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Boston feels more urban than DC.
Downtown DC is a bit quiet and sterile for me. There was this saturday I was walking in DC and wondering "where the hell are the people"? I didn't see many patio restaurant or cafes, or grocery stores that open to the street that you would expect from an ultra-vibrant city. Maybe I was not in the right neighhourhood (it was about 15 minutes walk to the White House) but it was definitely city center. The buildings and street all look nice and clean, but there are simply not a lot of pedestrians.
Then I headed to Georgetown, and that seemed a lot busier.
I agree that downtown DC functions more as a business/political and museum/tourist center and less so as a place to hang out at night. The neighborhoods around DC seem to have the bustle in the evenings, not the core downtown district around the White House. I'm not a DC expert but I've been there a few times now since I have family there and each time has gotten better the more that I explore. Georgetown, as you mentioned, is very upscale urban. Adam Morgan (kind of like Queen West) is another area. Dupont Circle has lots of nightlife, patios and some very good restaurants. Foggy Bottom is another cluster of bars, more younger crowd I think. Penn Quarter downtown is typical tacky urban downtown vibe - like midtown NY. U Street Corridor is another section with lots of bars and nightclubs.
DC is not as dead as you think at night if you are in the right neighborhoods, all of which are quite urban in form. But DC does not seem as focused on one central area (i.e. like a Times Square or CopelySq/Faneuil Hall) so it doesn't jump right at you in one fell swoop. Instead, it feels more spread out in clusters throughout the city.
Last edited by johnathanc; 08-01-2014 at 08:32 AM..
These are both pretty close in terms of big city lifestyle.
Boston is a more centralized city. It has 5 or 6 neighborhoods (Fenway, South End, Back Bay, Downtown, Beacon Hill, North End) that compose Boston's core or Manhattan if you will. Some areas are pretty residential and others like the Financial District can be a little 9-5ish. But, on the whole these neighborhoods are all seamlessly interconnected and consistently vibrant 7 days a week. On a Saturday you can walk go on a 3-mile walk and be in a lively pedestrian environment the whole time. The downside is that this area is pretty small geographically and while the surrounding neighborhoods are relatively dense and walkable (Allston, South Boston, East Boston, JP, Brookline, Charlestown, Somerville, Cambridge) they don't necessarily give off a really urban, big city feel. Lots of wooden houses with small yards.
DC, on the other hand, is more a city of neighborhood commercial strips. With the exception of a couple blocks around Gallery Place, DC is basically an office district. It's not completely dead, as there are some hotels, night clubs and restaurants sprinkled throughout, but it doesn't compete with Bos, Philly, SF, Chi (or even Seattle) for bustling downtown activity.
Instead, activity in DC is concentrated in Georgetown, Dupont, Adams Morgan, and the 14th street corridor. These activity centers aren't as tightly integrated as in Boston so you don't get as much of the big city downtown feel. They are also primarily residential so they don't have the big city architecture that you get in central Boston. The plus side, is that it can make DC feel a little bigger in sense. DC is less active in the core, but is probably more modestly active over a wider geographic area.
From a COL standpoint they are pretty comparable. Since Boston is more centralized it costs more (on a quality adjusted basis) to live in the center. But, Boston is on the whole marginally more urban, so there are probably actually more affordable options for living in a safe area with street life and close to transit (particularly in the 2nd ring areas Somerville, Cambridge, Allston, etc).
It is really a preference a concentrated urban core or a more dispersed zone of activity?
Boston feels more urban than DC.
Downtown DC is a bit quiet and sterile for me. There was this saturday I was walking in DC and wondering "where the hell are the people"? I didn't see many patio restaurant or cafes, or grocery stores that open to the street that you would expect from an ultra-vibrant city. Maybe I was not in the right neighhourhood (it was about 15 minutes walk to the White House) but it was definitely city center. The buildings and street all look nice and clean, but there are simply not a lot of pedestrians.
Then I headed to Georgetown, and that seemed a lot busier.
I agree that downtown DC functions more as a business/political and museum/tourist center and less so as a place to hang out at night. The neighborhoods around DC seem to have the bustle in the evenings, not the core downtown district around the White House. I'm not a DC expert but I've been there a few times now since I have family there and each time has gotten better the more that I explore. Georgetown, as you mentioned, is very upscale urban. Adam Morgan (kind of like Queen West) is another area. Dupont Circle has lots of nightlife, patios and some very good restaurants. Foggy Bottom is another cluster of bars, more younger crowd I think. Penn Quarter downtown is typical tacky urban downtown vibe - like midtown NY. U Street Corridor is another section with lots of bars and nightclubs.
