If money were no object, which major USA downtown would you pick to live?
 

During the past three months, I've traveled to Manhattan, San Francisco, San Jose, Portland, Chicago, and Miami for biz/personal trips.

I've stayed in mid-priced hotels. (Actually, non were cheap as in staying at a Best Western in the 'burbs. :( )

Observations:
Manhatten: Used to love to go here. Now I find it crowded, dirty, and people are rude on the streets, but normal once inside. Least value per sq ft of hotel space of all the cities.
San Fran: Love the Wharf. Expensive, a homeless problem, past its prime?
Portland: Beautiful, had to fight off the homeless on every block as I walked. No sun the entire trip.
San Jose: Energy! Wonderful weather, expensive as hell. Traffic sucked.
Chicago: More I go, the more I fall in love. Clean, not crowded, people are friendly. Saw two panhandlers the entire weekend. Good hotel value.
Miami: Great food, the babes on South Beach were amazing eye candy. It would be too hot in summer. Condos expensive.

So if I had to move from middle of no-where Wisconsin where there are more cows that cars, I would pick downtown Chicago and try to find a condo overseeing a river or Lake Michigan.

What about you?

Leawood Kansas.

Money no object? Manhattan no question.

I can deal with crowds and rudeness. I could waste a decade just going at my own pace from park to park and museum to museum and restaurant to restaurant. Just soak in all there is to experience.

Nothing on the island is 'too far' from Central Park, so I could 'waste' another decade with biking, walking, bird watching, people watching, sports, . . . then slow down to photography and painting.

Even if nothing changed [and face it, time marches on], I picture a good 1/4 century before boredom or wanderlust would set in.

I honestly think my philosophy and temperament are optimized for an urban life of wealthy [or at least the removal of wealth as an obstacle] leisure.

About the only thing I'd picture missing is woodworking. A bit too much to ask to haul a workspace and skads of raw materials into dowtown Manhattan just for my amusement.

If money were no object, the last place I'd live would be near any city. Look for me up in the mountains somewhere.

Just don't look too hard. :D

SF, followed by San Diego and Seattle. San Diego has the best weather, but less vibrant than SF. Seattle gives you almost as much as SF, but the weather would kill me.

Bates City

I'm leaning San Diego. Ideal weather, urban enough, and a great beer scene.

The country on acres

Orlando

^

None.

I'd move out to bfe Wyoming or Montana and be left the **** alone.

I wouldn’t live downtown anywhere.

living downtown anywhere sounds like a ****in nightmare

Perhaps downtown Breckenridge, Colorado. Any of its six or eight blocks.

KC because it would be an easy walk to Chiefs and Royals games.

x1,000,000,000
I've lived in/near large towns while in the military and you couldn't pay me enough to live in a downtown area.

I wouldn't choose to live in a downtown anywhere...

Crowded, bad traffic

There is no way I would live in downtown SD... way better to live in a surrounding area

An easy walk to pick up an Uber ride to the stadiums.

Nothing more relaxing than walking down I-70

If money was no object, why would I live in a downtown? F that.

Same here. If money were no object, I would buy Wyoming. :D

If forced to pick a big city, suicide seems the best option :(

I work in Chicago. I live about as far away from Chicago as I can and get to work in a reasonable amount of time.

The correct answer is Los Angeles. No better city on earth to be wealthy in. Terrible place to be poor, though.

I can appreciate that :thumb: I've been to Chicago:eek:

Have lived in Manhattan for 15yrs. There are so many varied experiences you can have here depending on the neighborhood - e.g., I'm in the West Village which isn't crowded or dirty at all - that it's really difficult to treat it as one thing.

That said, I've been to all the places on your list, and right now I'm transitioning to SD which is just an amazing place. That gets my vote over and over again.

LA is a dump! Clique's all over, pompous shallow assholes in Bev Hill and Hollywood, smog, gang bangers everywhere, ocean is cold and some of the worst traffic anywhere.

I wouldn't live there if you paid me! :shake:

Charleston, South Carolina comes to mind

Maybe Key West

La Jolla CA

Scottsdale, where I am at

San Diego, all day, every day. Which is why I moved here a year and a half ago. :)

If not SD, I’d go Denver.

This. I hate people. Give me an acre or two just outside the city.

How the he'll did San Jose make this list? It's a business place not a destination.

When you say money is no object: You mean that you can afford to rent a 1000 square foot apartment? Or money is really no object.

If you have the money to take Limos every where and helicopters out to the Hamptons to visit your weekend cottage, well that is a different story. Without a doubt, the more money you have you can experience all the great things and avoid more of the dirty drudgery.

So if I was ultra wealthy, I would go with NY. If I was merely wealthy, I would go with SF.

And if I was merely upper middle class (which I am), I would go with neither but would enjoy SF more than NY.

Chicago and Portland both have a lot of up sides. But I'm not keen to deal with either in the winter. Don't want to live in a snowy environment. Don't want to go months at a time not seeing the sun. I would rather live someplace in the southwest desert (but not Vegas).

To those that like Miami, more power to them. I've gone there a few times for work. Don't care for the humidity. It seems that people that live there don't ever actually see the ocean unless they are going to the beach with kids. Not my vibe.

