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Two big cities, one in the east and one in the west. Both have a history of liberal politics, provocative musical artists, active lgbtq communities, and counter-culture. However both have struggled with gentrification and corporatization since the turn of the century.
This is a thread to talk about and compare how success has changed the two cities. On one hand, families making under $117,400 in SF are now considered “low income”. On the other, Boston lost its Pride parade and countless gay night clubs.
All things considered, right now which city still most closely maintains the weirdness that it had 20-40 years ago?
You can either focus on the city proper or include the metro area. I just ask if you set an area limit for one that you use the equivalent for the other (e.g. city limits, MSA, CSA, etc).
Maybe it's a younger generation thing but I don't recall anyone ever putting Boston in the same category as San Fran when it comes to being widely known for weird, gay or eccentric.
San Fran has always had a universal rep for gay and eccentric going back to the hippie 60's, Haight-Ashbury and the rest.
Due to its legacy, I'd have to go with San Francisco.
Last edited by BigCity76; 08-16-2022 at 08:56 PM..
Two big cities, one in the east and one in the west. Both have a history of liberal politics, provocative musical artists, active lgbtq communities, and counter-culture. However both have struggled with gentrification and corporatization since the turn of the century.
This is a thread to talk about and compare how success has changed the two cities. On one hand, families making under $117,400 in SF are now considered “low income”. On the other, Boston lost its Pride parade and countless gay night clubs.
All things considered, right now which city still most closely maintains the weirdness that it had 20-40 years ago?
You can either focus on the city proper or include the metro area. I just ask if you set an area limit for one that you use the equivalent for the other (e.g. city limits, MSA, CSA, etc).
I disagree with the premise that Boston is known for counterculture.
Obviously, this is something that exists in all major cities, but its really the domain of all the major cities on the west coast except San Diego, historically.
A more accurate "weirder" comparison would be San Francisco vs Portland or San Francisco vs Austin
Yeah I like to say Portland or just Oregon in general have a weirdness to them, so does Seattle. Oregon has this "angry" vibe about it, almost suicidal kinds of ideas..
Albuquerque has a weird vibe aswell, but it's a different kind of creepy vibe that most isolated desert cities have.
For the sake of the thread, I say San Francisco hands down is weirder than Boston.
Boston is not weird to me. It feels like they're just less PC about the energy they give off.
>>> Obviously, this is something that exists in all major cities, but its really the domain of all the major cities on the west coast except San Diego, historically.
New York, Philly, Providence would like a word among a few others.
>>> Obviously, this is something that exists in all major cities, but its really the domain of all the major cities on the west coast except San Diego, historically.
New York, Philly, Providence would like a word among a few others.
Well, I'm not sure what they would say. There isn't an expression "eastern establishment" for nothing.
Well, I'm not sure what they would say. There isn't an expression "eastern establishment" for nothing.
"Eastern establishment" - That's such a small segment of these cities. Having lived on both coasts for multiple years at a time, I find the east coast weirdness to be way less performative. This notion of the west coast being more weird and chill needs a rethink. Tons of quirky folks back East going about their day without shouting about how "weird" they are - because they just. are. weird.
SF, no question. I'm in the process of moving to the city from the South Bay right now and, although I've visited before, I'm really taking in more holistically now how much weirdness still exists within the city, Twitter and Salesforce be damned.
I went to a Thai restaurant last week that had a literal bathtub in the bathroom, where guests (or more likely, homeless people) could bathe if needed.
A couple nights ago, I randomly struck up a conversation in a (non-gay) bar with a gay man and straight woman, both in their 50s, who have been roommates for years. The woman is married but she and her husband (who, again, doesn't live with her) are open. The guy thinks he's "traditional" because he wants to have kids (in his 50s, as a single parent). They offered me drugs at one point. Again, I was not seeking these kinds of people out, they were just the first people I talked to in a random bar in SF.
Boston is not weird and never was... SF is less weird than it used to be perhaps but it takes this easily.
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