Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My favorite part of downtown LA's renaissance is the Adaptable Reuse Ordinance which allows for the conversion of old commercial buildings to new uses including apartments, condos, live/work lofts, retail and hotels. So many empty and abandoned buildings are being renovated beautifully and really changing eyesores and dead zones to some of the best downtown streetlife.
Right, and a lot of what made the adaptable reuse ordinance effective, and what made the shift from keeping those beautiful structures in the heart of downtown mostly empty, is the elimination of parking requirements for them.
I picked Bosotn because if you lived Downtown in say, the Theatre District... you are within a 40 minute walk to, Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, the Seaport District, the whole Financial Center District, Haymarket, The Italian neighborhood known as the North End, Public Garden, the Boston Common, Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, Newbury Street, Copley Square Mall, the South End, Southie, Fenway Park, Kenmore Square, MIT, Kendall Square, TD Banknorth Garden, the Fens, Museum District, etc ...
You really have the world at your hands with many different cultural and aesthetic neighborhoods to chose from. To me, out of eveyr city in the US... Boston's core is my favorite, and its getting drastically better too. The shear beauty, culture, food scene, and vibrancy win it for me. Yet you feel cozy or small town like, when you truly arent in a small town. Its also collegiate with sophistication as well.
Also, theres a saying I like ... and its 100% accurate.
LA is about how much fame you have.
DC is about how much power you have.
NYC is about how much money you have.
Boston is about how much knowledge you have.
Much as I 'respect' Boston...where's the one that's about how much personality or benevolence (two independent considerations) you have? I fear I'm setting myself up for an answer from somewhere in the South, but if so, so be it.
Interesting to me that Philly is ahead of Boston and Seattle in this poll. I've been to Boston 6 times, been to Seattle, never been to Philly.
Obviously this has to be tiered out. Boston and Philly are probably the best and most vibrant however there are some GREAT mid sized city downtowns in this bunch.
A much easier choice is the worst. Jacksonville has easily one of the deadest downtowns I have ever seen. You take that city off the FL coast and remove Jax Beach from MSA, and suddenly I think that city doesn't do very well if it were in somewhere like Michigan.
I'm not sure if it's telling or not that the football fans chant 'Duvall' at Jacksonville Jaguars games. But that's the county name, and I think it's a testament to the sprawl of that city, if that's the unifying chant--that's my theory until I hear an explanation that posits otherwise. (Perhaps it's just easier to go with the oooo-heavy two-syllable word as opposed to the 12-letter city name?) But yeah, probably no coincidence that the two most-sprawled cities in this poll, J'ville and OKC, have 0 votes. Others with no votes are my hometown of Buffalo (heh), Rochester (heh), San Jose (pretty suburban, if that can be said about a city with 1M+ people), and Memphis (I feel like this one warrants a vote total slightly above 0--Beale Street--but that's an outsider perspective, not a potential resident perspective). I missed San Antonio upon first scan, also 0 votes and also above 1 million people if I remember my population stats correctly--actually over 1.5 million now that I look it up--easily the most 'unheralded' major city in the country.
And whats amazing with Philadelphia is the amount of serious change / improvements in a relatively short period of time.
I moved out of the city 4 years ago (for work), every time I return, I'm amazed at the increased energy, new food options, shopping options, hotels, cleaned up streets, etc.
Philadelphia still has a ways to go in many neighborhoods, but the bones are there and the investment is finally pouring in. Philadelphia is one of the few American cities where you can have a true big city experience and at a relatively affordable price (although prices are noticeably increasing in core neighborhoods).
Boston is fantastic and a bit more polished, BUT, its noticeably smaller and quieter. Its also a bit isolated from the other large cities and colder and snowier than Philadelphia in the winter.
Philly always struck me as insular/provincial, for a city of its size anyway. But the closest I've ever been is Lancaster (Trenton as a kid actually, now that I think about it--closing in) so I can't speak from experience. I probably have formed my impressions from the wrong sources--like this very site, ha. What you say only makes Philly sound more interesting. From limited exposure, I have a generally positive impression of Pittsburgh and its people, find central Pennsylvania (Susquehanna River Valley to be specific) exceptionally depressing, even moreso than most of upstate NY (which I also find largely depressing), so in a way, the drive from western PA (Williamsport in this case) to Harrisburg has always led me to say 'get me out of this state' (at which point I'd then head towards DC--not soon enough, though, because you still have to get through York PA...I am no fan of Pennsylvania on the whole, that is for sure), thus somewhat biasing me against eastern PA, which aside from one short jaunt to Gettysburg and then Lancaster, I've never even been to. Sorry if long-winded, but I'd like to get to Philly thanks in part to this thread.
Much as I 'respect' Boston...where's the one that's about how much personality or benevolence (two independent considerations) you have? I fear I'm setting myself up for an answer from somewhere in the South, but if so, so be it.
