Wonderful city tour, my friend! 👍 I really like watching new and interesting places👍190
I used to work as a contractor at memorial hospital. Ruff area. Wouldn’t go there after dark. This was 2013. One of the local guys working with me was an OG for the gangsta disciples. He said they were at war with the bloods. Good times! I never would’ve thought Chattanooga would be more crime ridden than where I normally work in Birmingham Alabama. The medical district of bham has cleaned up ALOT in the past twenty years.
My City of Chattanooga is beautiful. Crime is everywhere though. I'll always love my City
Moved to the Chattanooga area (NW Georgia) a little over a year ago and its the best area I have ever lived.
25:27 That was the "Brass Register" It was the happening place in the 80s and 90s
Yep,it was a hip spot.
I love Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain is fun..20:30...use to be a Foundry, my dad use to work at a foundry
My wife’s Uncle Charles worked and retired from Combustion Engineering and I remember the plant was located on the curve on the sw part of town. I was in construction and was part of a team assembling a Combustion Engineering power plant in Tampa Florida.
I lived in Chattanooga in 1986 I think. It is so beautiful there. The people there are so nice. It's like they cut a hole in the forest and made a town. Collegedale is where Little Debbies is just outside of Chattanooga.
I worked for McKee where they make little Debbie's and I worked for Chattanooga Bakery back in 1998. Both jobs were terrific although McKees pay was significantly more which is why I left the Bakery and went to McKee
My favorite city in the entire US!!
Downtown Chattanooga left a weird impression on me. Surprisingly big and with wide streets for the size of the city. But, most of these big buildings on their ground floor either have no businesses that you can spend your money at as a visitor, or an occasional generic Irish pub kind of thing, or a nationwide chain like Chili's or Jimmy John's. Sure, there are some local spots, but it's all very sparse and there is no vibrant downtown energy, not many people on the street, even though it feels like there should be.
Most southern cities seem to grow by sprawling out rather than filling inwards/upwards. Zoning and tax policy probably contribute as well as the car culture.
You came at the wrong time then. There are frequent festivals and events downtown.
I am watching this in Chattanooga right now and I have lived here all my life. The factory you were at was wheland foundry...they made brake rotors and other metals. It is considered an eyesore here as it is the first thing you see driving in from i24. Rumor has it the city is gonna tear it down and build a baseball stadium for our local Chattanooga Lookouts semi pro baseball team. My brother and I really enjoyed ur coverage of our hometown but your crime stats do not really represent what is going on down here. Thank y'all!
I am also a Chattanoogan, its been confirmed that they are going to be building the new Lookouts park there, as well as some commercial and residential properties. I can’t remember when they said they would be breaking ground but its nice to see. Our city has its issues, sure. However like you, I think that Chattanooga is doing its best to revitalize these old properties, and is focusing on updating the city and surrounding area’s. I’m not from here but we absolutely love it. It is way better than where we came from (Memphis)
Any nearby small towns of Chattanooga ???
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Great video! Thank you for sharing it! I’ve lived in Chattanooga since 1996. Raised my family here and call it home. It is a beautiful, vibrant city. I noticed that you missed a Chattanooga treasure….Zarzour’s Cafe, the oldest restaurant in Chattanooga…it was right in front of you after you passed Exile Off Main, my daughter’s favorite nightlife hangout. If you look back in your video, it’s the building with the purple mural of its late owner, Shannon Fuller. Zarzour’s has been in the same location and run by the same family since it opened on January 18, 1918. Still owned and operated by Joe “Dixie” Fuller who also happens to have been a member of the band, Alabama. Also, The “Scenic City” is Chattanooga's official nickname because of the city's geographical location between the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau. The nickname alludes to the surrounding mountains, ridges, rivers, and lakes. In the 27 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never felt unsafe or had any issues at a gas station or any other crime. Chattanooga is a great place to raise a family.
Dixie is a good guy. He saw me eyeballing his restaurant one Sunday morning and let me inside to talk about its history. I love how he's kept it practically the same.
