Chattanooga Is Changing. But Its Charms Remain.

Wow, you people need to chillax. I, for one, appreciate her voice, culling from the good and bad, meeting and quoting the locals (potluck, anyone?), sharing her own photos, and all in only five days. It’s supposed to be fun! And I doubt any of you haters would do better. Please, can we just enjoy this lovely series and journalist without such scathing criticism?

Do you mean the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga? The University of Tennessee is a completely different university and is a sister school in Knoxville. You must have meant UTC #gomocs

Robert Stoudemire, a fisherman, told me he’s felt left behind in a city that’s experiencing what’s known as “reverse of flight,” in which legacy black families are moving to the suburbs to make way for new arrivals who can pay higher rent. So black families are happily packing up and skipping out of the city center to make way for their new wealthier friends to move in? That is just gentrification phrased in an outrageous way.

Why so many haters? It's her experience of the city as a traveler. Chill.

Eagerly look forward to your list and descriptions of the 52 places to go each year and had been very excited to hear this feature would be exploring them all. Understand the author has been going for a casual vibe, stream of consciousness writing style but could we get some more focus or better editing in the future ? Reads like a high school sophomore's myspace blog post.

It's gigabit, not gigabyte.

When I read the comments on these Traveler pieces, I am struck by how the critics generally pick out one aspect or even line in the article to then dismiss the place, the article, or even the author. Fortunately, the New York Times picked a professional journalist with a more comprehensive world view and the ability to convey both a broader view and many nuances of the people she meets and places she visits than apparently would or could many of her critics. Thank you for that.

Once again, this writer has an ear only for a few notes rather than the entire song. I can't believe there is no mention in this article of Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Tennessee Aquarium, or the Hunter Museum of American Art, all of which I'd call tourist must-sees in and very near to the city, not to mention the architecturally fascinating "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" station/hotel. As a New Orleanian who read this writer's article about my city with some disbelief (we never leave home after dark?? Seriously??), I suppose I'm not surprised that Ms. Yuan once again missed telling the whole story.

Wow... so many haters in the comment section. Talk about biased presumptions. Come visit the Noog and your through-nasal view of TN will definitely change.

So many good subjects for images to support your story, but the ones published tell almost nothing and could put me to sleep.

Great article but you missed out on Wildflower Tea Shop! It’s a superb and unique apothecary style tea shop located right across from Stir and the Choo choo! Check it out next time you’re in town! :)

Confederate flags, a virtual "whites only" policy, and the assumption that women standing at bus stops are prostitutes are not the hallmarks of a charming and welcoming city. Ugh. Next city please!

Yes, Chattanooga is great if you are young, white, college educated and care nothing for the rights of the disadvantaged.

You can dress the south up in hipster hotels, nice art galleries and wonderful places to eat, but southern politics, poverty and racial attitudes always surface once you get past the welcoming veneer.

The photos here are really great. A pensive black person. A street sign. A lamp in what might be a hotel lobby or wht might be a thrift store. But that's not all: public art! I really feel like I'm in Chattanooga.

Sad that so many comments miss the mark. Ms. Yuan is even handed and thoughtful but the headline and entire premise of this series misunderstand a basic fact: the changing of times is as inevitable as it is heartbreaking. Once new residents, bringing their new values, sweep through, an entire culture is wiped out. We wring our hands over Brooklyn being "colonized" driving out long-time residents but react with glee when we discover Dixie is changing just as rapidly. It is this myopic, unnuanced view that will turn America's vibrance into bland Target/Walmart consumerism.

So many haters here! I have family near Chattanooga and though it is run down in some places, it has its charms. Good food, growing cultural scene, though definitely not as cool as Nashville (they've got Jack White's stamp of approval). Being less than 2 hours away from Atlanta kind of makes it like Baltimore and DC where it lives in the shadow of a much more vibrant city. But New York has PLENTY of faults too, so your experience might vary.

