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Definitely New York. I have lived in New York all my life and have experienced much of Chicago (standing on glass floors at the top of the Sears tower, walking around, visiting the John Hancock Center, Water Tower Place, Millenium Park, etc.). New York officially has two CBD's (Midtown with the ESB, Chrysler Building, Bank of America Tower, Seagram Building, Hearst Tower, Time Warner Center, and Downtown with the Beekman Tower, Woolworth Building, 40 Wall Street, and, of course, the World Trade Center site) and, if you ask me, both of these CBD's are better than Chicago's (especially after the completion of the new WTC). Personally, I believe that Chicago's two tallest buildings (Willis Tower and Trump Tower) are two of the ugliest tall buildings in America. I can appreciate such structures as the John Hancock Center and Marina Towers, but New York has built some of the tallest and most gorgeous buildings on the planet.
I think both of them are great but I like New York's better. Chicago has the advantage of having more space on its streets and cleaner streets that aren't filled with trash like many of New York's streets are. But the disadvantage is that Chicago doesn't allow by law to have food carts on streets like New York does. I like New York more because there are more exciting things around and more activity. Chicago is nice because it offers much of the same amenities that New York does but it isn't as crowded and you can feel you have more personal space around, yet it still has the urbanity that New York has.
New York in every way..not just downtown. If I ever left the West which would be a complete anomaly all together on it's own..Chicago or ANY where in the midwest would not be an option..New York City HANDS down for soo many reasons I can't even begin to explain..West Coast/East Coast I can see it..third coast..come on now..really? They may have a decent skyline,,but let's get real no real social influence floats out of the whole region in general by comparison.The Midwest influences itself..New York,DC/LA,SF influences the rest of the country."ok I guess I was wrong Oprah will still be on for a few more months." LOL
Last edited by Scott5280; 01-27-2011 at 05:30 PM..
I think both of them are great but I like New York's better. Chicago has the advantage of having more space on its streets and cleaner streets that aren't filled with trash like many of New York's streets are. But the disadvantage is that Chicago doesn't allow by law to have food carts on streets like New York does. I like New York more because there are more exciting things around and more activity. Chicago is nice because it offers much of the same amenities that New York does but it isn't as crowded and you can feel you have more personal space around, yet it still has the urbanity that New York has.
Chicago does not have really any street life compared to NY. Lack of food-carts, newspaper stands, the kiosks etc. really is lacking. Daley cleaned all that stuff out in the name of progress...as for skylines, Chicago's is nice, scenic shots of downtown from Grant Park, kinda thins out quickly going west...NYC is in a league of its own, river to river both downtown and midtown...full and dense...amazing city.
Chicago does not have any street life? If street life to you = food-carts, newspaper stands, kiosks, I can sort of agree on you with that. If you mean overall, I strongly disagree. If you mean in downtown, yes I agree, but in the whole city, I strongly disagree. There are plenty of food-carts outside downtown Chicago. I actually frequent them a lot in the summer. Of course never on the scale of New York, but let's be real, how many cities can really compare to New York's scale? Only a very few. The big problem with Chicago's downtown (however it's quickly improving) is it's too business and tourist oriented where it lacks residents (this is more specific to the Loop).
NY definitely has the overall better one. I think the only thing Chicago has over New York, is somewhat better and more interesting architecture in it's downtown than New York. Also, I don't feel that any parts of of Chicago's downtown feels like Manhattan. Manhattan is like Chicago's downtown multiplied by 5. I think you can cover Chicago's downtown with a straight 12 hour walk and at least see everything. For New York you might need 24+ hours.
New York in every way..not just downtown. If I ever left the West which would be a complete anomaly all together on it's own..Chicago or ANY where in the midwest would not be an option..New York City HANDS down for soo many reasons I can't even begin to explain..West Coast/East Coast I can see it..third coast..come on now..really? They may have a decent skyline,,but let's get real no real social influence floats out of the whole region in general by comparison.The Midwest influences itself..New York,DC/LA,SF influences the rest of the country."ok I guess I was wrong Oprah will still be on for a few more months." LOL
So you really are going to argue that Chicago has no influence in the country? Right because coming from Denver you know it all right? Denver has SOO much more culture and is so much more important economically to the country than Chicago. Sorry to hear you don't care for the midwest because while I agree most of it is boring IMO, there are some great areas.
I have nothing against Denver, I just have a problem with people that come from cities that are much less influential city and then criticize a city that in fact is influential. I am not saying you have to like the Midwest, I could care less, but saying that Chicago is not influential, I have to contest.
This one photo proves why NYC has the best Skyline out there...
That is an awesome photo of NYC. Chicago has some nice views, and of course its tallest buildings are taller than NY, but look at the multiple skylines in one panoramic shot! Houston as well has a couple separate skylines although no where close to the height of NYC or CHI. I think NYC will always dominate. They are the clear leader. Anything Chicago has in terms of architecture, NYC has it and dozens more towers. At least Chicago has alleys and a closer beach?
T-Dot is more global than Chi given its diverse population. Chicago is hispanic-black-white and that is it. T-Dot has more asians including middle easterners.
Diverse population isn't the only way to measure "globality" of a place. Chicago is also very global because it is a top 10 world financial center. You can say Toronto has a more diverse vibe about it, but I don't see how that really proves anything.
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This one photo proves why NYC has the best Skyline out there...