Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S. > City vs. City
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 05-29-2009, 02:47 PM
 
Location: Columbus OH
1,606 posts, read 3,326,002 times
Reputation: 1832

Advertisements

1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. San Francisco
4. Boston
5. Seattle
6. Philadelphia
7. Portland
8. Washington, DC
9. San Diego
10. New Orleans
11. Minneapolis
12. Denver
13. San Antonio
14. Indianapolis
15. Pittsburgh
16. Los Angeles
17. Miami
18. Baltimore
19. Cincinnati
20. Salt Lake City
21. Richmond
22. Milwaukee
23. Memphis
24. Providence
25. Louisville
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-29-2009, 03:04 PM
 
2,556 posts, read 3,593,301 times
Reputation: 3424
^^^^
Good list.

Some updates/comments...

move San Francisco down. It's overrated. Big, pedestrian-unfriendly hills, high-priced trollies and actually small amount of bustling area (Union Square, Chinatown, "somewhat" financial district) drop it below Boston and Philadelphia. (I'll note that I do like SF's downtown, just don't think it's better than Boston or Phil.)

Portland-- argue that Portland has one of the better downtowns (top 3) in west. Eclectic, interesting, (somewhat) bustling, clean and green.

San Diego- not a good downtown. at all. Nice weather though.

NYC-- in its own league -- by far-- at number 1.

Chicago-- in its own league -- by far-- at number 2.

Boston is cute, somewhat bustling, great historic character. Like that airport is nearby and that Big Dig is over. T is good.

DC ~ nice architecture, Metro is clean/efficient. National airport close by.



1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. Boston
4. Philadelphia
5. San Francisco
5. Washington, DC
7. Portland
8. Seattle
9. Los Angeles
10. White Plains

Last edited by BigLake; 05-29-2009 at 03:12 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2009, 05:46 PM
 
2,247 posts, read 6,999,029 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by MplsTodd View Post
1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. San Francisco
4. Boston
5. Seattle
6. Philadelphia
7. Portland
8. Washington, DC
9. San Diego
10. New Orleans
11. Minneapolis
12. Denver
13. San Antonio
14. Indianapolis
15. Pittsburgh
16. Los Angeles
17. Miami
18. Baltimore
19. Cincinnati
20. Salt Lake City
21. Richmond
22. Milwaukee
23. Memphis
24. Providence
25. Louisville
Agree. You'd be surprised at some of the smaller cities out there...people simply assume that those downtowns cannot be vibrant because they aren't in massive cities. And bigger cities like Los Angeles and Houston don't automatically have the strongest downtowns.

You can tell based on the list which ones are sort of assumed and which ones aren't.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-29-2009, 06:31 PM
 
Location: Chicago
526 posts, read 1,053,458 times
Reputation: 162
Quote:
Originally Posted by prelude91 View Post
Um...how so?
chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, he should of put that instead of modern city...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-30-2009, 12:07 PM
 
Location: Los Altos Hills, CA
36,623 posts, read 67,123,456 times
Reputation: 21154
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigLake View Post
^^^^
Good list.

Some updates/comments...

move San Francisco down. It's overrated. Big, pedestrian-unfriendly hills, high-priced trollies and actually small amount of bustling area (Union Square, Chinatown, "somewhat" financial district) drop it below Boston and Philadelphia. (I'll note that I do like SF's downtown, just don't think it's better than Boston or Phil.)
What a laugh.

Neither Boston nor Philadelphia have any area as lively as Union Square.

In fact as far as ambience, DT SF beats DT Chicago too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-30-2009, 12:41 PM
 
1,119 posts, read 2,730,307 times
Reputation: 389
Boston easily beats S.F.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 18Montclair View Post
What a laugh.

Neither Boston nor Philadelphia have any area as lively as Union Square.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-30-2009, 07:03 PM
 
Location: Los Altos Hills, CA
36,623 posts, read 67,123,456 times
Reputation: 21154
Quote:
Originally Posted by downtown1 View Post
Boston easily beats S.F.
Its actually the opposite.

Boston's downtown is lively and vibrant but SFs is more so.

The only place that I've been to in the US that actually surpasses DT SF as far as far as overall vibrancy is NYC.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-30-2009, 10:50 PM
 
Location: South Carolina
1,991 posts, read 3,951,829 times
Reputation: 912
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigLake View Post
San Diego- not a good downtown. at all. Nice weather though.
Great things about San Diego's downtown include:

-The view out across the bay
-Embarcadero Marina Park and Seaport Village (awesome ambiance)
-Horton Plaza (some of the BEST architecture and design and style of any downtown shopping mall anywhere in the US)
-E Harbor Drive/W Harbor Drive with the landscaped median with palm trees up and down for about a half a mile
-Gaslamp District

And the Embarcadero itself is just ok, it does provide pedestrian access to the bay over a long stretch, it just doesn't have enough green to make it great.

Nonetheless, I do think SD is a good downtown. Just not one of the best.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-30-2009, 10:55 PM
 
51 posts, read 114,397 times
Reputation: 21
Default Top 25 city

top 25 city not bad I kind of agree


Now cleveland its a joke.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-30-2009, 11:10 PM
 
Location: NYC
1,213 posts, read 3,595,075 times
Reputation: 1254
Quote:
Originally Posted by 18Montclair View Post
The only place that I've been to in the US that actually surpasses DT SF as far as far as overall vibrancy is NYC.
I agree. Union Square is very reminiscent of NYC.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S. > City vs. City
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top