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View Poll Results: Which do you prefer?
Boston (Metropolitan area included) 259 46.92%
San Francisco (Bay Area/Metro) 293 53.08%
Voters: 552. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 06-23-2011, 01:28 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,418 times
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I'm from Boston and must say that the winter here is the downfall of this area. If the extreme winters did not exist, this could quite possibly be the best city in the country. In a 5-6 hour driving radius, we can access Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Hartford, etc. Cape Cod is also one of the nicest places in the country to spend some time during the summer. In the winter, skiing / snowboarding is possible in less than 2 hours at some of the bigger mountains in NH / Maine / Vermont.

The night life in San Francisco boasts a better scene for electronic music fans as Boston's after hours scene is near non-existent (one after hours club exists and they are not allowed to serve alcohol). As for bars rather than clubs, I'd say it's a toss up depending on one's preference.

Education and medicine is no contest and I seriously have no idea why anyone is even debating that SF beats Boston in this category. Within a two hour radius from downtown Boston, you can get to the following schools: Harvard, MIT, Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst, Worcester Polytech, Boston University, Boston College, Brandeis, Wellesley, Emerson, UNH, URI, Northeastern, Tufts, and the list goes on. The best hospitals are also here as well: Mass General, Tufts NE Med Center, Beth Israel, Boston Med Center, etc.

As for public transportation, I'd say they're about equal.

If you can deal with the winter and tons of rain in the spring, then Boston is probably a better choice.

With that being said, I'd actually choose San Francisco due to the fact that that the weather here is way too severe in the winter. If you like dealing with days where you have to shovel for 30 minutes prior to going to work at 6AM when the temperature is about -5 degrees F, only to repeat the process three days later, then Boston is a good place for you. If you can somehow get out of Boston for the entire winter, which is seriously from November until April, then you'd be fine.
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Old 06-23-2011, 03:55 PM
 
Location: Boston
59 posts, read 142,241 times
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I can't even begin to fathom why anyone would pick San Francisco for medicine.

Brigham and Woman's
Dana Farber
Beth Israel Deaconess
Boston Children's Hospital
Mass General

No contest. These are five of the best and most renowned hospitals in the entire world, let alone the United States. Name one world-renowned hospital in San Francisco. There is an entire section of Boston devoted to hospitals and healthcare (Longwood).
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Old 06-23-2011, 04:13 PM
 
Location: Providence, RI
12,548 posts, read 21,718,207 times
Reputation: 14027
Two of the cities I'm most familiar with and enjoy the most. Here it goes:

- Nightlife- Tossup. Both cities have a last call at 2am. I like Boston better for craft beer and pubs. San Francisco gets an edge for dancing and clubs. Both have good local music scenes.

- Diversity- (economy)- Boston. Finance, Education, Healthcare, Tech, etc. San Francisco has a lot going for it too, but doesn't have the same breadth that Boston does.

- Diversity (culture/people)- San Francisco. Boston deserves more credit than it gets, but San Francisco is the more diverse, international feeling of the two.

- Languages spoken- San Francisco. You hear a different language on every corner. You get some of this in Boston, but not nearly on the same level.

- Education (Will be the most anticipated criteria IMHO)- Boston. Boston has more and better schools (closer to town). The obvious comparison is Harvard/MIT vs. Berkeley and Stanford. You could go back and forth for hours (I think Boston wins anyway), but the secondary schools bring this one home for Boston (Tufts, Northeastern, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Bentley, Mass. College of Pharmacy, UMass). Hell, even Brown University is nearly as close to Boston as Stanford is to San Francisco (easier to get from Brown to Boston too). Both are excellent cities for higher education, but Boston is better. Both cities have an overall highly educated populous too, though I think SF has a slightly higher percentage of the population with degrees from 4 year colleges.

- Lifestyle- Boston. It's most likely because I'm from the East Coast, but I find that the pace is a little too slow for me in San Francisco. I'm not as outdoorsy either. I prefer Boston, but this is probably a tossup.

- Friendly people- San Francisco. Both cities have their share of smug, arrogant, rude people. There's no shortage of elitism in either place. However, I find most people in San Francisco to be more personable than those in Boston.

- Climate- San Francisco. I love my seasons. In fact, I prefer them; but I think the people in the Bay Area are hard on their city's climate. It's just not that bad. sure, some of the neighborhoods closest to the ocean can be abnormally foggy, but the weather is rarely humid, and almost always pleasant. At worst it can be a little gloomy. I love comfortable days and cool nights year round in San Francisco. It's like it's always October (New England October). What's more is the micro climates. You can go from 60 in San Francisco to 75 in Pleasanton to 35 in Yosemite in a matter of 4 hours. I DO prefer Boston's water temperatures. I love to swim in the ocean (without a wetsuit).

- Medicine (Hospitals, clinics, health related things)- Boston. Again, you can't really go wrong, but I don't think San Francisco has anything that compares with Longwood Medical area.

