At least when I'm not in Warshinin
The metro area from which I originate (Hampton Roads) is a wierd place. Norfolk is your typical small city thats been around forever. (except for the fact that it lies on the best natural harbor in the world) The only thing is that it really doesn't have suburbs. It also is kind of small enough to have it's own suburbs within the city limits. Portsmouth is kind of a suburb but it not terribly suburban and it's about as old as Norfolk. It also shares a lot of it's economic base (shipyards and such). Hampton and Newport News are across the James River but they're really their own things due to their local military bases and shipyards. Chesapeake is everyone's suburb and is basically just a few housing developments and a whole bunch of rural that doesn't deserve to be incorporated into what is the largest city by area in Virginia.
Then you've got the beach. Not the beach literally, because you can say you're going to the beach but you're really going to a part of Virginia Beach that happens to be 16 miles away from anything remotely beachy.
It's a wierd ass place. It's incredibly asymmetrical suburban sprawl in a rather LA style. The economy is based on tourism to its beach which is the longest pleasure beach in the world as well as its three military bases, and a bunch of crap inbetween. Apparently Stihl and Lillian Vernon have their headquarters here too. It's also pretty much the only real suburb of Norfolk, but that's only the west half of it.
But really, when I say it's an unusual place this is only when you consider the general shape of the city in relation to other cities around it. It is rather funky shaped. Take a look at Washington, which has a relatively orthodox metro area structure, pretty symmetrical and everything (not counting Tyson's)
But then you've got lovely hampton roads, which is about as symmetrical as New York City proper. 
Really Hampton Roads is like mini mini NYC (Norfolk) right next to mini mini LA (VB).
But anyway back to Virginia Beach. I hate this place. It's suburban as hell with its ten lane arterial monstrosities, there are more chain stores than anything else by far, and this is just in the part that's north of Virginia Beach Boulivard that actually has been around for a while (a while being relative, the city was founded in the 50's) South Virginia Beach reduces me to tears. I don't think there's anything there that can't be found anywhere else in the country. Except for a sweet Christmas treet stand! but thats far past the subdevelopments.
However, I understand why things are the way they are. Being founded in 1952 and developed in an era where low density auto oriented development was the popular preference, combined with the factor that the city's major job bases are in all opposite directions (Downtown Norfolk west, Beach east, military bases on the north and south east coasts, makes for a really spread out city.
Normally I wouldn't waste my time learning anything about such a place that I hated so much, nor would I try to unearth anything worthwhile about it. But A this is the place that I spent ages 10-18 living and B it's actually got some really cool stuff hidden beneath the monotony.
First of all, the Oceanfront while incredibly commercial and touristy is really nice and really walkable. It's a really fun place to come during the summer, even if it gets a bit crowded. It's pretty old (the area predates the city of VB) and like 10 blocks north of the main stretch there are some really gorgeous old beach houses just seconds away from really uncrowded beaches. You can also go to sketchy crab shack/club/bars with names like Dirty Dicks and get high off oxygen.
Living 15 mins away from the beach by bicycle is a pretty awesome option to have, even if you just bike up and down Atlantic Ave, getting burnt. Biking in flip flops up to the beach and then stopping back at Machismo Burrito Bar all sandy and sun blasted all while taking the maximum amount of time to do so is a summer aesthetic that I've really really enjoyed and probably won't ever forget.
Second of all, while Virginia Beach's beach town area might seem standard, we've got some pretty sweet stuff that you won't find at any other beach town. Some Norweigans crash landed on what would become Virginia Beach in 1891 and we helped them out. Now two statues commemorating the lives lost and the heroic dudes who saved lives are at the oceanfront of Virginia Beach and Moss, Norway. We've also got a buttload of great seafood and some of it you can eat while in actual ship that was converted into a huge seafood restaurant. The hugeass Neptune statue at the oceanfront is also pretty badass. So is the beach at night when a full moon will light up the tips of waves as they crash on the beach.
Third of all, Virginia Beach is incredibly green. Not when it comes to how disgustingly auto dependent it is, but in terms of nature, the city has much more than many cities have to offer. It's got a massive swamp/park with some awesome mini beaches, bike paths, and camp sites, all in an area that probably would have been drained and subdeveloped a long time ago. The area, as a whole, is also incredibly waterlogged. For example, driving the 18 miles from the Virginia Beach oceanfront to downtown Norfolk requires you drive over 4-5 bodies of water, and thats using the most straightforward route. I'm sure you could cross dozens more if you have rediculous amounts of time and or took the shore drive route. This abundance of water is really cool. I have a creek in my backyard. We found some possibly poisonous Virginia watersnake there today. What other subdevelopment can offer that?
Fourth of all, Virginia Beach gots peoples from all over. Military bases equal foreign shipments which equal Navy kids from anywhere you got boats. However, the people who have been here long enough have their own Tidewater accent that I didn't know was regional, but as I'm learning more about southern accents its becoming really obvious to me how distict it is.
So in conclusion, I would like to raise a toast to Virginia Beach. I've been talking some smack over the years about ye, but I would like to say that I do love the people of Virginia Beach as well as the beautiful land on which it was built, as well as much of what the city has to offer.
However, I spit on whoever was in charge of such hasty, soulless, ugly development that gives me a negative association with modern architecture.
