What American cities make you feel like you're in a foreign country? (elementary school, restaurants)

[jread]

Definitely New Orleans for me. I've never been anywhere else that is even remotely like it in the U.S. It just feels so old, dark and Gothic. The food, dialects, music and people are just so different from the rest of the country.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by john_starks

Miami no question (its like all the south american countries & the Caribbean converged in Dade county)

Manhattan has a big international city feel (like London, Paris). the boroughs (especially Queens - Flushing, Jamaica, Jackson Heights) have ethnic neighborhoods of all kinds.

gotta give New Jersey props for having certain sections (Edison has a big Indian, Latino population) as does New Brunswick, Iselin, Highland Park. Fort Lee, Leonia, Palisades Park have a big asian population)

LA has a big hispanic (primarily Mexican) population. SF as well, with a big asian population too.

I'm pretty sure Honolulu has a big mixed asian/native pacific island population.

Originally Posted by radraja

Then San Antonio also feels like a Latin city (but perhaps with more of a Spanish feel, rather than Mexican).

Parts of Chicago feel like Poland (lots of new Polish immigrants there; the greatest number outside of Poland, I believe).

And New Orleans has it's own special French-Carribbean hybrid.

Originally Posted by SuperMario

This is wrong. NYC varies in spots but in the Bronx and upper Manhattan you feel like you're in Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.

There's absolutely almost no Italians around anywhere in the city.

Originally Posted by Chris19

From my experiences, having been in 39 states, I honestly think that New Orleans feels like being in a foreign country due to its architecture, food, landscape, and climate. It feels like a mixture of France and Latin America. French, due to its architcure. The landscape and the subtropical climate is similar to other areas in Latin America. It is a neat city in many aspects and has neat areas rich with history, but unfortunately it has areas that look comparable to a third world country. This was back in 1997.

Originally Posted by JMT

Several people have made comments about the "feel" and architecture of the cities, not the racial background of the residents. DC has many of the same architectural elements of Paris (wide boulevards, mansard roofs, low buildings, classic facades). San Antonio has Mexican elements. New Orleans has French and Spanish elements. Many neighborhoods of Boston look like something you'd see in Dublin or Liverpool.

There's nothing anti-American about recognizing the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of some of our country's older cities.

Well, I wasn't saying there was anything anti-American about the above. I grew up in Pittsburgh, where there were lots of Poles and Italians. However, I dont' think that makes it like Italy or Poland. I have quoted some of the statements where people say a city is like some country b/c of the ethnic groups there. I have been to Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany (NW part) and the cities I saw did not look like anything in the US. I have also been to 42 or 43 states (I keep losing count), and several Canadian provinces, and the Canadian cities of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria. The European cities I saw, specifically Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Cologne, plus some smaller German cities all had a cathedral in the center of town, which was surrounded by businesses and restaurants. There was very little landscaping or greenery. There were also no streets in this central area; everyone was on foot. Most people seem to live in mid-rise apt buildings that are built smack up to the sidewalk, again with no landscaping. In some of the larger cities, these apt buildings take up an entire block. Streets are narrower. It's just different. The Canadian cities looked similar to US cities, except for Montreal, but it didn't look especailly European, either. JMO

[Do a Barrel Roll]

Here's a new one:

Seattle and Minneapolis makes me feel like I'm in Canada.
DC makes me fell like I'm in France
Jackson, Mobile, and Nashville make me feel like I'm in the Confederate States
San Francisco makes me feel like I'm at Woodstock (Seattle and Portland to a lesser extent)
Atlanta makes me feel like I'm in a living rap video
The Northeast makes me feel like I'm in Hell

The topography, people, political climate, and weather all match those places for those respective countries.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Parts of LA (Mexico), SF (China), NYC (who knows what, it isn't America), Miami (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti), Houston (Mexico), San Antonio (Mexico), and I suppose somewhere along the Mexican border, such as McAllen and Mission, Texas.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Everyone's right about New York, it just doesn't feel like America. It doesn't feel like any specific foreign country either its just....different. From anywhere on the planet.

[jessemh431]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Everyone's right about New York, it just doesn't feel like America. It doesn't feel like any specific foreign country either its just....different. From anywhere on the planet.

Exactly what I said! Great minds think alike!

[f1000]

Honolulu & Miami.

[gellio_sf]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

I got this idea from the other thread about foreign cities that feel like American cities, how about cities in America that feel foreign? My picks would be San Francisco (like an Asian city), Seattle (also like an Asian city), NYC (a little European, esp. Italy), Los Angeles (like a Latin city and Asian), San Diego (like a mix of Latin, Australian, Mediterranean, and a little Asian), and Miami (definately like a Latin city).

However, I'm actually not sure if those cities actually feel foreign, because the fact that they are melting pots makes them very American in a sense.

I would agree that San Francisco has a foreign feel, but to me it's European, not Asian. Yes we have a Chinatown, but outside of Chinatown our architecture is more European influenced and not at all Asian influenced. Remember - it was the Spanish/Mexicans whom first settled here. This city definitely reminds me of different places in Europe - there's a part that reminds me of Italy (with the grand civic center buildings), a lot that reminds me of Barcelona, and even one little block of a street that completely reminds me of part of the Ringstrasse in Vienna.

I've lived in Seattle - it does not at all remind me of any foreign city. It's a very typical American city.

[gv0928]

New Orleans! The architecture makes you think you're in the Caribbean, and then the corruption makes you think third world.

[gellio_sf]

Originally Posted by JMT

Several people have made comments about the "feel" and architecture of the cities, not the racial background of the residents. DC has many of the same architectural elements of Paris (wide boulevards, mansard roofs, low buildings, classic facades). San Antonio has Mexican elements. New Orleans has French and Spanish elements. Many neighborhoods of Boston look like something you'd see in Dublin or Liverpool.

There's nothing anti-American about recognizing the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of some of our country's older cities.

Exactly. I had been to Europe many-many times before I ever visited San Francisco. Instantly, upon arriving in the city and seeing the streets/architecture I felt almost as if I was back in Europe. Of course, SF has things that are American too...I'm talking architecture, squares, monuments, feel - that type of thing.

That's the reason I moved here. I have a deep love for Europe and have always felt like I belonged there rather than in the U.S. I felt at home in Europe. I never felt at home in the U.S. until I came to San Francisco.