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I think Seattle is quite a bit different than the other two. It's much more built up due to it's being wedged between the ocean and mountains. Minneapolis and Denver have an absurd amount of urban sprawl.
I do think there are some real similarities in how the urban core feels, but I see Minneapolis and Denver as siblings or first cousins, with Seattle being some kind of more distant relative.
Denver sits on the west edge of the prairie as it slams into the mountains, Minneapolis sits on the east edge of the prairie as it slams into the great forests, and the flatness of both locations renders the cities a look and feel that Seattle is simply wildly different from.
While Seattle may be a bit more urban, it still has a ton of urban sprawl.
Flatness of both locations only works if we're talking about city limits, you can still see mountains from downtown. It's more of a mix between Seattle being hilly with mountain and water views, Denver being flat with mountain views, and Minneapolis being flat with water views.
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Originally Posted by mhays25
Portland fills most of those boxes, but it's far different climatically, has ocean-going ships, and feels culturally different from the other two--more hard-progressive vs pragmatic liberal (related to that Midwestern moderation thing), and not surrounded by Plains-type agriculture. Its greater downtown area is my favorite of the trio (last visit was pre-Covid) but on a smaller scale.
All 3 of the cities are different climatically if we go that route. The idea isn't to match these cities up perfectly. Minneapolis doesn't have mountains, receives more rain, and doesn't even have a dry season.
I hear pragmatic liberal and think older, conservative democrats, not progressive types and that's incorrect in my experience. Portland may be more left leaning but Denver isn't quite the old union supporting northeastern conservative democrats. If that's not what you meant then I apologize. Denver also isn't surrounded by plains type agriculture. The plains out east have livestock mostly. More of a ranchy vibe than a farm vibe.
In the metro area, absolutely. Less in the city. But Denver isn't particularly a colder version of Houston, either. If it weren't for the annexation for DIA, there would be far less sprawl.
Snohomish County I would describe as Seattle sprawl. The population has doubled in the last 35 years and there’s all rapidly developing bedroom communities that are 30+ miles away from Seattle.
Seattle has a lot of sprawl from before the Growth Management Act in the 90s. It's dramatically slowed since.
For Denver I mean progressivism doesn't go as far as Portland.
Probably so, but in 2020, during the protests, Denver definitely felt pretty similar if not the exact same. I'm not sure how to measure that though.
As of 2020 the Denver DSA chapter only had 1,000 members, I'd assume Portland was decently larger but I didn't find any membership totals on the website. It may not be vastly different from Minneapolis' chapter but I'd assume it's larger than any other similarly sized metro in the Midwest.
I've been to Denver three different times... I like it a lot but it doesn't feel like the coasts. You can definitely tell you're still in the Midwest...
I've been to Denver three different times... I like it a lot but it doesn't feel like the coasts. You can definitely tell you're still in the Midwest...
All you had to do is say you had a few layovers at DEN friend.
I think Denver is more like Minneapolis than it is like any West Coast city.
It's really kind of it's own thing though.
I agree, Minneapolis is very comparable to Denver, but Minnesota is nothing like Colorado.
If anything, Colorado has far more in common with California in terms of history and cultural identity.
Both states were under Spanish colonization, both states are part of the inter-mountain west, both states were accelerated into statehood by a gold rush, both states utilize the Colorado river and on and on.
It's hard to de-couple the city from the state. Colorado is a western state, and by extension Denver is considered a western city regardless of whether it sits on the Great Plains.
I answered West Coast in the poll.
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