I love my city it’s such a beautiful place and beautiful site to see
The old building you were asking about is US Pipe/ Wheland Foundry. (major war support during WW1) It was a metal foundry. It is being turned into a multi purpose area which will have new lookouts stadium, residential buildings, shops, restaurants, class-A office space, recreation areas. Those building you see will be demolished and new ones will be erected.
I love old buildings, so that kind of makes me sad. I think a building or two should be saved. The big building I drove past would make a great farmer’s market or even a cool, partially outdoor live music venue.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip The residents of Chattanooga want that building destroyed and wiped off the map. Blood sweat and tears shed in that building over many decades. I remember as a kid looking over from I-24 and seeing long pipes still glowing reddish orange from having just been cast. I can't wait to see that eyesore demolished. Walter Cronkite labeled Chattanooga the dirtiest city in the South because of that foundry and other steel and iron works in town. Millions were spent in a superfund clean-up about 20 years ago.
I live here in Chattanooga all my life this is the worst it's been and it's non stop sirens cuz of fent
I actually work for the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. I even spotted my car in front of the dome lobby when you came by! By the looks of it, at the time this was filmed, we had just moved our front desk to the MacArthur Building where the traditional hotel rooms are. We have tens of millions of dollars worth of renovations happening all around our property over the next few months, which will include a complete overhaul of our Glenn Miller gardens area, Pullman car hotel rooms, and the traditional hotel rooms as well. I hope you'll get another chance to come back through and see some more of our city that we love so much!
Thank you for that and I will! 😀
Saying that the area is crime infested is not correct. I walk every day and never found any problems. Compared to San Francisco and New York, this is paradise. The police respond to any trouble within minutes. The streets are as clean as any City in the country. Too bad you have no training in reporting.
I'm retired from Choo Choo, going on six years.
Oh, hey Dallas
@@lzrrbt Oh hi Bret! Miss you bud ♥️
Hey, I do security in the Chattanooga area and yes, the crime is completely out of hand, and the homeless population seems to quadruple once the sun sets.
Alan Jackson song
Crime and homelessness are two related but separate things
Hello, is this still the case in mid 2023?
@@paisa007
Very much so.
I've started referring to Chattanooga as "South Francisco".
Sir, I live here, and you have understated and glossed over have dangerous and crappy this town really is. We have SUV's full of criminals that roam all streets that shoot up the houses all hours of the day. We have 20 drive by shootings daily and 'other' shootings 40 times daily, so we have 60+ shooting daily here. Mexican cartels are safer to be around!!!! Many leave their homes ONLY for work. Grocery and nothing else at ALL! Revisit CHAT-Town with a camera crew of 20 this time.
Thank you and have a nice time.
That train converted into a craft brew joint was pretty cool. Went there a few years ago. Chattanooga has some pretty decent bars.
The huge abandoned building you highlight beginning at 19:55, is the old Wheland Foundry. In the near future it will be torn down. That site will be used for a multipurpose stadium, primarily used for Chattanooga's AA baseball team, The Lookouts.
That was U.S Pipe they been knocked down Wheland
$350 million in development including the new Lookout stadium , residential and office is suppose to built there. It will definitely look much better when you come around Moccasin bend on the interstate.
A well done and accurate depiction of my hometown trying to get Tennessee. I'm a geologist and local tour guide and if you pass through again and would like more information on the old Limestone and brick construction, I would love to give you a complimentary tour of downtown Chattanooga from a geologist perspective ... You will notice the use of divine mathematics and proportion ( Fibonacci sequences) in the construction of some of our ancient churches, the steeple downtown till Remains solid as other brick structures around it continuously need repair or have fallen to the ground a the stone wall that Still Remains around it downtown.
I'm a contractor in chattanooga. Crime is terrible and the higher the homeless rate gets the higher the crime rate. Drugs is ruining cities around here.
You left out the part where a lot of homeless people are not criminals and just having a hard time, and a lot of criminals have homes and nice cars, no need to be Prejudice towards the poor, I am certainly not saying that you should convert to Christianity but I am saying that it's message of helping the poor is a universal truth that can be put into practice without having to adopt the religion, one case you weren't aware the founder of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, was a homeless man...
