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Lets stay on topic about cultural similarities and differences-- and take the argument from there. I made this thread to see things about culture, persona, the arts, food, vibe, so on rather than the statistics that are posted time and time again en masse all over this forum at every given chance. There are already existing threads for that, please.
No offense but when we visit these places in actual life things like "office space" and mile radius aren't things we think about. Especially in regards to "which city reminds one of the other the closest".
I don't think they have much in common. But forget the size. If anything I'd say it shares more cultural aspects with lower manhattan or brooklyn. Has the high end + very hip and artsy aspects going on for it. Both have very strong hipster, coffee shop and book store cultures. Both have very strong foodie cultures. Both the top 2 expensive places. Extremely diverse, visible asian populations, some dirtiness to the streets also in parts. Both had a beatnik and bohemian movements. Many writers went between both cities. Both have their own MoMA. Statistics wise it compares better to Boston or Philly but... as far as vibe, not so much. Liberal in Boston is very different than liberal in SF...
This is a great post and I was thinking along the same lines.
Yeahhh I saw your post right after I made mine, I strongly agree with you on the differences between the liberal atmosphere in New England versus that of Northern California.
I've never felt Boston & San Francisco to be alike in their liberal composition, it's hard to say but San Francisco is more on the extreme side. I think of Boston as the more productive of the two but also the modern mellow, San Francisco more so about the new cutting edge philosophies towards social freedoms.
I also agree on the writers part, as literature is one of my favorite things in life the cities that have historical significance in that to me have always been Boston, San Francisco, & New York with the latter two being more so on the mainstream side and the former being more on the cultural (New England) side.
I don't think they have much in common. But forget the size. If anything I'd say it shares more cultural aspects with lower manhattan or brooklyn. Has the high end + very hip and artsy aspects going on for it. Both have very strong hipster, coffee shop and book store cultures. Both have very strong foodie cultures. Both the top 2 expensive places. Extremely diverse, visible asian populations, some dirtiness to the streets also in parts. Both have easily the 2 best chinatowns in the U.S. Both had a beatnik and bohemian movements. Many writers went between both cities. Both have their own MoMA. Statistics wise it compares better to Boston or Philly but... as far as vibe, not so much. Liberal in Boston is very different than liberal in SF...
I don't think they have much in common. But forget the size. If anything I'd say it shares more cultural aspects with lower manhattan or brooklyn. Has the high end + very hip and artsy aspects going on for it. Both have very strong hipster, coffee shop and book store cultures. Both have very strong foodie cultures. Both the top 2 expensive places. Extremely diverse, visible asian populations, some dirtiness to the streets also in parts. Both have easily the 2 best chinatowns in the U.S. Both had a beatnik and bohemian movements. Many writers went between both cities. Both have their own MoMA. Statistics wise it compares better to Boston or Philly but... as far as vibe, not so much. Liberal in Boston is very different than liberal in SF...
I didn't feel any similarity at all between San Francisco and New York City. New York City is an extremely fast-paced hyper-city, a monster-sized, frantic, sensationalistic urban treadmill where anything can and will happen given time. San Francisco, by complete contrast, has a way more easy-going and laid-back California vibe, and it's much smaller of course. Compared to New York, San Francisco is practically pin-drop silence (which can be good in some ways).
I didn't feel any similarity at all between San Francisco and New York City. New York City is an extremely fast-paced hyper-city, a monster-sized, frantic, sensationalistic urban treadmill where anything can and will happen given time. San Francisco, by complete contrast, has a way more easy-going and laid-back California vibe, and it's much smaller of course. Compared to New York, San Francisco is practically pin-drop silence (which can be good in some ways).
While that might be the case, SF is even further contrasted from Boston or Philadelphia in terms of culture similarities.
NYC is just too huge. It makes SF feel quaint. IMO, SF is closer to Boston. They are both important yet "human" sized cities under 1 million. They both are diverse but still slightly provincial enough to scoff at the Mega-City to their south.
"Okay, forget the fact that there's what seems to be an infinitely lot more people in New York than the others-- that's irrelevant to the culture of a place in this comparison."
Do you know where these stats come from? I clicked through the links but couldn't find the source.
Using the Missouri CAPS Database yields the following results for zip codes 19107 (Philadelphia City Hall) and 02116 (Boston Common/Back Bay) for 2010:
Office Space 2011 Midtown Manhattan - 306,453,288
Chicago - 121,144,705
Downtown Manhattan - 86,372,50 Boston - 60,803,309
Atlanta - 49,980,62 (includes downtown, Buckhead, and Midtown)
San Francisco - 49,261,846 Philadelphia - 43,716,633
Seattle - 41,841,902
Houston - 37,875,867
Washington D.C. - 31,981,656 (CBD only)
You call 17 million sq feet of office space "not much"? That's equivalent to the entire Phoenix CBD! I'd say that's pretty significant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343
These numbers for Philadelphia only include Center City though, and don't include University City for Philadelphia, which is right across the river from Center City.
And the same can be said about Boston. The Kendall Square/East Cambridge area, right across Charles River, has a ton of office space that's not factored in the Cushman survey.
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