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LOL actually I'm impressed you are from Philly, I had no idea.
I think the BajanYankee moniker throws people off. They immediately associate the word "Yankee" with NYC, which is a reasonable assumption to make. A "Bajan Yankee" is just a name for Barbadians (or people of Barbadian ancestry) living in the United States.
Most Barbadian immigrants tend to live in Philadelphia esp. in the West Philadelphia sections, while even more settled widely in the New York City metropolitan area...In the 2000's, an estimated 100,000 Barbadian-Americans live in the New York and Philadelphia areas.
Some more interesting aspects of Philadelphia. My sisters actually became very good horseback riders through the city's program at Fairmount Park. I decided to take a pass after the whole Christopher Reeves thing.
Forgive me for not reading the 5+ pages since I last posted on this thread (yet another involuntary break from posting) and possibly reposting this info/perspective but I feel a few things really need to be straightened out here.
First of all, San Francisco is not anywhere near what Philadelphia is today. Don't ever forget that Philadelphia declined and San Francisco and all of the West Coast continues to peak; it really annoys me when you try to pretend that's not the case or play it down.
Population density: Philadelphia's peak population density, in 1950, was 15,333.3333(repeating) per square mile.. without any giant apartment complexes and with plenty of industrial areas (this metro was in fact the industrial capital of the world at one point I would bet). San Francisco will never touch that because they may have some rowhomes and a bit of density but the gigantic numbers come from apartment buildings and we all know it.
Secondly, San Francisco has a better PT than Philadelphia? You may want to check out what Philadelphia and its entire metro used to have, when Penn Railroad was competing with Reading and even before the two gobbled up all of the little companies that they were competing with. That system puts San Francisco's to shame, as well as a lot of places not named NYC to be honest.
Vibrant? Ever been to an actual Philly event or even a block party? I challenge you to find a more vibrant city that actually stays true to itself and doesn't sell itself out to the highest bidder (or any bidder for that matter). I believe what you mean to say is "tourist-friendly" vibrancy. If you want to go there though, in its peak, Philadelphia was vibrant in every single section of its 135 square miles. Every major part of the Delaware Valley was "tourist-friendly" vibrant, including places that tourists would be incredibly stupid to go anywhere near now. Again, San Francisco will never touch that.
Now on to what being urban is actually about.
Find me communities as strong in any West Coast city as they are in Philadelphia, and not a situation where the only communities are communities of immigrants. Not likely to happen.
Find me people as hard-nosed as Philly people, as resilient, as unwilling to have things forced upon them, as quick to fight for what they believe in or what they feel is right in San Francisco or anywhere on the West Coast. You all love to talk about counter-culture out there, but if you want real counter-culture then all you need to do is look at Philadelphia's (and the entire metro's) history. Those people put up fights bigger and harder than anybody on the West Coast could ever dream of. We were born to protest and be disobedient and go against the grain.
Culture: Philadelphia's multi-racial culture blows San Francisco out of the water any day. From Thomas Eakins to the Roots and everything in between, every authentic piece of Philly culture has contributed more to the world than San Francisco ever will.
Grittiness/hardness: Enough said, really. We're not even going to go into this one.
"Urban planners" didn't invent what urban is. There is much, much more to being urban than touristy things and convenience and any of those other things. That is why the real question should be: How can anyone argue that anywhere on the West Coast is more urban than Philadelphia?
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