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Being born in Italia ,and lived in France as a young boy I find Philadelphia ,especially South Philly felling very European . A lot of my family visit from France and Italy and they love Philly with Ninth ST. market and Reading Terminal .It"s more Euro felling then any other city in America in my opinion .
South Philly feels nothing like any of the major French or Italian major cities. If there's a comparison to be made with Philly and how it feels, I'd think it would likely be more like Amsterdam,Edinburgh, Rotterdam, even parts of London or cities in that area moreso than the Western/Mediterranean European city which are generally just 4-6 story apartment midrises across the entire city.
In the South, New Orleans easily. It has a classic European style French Quarter. Houston and Atlanta have a few neighborhoods with European style architecture, but thats all modern and planned out.
Northeast-Toughest out of all, being the heavy European influence since colonization days. Boston first then probably Philly.
Midwest-Tough because no Midwest city has a strong European influenced city like all other regions. Certain areas of Chicago? Milwaukee?
South Philly feels nothing like any of the major French or Italian major cities. If there's a comparison to be made with Philly and how it feels, I'd think it would likely be more like Amsterdam,Edinburgh, Rotterdam, even parts of London or cities in that area moreso than the Western/Mediterranean European city which are generally just 4-6 story apartment midrises across the entire city.
The word feel to me means like an emotional feeling a general sense of being in a location ie Italy or France such as your day to day life . In Philly you have your local butcher , baker and fresh vegetable vender . Center City must have close to one thousand sidewalk cafes and the close-knit neighborhoods .
Visiting a city and living there are two different things entirely . It was the ambience that Philly has , that I was referencing .
This thread is over!!!
Large and by far from reading all the comments on all the pages, Boston and San Francisco easily take this cake with New Orleans and Washington DC trailing in.
I see where you're going, and I agree that your 2nd picture of Philadelphia strikes a resemblance to those that you selected of Brussels based on variety of color schemes, general density, width of street, the sidewalk setup, etc. But I think what people are getting at with Boston is both a mixture of architecture and "feel". Boston looks decidedly less high-risy and less rowhousy (the two main characteristics of Philly) and more old-world, with more uniform intricate design. If Boston had less brick and more stone with copper roof, it would be a no brainer.
I think we can all agree that in looks, there is no American/new world city that resembles Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Warsaw, Berlin, or other well known eastern European cities. Boston almost has some Dutch characteristics to it.
I honestly do not understand why people say that Boston is the most European-feeling city in the Northeast. It's not built on a grid, which makes it more European-feeling in a certain sense. But except for the core neighborhoods (North End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Charleston, Bay Village, and South End) it doesn't look very European. The vernacular architecture is mostly wood, and outside of Scandinavia, Europeans don't build wood houses or apartments. There really is nothing like the triple-decker in Europe either. Philly is easily more European-looking, in that it looks like a large, at times very gritty British city.
In the Midwest, I think either Saint Louis or Cincinnati would have to be the winners. I think I'd have to give it to Saint Louis, if only because Cincinnati destroyed so much of its heart during the urban renewal period.
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