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Naperville, with the exception of a few neighborhoods off of downtown, is wayyyy too cookie cutter to be added to this conversation for my taste. It's much more like a Dallas suburb than it is a beautiful Chicago suburb.
Hinsdale, on the other hand.. Very very nice.
Sure, there are many neighborhoods in Naperville that are "cookie cutter", but nearly EVERY suburb has those. The rest of Naperville I would not consider cookie cutter. Like your beloved Hinsdale, its full of old homes, new mega mansions (part of the teardown craze that both Hinsdale and Naperville suffer from), a thriving downtown, beautiful parks. Where Naperville wins is the festivals and schools category. I don't see how anyone could dislike Naperville, really. IMO, its an absolutely ideal suburb.
Tell me why Buckhead is better then Tysons Corner rather then just being you're usual dramatic self....
Tyson's Corner more directly compares to Atlanta's edge cities of Perimeter Center (Dunwoody or Sandy Springs) or Cumberland (Smyrna/Vinings/East Cobb) than Buckhead.
Very few of the mansions of Atlanta's Druid Hills, Buckhead (which is really more of Atlanta's uptown district with MANY neighborhoods including mega elite Tuxedo Park and Haynes Manor.), and Historic Brookhaven communities could be said to be "cookie cutter". All three of these communities are full of historic/ vintage mansions from post World War I through the 1920's and into the early 1930's. I know that many of Philadelphia's elite residences may be older (Atlanta did not exist in colonial times of course and "Old Atlanta" was burned down 150 years ago by a gentleman named Sherman). We are not talking about the "McMansions"of East Cobb or North Fulton (stereotypical upper middle class North Atlanta suburbs) or Peachtree City (Metro Atlanta's upper income "airport" suburb on the south side). These are Atlanta's elite "Old Money" communities inside, and sometimes straggling, the Atlanta city limits.
If you have ever seen Driving Miss Daisy, it was exclusively filmed on Lullwater Road in the City of Atlanta end of Druid Hills. The Druid Hills neighborhood was designed and laid out by Olmstead who designed New York's Central Park. The neighborhood's main drag is Ponce de Leon Avenue which begins near where it crosses Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta and is the gateway to many sought after northeastern Atlanta neighborhoods. "Ponce", as we refer to it locally, has many beautiful linear parks which look even more exquisite each April when the azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom (again see the opening scene to Driving Miss Daisy)
Buckhead (particularly the west of Peachtree Street/ Road mansion district) has gorgeous winding, tree shaded streets with lot acreage so large, it is difficult to believe that you are actually near the heart of a major city. There are even streams little winding through the Hambersham/ Valley Road area with little driveway bridges and ivy covered hills to the point that there are times when one feels as if he or she is in the North Georgia mountains. not less than a mile from bustling Peachtree!
Historic Brookhaven is one of the first (if not the first) golf club communities with homes built directly on the golf course. It started back in the 1920's when the Capital City Club decided to build their new golf course north of the city in unincorporated Fulton County.
I am not saying that these communities are the "best" residential areas in America, but I do think that they would be included on any "top" list is terms of affluence, architecture, and physical environment, AND NONE of these communities could remotely be called "cookie-cutter"!
Well said. I guess the OP's refusal to note these areas.... they aren't true separate suburbs. When they developed a century ago, Atlanta wasn't anywhere near the size and scope of the northeastern cities so these new suburbs developed closer into the core and in this day are now part of the city proper.... well all or in part.
I personally say Druid Hills is truly the more interesting from a historical perspective than Buckhead with the linear parks and Olmstead influence. Buckhead is a mix of the old and almost rural with the gleaming and shiny new. Buckhead's skyline alone is more interesting than many prominent cities in the country.
Sure, there are many neighborhoods in Naperville that are "cookie cutter", but nearly EVERY suburb has those. The rest of Naperville I would not consider cookie cutter. Like your beloved Hinsdale, its full of old homes, new mega mansions (part of the teardown craze that both Hinsdale and Naperville suffer from), a thriving downtown, beautiful parks. Where Naperville wins is the festivals and schools category. I don't see how anyone could dislike Naperville, really. IMO, its an absolutely ideal suburb.
