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Excellent first post!! Well stated argument. I am proud to give you your first rep point. Hope to see more!
Interesting that the further south you go, the more planned the cities are. As they are also newer. Boston->Philly->DC.
NYC could potentially fit in there too but it is more/less planned than Philly?
Why thank you.
One could argue that NYC does in fact fall in this trend, despite in fact being older than Boston by a decade (thank the Dutch for that), but confined to what is now Chambers Street, with the 1811 Commissioner's Plan being the first codified instance of the city's now famous grid plan. As Penn's plan was put into place in the late 1600s and L'Enfant's plan being generally accepted at the end of the 1700s but only finished in 1901, the chronology does in fact work (NYC/Boston die due to the former's mix - Philly - DC).
Logic would suggest that Boston and Philly which both have well populated downtowns would have the better nightlife scene than Washington which is dominated by the office space and museums that you mentioned.Regardless they are all great cities, Philadlephia being the biggest also has the most baggage to carry along which unfortunately tarnishes its image much moreso than DC and Boston.
I havent spent much time in DC or Boston but Travel & Leisure Magazine wrote that Center City Philadelphia has the best night life on the east coast after Midtown Manhattan and South Beach.Whether thats true or not? Who knows.
Philly + Bostons nightlife is incredibly diverse though running the gamet from cosmopolitan,dance clubs,theater,arts,small concert venues,belgian/irish/german/english pubs ,college hangouts,hipster havens,hip hop, and local dive bars.
I get the impression from this post as well as past posts that you view Philly as being overrun with corner bars filled with locals pounding down Bud Lights and listening to the juke box all night.Thats just not the case.
Im not sure where you are hanging out when you are in Philly but there is lot more to it than just being a "bar city".
where the hell is that resturant with the blue lights?
700 block of chestnut actually. Haha I just know cause it's my gf's fave and when go there we just head straight up seventh through the park and it's right on that block of chesnut above washington square.
700 block of chestnut actually. Haha I just know cause it's my gf's fave and when go there we just head straight up seventh through the park and it's right on that block of chesnut above washington square.
Gotta check it out. Love Philly's resturant scene, it's awesome.
Gotta check it out. Love Philly's resturant scene, it's awesome.
if you haven't been there you should def make a point to check it out. personally although it's great I'm personally a little tired of the place, it's been pretty stagnant for a while now. Honestly though why change something when it's so great? I think the real problem is my gf just like to dine there too often. Personally I'd much rather explore a new place than go to a place i know is good over and over again.
We got reservations on friday night for Talula's Garden and we're very excited, i've heard good things, it opened just a little while ago... I just hope the weather is nice as we really want to sit outside in the garden.
if you haven't been there you should def make a point to check it out. personally although it's great I'm personally a little tired of the place, it's been pretty stagnant for a while now. Honestly though why change something when it's so great? I think the real problem is my gf just like to dine there too often. Personally I'd much rather explore a new place than go to a place i know is good over and over again.
We got reservations on friday night for Talula's Garden and we're very excited, i've heard good things, it opened just a little while ago... I just hope the weather is nice as we really want to sit outside in the garden.
if you haven't been there you should def make a point to check it out. personally although it's great I'm personally a little tired of the place, it's been pretty stagnant for a while now. Honestly though why change something when it's so great? I think the real problem is my gf just like to dine there too often. Personally I'd much rather explore a new place than go to a place i know is good over and over again.
We got reservations on friday night for Talula's Garden and we're very excited, i've heard good things, it opened just a little while ago... I just hope the weather is nice as we really want to sit outside in the garden.
Tululas is great - the garden space by the bar is very chill and the food was great - enjoy
I'll say this: you can't really go wrong with central Philly, Boston or DC. The east coast is really blessed with an abundance of cities with thriving, enjoyable urban cores. It's one of things I enjoy most about living on this side of the continent.
I think part of the problem with this thread, especially in regards to DC, is that it doesn't take into account the history of the city. Going southward, the cities become more and more planned. Boston is truly organic, while Philadelphia was originally planned but not adhered to strictly, and DC's plan was fulfilled (and in fact exceeded quite considerably). Even further, DC has always had a commercial/residential separation; Pennsylvania Avenue has always been the commercial and government centre, while Massachusetts Avenue was residential in nature, with some of the most beautiful architecture in the country. The problem here lies in the fact that Massachusetts Avenue is the accepted northern boundary of downtown (which would make most of Dupont technically downtown, and that's one great neighbourhood).
From a planning perspective, DC yet again is ranked lower than it should be. Because of the height restriction, there's only so much volume that downtown can handle, and DC fell prey to the concrete disasters of the 60s and 70s, as did every city in the country (including Philly, Boston, and even NYC). An unintended, but perhaps unique and interesting, side-effect of the restriction is that it forces development outwards, making DC what I term an "inverse city," that is, it's the only one in the US where areas outside of downtown are livelier. If you've ever been to Georgetown, Columbia Heights, U Street, Adams Morgan, and even Arlington you'd see that instantly.
At a transportation level, the three are relatively equal, although the Washington Metro is far more utilised than SEPTA or the T (rapid transit only on both), partly because it acts as commuter rail but also urban rail. Around a third of DC households live without a car, the second highest rate of any major city outside of NYC. In turn, this means that much of the District is pedestrian in nature, and trips to most established neighbourhoods display this trend.
Even more, DC is still under construction. While Philly and Boston have the occasional new skyscraper, they've been essentially built out. Much of the DC area is rapidly transforming, with the newest areas being NoMa and the about-to-be-rebuilt Crystal City. There is still room to grow, with the District alone gaining 100,000 people in around 30 years. Gentrification is also happening at a rapid rate, with Shaw and other formerly run-down areas becoming meccas for the more artistic and bohemian crowd.
My point here is that it's unfair to compare downtowns when some cities, in this case DC, are purposefully decentralised. Do we consider Paris, whose core is massive but spread out, to have a livelier "downtown" when in reality it has none? What kind of precedent do we set if we don't compare cities as a whole? I am admittedly biased towards DC over Philly and Boston, not to say that the latter two are bad, but I think the former has an incredible amount of potential that's only beginning to be tapped. It is incredibly liveable, vibrant, diverse, and cosmopolitan, with a unique European flair that no other American city, even New York, can muster. In two decades or so, DC will be completely different, and in a good way.
The thing is though there is something to be said for a city that has so much vibrancy, people, businesses, etc all in one place! Washington has some great neighborhoods but the ability to have diner in center city, then walk to old city to go to a bar, then up to northern liberties to an after hours club. It's all right there, and all very walkable. While walking around to all those different locales in DC that you listed would be impossible. Not to mention it's not as though boston and philly only have stuff downtown, they have vibrant outer neighborhoods as well, it's not like dc is the only city that can make that claim.
Comparing downtowns is a valid and useful exercise and a lot of dc boosters do attempt to say that DC has a downtown that competes with philly and boston. Having a great walkable downtown is a huge plus. That being said it isn't exactly crucial to having a great city and DC is proof of that. So while there are more things to judge a city by then it's downtown, a downtown is certainly something worth judging.
also in regards to the bolded text, i often wonder what these cities would be like today if nothing was built during this time period. obviously some gems would be gone... but those would be few and far between. truly an awful era as far as construction went. and it wasn't just buildings, poorly placed and planed highways as well. i would say that since it was the 60s and 70s all the architects and city planers must have been high but if that was the case you would think the buildings they built would at least be interesting looking.
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