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That wasn't really my point - and actually the first one is decently unique for a suburb considering the two styles of European architecture present right away in the link. The point is that just because somewhere has a walkable area doesn't make it any more interesting than anywhere else. At the end of the day, it's pretty subjective about what is "charming" - but trying to say that areas like Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, etc don't have as many walkable suburbs that are nice, charming, etc is just flat out wrong.
You're right, there's nothing like that - though Chicago has numerous extremely nice suburbs with communities right up on the lake and near beaches. Not the same because most of them are nice houses nearby and not that walkable in regards to retail, but still very, very nice as far as neighborhoods go.
Ugh..
When did I say Chicagoc Philly or Boston don't have those kind of suburbs?
Youre just putting words in my mouth, repeatedly.
Never been to LA but before I became a a geography nut I already new several LA suburbs this is why I voted for LA. La seems to have the most interesting suburbs ever. Orange County, South LA County and the valleys are filled with interesting places.
Long Beach (if you count this)
Pasadena
Burbank
Santa Monica
Beverly Hills
West Hollywood
Santa Ana
Inglewood
Compton
Malibu
Oxnard
San Bernardino-(again if you count this)
Riverside-(again if you count this)
Anaheim
Also while King of Prussia is a close second the best name for a suburb is in LA La Canada Flintridge.
Second was San Francisco (technically third or Fourth but I live in Houston and close enough to Dallas)
Daly City
Palo Alto
East Palo Alto
Berkeley
Gilroy
Napa
Stanford
Menlo Park
New York City
White Plains
Mount Vernon
Yonkers
Greenwich- CSA?
Poughkeepsie- pretty sure this is outside of the MSA
Levittown
Hempstead
Hoboken
Newark? really a city
Irvington?
Jersey City?
Paterson?
Princeton-CSA?
Hamptons-collection of burbs thatI used to think was one burb.
This was probably be my top three cities in this order maybe switch NYC with San Fran but outside of a few westchester burbs and the dense New Jersey cities, I didn't really know much untolil about 3 years ago.
Laguna, manhattan, Huntington, Newport beaches are well known too. All vibrant/interesting/walkable.
Hermosa beach isn't as famous, but a big party town.
There are beach communities within Philly's CSA. Both Atlantic County and Cape May County, NJ--which have, in my opinion, the best beaches in NJ--, as well as Kent County, DE are located within the CSA. Some of the most vibrant and well-known beaches are in this area.
Csa isn't the same. Office workers in Irvine, Newport, long beach etc can leave their office and be at beach in minutes.
When did I say that? They're is a big difference between la's diverse suburbs and Chicago's or Philly.
Have you been to Westminster or Glendale? Or the sgv?Or Gardena? Or long beach? Or Santa Ana?
It's just a different scale..
The fact la has these areas, plus the beach areas, plus the charming areas and attractions/tourism makes it the most interesting suburbs.
It just has more to offer.
My entire dad's family lives in LA - my dad is from LA. I've been to all of these suburbs numerous times. My grandma used to live in Pasadena and one of my dad's best friends lived in Glendale. We used to be in both of those cities all the time, plus Monrovia and Arcadia. My great Aunt and Uncle lived in Santa Ana for many years until my great Uncle's death - Santa Ana has a lot of foreign born. My first cousin lives in Santa Monica and another cousin of mine lives in Irvine. My Aunt and Uncle live near Calabasas. I'm pretty familiar with the LA area - I'm not some person who went there once or twice. I've been to the LA area probably about 30 times and do not just stay in LA since my family lives all over - both in the city and various suburbs. I love the LA area and wanted to live there badly when I was a kid (maybe one day I'll do it still).
I never once was trying to compare LA's suburbs to Chicago's in foreign-ness. My point is that this notion that Chicago, for example, doesn't have an international flair to any of its suburbs and it's actually very wrong. There's a ton of foreign born and also 1st generation living in the suburbs. Some of the suburbs are more international sometimes than parts of the city in reality. Anybody who is familiar with Chicago area knows this. Being able to find authentic ethnic food in the suburbs of Chicago is not hard at all (unless maybe you're in some of the southern suburbs).
LA has tons of great suburbs - I think anybody who is familiar with the area knows this. On average though, I don't find them any more charming or interesting than any other major metro area that experienced at least one boom in the 19th century. No, I'm not saying they aren't charming or interesting - they are.
