I'd probably take a whack at Dresden-ifying my current home town of Birmingham since it's the second largest city in the UK. Might have a look into doing London as well just because of the ease of it - much larger population, political centre and large global financial hub, all the history plus it'd probably be a lot easier to find information on.

Another idea that I had was one of the major border cities on the US/Mexican border. In cities like El Paso and Ciudad Juárez or San Diego and Tijuana you've got the two countries and cultures living right up next to you that you can play off of. Throw in the drug cartels, people smuggling coyotes, industry, tourism in places like Tijuana - must be a white court smorgasbord, all the old legends and weird shit like the 400 plus unsolved murdered women in Ciudad Juárez and you should be able to come up with more than enough to keep your group occupied.