Charlotte Local Custom Tips by b1bob Top 5 Page for this destination

Queen City Emblem

Because Charlotte is named the Queen City (named for King George III's wife Queen Charlotte), its emblem is the crown which appears on, among other things, all street signs within the city.

The snooty side of town

When Mark moved here in 1993, the area that is now Ballantyne was pastureland. However, as the affluence spread southward, gated communities and snooty shopping centres spread like kudzu into the countryside. This is definitely not a place either acemj or b1bob should want to live even if we had the means.

Hometown pride: Carolina Panthers 2003 season

Being a town lacking deep roots and full of come-heres, one would not expect much cohesiveness around a hometown sporting team. As I allude to in the sports tip, the Carolina Panthers American football team was bloody awful at the 2001 season. They had a middling transitional 2002 season with a new coach and some new players. In the 2003 season, they not only made postseason play, the earned the right to go to the Super Bowl. In January, 2004, some fans went to the extreme to show their support at a Panthers rallye at the famous Charlotte intersection of Trade and Tryon. For full disclosure, the Carolina Panthers are my team. In fact, I went to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey to watch the last regular season Panthers game against the New York Giants, having the audacity to wear my Panthers sweatshirt and to cheer at the top of my lungs (in the midst of a bunch of Giants fans) to cheer on my team.

Local lingo

The Queen's City: the city's nickname.

Shawlet: How natives pronounce that fine city.

The Square: the official centre of the city at Trade and Tryon.

cookout: backyard barbecue.

skew: How natives pronounce "school".

U.N.C.C.: University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In terms of sports, referred to simply as Charlotte.

Sun Drop: a citrus flavoured local soft drink.

Cheerwine: a cherry flavoured local soft drink.

hose pop: most call it a garden hose.

Char-Meck: The combined jurisdiction of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Charlotte Disturber: What many locals call the primary newspaper The Charlotte Observer.

Bible belt plus

When an outsider thinks of Charlotte, they think of NASCAR, American football, basketball, barbecue, and being part of the Bible belt. (Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker ran their PTL club from a Charlotte suburb in South Carolina.) Protestant churches still dominate, but with the growth of the banking industry, the community has become more diverse (as witnessed in the restaurant tips). With that comes religious diversity as well. From top to bottom, I took a picture of a Catholic church, the Greek Orthodox church across the street is in the middle, and a synagogue not far from Mark's house. Click to enlarge the photo to get everything in.

Banking capital of the South

Sorry, Atlanta, Charlotte edged y'all out as the banking capital of the South. As I alluded to in the intro, only New York is a larger banking centre than Charlotte in the USA. Wachovia and Bank of America are headquartered here and many more have a presence.