Los Angeles vs. San Francisco (live, best, state, better)
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What? There are plenty of skyscrapers in San Francisco, and more going up, which is a shame. Personally, I do not like skyscrapers...at least not in cities like Boston, San Francisco and D.C. These cities, along with NYC, offer so much outside of their downtowns. Same with LA. I pity cities that only possess life in their downtowns.
Remember the Transamerica Pyramid wasn't built as high because of the view from Nob Hill. Even the Sutro Tower caused controversy. Add to that the freeway revolt around that time and that's San Francisco today.
Remember the Transamerica Pyramid wasn't built as high because of the view from Nob Hill. Even the Sutro Tower caused controversy. Add to that the freeway revolt around that time and that's San Francisco today.
Sutro Tower is hideous! I hate it. It's too bad that one of the downtown skyscrapers didn't take over communications, like the IDS Tower in Minneapolis. Twin Peaks would look much nicer if there wasn't a big ugly tower on it. The Transamerica Pyramid is ok. Not a huge fan of it. I just don't like skyscrapers, in general. Some are very cool, the Chicago Spire looks awesome, but I am just not really impressed with skyscrapers.
I am SO glad there was a freeway revolt. Thank God the freeways are obstructive here.
I never undersood the passion to drive. It is so much easier to get in a subway. I wish the subway were more extensive here.
LA's plan looks great. It will be interesting to see if people are willing to leave the car behind.
Seattle's Monorail fell through, which is a huge disappointment.
Sutro Tower is hideous! I hate it. It's too bad that one of the downtown skyscrapers didn't take over communications, like the IDS Tower in Minneapolis.
On 9/11 the VHF stations and a few FMs in NYC went off the air when the North Tower fell. (The candy striped tower is a broadcast antenna for TV and FM stations.) WCBS-TV went back on the air within a few minutes because it long maintained a transmitter in the Empire State Building as a backup.
Oh, Gucci! That's where Jerry Garcia bought all his handbags! I'm sorry, but the shopping/tourist parts of SF are not where its "character" lies. Nieman Marcus does not strike me as liberal, progressive or multicultural. There may be more foot traffic than Rodeo, but neither really holds the essence of their respective cities/regions. This is a dumb argument.
oh please dont pretend that this is what Im insinuating. The point is its a unique shopping experience on the west coast because it offers our best stores, is sophisticated, diverse and smack in the heart of downtown-Id have to travel as far east as Chicago before we would find something comparable.
I realize that people in SF are self-absorbed and all, but let's give credit where its due.
So San Francisco is a giant shopping mall but a way better one than the big one, New York? It looks like the Galleria but inside out.
Huh? Suddenly its a bad thing to have a top shelf retail district in downtown? WHAT!?!
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Where do people work? San José? The Apple, Intel, Sun, etc. offices aren't in San Francisco but in the suburbs!
Yes, that 80 Million square feet of office space in San Francisco just sits empty and the throngs of commuters who come into The City at dawn are actually going shopping at 5am, M-F.
btw, every city...100%- except perhaps Honolulu, has the majority of its jobs in the suburbs-not even Manhattan employs the majority of the NY Metro.
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Is the city core declining and the city is turning it into a giant shopping mall to hide the decay?
oh please dont pretend that this is what Im insinuating. The point is its a unique shopping experience on the west coast because it offers our best stores, is sophisticated, diverse and smack in the heart of downtown-Id have to travel as far east as Chicago before we would find something comparable.
I realize that people in SF are self-absorbed and all, but let's give credit where its due.
I appreciate the presence of that element in any city. Down here, we have Santana Row. While I find the place repulsive, I love that it's yet another part of the city. It caters to yet another group of people. There's room for everyone. I don't mean to purely deride that scene.
My main point was that all the shopping areas should not factor into this debate so much because they're not representative of a place like S.F. It depicts the city as a one-dimensional tourist fest like mush of Las Vegas or Maui.
It's all subjective. I'm simply stating that people who LOVE cities with a well defined downtown with pedestrian traffic generally don't like LA. I lived in LA for a couple of years. I liked (not loved) where I lived in santa monica, but I didn't like the city as a whole. I didn't like getting in my car to see different areas, I didn't like the lack of single downtown that felt like the center of activity, and I thought the people were ON THE WHOLE, flashier, less down to earth, and more superficial than I like. I didn't hate it though. It was more of an "eh" place to me. I lived in SF for several years and loved it. I loved the character, the ability to walk to different parts of town, the natural scenery, the architecture, and the feeling of being in a city. The only thing I preferred (somewhat) was LA's weather, but even that was a bit of wash because LA's weather became somewhat boring to me. I can't speak for the population increases in LA or what the source of those increases are (what % is immigration)? San Francisco is a small dense city- there is no room for additional folks and the cost is extremely high, so I wouldn't expect an extreme increase in population- but I've met a lot of people who want to live there.
That's debatable. It depends on what you like. I do not like skyscraper architecture, so I, therefore think there are a few cities with more pleasing architecture than Chicago (SF, DC, NYC, and Boston mainly).
I was criticizing his reasoning, not the city. Pull the stick out of your ass.
My apologies. I jumped the gun. BTW - I like Santana Row. It's pretty.
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