The last quote in this article is mildly disturbing to me. The use of the term "yankees" is something that seems to never die out in the old south and it is something from my childhood that still rankles. To my extended family members in Texas, we were always called yankees even though our mother, plus a couple of generations back, were born in Texas and our father raised there from about the age of five onward. We had made the dastardly mistake of living in Pennsylvania part of the time and other places in the east (they called it "up north). Unforgivable. The term is one left over from the Civil War period and, especially, the troublesome years afterward of Reconstruction. People all across the south deeply resented the northerners who came south during this period and, apparently, they've never forgotten it, five generations removed from that time. To me, this term is one almost as mean and ugly as words previously applied to black people. It means you are something different, something apart and you will never been fully accepted. So, I harbor no ill will toward the man quoted, Mr. Faulkner, but I can tell him whether I would "go back" if I ever lived in Tenn. would depend entirely on whether I enjoyed it and found it a place of comfort for life and work. Sounds like a very welcoming place otherwise, but I am always mindful that the old south still struggles to accept the modern world and has a long, difficult history in opposing democracy, our national creed.

Everyone is mentioning the racial discrepencies, and Tennesse is certainly worse states in the south with racial equality. But it's worth noting that the south, for all its socioeconomic problems, has actual racial diversity that the North lacks outside of big cities. (New England is shockingly white.) This means young southerns actually confront and try to change systems of inequality instead of pretending like it doesn't exist in their own communities. People who are under 25 have fairly diverse friend groups even outside of the big city, and there are a lot of aware people doing the actual footwork of fighting for social equality.

I hope no restaurant in Chattanooga any longer fails to seat darker-skinned people with small children, as happened in the 1990s.

Its' still the bible belt, don't let that slip your mind. There are some rigid people in TN and Chattanooga is no exception. The racial tension and bible thumpers make for a hypocrisy that's too hard to ignore.

I recently moved here and I was pleasantly surprised. Good description of the growing pains and the issues of gentrification, including the racial issues. And the alarming number of hipsters. As one observer said, "the guys look like they wanna start microbrweries and the women look like they are auditioning to be the next Bachelorette."

I can assure you that Chattanooga does not live up to the hype in the article. One of the most livable cities in the US, if like run down neighborhoods and a 1970's view of the world.

What about the fowl odor that the city is known for? You didn't mention it. Does the stench occur only during the summer months?

Well, I guess I must have visited a different Chattanooga. Two years ago, during my visit, I was smacked in the face by segregation and racism. It was easy to fall in love with the parts of town visitors are supposed to see. But go to the other side of the freeway, or turn down a different street, and you'll see shocking poverty and dilapidated public housing. It screams of Jim Crow and neglect—not revitalization or good stewardship. I departed feeling as though nothing in the South had changed in 150 years. Are there cool hipster bars and nice running trails in Chattanooga? Yes. And I appreciate public art and cool hotels as much as the next "cultured" traveller. But there's a dark side to Chattanooga, too; and leaving it out of this article feels really dishonest.

I’m disappointed you didn’t include some of the many excellent restaurants in Chattanooga, including more than a few farm-to-table establishments. The city (I’ve never heard it called “Chatt”) has a vibrant foodie scene.

"A 2016 study shows that its local banks are rejecting black families for home loans at an alarmingly high rate compared with white and Latino families. (The two main local banks approved just one conventional home loan each for a black family in the four years between 2011 and 2014.)" and “We invite all you Yankees, baby! Bring your money. Stay down in Dixie. You cross the Mason-Dixon line, you’ll never go back.” This adds up to "No Sale" in my book. Visiting the Confederacy is not on my bucket list.

Jada: I was raised on Lookout Mountain and left Chatty four years ago for DC. Thank you for a well-articulated assessment of its faults and virtues (and there are so, so many - really wish you had visited in the summer). It is such a different place now, in so many wonderful ways, though some of those changes have been slower than others. Definitely make a swing back, if you can, in the summer or early fall. Nothing is more beautiful than Ochs Highway in October.

The University of Tennessee is in Knoxville. The college in Chattanooga is University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. UT-Knoxville = flagship.

It's Tennessee. I might go there (I did go there once already)...if you pay me. Otherwise, forget it!

Great article and a great, progressive southern city.

But did you mention Trump to anyone?

So you're saying: if you're not black, Chattanooga is a charming place? Ok, thanks. Really killing it Jada.

Minor issue but I think that's a typo regarding the city's population. It's around 177,000, not 117,000 as stated.

I'm so tired of NYC-based writers making judgements of other places, and always saying in the end they prefer NYC. NYC was totally irrelevant to this article.

As someone who lives a few hours away, I have to say Chattanooga is a great little city with dynamic food and art scene. The weekly market on Sundays is outstanding. The aquarium, albeit expensive, is well worth a visit. There a ton of things to do in the area both cultural and outdoors. Chattanooga is a lot like Portland, OR but without the Portlandia.