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Lots of knickers in knots over this question. The question is "most like" not "is like." I think it goes without saying that no American city could be happily transferred across the pond and vice versa however "most like" is a different story.
You must be the oldest person in the world, and/or immortal.
The immortal goodness is smoked in San Francisco (inside joke, my friend, inside joke).
Anyway, to reiterate what myself and some other have said again and again in this thread, there is really no US city that is like a European city, and even in the ones that are "most like" a European city, one has to proactively want to see the similarities and also use imagination ...
... e.g., once again, Manhattan and Boston like London and some northern European cities, Miami and some other cities in Florida like some Mediterranean European cities ...
To the OP, then, I advise to mentally accept whatever it is that you do not like about US cities and to pretend at least, or pursue at best, whatever similar aspects to European cities do exist (e.g. cultural institutes).
Alternatively, overcome any obstacles to, and accept whatever it is that you do not like about, living in Europe and a European city, and live in one.
Let's be real here. Most people are thinking of London or Paris when they make comparisons to a European city. And there is no comparison. No American city provides an urban experience like London or Paris.
Last edited by r_u_a_wizard; 07-17-2015 at 07:58 AM..
Let's be real here. Most people are thinking of London or Paris when they make comparisons to a European city. And there is no comparison. No American city provides an urban experience like London or Paris.
New York City? May not be as cute, but it's at least as urban as the other two, arguably more so than London.
For Europeans, do you think Boston is the most European city in America? I know it's still an American city and for some people it's impossible to compare.
I am not European, but I doubt that they think of any major American city as being more European.
Demographically, it is not the city with the highest percentage of people of primarily European ancestry
BOSTON
53.9% White alone, percent, 2010
47.0% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010
24.4% Black or African American alone, percent, 2010
17.5% Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010
SEATTLE
69.5% White alone, percent, 2010
66.3% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010
7.9% Black or African American alone, percent, 2010
6.6% Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010
13.8% Asian alone, percent, 2010
PORTLAND
76.1% White alone, percent, 2010
72.2% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010
6.3% Black or African American alone, percent, 2010
9.4% Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2010
7.1% Asian alone, percent, 2010
Let me go at this another way & propose which are the least "American" cities if one wants to visit & have a variety of experiences. And by "American" I am using the simplistic stereotype of the middle/southern white-bread america that a lot of the country consists of between the coasts.
(BTW I have been in 49 states - sorry Arkansas - & lived in 7 states.)
OK, the "least American" cities in no particular order:
1 - New York - well, of course the most international, multicultural city & only real world class US city (sorry L.A.)
2 - New Orleans - probably the least American city in terms of culture & attitude: African, French, Spanish, Caribbean
3 - Miami - Latin America's northernmost city, speaking Spanish helps; not the Mexican/Central American latin culture either
4 - San Francisco - just a breed apart from the rest of the country: freethinker, counterculture, tech & quite Asian influences
5 - Sante Fe/Albuquerque - along with the smaller towns in New Mexico reflect the older European Spanish & Indian heritages
6 - Honolulu - really all the Hawaiian islands... very Asian & Pacific, not mainland culture once out of tourist areas
7 - Los Angeles - this is simultaneously both one of the least & most American of cities: lots of people who don't speak English or have it as a second language in one of the most middle-American cityscapes intertwined with highways
8 - Las Vegas - it's where white bread america, and the rest of the world go to sin. No other reason for it's existence, it was built by organized crime in the desert.
9 - (*blank*) - I admit ignorance on this one: a huge swath of the southwest from San Antonio Texas to L.A. is heavily Mexican/Central American in culture/cuisine & language now, but I haven't been in these cities for quite a while & don't know which are the least "American" & more Latin at this point.
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May not be as cute, but it's at least as urban as the other two, arguably more so than London.