- Natural scenery- San Francisco and this one's not even really close. You don't have to leave the city to have your breath taken away by the natural beauty of the area. From the dramatic coastline to the striking mountains, it's tough to beat San Francisco. I think Boston's in a great spot. The North Shore's rugged coastline is great as are Cape Cod's sandy beaches. The White Mountain's are nice too. It just isn't in the same ballpark as San Francisco and the surrounding areas.

- Shopping Tossup. They mostly have the same major chains (or an equivalent if the name is different). Each has a few of its own unique local brands too. It's impossible to say one is better than the other.

- Economy overall- I think Boston simply due to diversity of the economy. Neither city is as dependent on one industry as a city like Detroit was with the automotive field. However, I think Boston has proven during the recession that it's better suited to weather this type of climate with its economy.

- Population city proper and metropolitan area- San Francisco's a little bigger and it feels a little bigger. Not a lot bigger, but a little. Both are similar in size though.

- Benefits from location- Boston. Yes, San Francisco has good access to Asia, but not much better than the Northeast, really. The real benefit in SF is that there are more flights to Asia, not the times. Boston-Tokyo is 13.5 hours non-stop (JAL is introducting non-stops from BOS-Tokyo this year). It's not much shorter from San Francisco, it just that there are more options. On the other hand, Boston is 7 hours from Europe by plane, and by car it's 3.5 hours from NYC , 5 from Montreal, 6 from Quebec City, 6 from Philadelphia, 7.5 from DC, etc. It's clear than San Francisco is a little more isolated.

- Public Transportation Boston again. San Francisco does well for a West Coast city. However, its public transit doesn't serve as many people as well as Boston's. Muni Metro is only similar to Boston's Green Line (in fact, Muni serves fewer people). BART may be more extensive than the Red/Blue/Orange lines overall, but the Red/Blue/Orange lines serve the urban core of Boston better than BART does in San Francisco. BART HAS to be more extensive to make up for next to no commuter rail service (one Caltrain line vs. 12 MBTA commuter rail lines). This doesn't include Boston's Amtrak connections to Maine, Chicago, Providence, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and beyond. Amtrak doesn't even come into San Francisco (it stops in Oakland and passengers are shuttled into SF). Boston's city proper and metro area are much better served by public transportation than San Francisco.

- Airports San Francisco by a nose. I like that Boston's airport is 2 miles from downtown Boston making it VERY easy to get to downtown (3 subway stops on the blue line or a few stops on the Silver line BRT). I can't tell you how many times I've arrived (late) to SFO after BART stops running and had to split a cab ($60 with tip) to Powell with some tourists. That said, both Oakland and SFO are on transit lines to central San Francisco. They're both very capable airports. San Jose isn't an unreasonable distance away either. Boston's secondary airports (Manchester and PVD) are smaller and a bit more disconnected (though PVD now has a commuter rail connection to Boston). SFO is easy to get around too (airbart to OAK is a P.I.T.A, but still not too hard).

- Skyline San Francisco. Boston needs some updating. So does San Francisco, but the Transamerica Building and the Bank of America building are iconic. Boston's Hancock Tower is great, but it needs some help from the rest of the skyline. When you add in the surroundings, it's hard to compete with the SF skyline set against the bay, the bridges and the rolling hills. San Francisco wins.

- Vibrancy of downtown Tossup. Maybe a slight edge to Boston. Both financial districts are quiet at night and on the weekend, but overall, both cities are VERY vibrant. San Francisco has a bit more of a homelessness problem (which is why BOS gets a slight edge), but overall both cities have very vibrant downtowns.

- Museums- close, but San Francisco. In think SFOs DeYoung Museum, Exploratorium, Academy of Sciences, MoMA, etc. beat out Boston's MFA, Gardener, Museum of Science, ICA, and Aquarium. You can't go wrong in either city, but San Francisco gets the edge.

- Theater, Music, & Arts scene- San Francisco. I like Boston's Theatre District better (both are a little gritty and a lot of fun), but I think San Francisco's overall art and music scene is better. Boston wouldn't be on the map if it weren't for Cambridge.

- History- Boston for American history. San Francisco is a great historical city, but it has to be Boston. You really can feel the history there.

- Parks- San Francisco. Boston's Emerald Necklace is awesome, but it's tough to beat the Presidio, Golden Gate, and the rest.

- Food - San Francisco overall for being on the forefront of contemporary cuisine for all these years. However, each city has different categories where they are better. Boston's Italian food is better. I like most European food in Boston (particularly Portuguese), in fact. Asian food is better and more plentiful in San Francisco. I've seen more Middle Eastern and African in San Francisco (My GF lives near an Eritrean place on Geary... I hadn't heard of Eritrean food until that point. Fantastic). I've seen better South American (namely Brazilian) and Caribbean in Boston. San Francisco is miles ahead with Mexican, but Boston has better seafood IMHO (try lobster and George's Bank Scallops and tell me otherwise!).

