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Like Nei said, there are some similarities to older Northeastern cities, but only because of it's age. Otherwise SF is very distinctive compared to it's sisters & brothers on the West.
Kinda, but there are plenty of Midwestern cities of the same ago or slightly older than San Francisco that don't have the density, bustling downtown, lots of attached buildings of San Francisco. Part of it the denser parts of those cities decayed, but many of them were never as dense as San Francisco. Outer San Francisco neighborhoods are denser and more attached than sections of the East Bay built earlier. Even Daly City, mostly a postwar suburb, is denser than most of Oakland. Does anywhere outside of the Northeast except for maybe scattered blocks of Chicago have many blocks that are of this scale?
Kinda, but there are plenty of Midwestern cities of the same ago or slightly older than San Francisco that don't have the density, bustling downtown, lots of attached buildings of San Francisco. Part of it the denser parts of those cities decayed, but many of them were never as dense as San Francisco. Outer San Francisco neighborhoods are denser and more attached than sections of the East Bay built earlier. Even Daly City, mostly a postwar suburb, is denser than most of Oakland. Does anywhere outside of the Northeast except for maybe scattered blocks of Chicago have many blocks that are of this scale?
[Cincinnati has a few, but the area is very small]
Good point. I'm curious as to whether any neighborhoods that might have been previously like this were subject to urban renewal policies, freeway clearances or downtown revitalization efforts that destroyed them. I think that oftentimes the densest neighborhoods were often most associated with being slums during this period so might have been most likely to be cleared, but that's conjecture on my part.
While not a Midwestern city, Pittsburgh probably also has streets like these. Actually, I recall that smaller mining towns and cities in Pennsylvania often had really tightly built streets and really packed streetwalls--the only big issue was that there were gaps where houses had been demo'd or removed in some way since a lot of those towns aren't economically doing stellar. Probably a convergent evolution for these places and San Francisco due to bits of similar geographic constraints?
San Francisco looks and feels nothing like Eastern cities.
Well, San Francisco certainly doesn't look like any WC city. The denser areas of Los Angeles/San Diego/San Jose have no resemblance whatsoever with San Francisco, they however do resemble each other quite a bit.
It's not that each WC is a special unique snowflake, it's that San Francisco is unique to the WC, however if it was on the EC it wouldn't be unique at all. Call it what you will.
I do agree that San Francisco feels very WC. I just several months ago were dealing at the same time with two clients (and hence many associated people with them) based in Manhattan and the other in San Francisco. I can't even tell you how different they were. The San Francisco client being very similar to a client of mine from Santa Monica. Since I'm from the WC I recognize the 'WC culture' right away.
Love how the row-houses in your photo of SF have garages at ground level. If that does not scream California, I do not know what does.
Really? Are we reaching that much?
Btw, I had ex who lived in one of those planned communities in Jupiter, Fl (where they had one company build entire neighborhoods) and her townhouse, as well everyone elses had a garage on the first floor. You must be really reaching, if you think that screams 'California.' Where would the garage be, if not on the first floor?
The other shot I showed you of San Francisco had no garages at all.
Well, San Francisco certainly doesn't look like any WC city. The denser areas of Los Angeles/San Diego/San Jose have no resemblance whatsoever with San Francisco, they however do resemble each other quite a bit.
It's not that each WC is a special unique snowflake, it's that San Francisco is unique to the WC, however if it was on the EC it wouldn't be unique at all. Call it what you will.
I do agree that San Francisco feels very WC. I just several months ago were dealing at the same time with two clients (and hence many associated people with them) based in Manhattan and the other in San Francisco. I can't even tell you how different they were. The San Francisco client being very similar to a client of mine from Santa Monica. Since I'm from the WC I recognize the 'WC culture' right away.
It can argued that San Fran's topography would make it an anomaly on the East Coast but then again, there's Pittsburgh....
Well, San Francisco certainly doesn't look like any WC city. The denser areas of Los Angeles/San Diego/San Jose have no resemblance whatsoever with San Francisco, they however do resemble each other quite a bit.
The older victorian architecture in San Francisco you can find in small towns on the California coast, especially the North Coast. Just much less dense. I've even seen a few buildings with that look in Portland. There's an overall color scheme that appears common in California and not that common in the Northeast. Even the downtown buildings have more of a pastel and less of brick look than the Northeast. Other than the attached layout, it feels very different from anything back home.
I'd say distinctive for California, but still Californian if that makes sense.
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I do agree that San Francisco feels very WC. I just several months ago were dealing at the same time with two clients (and hence many associated people with them) based in Manhattan and the other in San Francisco. I can't even tell you how different they were. The San Francisco client being very similar to a client of mine from Santa Monica. Since I'm from the WC I recognize the 'WC culture' right away.
What sorta stuff culturally did you notice specifically?
The older victorian architecture in San Francisco you can find in small towns on the California coast, especially the North Coast.
Can you please name me the town or show me the pictures.
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I've even seen a few buildings with that look in Portland. There's an overall color scheme that appears common in California and not that common in the Northeast.
I don't know where you get that those pastel colors are common in the WC because they are not. It's usually beige stucco out in most WC neighborhoods.
I showed pictures from Washington DC (TCDave corrected me) and Charleston, SC with those pastel color schemes, but then I could show Portland, Maine (not Oregon), and even some neighborhoods of Providence, RI.
I think that color scheme is from a certain area of the UK, Boston is red-brick and quite different. I agree. It looks like Manchester. There are even pastel colored rowhouses in Toronto (Danforth Ave).
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