American Cities: the ten places test (move, beaches, train)

[edsg25]

How many American cities can pass the "Ten Places Test"? The answer is: precious few.

And what exactly is the "Ten Places Test"? Glad you asked. For any given city, locate ten places that if you showed them to most people, they would recognize the city in question. And they would recognize it for what is right in front of them.....even without the background that might, for example, show the city's skyline.

I'll give an example: San Francisco. SF easily passes the ten places test:

01 Golden Gate Bridge
02 Palace of Fine Arts
03 Lombard Street
04 Fisherman's Wharf
05 Pier 39
06 cable car
07 Transamerica Pyramid
08 Chinatown
09 Alcatraz
10 Painted ladies (victorians) of Alamo Square

I think all ten that I listed would stand up as being eminently recognizable. To me, SF easily passes the test. Every one of the ten above, IMHO, is iconic and people would know where it is.

Take any city of your choosing and put it through the ten places test to see if it stands up.

[That_One_Guy]

Great thread idea
I agree with your list, I knew all of those places in SF easily! As I was reading your list I could even picture each one in my mind clearly.

I’ll do one for my city, New York. Another easy one:

1. Statue of Liberty
2. Empire State Building
3. Times Square
4. World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial
5. Ellis Island
6. Brooklyn Bridge
7. Central Park
8. NYSE/Wall Street
9. Grand Central
10. Rockefeller Center

Honorable mentions: Chrysler building, Coney Island, Manhattan Bridge/DUMBO, Penn Station/MSG, Flatiron building, Washington Square Park, United Nations....

Honestly I could just keep going lol. NY is another rly obvious one. This thread should get more interesting later on though.

[Koji7]

Originally Posted by That_One_Guy

Great thread idea
I agree with your list, I knew all of those places in SF easily! As I was reading your list I could even picture each one in my mind clearly.

I’ll do one for my city, New York. Another easy one:

1. Statue of Liberty
2. Empire State Building
3. Times Square
4. World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial
5. Ellis Island
6. Brooklyn Bridge
7. Central Park
8. NYSE/Wall Street
9. Grand Central
10. Rockefeller Center

Honorable mentions: Chrysler building, Coney Island, Manhattan Bridge/DUMBO, Penn Station/MSG, Flatiron building, Washington Square Park, United Nations....

Honestly I could just keep going lol. NY is another rly obvious one. It should get more interesting later on though.

Yea so many, Broadway, Chinatown(s) Little Italy, SI Ferry, GWB, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, Hell’s Kitchen, Hudson Yards, High Line, UES, UWS, LES...

[fezzador]

Chicago is another easy one.



1) Sears Tower
2) Michigan Avenue
3) Wrigley Field
4) Comiskey Park
5) Soldier Field
6) Naval Station Great Lakes
7) Navy Pier
8) Art Institute of Chicago
9) Chicago Water Tower
10) Field Museum of Natural History

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by fezzador

Chicago is another easy one.



1) Sears Tower
2) Michigan Avenue
3) Wrigley Field
4) Comiskey Park
5) Soldier Field
6) Naval Station Great Lakes
7) Navy Pier
8) Art Institute of Chicago
9) Chicago Water Tower
10) Field Museum of Natural History

Local guy here.....I'd have to remove Comiskey and Great Lakes and replace with Wrigley Building and Loop el

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by That_One_Guy

Great thread idea
I agree with your list, I knew all of those places in SF easily! As I was reading your list I could even picture each one in my mind clearly.

I’ll do one for my city, New York. Another easy one:

1. Statue of Liberty
2. Empire State Building
3. Times Square
4. World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial
5. Ellis Island
6. Brooklyn Bridge
7. Central Park
8. NYSE/Wall Street
9. Grand Central
10. Rockefeller Center

Honorable mentions: Chrysler building, Coney Island, Manhattan Bridge/DUMBO, Penn Station/MSG, Flatiron building, Washington Square Park, United Nations....

Honestly I could just keep going lol. NY is another rly obvious one. This thread should get more interesting later on though.

when we hit Wichita, most definitely

[That_One_Guy]

Originally Posted by edsg25

Local guy here.....I'd have to remove Comiskey and Great Lakes and replace with Wrigley Building and Loop el

Yeah, I wasn’t familiar with those to be honest. As a non-local, some other Chicago ones that came to my mind were the bean, Lake Shore Drive, and the beaches on Lake Michigan.

Originally Posted by edsg25

when we hit Wichita, most definitely

Haha yeah that’s exactly what I’m saying. Once we get the obvious ones out of the way like NY/SF/LA/DC/CHI etc. I’m curious to see how far we can go with this.

[That_One_Guy]

Originally Posted by Koji7

Yea so many, Broadway, Chinatown(s) Little Italy, SI Ferry, GWB, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, Hell’s Kitchen, Hudson Yards, High Line, UES, UWS, LES...

Just for fun/a little bit more of a challenge, plus also because I’m having a really slow day at work I decided to see if I could do one for the outer boroughs:

1. Coney Island
2. Yankee Stadium
3. Brooklyn Bridge/Brooklyn Bridge Park
4. Manhattan Bridge/DUMBO
5. Staten Island Ferry
6. Bronx Zoo
7. Rikers Island
8. Citi Field
9. Long Island City/Gentry Plaza State Park (Bonus: Five points too if it were still around )
10. World’s fair unisphere/Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Honorable mentions: Barclays Center, Verrazano Bridge, Queensboro Bridge, 7 train in Queens, el’s in The Bronx, Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Brownstones, Bronx tenements, JFK, and the fake, non-existent location in Brooklyn that is used as a backdrop for Liberty Mutual commercials (jk)

[Frustratedintelligence]

Originally Posted by edsg25

How many American cities can pass the "Ten Places Test"? The answer is: precious few.

And what exactly is the "Ten Places Test"? Glad you asked. For any given city, locate ten places that if you showed them to most people, they would recognize the city in question. And they would recognize it for what is right in front of them.....even without the background that might, for example, show the city's skyline.

I'll give an example: San Francisco. SF easily passes the ten places test:

01 Golden Gate Bridge
02 Palace of Fine Arts
03 Lombard Street
04 Fisherman's Wharf
05 Pier 39
06 cable car
07 Transamerica Pyramid
08 Chinatown
09 Alcatraz
10 Painted ladies (victorians) of Alamo Square

The average person is not likely to be able to tell you where those things are located unless you showed them the GG bridge and the cable car as part of the group. I've never even heard of Pier 39 and certainly couldn't tell you where it is. This is another one of those topics where people confuse the average City Data member with the average person in general.

IMO there are only two cities with multiple points of interest that are instantly recognizable on their own: NY and LA

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Frustratedintelligence

The average person is not likely to be able to tell you where those things are located unless you showed them the GG bridge and the cable car as part of the group. I've never even heard of Pier 39 and certainly couldn't tell you where it is. This is another one of those topics where people confuse the average City Data member with the average person in general.

IMO there are only two cities with multiple points of interest that are instantly recognizable on their own: NY and LA

I think that the GGB would be recognizable anywhere with nothing surrounding it. Simply a model of the Golden Gate would tell you where it is. Same would be true for an SF cable car. Both unmistakable. Pier 39 is the most popular tourist attraction in NorCal and second statewide to Disneyland. Yes, it is extremely recognizable.

As for the givens for cities that will undoubtedly be on the list, I'd agree with NY and LA and also add DC.