-Sports- Boston by a long shot. I know it wasn't included in the original criteria but as a fan, I can't ignore it. Boston is a much better professional sports town than San Francisco. It was fun to be in SF when the Giants won last year, but the passion is much more widespread for Boston teams.

-Progressiveness- Boston gets some credit, but San Francisco is still the best in this field. It's on the cutting edge socially. I enjoy it.

-Overall- Boston. It's so close that the deciding factor is the fact that I have roots in this area. My family and friends live in the Boston area so it'll always be home. That said, San Francisco is awesome and it's most certainly one of the top 3 cities I'd choose to live in in the USA (Boston and NYC being the other two).
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Old 06-23-2011, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Staten Island, NYC
125 posts, read 331,876 times
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I like the city of Boston more, but I like the bay area more than the Bos MSA
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Old 06-23-2011, 06:53 PM
 
Location: Bentonville, AR
1,134 posts, read 3,170,776 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by killakoolaide View Post
Boston by alot.

Its like an older sanfran except with culture and class.

SanFran, the young wannabe. Its really a cool city though that I wanna see some day but............

Its culture is still a little weird(and finding itself), definitley nothing like Boston.
So basically you have a strong opinion when you really aren't qualified to respond.
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Old 08-08-2011, 04:45 PM
 
1,089 posts, read 1,517,636 times
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Boston is history and education.

San Francisco is culture, charm, nature, progressiveness, and diversity.

San Francisco hands down for me!
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Old 08-08-2011, 05:02 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX & Miami, FL
312 posts, read 433,870 times
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San Francisco by a mile, Boston's pretty good too but still not San Francisco level.

If you value weather, scenery, location, food, and liberal ideas then San Francisco should be the forefront for you. Boston is also very liberal too.
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Old 08-08-2011, 05:37 PM
 
13,940 posts, read 14,806,353 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mickey mouse is dead View Post
Boston is history and education.

San Francisco is culture, charm, nature, progressiveness, and diversity.

San Francisco hands down for me!
ya Boston devloped no culture or charm at all during its 390 year existance, none whats so ever.
San Fran doest have a unique culture, it has mix of a bunch of differnat ones
Boston has cultural Diversity but its tied together by a unique culture found no where else, not a general Western US culture.
Also San Fran gets nothing done for "progressiveness" Boston does things like Universal Heathcare or Gay Marraige.
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Old 08-08-2011, 06:54 PM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix
11,054 posts, read 16,747,040 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4 View Post
ya Boston devloped no culture or charm at all during its 390 year existance, none whats so ever.
Boston has a massive amount of culture behind it; I'm proud to have grown up in it

Quote:
San Fran doest have a unique culture, it has mix of a bunch of differnat ones
This is a profoundly wrong statement. Profoundly wrong; more wrong that the statement you're countering! He didn't say Boston doesn't have culture, he just said that he prefers it more... you're basically saying that San Francisco doesn't have culture in the first place.

Quote:
Boston has cultural Diversity but its tied together by a unique culture found no where else, not a general Western US culture.
The exact same thing can be said about San Francisco, versus the Eastern US and its culture.

Also San Fran gets nothing done for "progressiveness" Boston does things like Universal Heathcare or Gay Marraige.[/quote]
San Francisco gets a whole load done and much of it sticks within the city/county's borders. It gets shot down when the evangelical churches in the suburbs outside the major cities get their parish out to vote on the state level against other human beings. MA is a smaller state that's on the whole more liberal; even the conservatives take more of a "do what you want, just leave me out of it" approach (which I admittedly prefer).
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Old 08-08-2011, 07:01 PM
 
13,940 posts, read 14,806,353 times
Reputation: 10377
Quote:
Originally Posted by 415_s2k View Post
Boston has a massive amount of culture behind it; I'm proud to have grown up in it


This is a profoundly wrong statement. Profoundly wrong; more wrong that the statement you're countering! He didn't say Boston doesn't have culture, he just said that he prefers it more... you're basically saying that San Francisco doesn't have culture in the first place.


The exact same thing can be said about San Francisco, versus the Eastern US and its culture.

Also San Fran gets nothing done for "progressiveness" Boston does things like Universal Heathcare or Gay Marraige.
San Francisco gets a whole load done and much of it sticks within the city/county's borders. It gets shot down when the evangelical churches in the suburbs outside the major cities get their parish out to vote on the state level against other human beings. MA is a smaller state that's on the whole more liberal; even the conservatives take more of a "do what you want, just leave me out of it" approach (which I admittedly prefer).[/quote]
it has a mix of world cultures, but the base culture of San Fran almost the exact same as say Seattle, or Sacramento, or Reading, CA. Compared to Boston which as a much differant culture compared to a close city like Hartford, Providence or New York. The West Coast is still devloping its regional differences that the northeast devloped 50-100 years ago, so in 25 years or so this statement would be false.
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