As a resident of Albany, what do you call yourself? I personally like Albanian but am interested to hear other suggestions.

Wow they really know how to focus Albany's highlights... closeup of a park bench with the paint peeling off, underneath the BART tracks, poorly paved sidewalks with garbage containers, flagpole with a dozen cables in front of it then fade into more overhead cables. Last but not least a nice shot of I-80 and the Richmond industrial swamp lands to end the sales pitch. I'm movin' to Al-bany!

Groovy neck-bobbin' soundtrack comports well with the faded 70s luster shown off in the video. Has the sky ever looked so pale? I get the impression of lots of traffic, sprawl, weeds, patches of dying lawn. Ah, but the long shot of the flagpole (with the flag cut off at the top) brought tears to my eye (this is so bad! I thought). Few residential neighborhood shots. And really, to mispronounce the name of the city to boot? What sad company is responsible for this unappealing portrait? I'd rather just use the catchphrase "Urban Village by the Bay" and leave it at that.

The City Council recently decided not to pursue spending money on a professional video to promote Albany. Before coming to that decision, which I believe to be the correct one, there was discussion around the idea of making our own video. I am sure there are film makers in town that could take on this project and make a wonderful and creative video that reflects the beauty and feeling of Albany. Who is interested in working on this project? After the Filmfest, would the Community Media Access Committee want to play a role in this? How about AHS students? I don't want to push this onto "someone else" but having no video experience, I would be happy to work on the administrative site of the project.

At the ripe old age of 79 and after growing up in Albany I tell you that it is pronounced Allbany. It was a wonderful place to live in with caring and helpful neighbors. Excellent schools were the norm and I have many treasured memories.

After viewing the video by Realty World I must say I appreciated it greatly.
The City of Albany rests between Berkeley and more correctly El Cerrito. Aside from being in separate counties the two cities of Albany and El Cerrito are closely tied together.

My favorite part was the shot of the Safeway parking lot, especially the backside of the newspaper dispenser. Lovely!

I grew up in Berkeley, just a few houses over the city line from ALL-bany, and have lived in Albany now for almost 43 years. One of my pet peeves is when I hear people (particularly in a TV or radio news or traffic report) pronouncing it the WRONG way: AL-bany. My blood boils and I'm always so tempted to call the station and make a correction. On the other matter (i.e., Albanian, etc.), when I was growing up, residents always seemed to be referred to as "Albanyites." This "Albanian" thing started cropping up in the late 60s/early 70s - I noticed it increasingly around the time I moved to Albany. I still refer to us as "Albanyites." If I had to pick, though, I guess the pronunciation "All-BANN-ian" would be most correct. It's hard to not say "Al-BANE-ian," because of the country by that name, but that really is an incorrect pronunciation.

"A rose, by any other name"...Since my grandmother's time, it has been pronounced AWL buh nee. I cannot believe anyone would ask such a question. However, those who doubt, please read on. Extracted from Wikipedia...(1) "the residents of [Albany] voted to incorporate as the City of Ocean View. In 1909, voters changed the name of the city...in honor of Albany, New York, the birthplace of the city's first mayor, Frank Roberts. (2) Albany, New York. Albany (i/ˈɔːlbəniː/ awl-bə-nee) ...renamed the city Albany in 1664, in honor of the then Duke of Albany, the future James II of England and James VII of Scotland.

it's a sure sign of someone who's new to the area when you hear them say Al-(rhymes with Cal) bany...I encourage those who care to check out the Facebook page: I know how to pronounce Albany California...it's pretty entertaining.

That video could be about a city in Nebraska, for all the attention they give to the waterfront and SF Bay.

But - there IS a wonderful film about Albany: See "Bums' Paradise," the 2003 documentary about life out on the Albany Bulb. (And there's a private screening at Berkeley Yacht Club tomorrow night - email pk@well.com for an invite.)

I didn't think I cared how Albany was pronounced until viewing the horrid Realty World video. It reminds me of when visitors to San Francisco call it Frisco. Neither Al-bany nor Frisco fit. But along with the elevator music, something else bugged me about that video: There was no personality. There were many close-ups of objects, but our town is all about girls & boys & women & men enjoying themselves, along with turkeys & deer & cats & dogs. And restaurants and nail salons.

haha...it also begs the question...how do you pronounce realitty???

Yes I noticed that too. At the start, the commentator pronounced it REE-al-tee, then at the end pronounced it REE-lit-tee. Whatever works, at the appropriate moment, I guess....

Why don't we just skip realitty and "REE-lit-tee and print the actual pronunciation, REE-al-ty? Every time someone displays an incorrect spelling, etc. it reenforces the error and perpetuates it. I hope my comment is correctly written since I am a product of Albany schools.

Thank you for all of this. Just this morning on Car Talk on NPR, someone called in from Albany, the city where I grew up, and claimed Albany was pronounced like the name "Al". I was shocked. The hosts of Car Talk were incredulous. You pronounce the name of your fair city differently than Albany of NY? The caller said "Yes, it rhymes with Cali." Proof he's from the golden state, let alone the great city of East Bay.