You're right though - at least for the major areas versus NYC, Chicago, etc, you could say the beach ones are kind of unique - though if you are including Miami, not 100%. Miami Beach for example (which is not part of Miami - it is its own city) is pretty cool and could hold its own to the likes of Santa Monica. That place is extremely walkable in parts, has some very interesting Art Deco architecture that's pretty awesome (and some high rises - some bleh some are OK). Definitely beach community and the place is way more than just clubs. It's kind of similar to Santa Monica is status in that many people from outside of LA think that Santa Monica is part of the city of LA when it's not - just like Miami Beach - people think it's part of the city of Miami when it's not and it is its own independent city that is technically a suburb. Fort Lauderdale also has some interesting parts, walkable, right across from the beach. Bal Harbour as well, in a way - though much less interesting and smaller.
Last edited by marothisu; 09-26-2016 at 09:47 AM..
That's just Miami beach though. Really South beach. The rest looks pretty ho hum.
Id take la's beach areas as a whole.
Santa Monica (two areas)
Venice
Malibu/palos verdes/dana point for scenery
Manhattan
Hermosa
Redondo
Long beach (a few areas)
Seal beach
Huntington
Newport (3 different areas)
Laguna
San Juan
My entire dad's family lives in LA - my dad is from LA. I've been to all of these suburbs numerous times. My grandma used to live in Pasadena and one of my dad's best friends lived in Glendale. We used to be in both of those cities all the time, plus Monrovia and Arcadia. My great Aunt and Uncle lived in Santa Ana for many years until my great Uncle's death - Santa Ana has a lot of foreign born. My first cousin lives in Santa Monica and another cousin of mine lives in Irvine. My Aunt and Uncle live near Calabasas. I'm pretty familiar with the LA area - I'm not some person who went there once or twice. I've been to the LA area probably about 30 times and do not just stay in LA since my family lives all over - both in the city and various suburbs. I love the LA area and wanted to live there badly when I was a kid (maybe one day I'll do it still).
I never once was trying to compare LA's suburbs to Chicago's in foreign-ness. My point is that this notion that Chicago, for example, doesn't have an international flair to any of its suburbs and it's actually very wrong. There's a ton of foreign born and also 1st generation living in the suburbs. Some of the suburbs are more international sometimes than parts of the city in reality. Anybody who is familiar with Chicago area knows this. Being able to find authentic ethnic food in the suburbs of Chicago is not hard at all (unless maybe you're in some of the southern suburbs).
LA has tons of great suburbs - I think anybody who is familiar with the area knows this. On average though, I don't find them any more charming or interesting than any other major metro area that experienced at least one boom in the 19th century. No, I'm not saying they aren't charming or interesting - they are.
You're right though - at least for the major areas versus NYC, Chicago, etc, you could say the beach ones are kind of unique - though if you are including Miami, not 100%. Miami Beach for example (which is not part of Miami - it is its own city) is pretty cool and could hold its own to the likes of Santa Monica. That place is extremely walkable in parts, has some very interesting Art Deco architecture that's pretty awesome (and some high rises - some bleh some are OK). Definitely beach community and the place is way more than just clubs. It's kind of similar to Santa Monica is status in that many people from outside of LA think that Santa Monica is part of the city of LA when it's not - just like Miami Beach - people think it's part of the city of Miami when it's not and it is its own independent city that is technically a suburb. Fort Lauderdale also has some interesting parts, walkable, right across from the beach. Bal Harbour as well, in a way - though much less interesting and smaller.
Sure. I'm very familiar with both the suburbs of LA and Chicago afterall. Most people think that the suburbs of Chicago are not international at all, which is very untrue - anybody familiar with it can tell you that, and my guess is you are not familiar at all with the Chicago area - just like a lot of people on C-D like to talk about things they haven't a clue about.
And Santa Monica, when compared to Miami Beach, is not necessarily unique. Both are very interesting, and pretty cool in their own ways - those two are some of my favorite cities/towns in the entire country. Not necessarily one off in the states.
But I agree with you that LA has a number of interesting/charming suburbs, but not any more in number than the other mentioned cities.
That's fine but I never said Chicago burbs weren't..its just not the same scale.
To me that's a sizeable difference.
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