Born and raised here , 43 years and I really wish I could move up north, like Maine or Rhode Island
Hello my friend yeah some channels may exaggerate the problems without having site visits. I hereby salute your credibility
I spent a good deal of my life in Chattanooga. I’ve traveled ,moved away a few times but I always end back here. Its a beautiful city. Yes it has a lot of issues but I like that it has all the accessibility of a large city while not feeling like it.
No place is perfect. The crime is nothing compared to what is going on in CA.
@@513coltrane The radical right trump cult...
I moved to the suburbs of Chatt nearly 3 years ago from ATL. I have visited many times before, so I don’t know why I never been to those water-steps! I didn’t realize the church steeple was a thing either. Anyhow, I miss the ATL, but I’m getting used to this slower pace around here. Never been to Champy’s either lol!
Well, you gotta check out those places! :)
You gotta get out more.. there is alot to see in Chatt town . It's not Atl, and thank GOD ! They can have that rat hole
I truly enjoy traveling with you guys ❤
We're glad you're here!
Great move getting Nicole a microphone.
We stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel about a decade ago with the kids and stayed in one of the train cars. It was a fun place to go with the little kids.
Thanks for the ride along, looks like it was once a Grand City full of history. To be honest it still looks beautiful with all the modern improvements, and most have a story to go with it. The City just fell victim to the new age and people who have no respect for others or themselves. Those people are everywhere, so I feel it is still a Grand City full of History.
It is definitely a beautiful city.
If you visit there again, you need to go to Tony's in the river arts district. We have been several times and it is great Italian food. They hand make their pasta and the prices are reasonable and portions are large. The Stone Cup is great for coffee too.
We all love the old architecture Wish they do the other buildings to match the older buildings Not just there but everywhere!
Native of Louisville, been in Roanoke for the last 20
Time for a move , probably home to Louisville but Chattanooga sure looks nice ❤
I live and I love my city yes we have problems just like any other city in America
You were talking about the National park... Chickamauga Battlefield. And it was the SECOND bloodiest battle in the Civil War Right below Gettysburg in death total. Not 3rd for 4th. The place is so creepy. Never hardly hear or see any birds when riding through it. One of our properties backs up to it. Always gives me the heebie jeebies and it's more than the horrors of the civil war battles that's hallowed that ground and forest... something native american waaay before the war. There are also underground rail tunnels taking you into Dalton GA maybe even to Atlanta. But on that I can't say for sure.
Everything you saw in downtown Chattanooga was actually the 2nd story of all those old bldgs. The original doorfronts are now basements bc of a huge mud slide and flood. The Choo Choo included. You can go to the basements and it will be the original entrances. The floors are all marble and so grand with amazing columns. Underground Chattanooga is so neat. The roads are all brick down there.
Wow, didn't know you'd been here last summer! I'm right outside the Chickamauga Battlefield which isn't too far from Chattanooga. Been in Georgia since I was a 6 yr old kid and California before that so I guess I"m more of a southerner than anything. Hope you and your wife got to go inside the aquarium, that's the best part of the whole city! Rossville's also pretty run down, its right outside Chattanooga and always looks like a slum.
The park with the fountain and carousel and large grassy area at the beginning of the video is called Coolidge Park. It is right next to Renaissance Park. It may actually even be a park within a park. Very nice vid.
Really? Damn GPS did me wrong again. :)
Another great video.
What surprises me is the size of the industrial buildings most closed down take the old iron foundry for instance where did the workers go?
There seems to be trend with your video's Town's cities going into decline crime and homelessness why do people stay or can they not move?
With all these empty shops and businesses do they still have to pay rent?
Good questions, David. If I was to guess, it would be that the city owns them.
