What place do you know well but wish you didn't?

Wal*Mart.

The dentist office.

@pdworkin Haha. Your response reminds me of people of walmart.

I’d have to say a hosptial as well. I never have liked hosptials, but my disdain for them really happen after my father passed away in one. We had to practically lived in the waiting room for months before that. (Spent Christmas there too. It sucked so bad.)

The morgue and nursing home. I spent the night in a ward of the latter as a good friend’s mother was dying. It was a nightmare of sad,delusional humans lost within their own bodies- terrified of everything and crying out to people not there all night. I hope to never be in one again and would rather take a bottle of vodka and a walk in a blizzard if that was my only option left.

Rome’s parks , I used to love going there because Rome has most fountain sculpures in the world, but ever since I noticed more and more condoms & syringes I stoped liking the place.

The United terminal at SFO. I know every frikkin’ corner of that place.

The freeways of Los Angeles.

The house I live in. I’ve lived here all my life despite my father being retired military with 20-something odd years under his belt and I hate that.

Rock Island, IL The name is famous, the town, not so much.

Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, New York City.

I’ve had many relatives pass away slowly in that building.

Interesting question, AC. GQ for you.

@Grisaille My mother’s cousin, Martin Cherkasky was chief of cardiology at Montefiore in the ‘70s. At that time it was considered to be among the best of the best. It’s sad to hear that it has changed so much for the worse.

The post office.

@pdworkin ‘twas magnificent – from what I hear (I’m in my mid 20s, wish I could tell you firsthand what conditions were like back then).

In the 90’s – early 00’s, Montefiore was a madhouse. Triage would take hours (many, many gang-related injuries), doctors would be handling dozens of patients at a time and the temp space they’d use before transport to OR/perma-stay resembled a World War II emergency medical center in that beds were a foot or two away from one another.

Now, the place has cleaned up quite nicely. A huge renovation project has taken effect (I take trips to the BX to go with my step father for his bi-monthly check-ups) and the entire place feels like… well, a hospital. Modern, sleek and – wait for it – comfortable. The people, however… haha. The Bronx never changes.

I love The Bronx.

The darkest part of myself. Sounds kind of stupid, but it’s true.

@Garebo me too, me too. quite unfortunately.

I have a graphic understanding of the inside of a female cow, it was a tragic series of what, at the time seemed like unrelated events that led up to said cow viewing, I’ll never think of vagina’s the same way ever again… I want my innocence back.

Palliative care at the hospital here in town. I’ve been there a few times since my Mom died a few years ago. When my Mom was there, she was there for a month. And, we, her family were there with her everyday. It’s a very sad to place to be.

Viet-Nam

Living paycheck to paycheck.

my ex-husband’s promises

My weaknesses

High School ):

@Byelsse Welcome to fluther. Lurve.
The courthouses. My wife and I had to defend ourselves from some vicious attacks years ago. Ugly times.

The Middle East. I’ve lived there and I have been deployed there several times while in the military. Not all of it is bad but some places are more bleak than here in the United States.

The inside of my head. It is largely where I live my life.

I find it really interesting that the events that occurred in these locations become so entwined with the physical construct of the building/place.

It seems to give emotion and power to the inanimate. Hey after all a brick is just a brick right?

As for the introspective replies I also find it fascinating that the reverse seems to be true.

Thoughts and emotions appear to become physical, concrete, immovable.

Interesting and thanks for sharing so far.

AC
Yes the Wal*mart answer made me laugh too

I don’t think there is such a place for me.

I know I attach a huge amount of stuff to locations. They are very laden for me. As a visual person I connect them to personal and public history, my own growth and personal career, people, relationships, emotions, and more. I orient myself by visual reference points and find that locations associated with my past are potently evocative of changes over time.

But to say I wish I did not know a place is a very strong statement. I don’t think I can remember a place that meets both criteria:

—I know it very well
and
— I wish I’d never been there (or wish I hadn’t been there enough to know it well).

The places I wish I’d never seen are mostly places I got out of as fast as possible and never knew well. The places I know well are mostly places I have mixed feelings about, if not altogether positive. So that’s why I can’t answer, and not because I don’t think of places that way.

I don’t think it is giving any power to the inanimate. We are physical beings bound by space and time. I think visual memory of place and patterns of place is an essential tool of survival (Which way is safety? Which way is danger? Which way is home?) and very deeply embedded, and I think our associations with place have mostly to do with our own being in those places and not the places per se. There are exceptions in shared history (Stonehenge, Mecca, Jerusalem) and in public symbols (the Statue of Liberty, the Tower of London, the Kremlin), but those do not seem to be the places you are asking about. To say we wish we didn’t know a place implies as a prerequisite that we do.

the courthouse

Fluther. I never get anything done.

My workplace

The detention hall at my old high school. I went there this year to visit the old place (School has since moved to a newer and larger location). They tore down a lot of the old buildings but the classroom used for detention still stands. (for future reference i went to University of San Diego High School… anyone who’s seen “Almos Famous” has seen it. It was filmed during my junior/senior years).

@Jeruba – I absolutely agree that our associations with a place are to do with our being in that place as opposed to the place itself, hence my reference to giving power to the inanimate. The hospital I refer to in my question is just a building, it is my experiences there that I really wish I didn’t know, but over time and as an easier way of verbalising that it has become “I don’t like the City Hospital”. I have made a mental shortcut, the construct of which, where I to follow it logically, would have errors in it.

By giving power to the inanimate I refer to the fact that I allow myself to be moved emotionally by the visual thought, or the actual sight of, that building. I think there is a difference in that and referencing a place in terms of survival, if only on the basis that my process doesn’t seem to provide an instinctive survival benefit – that I can immediately think of anyway.

I agree there was a prerequisite formed at the start of my question, by use of the word “What”, and as your answer illustrates there isn’t always a place for everyone – which I find equally interesting.

What we’re really talking about are anchors, a sight, smell, sound, feel or taste that can immediately associate you back with a memory – the amount of association depending on the person and/or the experience. Forgive the explanation I don’t want to assume everyone has heard of it.

You describe yourself as a visual person and I’m wondering if you (or anyone else reading) have any associations with a particular sound/smell etc. in the way the original question intended.

For example, I really don’t like the taste of (x) it reminds me of (x)

I find it really interesting to see how people reference their experience of the world.

Let me know if that’s a bit off topic and if I need to create a new question.

Thank you for your answer.

AC

@AC, your new questions would make for a separate interesting thread. You can cross-reference this one, but you probably want to put everything pertinent into the details anyway.

I did not mean to suggest that the places of strong association are necessarily those tied to survival but only this: that pattern matching and place memory are essential to survival for creatures like us that have homes and safe places (burrows, nests, caves, etc.), and hence we are wired to register locations as important environmental data. That’s not giving power to the inanimate because it’s not about the place per se. It’s about the strength of the association to a pattern-seeking mind.

I’m not a formal student of psychology, and if one happens by to contradict me I will accept it graciously and learn from it; but that’s my theory.

Danbury Hospital, Danbury CT… was admitted for far too long and had far too many “mistakes/accidents” happen to me while there that almost cost me my life a few times…