I mean, it's all opinion based. But there are a lot of suburbs, and certainly the ones I'll cast a vote for, that don't have cookie cutter neighborhoods. And if they do, they're a one-off exception. BUT there are advantages to neighborhoods like those, so I'll concede on preference.
But in your opinion, is Naperville nicer than Wilmette? Winnetka? La Grange? Northfield? Park Ridge? Barrington? For me, I prefer a good number of Illinois suburbs before I'd even think of Naperville, let alone suburbs around the US.
I think Detroit may have the nicest collection of suburbs in the US. Why? Extreme variety. Everything you can imagine there is a suburb that offers it except obviously mountains or ocean, (but Beaches and ski hills there are). Lot so other places have nicer individual suburbs or even nicer overall, but they are very much the same. No place I know of has this much variety.
I think Detroit may have the nicest collection of suburbs in the US. Why? Extreme variety. Everything you can imagine there is a suburb that offers it except obviously mountains or ocean, (but Beaches and ski hills there are). Lot so other places have nicer individual suburbs or even nicer overall, but they are very much the same. No place I know of has this much variety.
I put Detroit suburbs up there. Top 10 IMO.
Nicest is quite the stretch. Chasing NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicagoland by a considerable margin. Cleveland, Detroit, and a few others would follow.
I think Detroit may have the nicest collection of suburbs in the US. Why? Extreme variety. Everything you can imagine there is a suburb that offers it except obviously mountains or ocean, (but Beaches and ski hills there are). Lot so other places have nicer individual suburbs or even nicer overall, but they are very much the same. No place I know of has this much variety.
Sure, Detroit has great suburbs, but they are not as nice or historic as New York’s.
Btw, I agree with the poster who mentioned Wellesley MA. It’s a wonderful community with great schools and an easy commute to Boston. Chestnut Hill is fantastic too, although it is more crowded than Wellesley or Sudbury.
Tyson's Corner more directly compares to Atlanta's edge cities of Perimeter Center (Dunwoody or Sandy Springs) or Cumberland (Smyrna/Vinings/East Cobb) than Buckhead.
Tysons Corner is massive and home to Intelsat, Gannett, Hilton Worldwide, Cvent, Freddie Mac, Capital One and Booz Allen Hamilton to name a few. Tysons Corner Mall is a top 10 mall in the country and also generates nearly 50% more in sales compared to Lenox and does not compare to a mall like Perimeter, its where the first Apple store ever opened. Tysons Corner also has twice the density of Buckhead, is more diverse and has a much lower crime rate. Either way they're both sprawled out messes of skyscrapers next to strip malls next to expensive large homes which was my original point.
It's amazing how homerism blinds some folks as JMatl said that Tysons Corner doesnt meet Buckhead on any single metric..
Tysons Corner is massive and home to Intelsat, Gannett, Hilton Worldwide, Cvent, Freddie Mac, Capital One and Booz Allen Hamilton to name a few. Tysons Corner Mall is a top 10 mall in the country and also generates nearly 50% more in sales compared to Lenox and does not compare to a mall like Perimeter, its where the first Apple store ever opened. Tysons Corner also has twice the density of Buckhead, is more diverse and has a much lower crime rate. Either way they're both sprawled out messes of skyscrapers next to strip malls next to expensive large homes which was my original point.
It's amazing how homerism blinds some folks as JMatl said that Tysons Corner doesnt meet Buckhead on any single metric..
Tysons doesn't have the caliber of luxury Hotels that Buckhead does, and Lenox & Phipps combined is equal to Tysons and the Galleria. Buckheads estate neighborhoods totally blow anything in NoVa out of the water, especially the bland suburban homes surrounding Tysons.
You're being the big homer here, not me. Buckhead is our premiere district, but of course you have to find a way to dismiss it as 'nothing special.'
It sounds as if you are only familiar withe the areas around the malls. If so, then your opinion means nothing as you are not even qualified to have one.
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