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Vallejo is not like SF. Matter fact the 3 principal cities that make up the Bay are completely different from one another. You can't confuse San Francisco with Oakland or Oakland with San Jose. Than you have counties with their own vibe as well that make up the entirety of the Bay Area. Napa Valley is unique to the region. In Marin County alone you got Muir Woods, Sausalito, Stinson Beach,etc. Than of course you got Silicon Valley. Yeah I'm going with the Bay Area.
I’m finding really hard to find how outside geographics, the Bay Area’s 3 principle cities are more culturally & demographically distinct from each other than DC & Baltimore are from each other. The Bay Area still feels like part of one one giant symbiotic region despite each city having its own relatively identity.
DC & Baltimore feel like two giant cities that were accidentally plopped way to close to one another and we’re forced to “get along”
I’m finding really hard to find how outside geographics, the Bay Area’s 3 principle cities are more culturally & demographically distinct from each other than DC & Baltimore are from each other. The Bay Area still feels like part of one one giant symbiotic region despite each city having its own relatively identity.
DC & Baltimore feel like two giant cities that were accidentally plopped way to close to one another and we’re forced to “get along”
Bay Area by far, geographic diversity and temp diversity in one region. Parts of the Bay Area look like SoCal with palm trees everywhere while others look more like deep NorCal with redwoods everywhere. Many suburbs have their own little downtowns with unique restaurants/bars and very different layouts depending on the geography. Being on the ocean and Bay also helps a lot.
DC has very bland suburbs. Reston Town Center is seen as some mecca but it's really a privately owned mall without a roof. While the western side of the region is more hilly being within the Piedmont, the developments in Ashburn looks the same as those in Woodbridge. The brickface house with three sides of vinyl is prevalent throughout metro Washington. It's not a great look, and homes from the 70s and 80s can look worn out, even in wealthy areas like McLean, Bethesda, and Oakton. 40-50 year old homes in the Bay Area don't look as dated and the materials are much sturdier, some of this could be due to quake threats.
DC has an interesting transition from North to South. The line has moved over the years, but it can be interesting to see how things transition quickly driving from out of Fauquier County into Culpeper, or south on 95 past Fredericksburg. It's also interesting how working class Baltimore transitions into upper middle class DC suburbs. Baltimore and DC have little in common, while San Jose has a similar tech economy to San Francisco. One reason why the Bay is one media market while DC and Baltimore are two.
Baltimore suburbs are much like DC's, bland brickface homes with vinyl siding and lots of poorly built, thin walled townhouses. Baltimore adds low-middle class, less educated white areas like Glen Burnie and Dundalk. Don't really have equivalents to those places around Washington.
Bay Area by far, geographic diversity and temp diversity in one region. Parts of the Bay Area look like SoCal with palm trees everywhere while others look more like deep NorCal with redwoods everywhere. Many suburbs have their own little downtowns with unique restaurants/bars and very different layouts depending on the geography. Being on the ocean and Bay also helps a lot.
DC has very bland suburbs. Reston Town Center is seen as some mecca but it's really a privately owned mall without a roof. While the western side of the region is more hilly being within the Piedmont, the developments in Ashburn looks the same as those in Woodbridge. The brickface house with three sides of vinyl is prevalent throughout metro Washington. It's not a great look, and homes from the 70s and 80s can look worn out, even in wealthy areas like McLean, Bethesda, and Oakton. 40-50 year old homes in the Bay Area don't look as dated and the materials are much sturdier, some of this could be due to quake threats.
DC has an interesting transition from North to South. The line has moved over the years, but it can be interesting to see how things transition quickly driving from out of Fauquier County into Culpeper, or south on 95 past Fredericksburg. It's also interesting how working class Baltimore transitions into upper middle class DC suburbs. Baltimore and DC have little in common, while San Jose has a similar tech economy to San Francisco. One reason why the Bay is one media market while DC and Baltimore are two.
Baltimore suburbs are much like DC's, bland brickface homes with vinyl siding and lots of poorly built, thin walled townhouses. Baltimore adds low-middle class, less educated white areas like Glen Burnie and Dundalk. Don't really have equivalents to those places around Washington.
Agree totally. That’s why I had to call out the OP’s comment on the first page. DC’s suburbs are some of the blandest of any major city. Driving down the Rockville Pike corridor is depressing with all the rundown strip malls and 90’s/early 2000’s office parks. Yuck!!! Mixed in with all those vinyl side housing throughout. Then PG is a carbon copy of that, only bigger and more ubiquitous with additional problems. Overall the MD DC suburbs feel very tacky. The Virginia side is a lot better than the MD side but still not overly special or interesting. There is more nature there farther west.
