Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Boston is also much more tied in with their Bay than Manhattan is with the New York's Bays or Philadelphia is with the Delaware Bay and very similar to SF in that regard.
This is true. A large, very walkable, liberal, mostly white/Asian city that is very tied to its respective bay/harbor ... are factors that make San Francisco and Boston feel most alike.
The title of the thread is not nor the bottom two or three sentences from the OP.
There have been a few people in this thread (like grapico, kidphilly, others) that understood what it was about though.
Boston, Philadelphia, & New York are the supporting cast for this thread, the main protagonist for this thread is San Francisco which has many times over been described as an "eastern cousin displaced on the west coast"? The theme revolves around which of the other three it's most like.
I'm not focusing on reputation, all of these cities are largely different on that. Just which one under any stance of either superficial or actual setting San Francisco has the most, absolute most, in common with.
As for me, I find all 4 along with all of the other 8 largest cities in America to be quite lovely-- each in their own respective ways. Truly appreciate what America has to offer, I like them all.
Of those three, I think it has the most in common culturally with Boston. One way that San Francisco and Boston differ is that SF is not the end-all-be-all of its metro area like Boston. Oakland, San Jose and the Peninsula are all very important parts of the area and are all tied to together with BART and Caltrain. In this way I think San Francisco is more like a mini-NYC with its five boroughs.
Though overall the metro area and city most similar to the Bay Area and San Francisco is Southern California and Los Angeles, respectively. This is in terms of culture, demographics, political leanings, built environment, climate, etc.
Wow, I'm really surprised that San Francisco isn't on that list. The tourism industry is huge here.
It changes rapidly from year to year. It really just depends on where more people go for each year. San Fran has been on lists before... 2011 it just happened to be nudged out by Philadelphia and Miami. Last year could be a completely different list.
The OP's post is very vague and only mentions literature, media and politics as barometers. He also quoted a post that doesn't make exact sense. Although it is true that SF, Boston and Philly are infinitely more closely related on an economic level than they are to NYC.
SF, Boston and Philadelphia all take noticeable backseats to other cities on these media exposure measures, especially NYC and LA and even Miami and DC (politics) so it is a very subjective and somewhat uninteresting discussion.
If I could try to discern what he is getting at, it would be that SF and Boston (and of course NYC) have a more positive reputation throughout the country than does Philly. But this is all very subjective. I see Boston and Philly paired up MUCH more often than SF and Boston. I don't know if I've ever seen Boston and SF paired up, except when talking about Boston's tech sector. People on the East Coast really don't think a whole lot about SF, which makes sense given it's location.
good points. Although I'd say the whole "SF is a city cut from the east coast" arguments should stop. It is a VERY west coast city and just happens to be urban.
good points. Although I'd say the whole "SF is a city cut from the east coast" arguments should stop. It is a VERY west coast city and just happens to be urban.
Fair though one thing that struck me on my first visit to SF (especially relative to most other non NE cities in the US) is that it felt like urbanity I grew up accustomed to, with the CA vibe and beautiful setting. SF is striking to a first time visitor in this regard.
Said another way the urbanity SF expressed made it feel comfy as a city in this regard. I like vibrancy and lack of it actually makes me more uneasy in cities than does many people on the streets.
I wouldn't compare SF to the entire city of NYC, but comparing SF to Manhattan, alone, makes more sense. Both SF and Manhattan are super-dense. SF ranks as the second densest big city in America behind NYC. Albeit, NYC has a much more massive skyline than SF and has much taller apartment buildings on average. Both cities are locally known as "The City" to the people who actually live in the metro areas.
Both SF and Manhattan have strikingly similar demographics. SF is slightly less White than Manhattan being 41% White and Manhattan being 50% White. Manhattan is slightly more Black than SF being 12% Black and SF being about 6% Black. SF is more Asian than Manhattan being about 30% Asian while Manhattan is about 10% Asian. Manhattan is only a little more Latino than SF being 23% Latino while SF is 15% Latino.
Both SF and Manhattan prominent largely wealthy White populations. Both SF and Manhattan have large ethnic European populations of Irish and Russians. Both SF and Manhattan are home to large old world-renowned Chinatowns. However, SF is a more Asian big city by demographic proportion while NYC is more Latino by proportion. The native Black populations in Manhattan and SF both largely reside in lower-income housing projects in predominantly Black areas of both cities. Manhattan has Harlem. SF has Fillmore, Sunnydale, Lakeview, Potrero Hill and Hunters Point mostly spread here and there throughout the southern half of SF, save the Fillmore. The Latino populations in both SF and Manhattan live in barrios as well. NYC has Washington Heights and East Harlem and SF has the Mission district.
Both Manhattan and SF have large parks in the middle of the dense concrete jungle. Manhattan has Central Park. SF has Golden Gate Park. Both Manhattan and SF have world famous bridges that lead to famous satellite cities or boroughs. Manhattan has the world famous Brooklyn Bridge. SF has the iconic Golden Gate bridge and the Oakland-San Francisco Bay bridge. Both SF and Manhattan are extremely walkable with greatest public transportation the country has to offer. Both SF and Manhattan experience heavy daily tourist traffic from visitors hailing from all around the world.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 01-25-2013 at 09:36 PM..
Oh, and San Francisco is absolutely NOTHING like Manhattan, and especially not even close to being as urban or dense. Manhattan has like 43,000 people per square mile or something, not to mention it is so much older and more urban.
San Francisco may have apartment buildings and it may have some "row houses" but it's nowhere even close to as urban as East Coast cities like Philadelphia or New York. That argument just needs to stop right now. It's urban in the way that a place like Allentown or Reading or maybe Pittsburgh is urban, or especially similar to Seattle or Portland or something. I could definitely see SF being in the Pacific Northwest.
What's even more ridiculous is comparing the majority-poor immigrant-descended whites in East Coast cities like New York and Philadelphia to the minority-poor immigrant-descended whites anywhere on the West Coast.
Here's one of the many major differences between New York or even Philadelphia and a West Coast city like SF. People who actually live IN THE CITY call Manhattan or Center City "the city", as opposed to only people in the metro of SF calling SF "the city".
San Fran reminds me of Boston, but San Fran's natural setting is more or less unparalleled in the US.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
