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Detroit, St Louis, and Los Angeles are all major places to look for shopping in suburbia. You can do that in Chicagoland, but on a first visit, don't miss the actual city.
Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee are much more lively than Detroit or St Louis in the downtown core. I read months ago that Tampa is pretty empty. Where it ranks relative to Pittsburgh, I do not know.
Not all cities can be Boston, Chicago, or Seattle.
Having been to Tampa and Pittsburgh, I assure you that Pittsburgh has a much more lively and vital downtown than Tampa, for what it's worth.
Not all cities can be Boston, Chicago and Seattle? Virtually all of them WERE, in terms of vital downtowns, up until the 50s. No reason they can't be again, now that we've learned what we have about the price our cities have paid for the private automobile. Sounds like at least Houston is heading that way. Closer to home, I think Minneapolis is too, but I don't have much hope for St Paul.
I would say downtown St. Louis Missouri only because I lived there for 2 years. But I've seen most other major to mid sized cities. Its not walkable and there isn't much to do besides a few bars/clubs. And its one of the most dangerous cities in the u.s. Detroit would definitely be comparable as to the worst
Actually downtown St. Louis has developed a lot in a few years. There is still alot more being built and in the planning stages. I agree it's certainly not a Boston or Seattle but it's moving in that direction with a lot of shops, restaurants, grocers, housing and even a bowling alley besides all the tourist attractions. Hopefully all the developement will continue
And it is as safe (if not more so) as any downtown.
This thread is about Downtowns. I agree that LA, Houston and Atlanta have a lot to offer in their metro areas, but for big cities they have very lame downtowns. I think this is a function of being 20th century cities that grew after the auto. Most of the cool downtowns were formed before the advent of the auto and/or have geographic restrictions making them denser and full of more economic activity (Boston, NYC, SF). But the worst is Phoenix. The downtown is incredibly lame. San Jose is also lame, but I don't consider it a city (despite its high population, it is little more than a bunch of suburbs).
I would say Washington D.C, Its a great city during the work week...but o boy does it empty out on the weekends.... you feel as though your the only person left in the entire city..
Part of that is Houston but I think the other part is the state of Texas. It's idiotic blues laws has bars stop selling liquor at 2AM. Fortunately, I've heard they are trying to change that to 5AM. But one cannot enjoy the town if the state of Texas wants clubs to shutdown the bar early. Although some clubs do stay open to 4 and 5 AM.
But yeah, it's great to go out on the town and enjoy yourself with your group of friends if you went to see the Astros and Rockets. Once the pavilions open up and the park is completed, downtown will take a step up from being a deserted wasteland to a vibrant area.
I certainly don't want Houston to copy cat any city, but what developers need to do is study the cities with vibrant downtowns and take note. They haven't been doing that in the past, but I'm glad they're kind of working on it now.
But I tell you, the oil guys from back in the day certainly screwed us.
Nice photo of a "SECTION" of downtown Houston. Now try being fair and posting all aeriel photos of DT Houston, not just one section. That "section" is actually over Fannin Street just north of I-45, there is so so much more to DT Houston than that menial piece you have provided.
I do like the photo because my old apartment building, "Houston House" is in it, but I would have liked it much more if you would have provided a true view.
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Very Misleading
