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Also No, Philly does not have better schools the the DC metro...
Philadelphia is arguably a top 5 food city just under NYC, Chicago, SF and NO. Those are the only cities ahead f it with LA. Sorry but Boston is under Philadelphia there. No way it's even top 10.
DC's museums inflate the numbers and it's the center of the American Government. Of course it's gonna have visitors. There's way more attractions and VARIETY in Boston and Philadelphia.
Pretty sure Philly has a few of the top 10 nationally ranked school districts.
I find Philadelphia to be more scenic and green as far as the metro goes. More hilly, much better climate.
Boston definitely doesn't beat Philly on food and there's no way Philly is a better shopping city than Boston. Metro Id say is close. There's no Newbury St in Philly but no King of Prussia in Boston either. Philly is first for history easily. Preserved more areas and has better history monuments and attractions. Boston tore down and replaced a ton of theirs. Philly didn't. No way DC beats Philly or Boston on attractions. Philly has better schools in metro.
At the top of the post i mentioned that I was taking suburbs into account as well. So with King of Prussia & the two Tysons malls, i believe both DC & Philly beat Boston. But I also like seafood & Boston has a very strong seafood culture, especially on the cape. but i love the look of Boston from the water & thats what i took into account when i said Boston wins for natural scenery. Philly & Boston both have a lot of revolutionary war history, but not much more than that. DC has war of 1812, civil rights, inaugurations, & a ton of other political traditions which give it a strong history. DC definitely beats both of these cities in attractions considering it has some of the most recognizable buildings in the world & many world class museums. DC's suburbs have the best k-12 public schools in the country, including the #1 HS in the nation
- Best Location - Philly
- Best Scenery - Philly. Looking at the old city from those hills...
- Best food - Philly
- Best shopping - Boston
- Best attractions - DC
- Best parks - DC
- Best history - That's tough... Probably DC, maybe Philly, maybe Boston. I think Boston does a better job preserving it, but being in the room where the constitution was drafted and debated... that's powerful. Then again, LOOKING at the constitution is powerful as well, and they have the Smithsonian ...
- Most safe place - Boston
- Costs (I mean EVERYTHING, highs, lows, whatever) - DC. A lot of the stuff was free.
- Best waterfront - Boston
- Best culture - Boston
- Name key industries in this Metro - I picked DC, so government.
- Does it influence its region, or does it get influenced itself from the region? It governs the nation, so it's a mixture of both
I was very impressed with DC. It was a really neat experience. The sheer amount of things to see was overwhelming.
However, I have to give a hats off to Boston, just for the way it preserves its history. They do a great job telling the story of it. I was choked up by parts of the Freedom Trail. Salem and Cape Cod are a couple of my favorite places that I've been, even though I don't really include them in the Boston experience. MA is a very, very beautiful state.
Philly was powerful. I loved its skyline and the scenery. The food was better than the other two in my opinion. It didn't seem so "done just as well elsewhere". The Betsy Ross house was really cool.
Philadelphia is arguably a top 5 food city just under NYC, Chicago, SF and NO. Those are the only cities ahead f it with LA. Sorry but Boston is under Philadelphia there. No way it's even top 10.
DC's museums inflate the numbers and it's the center of the American Government. Of course it's gonna have visitors. There's way more attractions and VARIETY in Boston and Philadelphia.
Pretty sure Philly has a few of the top 10 nationally ranked school districts.
I'm biased in the food argument because I prefer seafood. So I'll just leave it at that.
Of course the muesems inflate the numbers, those are attractions. You can't take that away from DC, also most of the DC areas "variety" attractions lie within its suburbs such as the Arlington cemetery and Mount Vernon.
DC and Philly have the best public school education and suburbs in the country. Although Philly does not have better schools than the DC area. Fairfax county, Arlington County and Loudoun county are very highly looked at by other school districs across the country especially Fairfax. It's a trachers dream to teach in these counties.
I think Boston does a better job preserving it, but being in the room where the constitution was drafted and debated... that's powerful. Then again, LOOKING at the constitution is powerful as well, and they have the Smithsonian
Boston preserves it's history better?
Philadelphia is the one that does.
Boston deindustrialized earlier and tore down a TON of its old buildings in favor of newer development. Philadelphia has NOT. Philly has the largest collection of colonial architecture and blocks in the country. Combine that with the entire Independence Park which is the most historic block ok the U.S.
It's pretty widely accepted Philly has preserved it's history much more so than Boston and it's not really close.
Boston deindustrialized earlier and tore down a TON of its old buildings in favor of newer development. Philadelphia has NOT. Philly has the largest collection of colonial architecture and blocks in the country. Combine that with the entire Independence Park which is the most historic block ok the U.S.
