Can you tell easily who is a local and who is a tourist in your city at a glance?

Capsicum · #1 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 8:41 PM**

Before asking strangers personally or having them come up to ask for directions, is it easy to recognize tourists vs. locals these days vs. in the past?

Back in the old days the stereotype of tourists looking around, being loud, taking big cameras and snapping pics all around, dressing differently than locals, seems to have been tempered a little since nowadays people take selfies on phones rather than cameras and dressing styles have diversified/globalized a bit more.

JManc · #2 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 9:40 PM**

Most people don't carry cameras anymore so opposite is true for that now. I have a huge DSLR and no matter what city I'm in, people see the camera and assume I'm local and walk up to me and ask for directions. I was just in Chicago and people kept asking where the closet L stop was. I just told them: 1060 W Addison.

Acajack · #3 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 9:53 PM**

I just spent some time abroad and even though I don't have the typical local physionomy (even if it was predominantly European in origin there too), I was asked for directions and posed questions by people all the time - in the local language even. So for the most part these are people from the country I was in, but not from that particular city, asking foreigner me about a city I was just visiting.

iheartthed · #4 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 10:02 PM**

If you can't tell who is a tourist in New York then you are the tourist.

Urban Zombie · #5 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 10:04 PM**

Very easy in Seattle (provided that it's a rainy day), as tourists/non-locals will be the ones using umbrellas.

Handro · #6 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 10:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Zombie

Very easy in Seattle (provided that it's a rainy day), as tourists/non-locals will be the ones using umbrellas.

Do Seattle locals just say f it and get soaked?

Obvious tourists are easy to spot, but so many people are urbanized now and travel from one city to another so it makes it harder. Eastern Europeans have a very particular style that I can spot out of a crowd (and have often been the only smokers I could find to lend me lighter) but a random person from Boston or San Francisco or whatever will blend in easily.

rsbear · #7 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 11:42 PM**

A convertible Mustang or Camero in the Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles) is highly likely a rental car and, therefore, being driven by a tourist.

jtown,man · #8 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 11:53 PM**

I just moved to Chicago. The first two weeks or so I was a resident, true, but I went out and ventured like a tourist.

When do I become a true resident and not a tourist? Will my physical appearance change(lol) or will I just look less lost?

LA21st · #9 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 11:58 PM**

Depends in LA where you are. On the walk of fame, no doubt. Maybe Rodeo.
Farmers Market/Grove, Santa Monica, West Hollwood, Beverly Hills, not really. They kind of blend in to me.

In Dc and Chicago, they stood out more in my opinion.

Chisouthside · #10 Posted **Jan 21, 2020, 11:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I just moved to Chicago. The first two weeks or so I was a resident, true, but I went out and ventured like a tourist.

When do I become a true resident and not a tourist? Will my physical appearance change(lol) or will I just look less lost?

The slight potbelly from all the italians beefs will soon denote you as a resident.

SIGSEGV · #11 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 12:07 AM**

Hard to tell the difference between bonafide tourists and suburbanites.

Buckeye Native 001 · #12 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 2:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JManc

I just told them: 1060 W Addison.

I mean, that's what the state's computer database says is your address...

If people wandering around in Flagstaff aren't wearing flannel, or ski gear and they aren't driving Subarus, they ain't locals.

The most obvious are the Phoenicians walking around downtown wearing sweaters when it's 75 degrees.

mhays · #13 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 4:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handro

Do Seattle locals just say f it and get soaked?

The point is we don't need umbrellas because our rain tends to be pretty light.

I walk 10 minutes to work and maybe a couple times a year an umbrella might have been handy.

sopas ej · #14 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 4:34 AM**

Los Angeles is so diverse, that sometimes it's hard to tell the tourists from the transplants. Even Asian and Latin American immigrants blend in better than some of the gringo tourists and transplants. Sometimes it depends on the time of year, but some gringo tourists stick out because they're very pale, and/or wear shorts and t-shirts in 50-degree weather.

Seattle folk and umbrellas? Well in LA, you see Asians carrying umbrellas in the summer for shade, males and females. Some white folk have taken to doing it too. Makes sense to me.

And then some tourists you know just have to be from another country, like these guys; I took this picture in September 2019, riding the Metro home from Santa Monica:

My partner and I were all "So what country do you think they're from?" We weren't sure; we couldn't hear what they were speaking. But judging by the odd white tennis shoes, the bad haircut on the one, their body shapes, and the man-purses, we just knew they weren't from the US, let alone LA.

muppet · #15 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 6:17 AM**

they look provincial British (not London though, completely different style), maybe Scandic/ Benelux

muppet · #16 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 6:20 AM**

In London its the amount/ size of bags they carry, and how streetwear they are. Tourists tend to dress / haircut a bit conservatively (this doesnt mean just drab, they can be very refined looking), unless theyre young and Italian which is often the opposite, wearing crazy clothes and cuts, and young Chinese who are WAY into 90s/00s retro.

Complete guesses, but girls on left look like visitors, the messy haired / pink women on right locals. Note the UFO floating above the mans head, that might be someon's hairdo, maybe his. London, seriously, please tone it down sometimes, please.

sopas ej · #17 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 7:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by muppet

they look provincial British (not London though, completely different style), maybe Scandic/ Benelux

Our guess was Scandinavian or some other kind of continental Europeans.

Pedestrian · #18 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 8:28 AM**

In San Francisco it's pretty easy: Ask them to pronounce certain place names. One good one is San Rafael (county seat of Marin County). The odd local pronunciation is "San Ra-fell" but non-locals usually add another syllable like "San Ra-fi-el".

Or ask them how to get anywhere by bus in SF. Most locals will know which Muni route gets from where you are to where you want to go. Most out-of-towners won't have a clue.

Pedestrian · #19 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 8:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JManc

Most people don't carry cameras anymore so opposite is true for that now. I have a huge DSLR and no matter what city I'm in, people see the camera and assume I'm local and walk up to me and ask for directions. I was just in Chicago and people kept asking where the closet L stop was. I just told them: 1060 W Addison.

Wouldn't be an issue in SF: You wouldn't have it long. Somebody would rip it off your neck soonest and unless it's worth at least $950 (and you could prove it), that wouldn't even be a felony in CA these days.

kool maudit · #20 Posted **Jan 22, 2020, 8:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Our guess was Scandinavian or some other kind of continental Europeans.

Could be Swedish but I'm gonna say Estonian. It's that little extra sportswear push that makes me think Baltic.