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As many may already know, San Diego, California has been dubbed "America's finest city" because of wonderful year-round climate, beautiful scenery, and laid-back lifestyle. Although these features are true of San Diego, there many other factors that make a city great place to live.
To simply put it, in order to pass my criteria as "finest city", a city must have at least the following:
-great architecture
-must be pedestrian friendly
-a large body of water that can be enjoyed by all
-good museums
-good public transportation
-a diverse population
-great non-chain resturaunts
-four different seasons
-a good number of cultural events and festivals
-lots of greenery and parks
-a good airport
-at least one professional sports team
...and, fairly decent cost of living.
The city that gets my nomination as "America's Finest" and has all of these qualities is Chicago, Illinois.
Some may agree or disagree with me; that's your choice. This thread is here to find out what Americans, and people from other nations concur as the finest city in America.
That's not really why San Diego was originally called "America's Finest City", it was actually born out of some marketing campaign by the mayor to boost morale after the city lost the Republican National Convention back in the 1970's. It just stuck afterwards, I kind of hate that slogan because it comes off as pretentious.
As many may already know, San Diego, California has been dubbed "America's finest city" because of wonderful year-round climate, beautiful scenery, and laid-back lifestyle. Although these features are true of San Diego, there many other factors that make a city great place to live.
To simply put it, in order to pass my criteria as "finest city", a city must have at least the following:
-great architecture
-must be pedestrian friendly
-a large body of water that can be enjoyed by all
-good museums
-good public transportation
-a diverse population
-great non-chain resturaunts
-four different seasons
-a good number of cultural events and festivals
-lots of greenery and parks
-a good airport
-at least one professional sports team
...and, fairly decent cost of living.
The city that gets my nomination as "America's Finest" and has all of these qualities is Chicago, Illinois.
Some may agree or disagree with me; that's your choice. This thread is here to find out what Americans, and people from other nations concur as the finest city in America.
This criteria might as well apply to all of the Great Lakes cities then.
-great architecture ✔
-must be pedestrian friendly ?
-a large body of water that can be enjoyed by all ?
-good museums ✔
-good public transportation ?
-a diverse population ✔
-great non-chain resturaunts ✔
-four different seasons ✔
-a good number of cultural events and festivals ✔
-lots of greenery and parks ✔
-a good airport ✔
-at least one professional sports team ?
...and, fairly decent cost of living. ✔
It seems like Philadelphia best fits that criteria.
The question marks are what i'm not sure about.
-great architecture ✔
-must be pedestrian friendly ?
-a large body of water that can be enjoyed by all ?
-good museums ✔
-good public transportation ?
-a diverse population ✔
-great non-chain resturaunts ✔
-four different seasons ✔
-a good number of cultural events and festivals ✔
-lots of greenery and parks ✔
-a good airport ✔
-at least one professional sports team ?
...and, fairly decent cost of living. ✔
It seems like Philadelphia best fits that criteria.
The question marks are what i'm not sure about.
You're not sure about having a professional sports team in Philadelphia? I think outside of Denver, they're the only city with a team in 6 top sporting leagues (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA, MLS, and MLL.)
Seattle fits all those criteria too. So does Chicago. However, I characterize the four seasons as being this in Seattle:
5 months of cold drizzle and overcast, followed by
3 months of on-again, off-again nice weather with the first buds of spring
2 months of sunshine and 75 deg, perfect humidity weather
2 months of transition back to cold drizzle
It's very mild weather-wise. Unlike Chicago where 40 mph winds and thunderstorms are commonplace and blazing 95 deg, 100 % humidity occur at least a few times a year. I much prefer Seattle's weather to Chicago's.
-great architecture YUP
-must be pedestrian friendly YUP
-a large body of water that can be enjoyed by all YUP
-good museums YUP
-good public transportation YUP
-a diverse population YUP
-great non-chain resturaunts YUP
-four different seasons YUP
-a good number of cultural events and festivals YUP
-lots of greenery and parks YUP
-a good airport YUP
-at least one professional sports team YUP
...and, fairly decent cost of living. Eh, Not so much.
Boston fit exceedingly well. The only blemish is cost of living which is not decent at all. Unfortunately, that's a big one and can't really be overlooked.
Based on this criteria (which I think is highly subjective, but I would tend to agree with it based on my personal tastes), I would say Chicago fits best. Philadelphia is probably a close second.
Seattle fits all those criteria too. So does Chicago. However, I characterize the four seasons as being this in Seattle:
5 months of cold drizzle and overcast, followed by
3 months of on-again, off-again nice weather with the first buds of spring
2 months of sunshine and 75 deg, perfect humidity weather
2 months of transition back to cold drizzle
It's very mild weather-wise. Unlike Chicago where 40 mph winds and thunderstorms are commonplace and blazing 95 deg, 100 % humidity occur at least a few times a year. I much prefer Seattle's weather to Chicago's.
Seattle's cost of living is high and its public transportation is lacking.
Location: Pittsburgh (via Chicago, via Pittsburgh)
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Chicago and Philly. Chicago beats Philly based off of a few criteria though, including the body of water adjacent to the city as well as public transportation..you could argue cost of living and architecture as well. Boston definitely seems to fit the criteria as well, but its cost of living kind of puts it in 3rd place to me (same for NYC)
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