It's pretty widely accepted Philly has preserved it's history much more so than Boston and it's not really close.
There are 67 National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia. 166 in PA.
Boston deindustrialized earlier and tore down a TON of its old buildings in favor of newer development. Philadelphia has NOT. Philly has the largest collection of colonial architecture and blocks in the country. Combine that with the entire Independence Park which is the most historic block ok the U.S.
It's pretty widely accepted Philly has preserved it's history much more so than Boston and it's not really close.
I guess I should've clarified. The important buildings seemed better preserved to me. Such as the Old State House and Old South Meeting House. I agree that Philly wins in overall architecture and sheer amount of it though. That is one thing I didn't really care for in Boston, they turned the oldest part of the city into downtown.
I loved Independence Park. It left a strong impression on me.
I get where you're coming from. You're right, Philly did preserve its history better in a way, I guess I should have said Boston polished what it has left better.
Perfect example is Quincy Market vs. Reading Terminal Market.
Newbury St. vs. South St.
Philly is more mom and pop shop oriented. Boston is more chainy and franchise oriented.
There's more local flavor to Philly than Boston. More independent stores and boutiques in Philadelphia.
I don't understand why you're associating clean with sterile from a cultural standpoint. Quincy Market & Newbury Street are both clean but they're also unique and interesting.
It's strange to compare Newbury St. and South St. since they cater to totally different crowds. Both have lots of restaurants, galleries, and boutiques but they're aimed at different ends of the spectrum. One isn't better than the other, they're just different. Calling Newbury St "sterile" would be like calling South Street "trashy". Neither are true.
If I were going to compare South Street to anywhere in Boston, it'd probably be Harvard Ave in between Comm Ave & Cambridge St and along Brighton Ave a bit too. It's a young crowd, often students & young adults (and lots of immigrants too) with tons of bars & restaurants. It's not as good as South Street, but it's a similar crowd...certainly more comparable than what you'll find on Newbury Street.
The criteria: - Best Location - Philadelphia. Sandwiched in the middle of the Northeast corridor close to Baltimore, DC and New York. It's also not far from the coast and some great natural scenery. Boston is second in my opinion, with the distance from the rest of the NE corridor being what keeps it from number 1.
- Best Scenery - Boston. Tough to beat the coastal setting and proximity to Cape Cod, the Islands, Rhode Island, coastal Maine and the mountains of Northern New England (which are, in my opinion, the prettiest on the East Coast).
- Best schools (K-12)- DC? I thought Maryland (particularly the DC area) has the best schools in the U.S. I'm not really in tune to that though.
- Best Universities (Yes I mean higher ed)- Boston. Harvard and MIT get the notoriety, but schools like Brandeis, BU, BC, Northeastern, Leslie, Wellesley, Suffok, etc, etc, etc, give it the edge not only in this argument, but in most comparisons in the world. DC and Philadelphia aren't exactly far behind, and would probably win head to head comparisons with most other cities as well.
- Most diverse (by ethnicity/race)- without looking at numbers, Philadelphia strikes me as the most diverse. DC feels like it has the most international visitors.
- Best food - Philly. It's a hotbed of creative cuisine. More so than Boston or DC in my experience.
- Best shopping - Draw really.
- Best economy (by sheer size of GDP)- well, it's a stat and google says DC wins. I wouldn't debate that.
- Best economy (by employment opportunities)- Boston is the most diversified in my opinion, but DC may have more opportunities for people.
- Best attractions- DC. It's the ideal city to be a visitor/tourist with it's great transit and internationally renowned attractions.
- Best parks- All great, but DC's national mall is a notch above the rest.
- Best history - Boston/Philadephia. The two most important historic cities in the U.S.
- Most safe place - Boston has the lowest rates of violent crime.
- Costs (I mean EVERYTHING, highs, lows, whatever)- Philadelphia has the most reasonable cost of living.
- Best waterfront - Boston. Boston has an outstanding harborfront AND an outstanding riverfront.
- Best culture - DC if you're talking about cultural attractions (museums and the like). Boston if you're talking about unique local culture. There aren't many things that people across the country would identify as uniquely DC or uniquely Philly about a person. I don't think that's true with Boston (starting with the accent and word choices i.e. "wicked")
I think Philadelphia is probably the most well-rounded of the bunch. A lot of culture (I just think of that guy from those old SW Airlines commercials, "a lotta culture here"), great food, strong economy, etc. Boston is a little more quaint and charming, and DC is the most important globally.
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