European Feel (Portland, Oxford, Charleston: live, restaurants, shops)

[BadJuju]

From the pictures I have seen of Portland, it seems to have more of a European feel than most American cities. Would you guys say this is the case?

[elston]

I never felt that....Portland seemed like a small New England city with its brick buildings and wooden tenement districts.....there is a lot of nice architecture (but American styles)....Boston has a feeling of Dicken's London in some of it older commercial districts; New Orleans definitely has a European feel.....and I am told Savannah does too....even Charleston SC perhaps....but not Portland. It is a lovely American small city. (It does have cobblestones and little alleys and boutique shops.....but I never felt it was like Europe.....more old time New England city.

[BadJuju]

Ah, good reply, sir. I suppose that is true. I wish more cities were built like it.

[Brodels]

Agreed. It is a quintessentially northeastern seaside city. Touristy and cute in the old port.

[Mark S.]

Granted, there are many cities I have never visited, but the ONLY city in North American I have ever been to that I thought felt distinctly European was Victoria, British Columbia, which I suspect is even more British than Britain. Unless the British really do put pictures of the Queen in public restrooms.

[JoulesMSU]

If you are looking for a European feel near Maine, head up to Quebec City.

[NYisontop]

Quebec has a European feel. New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston do not. New Orleans has the French Quarter and Savannah has colonial tree-lined cobble streets, but I wouldn't say they feel very European. Charleston feels distinctively colonial and charming, but I wouldn't know of a European city to compare it too, while I can think of American ones. Quebec is winding and narrow cobble streets, plastered shops and cafes all atop a cliff (or clinging to it) within a walled fortress - as European as any city in North America gets.

Portland is a pretty little New England town - lively and compact on some nights, though it feels very dead after six on other evenings if nothing is going on that night. Not so European I think. Boston or New Haven have a little bit more of a European association of all the New England towns/cities, if only New Haven because of the Green environ and Yale's stonework harkening to Oxford and Boston's undisturbed North-end and areas around Boston Common.

[birdinmigration]

I think Portland is a little European, but not what most people think of "Europe", as in cute street cafes and embellishments. Portland is like working port cities in other parts of the US and the world -- some borough areas of NYC, Norfolk VA and Annapolis MD, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre, etc.

[Josharper]

Having been born in England and relocated to portland, moved around the states a bit more, and then ended up back in portland, I would say no. Portland is and always has been a New England fishing port, with a small bustling city behind it. The key elements (IMO) that stop it from feeling more European are factor such as it is very spread out, there is always space between buildings, so the city's design feel as if that was taken advantage if, rather than having to always build up, it built out. Also the way portland sits on the the hills it was built on help to give the city a certain feel/flow that many euro city's don't have on flatter/level ground. The buildings are brick and stone and some sections of street are cobble-stone, which helps, but the city sleeps after 8 on every week night, not much going on, where euro cities always seem to have something happening. The number of diverse and independent, local-owned cafes, restaurants, and shops help give a slight sidewalk-cafe feel, but it varies widely block-to-block or even street-to-street in portland.

[IHeartMaine]

Compared to many other U.S. cities.........some parts have a "European feel" in a generic sense of the definition (old brick buildings, outdoor cafes, lots of foot traffic, small footprint, etc.) Like it or not........that's what people see when they visit Portland.