The idled industrial workers usually moved to where workers were needed. I passed thru Chattanooga a few times in 1975, 1976 and 1977 when checking out employment opportunities in the South during extended layoffs at my Easy Chicago steel plant. Was told in Knoxville that nothing was going on there so bypassed it. I ended up moving to East Texas in late '77 due to it's booming economy that was drawing in young idled workers from the Rust Belt and Southern States. The collapse of the oil field 10 years later sent many of those in all directions looking for work.
That run-down building you said was from a more prosperous time is the old u.s. steel building or u.s. pipe it is soon to be the new home of the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team
Chattanooga is beautiful, but I only ever come here for work, We live in North Georgia and left there due to the crime rate. To many people wanting to steal, shootings, and more so.
Lol crime rate isn’t even that bad😂😂 y’all are blowing it out of proportion.
I live here and I've always lived here my whole life in Chattanooga..... In reality is no different than anywhere else you go in America. It's got it's good places and it's got its bad places for crime. If you have the money and you don't want to be around the crime then you move to Hixson,ooltewah, collegedale,East brainerd ,Middle valley or Soddy-Daisy... If you don't have the money then you probably have to live in brainerd, East ridge, East Chattanooga, or somewhere like that but even in these places there are still good little neighborhoods that don't suffer the crime rate as the other ones do... People that live here basically have a love hate relationship with this city and this Hamilton county... It is a pretty place to live with the mountains around you and the river but if you try to get on the roads you'll hit every pothole that there is because the roads are terrible... We also don't have a lot of natural disasters here a tornado here and there and that's about it.... The pros and cons about this place are probably are about the exact same but in relative terms most of the time it's a safe place to live if you are in the right place to live.
Chattanooga looks like a great city. I visited a few years ago and check out their real estate. I can't think of another comparable city with so much new residential development in its downtown area. Lots of well designed apartments and condos. Old former industrial areas are being revitalized.
Love the riverfront and Hunter Museum.
It's located near the Smokies and other beautiful natural scenery. Also close enough Atlanta for a short trip.
Tennessee is a great state as well.
23:13 Thats Maclellan Island an 18.8-acre, nature sanctuary for native plants and animals.
Sorry you missed Rembrandt’s, Hunter Museum of American art & Tony’s in the art district… Frothy Monkey next to the Choo Choo and Chattanooga Billiards Club. Of course Lookout Mountain overlook Park, St Elmo’s Incline Railroad used to transport munitions during the Civil War.
You missed the world-famous Comedy Catch at the ChooChoo and its oldest and best-known nickname is Choo Choo town. I successfully ran a shop for 18 years in one of those pockets of crime. Its just certain gas stations. It was part of US pipe. My best friend worked there for a while. I filmed the explosion when they blew up the cupola. 22:38 David was also the last person to drive a motorcycle across that bridge the day they shut it down. If you see the old news film you can see him on a white 1966 Harley Davidson Electra Glide.
15-20% is a pretty good tip.
Hey just wanted you to Know that the The Train you filmed has Rentable Room s
hey there,, i actually grew up in chattanooga,, and even though i moved away to the BIG city at 18, i have returned to retire,, thank you for giving chattanooga a good tour,, but as a local you missed several IMPORTANT areas,, go check those out if you ever make it back to chattanooga. Firstly,, the HUGE building you drove around that didnt know what it was,, it was an old steel mill that closed YEARS ago and is soon to be demolished and turned into housing and shopping areas,, dont have a clue as to when but it IS going to happen and get rid of that blighted area. Second,, you missed the BEST restaurants in chattanooga , most of which have been there WELL over 100 years. If you come back to chattanooga,, visit these restaurants,, Beas,, which is down near the georgia border, a lazy susan buffet which in my opinion has the BEST fried chicken around,, and then visit another 100 year old restaurant called Zarzours which is in the downtown area. Also if you visit any restaurants outside of downtown in the burbs,, check out wallys,, there are 2 locations of that place and both have EXCELLENT southern cooking.
Thank you for another great high quality video. It is much appreciated.
On a side note: @8:04 I believe you mean to say gigaBIT and not gigaBYTE. The latter would be quite the achievement indeed 😁