Unfortunately, this has happend to so much of the US--the character and culture of each region has been lost. We used to travel to visit new places and see new things. Now the new places look very much like those we left.
When der B and I have travelled, we've indeed found a lot of carbon-copy culture. The newer buildings all look alike, the malls are filled with exactly the same stores, everything has become mass-produced, and many people seem perfectly happy to never explore what might be different.
(Der Brucer's daughter and son-in-law are perfect examples of these sorts of people, if perfect is a word that can apply to them.)
But at the same time, there is a renewed interest in local things. Having moved cross-country just a little over three years ago, der B and I have found ourselves in a communtity that culturally is quite different from what we knew in Long Beach, CA. The foods are different, the way the streets are laid out is different. Get away from the main highway, and what can only be called a regional style emerges. It's not necessarily something concrete, it's more of a sensation.
Sure, it's cheaper to mass produce everything that is "new," to make everything like you would find it at McDonalds, and the people who are willing to settle for McDonalds will actually defend their choice, snobbily snubbing anything more complicated as "gourmet". But not everyone is like that, and not everyone is willing to choose the mass produced lifestyle.
Those of us who don't like the mass produced are learning to leave the highway.
