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Just got back from Boston. Literally fresh off the plane from BWI and now back at my desk in DC. Great weekend! I hadn't been to Boston in some time and had completely forgotten how much charm the city has.
To answer the question, I think Boston is definitely more urban. Overall, I thought:
-Boston has much more pedestrian activity than DC. DC has short stretches that have a lot of activity (7th Street, U Street, 18th Street, Conn. Ave). But in Boston, you can drive down Mass Ave through Harvard, Inman, Kendall, Central Sqs., and then over the bridge into Boston and see way more shops, bicylcists, joggers, etc. than you do here. Boston seems a lot more active than DC, imo.
-Having taller buildings also gives Boston a more urban feel obviously. I may have mentioned in another thread that DC has the best residential architecture on the East Coast. Scratch that. Back Bay CRUSHES anything in DC. That goes for the "urbanity" feeling as well. There's no single area in DC that even comes close to feeling as urban as the Beacon Hill/Back Bay/Boston Common/Theater District area. This is probably as close a feeling to Manhattan as you can find outside of NYC (including Rittenhouse Sq.).
-I used to think that Metro was slightly better than the T. Now I think it's the other way around.
-The end product of the Big Dig is impressive. The massive network of tunnels along I-90 and 93 makes Boston feel much bigger than it really is.
Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit here, but these were my general impressions of the city.
This was my response to your first post that dug this thread up:
"Aren't you from Boston? The very fact that you're from Boston makes this post very confusing. Someone would think you had never been there before based on what you wrote. Boston is your hometown. Very confusing...... "
Petworth has a ton of single family homes. Ledriot Park does not have a ton of single family homes. And no, I don't think many area's outside of L'Enfant plan have downtown highrise lack of grass and tree's urbanity. They weren't designed to have that style. The core which covers miles and miles is seeing a huge amount of development and even more planned development. D.C.'s core has more construction than most cities combined. Start following development to stay up to date.
Most rowhouses are SFHs. I live in a SFH in Ledroit Park. You apparently don't know DC that well, do you MDAllStar?
It really doesn't matter since you've already conceded that Petworth, and areas like it, are not urban. So that basically means that all of DC's urban areas can be squeezed into an area about the size of Germantown and Mt. Airy, Philadelphia.
Your ignorant to what Chicago is. Im a New Yorker, I have no horse in this race. I just bought a '12 Range Rover Sport, your not the only one with a nice car on this site.
Most of NW DC up along Wisconsin and Connecticut is single family homes.
Hold Up!
I hope you know that there are no single family homes on Wisconsin or Connecticut Avenues. From DT to the MD border, Connecticut Ave neighborhoods (Kalorama, Dupont Circle, Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, Van Ness, Chevy Chase) are filled with midrise apartments and retail. On Wisconsin Ave (Georgetown, Glover Park, Cathedral Heights, McLean Gardens, Tenleytown, Friendship Heights) it's basically the same. But you lived in DC?
Most rowhouses are SFHs. I live in a SFH in Ledroit Park. You apparently don't know DC that well, do you MDAllStar?
It really doesn't matter since you've already conceded that Petworth, and areas like it, are not urban. So that basically means that all of DC's urban areas can be squeezed into an area about the size of Germantown and Mt. Airy, Philadelphia.
Yep, and all of Boston's urban area's can squeeze into....well the footprint of downtown Boston which is about 1 mile LOL. So D.C. urban area's > Boston's urban area's since D.C.'s downtown runs for miles and is expanding in every direction. Should make since to you now. That is why I said Boston's built urban environment is small compared to D.C. The downtown is too tiny.
It is my opinion but I also threw some factual nuggets that no one else can argue. Just like the whole Skins/Pats debate. Pats have better on field success in the past 10 years, but the Skins continue to be more valuable!
From a fans perspective, I would take the Pats. From a business perspective, I would choose the Skins.
I hope you know that there are no single family homes on Wisconsin or Connecticut Avenues. From DT to the MD border, Connecticut Ave neighborhoods (Kalorama, Dupont Circle, Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, Van Ness, Chevy Chase) are filled with midrise apartments and retail. On Wisconsin Ave (Georgetown, Glover Park, Cathedral Heights, McLean Gardens, Tenleytown, Friendship Heights) it's basically the same. But you lived in DC?
This is 50 or 100ft from CT avenue in the district - what are you talking about?
It is my opinion but I also threw some factual nuggets that no one else can argue. Just like the whole Skins/Pats debate. Pats have better on field success in the past 10 years, but the Skins continue to be more valuable!
From a fans perspective, I would take the Pats. From a business perspective, I would choose the Skins.
This was my response to your first post that dug this thread up:
"Aren't you from Boston? The very fact that you're from Boston makes this post very confusing. Someone would think you had never been there before based on what you wrote. Boston is your hometown. Very confusing...... "
If you had read my post carefully, you would know that it was not my very first trip to Boston.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee
Just got back from Boston. Literally fresh off the plane from BWI and now back at my desk in DC. Great weekend! I hadn't been to Boston in some time and had completely forgotten how much charm the city has.
"I hadn't been to Boston in some time" and "This was my first trip to Boston" are obviously two very different statements (to people of reasonable intelligence, anyway).
What does this have to do with the topic of the thread anyway? Are you accusing me of being a Boston "homer" now? Or are you just mad that Boston is completely pwning DC in this thread?
It is my opinion but I also threw some factual nuggets that no one else can argue. Just like the whole Skins/Pats debate. Pats have better on field success in the past 10 years, but the Skins continue to be more valuable!
From a fans perspective, I would take the Pats. From a business perspective, I would choose the Skins.
Posters never want to hear the facts.
Bajun is from Boston. He may not have been born there but he spent a lot of time there. He came to D.C. because it's Chocolate City and he wanted to get ahead in life. Boston must have put that minority glass ceiling up. I don't know why he is acting like he had never been to Boston before. He knows Boston well and considers it his home according to our conversation on our home D.C. board. It should tell you all you need to know about his responses.
Did you read what he posted? He said along Connecticut and Wisconsin Aves! I disputed that with my post. Now you are showing a picture of Newark Street? That's not Connecticut or Wisconsin Aves.
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