DC is not as dead as you think at night if you are in the right neighborhoods, all of which are quite urban in form. But DC does not seem as focused on one central area (i.e. like a Times Square or CopelySq/Faneuil Hall) so it doesn't jump right at you in one fell swoop. Instead, it feels more spread out in clusters throughout the city.
I'd say you've just about nailed it. Pretty accurate description!
. Georgetown, as you mentioned, is very upscale urban. Adam Morgan (kind of like Queen West) is another area. Dupont Circle has lots of nightlife, patios and some very good restaurants. Foggy Bottom is another cluster of bars, more younger crowd I think. Penn Quarter downtown is typical tacky urban downtown vibe - like midtown NY. U Street Corridor is another section with lots of bars and nightclubs.
funnily when I was visited Georgetown, those two/three story retail houses immediately remind me of Queen West. They are strikingly alike!
I get why people may be underwhelmed by DC initially, especially after they get a chance to see the monuments and museums.
My experience with the city was similar. First two visits as a tourist are awesome, touring the museums and sites are fantastic. Next couple visits for work, the place just seemed dead in too many pockets downtown. Then after further visits and actually exploring and branching out, the place really grows on you in a good way. The neighborhoods around the city are really interesting, both architecturally, visually and have tons of things to do all hours of the day.
The City Center project should help tie the main core into how vibrant the neighborhoods are hopefully. I am not sure how long until the entire project is built out, but they seemed to be making good progress last time I was there.
Sorry DC. You have too much Sunbelt/South in you, and it shows. You're also too political.
Boston has a very dense and important financial district, a built environment that once supported densities that approached a citywide average of 16,550 ppsm (and it was nearly what it is today in terms of population back in 1900). DC peaked at 13,000 ppsm and only had 278,000 people in 1900 (50% of what Boston had in 50% more land area).
I really love Boston, but its biggest knock for me is its nightlife, or lack thereof. It doesn't have an edge, like anywhere, and bars/nightlife are existent but lame and shut down. Gay scene? Pretty small and fairly conservative/boring. DC has a better gay scene, at least. And better nightlife. But that doesn't excuse its mishaps in my mind.
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DC feels bigger, is bigger and downtown swallows up Boston. The urban nodes around DC proper immediately connect and are stronger than what surrounds Boston. I've been to beantown twice and loved the urbanity/density. It's more tight knit but I do not think it gives of a "larger" feel. I suggest many posters to visit 2014 Washington DC and understand than no EC city has boomed like this in a long time. The city is growing by leaps and bounds. In 10 years this won't be a credible thread anymore. DC all the way.
When was the last time you visited Boston? Boston is the Life Sciences/Medical Research hub of the entire world. It is undergoing its own enormous economic boom, which means apartments, office, medical office, and institutional buildings going up like crazy. I'll admit it's not on DC's level, but much of DC's new construction is SUPER sterile and bla, and definitely doesn't contribute to the kind of urban vibe I like.
I'll take Dupont Circle or Logan Circle's older areas any day over the 10+ story infill going up all over DC. So in that sense, what I "like" in DC is limited compared to what I "like" in Boston and surrounding areas. I don't think the two compare.
Also, for office districts, I'll take the truly mixed-use Back Bay any day, as well as the old dense canyons of the Financial District along the waterfront in Boston over the sea of single-use ~10 story office buildings in DC. Boston feels much more like a city in this regard.
Finally, to put a nail in the coffin, Boston has established urban shopping. I think this is important. Back Bay is about as good as it gets in this country. I think it competes with Union Square in SF and quite frankly with Fifth Ave and Madison Ave and SoHo in NYC, in terms of experience and breadth. Plus it's super easy to just walk from Newbury or Commonwealth over to Fenway to catch a game (and talk about an area with tons of new construction similar to what you'd find in DC).
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The key word(s) in all of that was "I like." Which is fine, liking is subjective, but more people are moving to DC than Boston to live and that's a fact. DC has plenty of architecture in the city that are not 10 story office buildings, so stop cherry picking the neighborhoods u like. I could argue about the looks of buildings all day but I'm not.
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