Interesting to me that Philly is ahead of Boston and Seattle in this poll. I've been to Boston 6 times, been to Seattle, never been to Philly.
Much as Seattle has benefited massively from its Bezos-driven boom, Philadelphia of course has long been one of the most established, walkable, thoroughly urban cities in the US.
Seattle now admittedly has an edge on office space and chain luxury retail, but Philly retains a finely-grained, organic and incredibly vibrant urban form that, on this thread, is only replicated at scale in Boston.
Much as I 'respect' Boston...where's the one that's about how much personality or benevolence (two independent considerations) you have? I fear I'm setting myself up for an answer from somewhere in the South, but if so, so be it.
Interesting to me that Philly is ahead of Boston and Seattle in this poll. I've been to Boston 6 times, been to Seattle, never been to Philly.
I think it?s because Philly is a cheaper Boston.
There really isn?t anything you can find in Boston you can?t in Philly so if it?s cheaper to live in Philly why not there?
Much as I 'respect' Boston...where's the one that's about how much personality or benevolence (two independent considerations) you have? I fear I'm setting myself up for an answer from somewhere in the South, but if so, so be it.
Interesting to me that Philly is ahead of Boston and Seattle in this poll. I've been to Boston 6 times, been to Seattle, never been to Philly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Marcinkiewicz
Philly always struck me as insular/provincial, for a city of its size anyway. But the closest I've ever been is Lancaster (Trenton as a kid actually, now that I think about it--closing in) so I can't speak from experience. I probably have formed my impressions from the wrong sources--like this very site, ha. What you say only makes Philly sound more interesting. From limited exposure, I have a generally positive impression of Pittsburgh and its people, find central Pennsylvania (Susquehanna River Valley to be specific) exceptionally depressing, even moreso than most of upstate NY (which I also find largely depressing), so in a way, the drive from western PA (Williamsport in this case) to Harrisburg has always led me to say 'get me out of this state' (at which point I'd then head towards DC--not soon enough, though, because you still have to get through York PA...I am no fan of Pennsylvania on the whole, that is for sure), thus somewhat biasing me against eastern PA, which aside from one short jaunt to Gettysburg and then Lancaster, I've never even been to. Sorry if long-winded, but I'd like to get to Philly thanks in part to this thread.
I don't know how old you are (I'm 61), but I suspect the Philadelphia you knew (about) growing up has been replaced to a great degree by a much different one.
My ex felt exactly the same way you do about this city's insularity and provinciality. But he moved me here from Boston in 1983 rather than moving up to where I lived. I was dragged here kicking and screaming, but the place grew on me, and fairly quickly.
There is still a small-townishness about this place - in most of the professional circles I travel in, everyone knows everyone else - but the city I live in now is a radically different place from the city I moved to in 1983.
The transformation began during the mayoralty of Edward G. Rendell (1988-1996), the first mayor of Philadelphia to go on to the Pennsylvania governorship since 1911*, and accelerated once the Millennials started pouring into the city in droves in the mid-2000s.
Philly shared with my hometown of Kansas City a world-class municipal inferiority complex. Kansas City successfully shed its complex about 15 years or so ago. We're still crawling out of ours, but this place strikes me as more self-confident than it was in the 1980s, even if its politics remain as corrupt and transactional as ever.
When I moved here, they rolled up the sidewalks downtown at 6 p.m. The streets of Center City Philadephia hum with life well into the night now. I don't think I could say the same for downtown Seattle, which I believe also ranks just below Philly on the quality-of-downtown-life scale.
TV newscasters still pass for celebrities here, but give it time.
You really should visit. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.
*Rendell's critics in the rest of the state referred to him as "the Governor of Philadelphia." But they were outnumbered by his fans, who elected him to the governorship twice (the maximum the state constitution allows in a single pass).
Much as Seattle has benefited massively from its Bezos-driven boom, Philadelphia of course has long been one of the most established, walkable, thoroughly urban cities in the US.
Seattle now admittedly has an edge on office space and chain luxury retail, but Philly retains a finely-grained, organic and incredibly vibrant urban form that, on this thread, is only replicated at scale in Boston.
The transformation began during the mayoralty of Edward G. Rendell (1988-1996), the first mayor of Philadelphia to go on to the Pennsylvania governorship since 1911*, and accelerated once the Millennials started pouring into the city in droves in the mid-2000s.
That should be "Edward G. Rendell (1992-2000)"
I moved here just as W. Wilson Goode won election as Philadelphia's first black mayor in 1983.
He won a second term in spite of having the MOVE bombing occur on his watch simply because he had former Mayor Frank Rizzo as his opponent in 1987. I joked at the time that each of them was running against the only person they could possibly beat.
Rendell succeeded Goode at the end of Goode's second term.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