He then said that he’s going by CSA, which wasn’t clear because he was specifically mentioning “Chicago’s” suburbs and “Chicagoland,” which is not a “CSA” designation.
Although for this thread, now that people mention the nature aspect, I would probably give it to the Bay Area CSA, even though I’m not super familiar with their suburbs. Berkeley was really nice and I really enjoyed San Jose. You can’t beat the nature in that region.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlotte485
I chose the Bay Area.
It feels like a singular place but with distinctions, etc whereas DC & Baltimore just feel like 2 independent areas that don’t really interact anymore than does with say Richmond, VA.
You don’t associate Baltimore with DC like you do with the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, San Jose and Oakland is just over a bridge.
I think your entire post just made the case for DC-Baltimore area then...
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheseGoTo11
DC has very bland suburbs. Reston Town Center is seen as some mecca but it's really a privately owned mall without a roof. While the western side of the region is more hilly being within the Piedmont, the developments in Ashburn looks the same as those in Woodbridge. The brickface house with three sides of vinyl is prevalent throughout metro Washington. It's not a great look, and homes from the 70s and 80s can look worn out, even in wealthy areas like McLean, Bethesda, and Oakton. 40-50 year old homes in the Bay Area don't look as dated and the materials are much sturdier, some of this could be due to quake threats.
DC has an interesting transition from North to South. The line has moved over the years, but it can be interesting to see how things transition quickly driving from out of Fauquier County into Culpeper, or south on 95 past Fredericksburg. It's also interesting how working class Baltimore transitions into upper middle class DC suburbs. Baltimore and DC have little in common, while San Jose has a similar tech economy to San Francisco. One reason why the Bay is one media market while DC and Baltimore are two.
This as well makes the case of DC-Baltimore being more unique. We all know you hate the DC suburbs, but this thread encompasses the entire CSA region, and no matter what you classify them as, it's a more unique situation across the board. The exurbs also thoughout the DC/ Baltimore area are very nice as you expand outward. So comparing them to those "bland" suburbs in the region really stands out. Harper's Ferry and Columbia are in the same CSA, Annapolis and Tysons, Alexandria and Dundalk, Fredericksburg and Bethesda, and a part of this comparison is also the urban centers within each CSA. DC and Baltimore comparatively are the most unique scenario of dual cities in 1 CSA region. SJ and SF by comparison, or SF and Oakland by comparison, is not as unique or distinct of a difference. Thanks you guys are making my point for me.
The one characteristic I say that makes the Bay Area more unique or diverse across the board is its physical topography. But even that is up for grabs as the DC-Baltimore region stretches from the Chesapeake shores, through your "bland suburbs" you love to speak on, and into two major classically urban EC cities, into the Piedmont hills and expanded to the Blue Ridge mountains on the way to Appalachia region. That is incredibly diverse for one CSA region from end to end.
Last edited by the resident09; 10-09-2021 at 04:58 AM..
On the flip side, DC and the Bay Area are homogenized white collar people from everywhere. Everyone is a transplant. Chicago is more unique culturally because it’s far more home grown.
Haven't been to Chicago but The Baltimore area is a lot more unique than the DC area as the local culture is stronger and there more economic variety. DC area is very diverse but probably not more so than the Bay. And yes most of the Maryland suburbs are crazy reptitive/bland and it's a real drawback on the area. That brings the unique factor down several pegs. Even the places resident listed for juxtaposition I’ve been to most of them, none of them are very memorable nor is it surprising they’re in the same CSA.
I see more difference in multiple CSAs I can think of (Philly, Boston, LA, NYC, the Bay) this is largely due to greater level of difference between state lit cities and suburbs? Tighter distinctions of local towns and higher degree of hyper-ethnic segregation, whereas DC in particular is more integrated but with regions of the MSA segregated qs opposed to specific towns/cities known for certain populations. . The actual biggest contrast is between Baltimore City and anything in Nova or Near Potomac. But that’s kind of classic rough central city/ritzy suburb. The degree is extreme but that dynamic is normal. The transient nature of this area means there's people from everywhere so there's not that much of a local personality. The most unique thing in the DC-Bmore MSA cultural is go-go and the flag.
Topography, and just the vibe of the bay I something I haven't seen elsewhere I spent a couple weeks out there and it was just different . I think a lot of. Has to do with the awesome weather, high Asian population, black history, maritime and agricultural mix…
From what I can gather Chicago is less unique than the DMV/Baltimore area
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