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Seattle for San Francisco - Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay, although Pugent Sound dwarfs SF Bay. Tech, headquarters for some "evil" empires. Hilly neighborhoods on a bay. Great direct train connections to their respective airports. Gentrified neighborhoods with their charm/way of life disappearing for the middle class.
The layout of the Seattle area also reminds me of the layout of the Bay Area, but I'd say Lake Washington fits better as the center --- it's continuously developed all the way around, and Seattle interacts much more with Bellevue/the Eastside than with Bremerton or Whidbey Island or the San Juans.
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Chicagoland for LA - Vast, spread out, Navy Pier and Santa Monica Pier. Chinatowns. Mexicans. DAs of the same persuasion. Chicago Art Institue vs. The Getty. Politics.
Chicagoland for San Francisco Bay Area - Vast, spread out, Wrigley Field and Oracle Park. Direct trains to airports- Midway, SFO, O'Hare. Distinctive Skylines. Black female mayors. Little Italys that have disappeared. Chinatowns. DAs of the same persuasion. United Airlines. Politics.
These are actually both good comparisons I hadn't thought of. I have gotten a weird suburban Cook County vibe (Melrose Park, Bellwood, Oak Lawn, Burbank) while streetviewing around LA, and the South Bay reminds me a lot of the North Shore. The activist, social-justice vibe of Bay Area politics --- with bureaucracy and political fights everywhere --- also reminds me of Chicago, vs. the more muted, "live and let live" politics I associate with LA (although I may be wrong about that). Maybe Chicagoland as a whole is more like the Bay Area, whereas specifically the city is more like LA.
There are no apples to apples comparisons, but here I go anyway:
San Francisco = DC + Seattle
Seattle for the obvious geographic similarities, but also for the interpersonal chilliness from some of the locals.
DC due to the high education, high income, "nerdy company town" environment. In DC, fed/gov is the focus, in SF it's tech/VC.
San Jose = Dallas + DC (specifically NoVA and Montgomery County)
Dallas for the corporate HQ galore coupled with boring suburbia.
NoVA for the internationally diverse, very high income, very high education attainment, "nerdy company town" environment. See my description with SF.
San Diego = Denver + Virginia Beach/Norfolk + maybe Orlando
Denver for the healthy outdoorsy lifestyle and the obsession with craft beers
Virginia Beach- Norfolk for the massive populations of active duty and veterans (especially navy)
It's tempting to toss in a 3rd city to the mix to cover the "good clean, family fun, vacationland" that San Diego exceeds at being. Maybe Orlando?
Oakland = Baltimore
Dockworkers at the port. Blue collar reputation. Issues with violent crime. Somewhat overshadowed by wealthier adjacent cities. Both have Top 20 prestigious universities within 5 miles of their downtowns (Berkely and Hopkins)
Santa Barbara = Burlington Vermont
Good (but not top 20) university. Mountains. Water. Liberal. Wealthy. Small-ish city
Inland Empire = Phoenix
I need more time to think about Sacramento, LA, and Orange County.
Sacramento is the Capital of a "country"(40 million population), not some small small state. Headquarters for the many government departments/agencies. These gov't Departments/Agencies are like small/medium sized non-public companies, each with their own culture and politics.
Both Washington and Sacramento are real gov't towns, and there are a lot of benefits to being a gov't. town.
At the top 10%, there are some very very high salaried positions. At the mid-manager level and upper analyst level there are some very very comfortable salaried positions. The days of the drone low level gov't clerk are few and far in Sacramento-you need an education and/or tech skills. The percent of Tech in Gov't has increased dramatically from years ago. Gov't pensions.
The lobbyists, journalists, media, politicians and all their staff have always had a cultural influence on Sacramento and Washington DC.
The Potomac and the Sacramento River, both connect to the ocean through large bays/ports. Riverfront real estate.
Extremely evocative natural setting, marine oriented, beachy, golfy, artsy, small town feel, lots of tourists from all over the world, both really unlike anywhere else in the country but they share these hard-to-equal similarities.
Extremely evocative natural setting, marine oriented, beachy, golfy, artsy, small town feel, lots of tourists from all over the world, both really unlike anywhere else in the country but they share these hard-to-equal similarities.
Wow, Maui didn't occur to me but that's a great comparison.
Seattle feels nothing like San Francisco. They both have hills and both are on the Pacific. That’s about it.
SF feels way more historic and picturesque in a charming way. Seattle can be picturesque but not really in terms of its architecture or layout or charm, just the natural scenery it inherited.
On a metro level they are even more different. Bay Area is way more decentralized, more of an agglomeration of several different areas. Seattle does anchor its metro better, though it also has a distinct north and south area.
Seattle feels nothing like San Francisco. They both have hills and both are on the Pacific. That’s about it.
SF feels way more historic and picturesque in a charming way. Seattle can be picturesque but not really in terms of its architecture or layout or charm, just the natural scenery it inherited.
Yeah, I'm not seeing the parallels between SF and Seattle. SF has the architecture, rich history, charming streets, and cultural heritage that Seattle lacks. I think Boston is a better parallel for SF.
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