What is the MA Mecca of the USA?

[Joab]

I would say San Francisco is a strong possibilty, having graduated from a High School in San Francisco, there seemed to be a martial arts school every other block in the city by the bay, including many USA headquarters of the said art. If you included the entire Bay Area, the contention would be even stronger. I've heard New York City is the Mecca of martial arts in the USA, and there are certainly a lot of them in the Big Apple. Los Angeles would likely be a strong contender as well. What do you think is the Martial Arts Mecca of the USA?

I will state Dover, Delaware is not the Mecca of martial arts in the country, as I'm living near there, and the schools are few and far between, and many of them cater to kids, becoming more like day care centers than serious martial arts schools often unfortunately. Fine schools for the kids I'm sure, but I'm not a kid.

 

[Aiki Lee]

I guess it depends on where the HQ of your art would be. To me it's either in Illinois where my main dojo is or Kansas City Misouri where the founder of my style lives.

 

[Joab]

I guess it depends on where the HQ of your art would be. To me it's either in Illinois where my main dojo is or Kansas City Misouri where the founder of my style lives.

I'm thinking of the Mecca for all martial arts combined. In other words, where is the most concentration of various martial arts in the USA, where would one find the most, varied, and the like, not a specific Mecca of a specific martial arts style.

 

[clfsean]

There isn't a single one.

West Coast = SF
East Coast = NYC
M/West = Chicago

etc...

 

[Flying Crane]

There isn't a single one.

West Coast = SF
East Coast = NYC
M/West = Chicago

etc...

Agreed.

I would add that SF is a mecca particularly for CHinese martial arts, altho we've got quite a variety of other arts here as well.

I don't know much about NY or Chicago.

 

[chinto]

Seattle Washington has a large number of schools, and some extremely good instructors in different arts too.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

It would be hard to not say that California is loaded as far as martial training goes. Chicago and NYC both also have a plethora of teachers and people training. It is a little known secret that Michigan is also loaded as well. (absolutely loaded with great teachers) Florida also has a great amount and the list could literally go on and on.

 

[tellner]

Los Angeles would be a good pick.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

NY tends to be a strong presence in almost everything. As a port city and major economic and cultural center, it has great diversity in culture, not to mention that it is one the places in the country that people move to specifically to 'make it big' in their endeavors, including martial arts. With a strong international community, it is ideal for the martial arts.

Washington DC is, to a lesser extent as well, and for many of the same reasons. Having lived in the DC area all my life, I can say that if there is a martial art, there is likely a school for it somewhere if you dig hard enough. Jhoon Rhee's presence here doesn't hurt either.

SF I'm sure is similarly a hot spot, though it has been over two decades since I've been there, and at that time, it was not for checking out dojos. I remember the city very fondly, particularly how nice the climate was as compared to the DC area.

Daniel

 

[Aikikitty]

For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.

Anytime I'm on vacation and have access to a phone book, I enjoy looking up the martial art schools just to see what's available and count how many listed schools there are for which style. Houston had an impressive list, I thought.

I'm sure any state that has a high and diverse population would have a lot to choose from.

Robyn

 

[searcher]

California is a good pick and so is NYC, but I am going to go with Hawaii. It is the halfway point between Asia and the Continental US and there are a great number of MAists there.

 

[clfsean]

For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.

Nah... nobody likes Texas... hehehehe


besides the Republic of Texas has The Chuck... nothing else is needed & it's borders are secure once he's ensconced on the throne as the God Emperor of the Kingdom of Texico...

 

[dancingalone]

Jokes about Texas aside, I'll admit it's a bit of a desert for martial arts. There are some noted instructors in seven star mantis and shorin-ryu karate that I know of. Also a very impressive tai chi man lives within 50 miles of me. Still, Texas doesn't quite have the density of credible teachers that NY or California do. Lots of mcdojos for the kids, though.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.

Anytime I'm on vacation and have access to a phone book, I enjoy looking up the martial art schools just to see what's available and count how many listed schools there are for which style. Houston had an impressive list, I thought.

I'm sure any state that has a high and diverse population would have a lot to choose from.

Robyn

I know that we have a goodly amount of instructors on here on MT from Texas. In my response, I was thinking of specific cities, but as large as Texas is, I'd gather that its cities boast a good cross section of the martial arts.

Daniel

 

[dancingalone]

I know that we have a goodly amount of instructors on here on MT from Texas. In my response, I was thinking of specific cities, but as large as Texas is, I'd gather that its cities boast a good cross section of the martial arts.

Daniel

Honestly, we have lots of the typical studio martial arts, but relatively few (compared to NY or CA) of what I would call profound MA. It seems like in some CA cities, you can go to a park and stumble across some excellent teachers teaching for little or no fee. That's really not the case in Texas, and even if pay for lessons as most of us do, the level taught is not high for the most part.

Again, just my personal experience. I know someone will inevitably pipe in with an example of a great teacher I missed, and I freely admit I don't know everyone in every martial art. My interests in MA is esoterical, and I've seen a lot of BS in my time as I've travelled across the country working in my career. In fact, I still travel back to CA every quarter to spend time with my sensei as his philosophy and teaching style fit me best.

 

[Joab]

There isn't a single one.

West Coast = SF
East Coast = NYC
M/West = Chicago

etc...

Makes sense to me

 

[Joab]

Agreed.

I would add that SF is a mecca particularly for CHinese martial arts, altho we've got quite a variety of other arts here as well.

I don't know much about NY or Chicago.

It's pretty much whatever you want in San Francisco at least when I went to school there. I counted 50 kenpo karate schools alone in San Francisco in the phone book.

 

[Joab]

Seattle Washington has a large number of schools, and some extremely good instructors in different arts too.

Your quite correct, and there has been a real boom in martial arts schools in Seattle the last few years. I went to two that were particularly good for what they were trying to achieve in Seattle, a lot of work, but the results were quite good, good teachers. But there are far more schools in San Francisco than Seattle.

 

[Joab]

It would be hard to not say that California is loaded as far as martial training goes. Chicago and NYC both also have a plethora of teachers and people training. It is a little known secret that Michigan is also loaded as well. (absolutely loaded with great teachers) Florida also has a great amount and the list could literally go on and on.

I'll keep that in mind, my wife and I may be moving soon. The part of Delaware I live in has very few, they may be fine schools, I've never visited them, but the number is very low unfortunately, with lots of kids as students normally. Thats fine if your a kid, but when your 46...

 

[Joab]

Los Angeles would be a good pick.

I'm sure LA has many fine schools as well, a very large Krav Maga school I know of.