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Economy- Palm Springs. They're both tourist based, Palm Springs is more upscale. Still, there are plenty of blue collar areas in the Coachella Valley. Galveston has some health care and some financial services, but the tourist infrastructure is aimed towards the lower end of the market.
Weather- They both have awful summers. Palm Springs is ungodly hot, but dry. Galveston is probably the most humid place I've ever lived. There are many days in summer where the heat index never drops below 90F, even in the middle of the night. Palm Springs has better winter weather, Galveston tends to be cool, cloudy, and rainy in winter. Spring and Fall can have really nice days in both.
COL - Galveston- Galveston houses are cheaper, but if you want to live next to the beach or in an old Victorian, it will cost you.
Entertainment/things to do- For me this is a push, but Palm Springs is know for swimming pools, hiking, the mountain gondola, tennis, and golf. Galveston has beaches (although not super pretty ones), historic architecture, and dive bars.
Nightlife- Galveston- That place must have more bars per capita than most cities. A lot are pretty seedy. They are completely dead outside of Mardi Gras during the winter. I still give bonus points to Palm Springs for the Octogenarians that were ballroom dancing in the lounge of a hotel I stayed at, but the nightlifethere seems pretty mellow. They gay scene in Palm Springs would probably be better. I found Galveston more fun.
Food- Push- Palm Springs has more upscale food, Galveston has some really good hole in the walls for Cajun, Tex-Mex, and Gulf Seafood.
Brighter Future- I don't think either have a particularly bright future. Heat waves and water issues may be a problem for Palm Springs, sea level rise and more frequent Hurricanes are not great for Galveston. There are plenty of people who will still like both, but I don't see either having tons of growth.
Overall- Palm Springs 2, Galveston 2, so I guess they're pretty close in my book.
Went to Modernism Week in Palm Springs last February. Lots of Mid Century Modern architecture in Palm Springs. Great downtown with art galleries, restaurants and shops.
Weather- Palm Springs has better winter weather, Galveston tends to be cool, cloudy, and rainy in winter.
Galveston's winter are more "bipolar," as locals would like to say - with the lack of consistency, you have more of the mixture of nice sunny days and cooler, cloudy/rainy days in winter as compared to the more solid mild sunny winter of Palm Springs. Also extends to a year-by-year scale, especially with phenomena like El Nino/La Nina. The cold fronts that pass through Galveston artificially "inflate" the amount of cloudy/rainy winter days (as with other parts of the Southern US).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro
I’m going with Palm Springs. Galveston is great but it’s not Palm Springs great.
Tillman Fertitta ruins everything he touches, man. Just look what he did with those white tigers, and the Rockets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwright1
Went to Modernism Week in Palm Springs last February. Lots of Mid Century Modern architecture in Palm Springs. Great downtown with art galleries, restaurants and shops.
I would prefer Palm Springs for its scenic beauty. Galveston does look kind of cool, like a sliver of New Orleans directly on the beach. But its beaches are pretty meh compared to what we are used to visiting along the Alabama and NW Florida coastlines, so they're not that much of a selling point.
Galveston's winter are more "bipolar," as locals would like to say - with the lack of consistency, you have more of the mixture of nice sunny days and cooler, cloudy/rainy days in winter as compared to the more solid mild sunny winter of Palm Springs. Also extends to a year-by-year scale, especially with phenomena like El Nino/La Nina. The cold fronts that pass through Galveston artificially "inflate" the amount of cloudy/rainy winter days (as with other parts of the Southern US).
I'm not saying there are no sunny days in winter, but there is a bit of a coastal microclimate in Galveston that makes it cloudy in winter even when 5-10 miles inland it is sunny. I remember a period of almost 3 weeks in a row where I didn't see the sun. I was talking to some family in Houston talking about how depressing the weather had been, and they were like, "What are you talking about, it's been sunny most days in Houston." Sure enough, when I drove up to visit them, the clouds broke around Dickinson, but were still in Galveston when I went home in the afternoon. Very few Mardi Gras seem to happen in Galveston where it isn't either rainy or overcast.
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