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Yeah their downtown areas are all pretty small compared to the majority of their footprints. But everyone just focuses on the skyscrapers for Chicago=NYC. Outside of Midtown/Fidi in NYC, The Loop in Chicago, and CC in Philly, the neighborhoods are what make the similarities IMO. Philly feels more like NYC in the outer neighborhoods. Chicago's detached building style and bungalow home neighborhoods are nothing like NYC in urban feel IMO.
But Chicago is def second. No questions about that.
There are many areas of Chicago outside of downtown that feels more like some parts of Queens in terms of density and type of built environment. Obviously not exact - you won't mistake the two but many similarities. I would give Philadelphia more of a Brooklyn type of feel for the most part, but in terms of Queens (also Staten Island) then I'd say Chicago.
Philly is there too Center City is like baby Manhattan some parts of the city look like old school Brooklyn and Queens.
Center City reminds me of Manhattan, but not the skyscraper districts of Midtown and FiDi that most people are talking about here, but instead areas like The Village and East Village, which is better IMO.
Also walking underneath the El in North Philly looked and felt to me exactly like Myrtle ave under the M train in Bushwick. I felt weirdly at home. I think I would also choose Philly as my vote if the poll wasn’t closed.
I can see why Chicago won the poll as it seems like the most obvious answer on the superficial level, but surprised by San Francisco as #2. Parts of SF do remind me of The Bronx a lot though.
There are many areas of Chicago outside of downtown that feels more like some parts of Queens in terms of density and type of built environment. Obviously not exact - you won't mistake the two but many similarities. I would give Philadelphia more of a Brooklyn type of feel for the most part, but in terms of Queens (also Staten Island) then I'd say Chicago.
Yeah alot of Queens like Forest Hills have the semi attached Houses that mimic those in Chicago, especially due West of Downtown. Chicago definitely feels more like Queens than any borough of NYC....
Astoria Queens looks like SW of Chinatown in Chicago too.
Yeah alot of Queens like Forest Hills have the semi attached Houses that mimic those in Chicago, especially due West of Downtown. Chicago definitely feels more like Queens than any borough of NYC....
Astoria Queens looks like SW of Chinatown in Chicago too.
Astoria doesn't look like Chinatown Chicago, and Forest Hills most definitely doesn't look like anywhere in Chicago.
Have people actually been to these places? Forest Hills is a mock tudor neighborhood, with endless 6-8 floor apartment buildings on curvy streets and a small enclave that looks like something out of the Cotswolds. And dominated by the largest population of Bukaran Jews on earth outside of Central Asia.
Astoria is a super-dense polyglot enclave with Greeks, Slavs, Egyptians, Colombians and hipsters living amidst new condo towers and older public housing towers.
Can someone tell me, out of all the places on earth, why you would think these areas specifically look like Chicagoland? Do people just randomly think that the cities look alike because they're two big American cities?
Astoria doesn't look like Chinatown Chicago, and Forest Hills most definitely doesn't look like anywhere in Chicago.
Have people actually been to these places? Forest Hills is a mock tudor neighborhood, with endless 6-8 floor apartment buildings on curvy streets and a small enclave that looks like something out of the Cotswolds. And dominated by the largest population of Bukaran Jews on earth outside of Central Asia.
Astoria is a super-dense polyglot enclave with Greeks, Slavs, Egyptians, Colombians and hipsters living amidst new condo towers and older public housing towers.
Can someone tell me, out of all the places on earth, why you would think these areas specifically look like Chicagoland? Do people just randomly think that the cities look alike because they're two big American cities?
Yeah their downtown areas are all pretty small compared to the majority of their footprints. But everyone just focuses on the skyscrapers for Chicago=NYC. Outside of Midtown/Fidi in NYC, The Loop in Chicago, and CC in Philly, the neighborhoods are what make the similarities IMO. Philly feels more like NYC in the outer neighborhoods. Chicago's detached building style and bungalow home neighborhoods are nothing like NYC in urban feel IMO.
But Chicago is def second. No questions about that.
This sums up the endless circles of posts in this thread. No city is the same, but each city has some commonalities. Chicago and NYC- probably feel the most similar in the heart of their downtown cores. At the outer neighborhood-level, Philly and NYC probably feel the most similar.
Although, the bungalow housing that Chicago is known for on this site, is only in certain parts of the city. On the North Side and Near West Side, you will not see any bungalow housing. You will find greystones, row homes, high rises, and mid-rises that would fall more in-line with what you would see in a NYC neighborhood. The South Side and SW sides (which are large portions of the city) is where you will see the bungalow housing that everyone on this site equates with Chicago.
Astoria doesn't look like Chinatown Chicago, and Forest Hills most definitely doesn't look like anywhere in Chicago.
Have people actually been to these places? Forest Hills is a mock tudor neighborhood, with endless 6-8 floor apartment buildings on curvy streets and a small enclave that looks like something out of the Cotswolds. And dominated by the largest population of Bukaran Jews on earth outside of Central Asia.
Astoria is a super-dense polyglot enclave with Greeks, Slavs, Egyptians, Colombians and hipsters living amidst new condo towers and older public housing towers.
Can someone tell me, out of all the places on earth, why you would think these areas specifically look like Chicagoland? Do people just randomly think that the cities look alike because they're two big American cities?
Youre assessment was so wrong and misdirected its not worth a reply
Old Chinatown in Chicago and Pilsen actually do have some similarities with some parts of Brooklyn/queens from a housing stock perspective, as do some parts of areas like Avondale, Logan Square, etc. Not the whole areas but just some parts here and there. I think Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park reminds me a little bit of it too closer to North Ave. If I were to pick any parts of Chicago that are anything like that in terms of some of the residential housing stock, I'd actually pick those 2 areas. Some parts at least. Some parts near Wicker Park/Logan Square/Avondale too but the areas have gentrified or are gentrifying so much that that type of stock is waning.
Before I moved to NYC from Chicago, I met a guy at a party born and raised in Brooklyn (born in the 1970s) who told me he picked to live in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago because it reminded him of "old Brooklyn" where he grew up.
Last edited by marothisu; 02-17-2020 at 08:38 AM..
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Forest Hills is a mock tudor neighborhood, with endless 6-8 floor apartment buildings on curvy streets and a small enclave that looks like something out of the Cotswolds. And dominated by the largest population of Bukaran Jews on earth outside of Central Asia.