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Money no object? I'd buy 1000 acres in rural Montana and put my house in the middle of it. I love to hunt and fish, the hell with living in a larger city.

If I had to have a vacation home in a major downtown it would be Vancover.


Yes, I know it’s not the US.

Raleigh-Durham. Close enough to Charlotte to not miss anything exciting. Close enough to OBX for vacation. Inland enough that humidity and hurricanes are not so much of a problem.

Edit: The Chesapeake bay area would be my first choice but no downtowns on the Bay/Rivers so that kinda kills the appeal and where the really nice expensive homes are.

I can't recall if I've asked you this but what keeps you in that area? You voice your disdain for Chicago a lot, you're conservative AF and yet you remain there. What gives?

Beat me to it.

Manhattan Kansas Near a football school near Kansas city. Not a lot of people and quiet.

The way I am feeling today, Boston would be first—along the waterfront— centrally located to get to all family, relatives and friends; the mountains of New Hampshire and the Cape and Freeport Maine the latter two for sailing with sister or brother's family.

I didn't even know San Jose had a downtown. I thought it was just a suburb.

Defining 'downtown' is an interesting topic. I'm presuming we're talking about major metro areas, so we can arbitrarily assume that it's the place in a metro area of 1 million or more people that has the largest concentration of high rises. (Metro areas are formally defined as 50,000 or more people, but there are a whole lot of those, and a lot of them are parts of larger metro areas.

If I was to stick to the above definitions, it would be hard to beat Manhattan if money was no object. You've got Central Park, Broadway, and a zillion restaurants and stuff.

Other cool cities would be Denver (access to mountains), San Diego (weather), Charleston (if you could live in that historic area), and Washington DC (museums). If you could go smaller, Santa Fe has a very interesting downtown.

Los Angeles would be a great choice if you could live elsewhere in the metro area. Downtown LA is no great shakes, but the beach cities are awesome. They'd probably be my top choice, but they're not the 'downtown'.

Old Town Charleston is absolutely beautiful. Used to go there as a kid to visit my aunt. City Market, Fort Sumter, etc. Totally would.

Also agree on Denver. Colorado has it all.

Sedona is a location I would a!so consider though I like being closer to a city.

Gotham

I'm old and I've lived here for 30 years. And while I live comfortably, I don't live comfortably enough to simply pull up stakes and start over somewhere else.

Besides, Illinois is like most states ruined by one or two giant urban pits of liberal despair - get outside of the pit, and the rest is okay. I like where I live. I also like my job. I just wish it was somewhere else. And unfortunately, I'm not going to make decent money in my field unless I work in a major city. And as major cities go, I'll take Chicago over LA or New York.

If money was no object I would spend half my year in the Grand Tetons, then winter in San Diego

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...and_tetons.jpg

DC is a shithole with horrible people and even worse traffic.

None. Streets full of shit and hobos.

Middle of nowhere would be my preference. However, in the interests of playing the game, if I had to pick a city it would be Charleston, SC without a doubt.

The poll is about living in a downtown city and people say, the country! Well no shit most of us would pick that, but thats not the question! lol

Anyways, Probably San Diego. Place is just ****ing nice.

Gang-bangers, smog, what? Have you not been to Los Angeles in the past 20 years?

You just have to avoid the places where congressmen and senators hang out.

The positives are that the mall is a big park, and the museums are amazing.

That part of DC is only like a fifth of the city and full of tourists which is even worse than the horrible people that actually live in DC.

I rather stick my dick in a wood chipper.

Kansas City

Apt ...Power and Light building

start a thread, then.

I love Manhattan and would love to live there for a while. That said, I think that the work culture there would eat me alive, and I bet I'd get tired of it after a year or two. So I'd love to live there...temporarily. Until then, I'll stick with Denver.

San Diego

Whale Vagina.

Manhattan would be my first choice.

I spent a couple days as a tourist in DC for the first time in a decade. Really enjoyed it.

If it was Miami Beach as opposed to downtown Miami, I would take a two week vacation to test drive the beach lifestyle. In the end I can't imagine it overtaking the advantages of Manhattan.

Urban traffic is primarily an issue for people who live in the 'burbs. Between walking, public transportation and Uber, I wouldn't even own a car.

Manhattan</br></br>So much to experience and the most beautiful woman on the planet in my opinion.</br></br>I think after a year I'd have to tap out. Well, either tap or I'd become fully ingrained in the culture and never leave. Prolly tap however.

All of these responses too many people, too crowded, why would you live downtown if you were rich? Very baffling. It's expensive to live downtown because PEOPLE WANT TO ****ING DO IT. It's dirt cheap to live in the country or on the side of a ****ing mountain because NOBODY WANTS TO DO IT.

I hate people too, but they serve a necessary purpose. There is entertainment where people are. There is nice infrastructure where wealthy people area. Nice restaurants. Sports teams. etc etc. I'm quite anti-social, too, and I would absolutely love to live downtown SF, Seattle, or Manhattan. Money solves lots of the pains in the ass that downtown living can provide.

If money wasn't an option, I'm not sure if I'd live anywhere. I'd have probably 4 homes.
1. Condo at Panorama Towers in Vegas
2. Penthouse in Seattle
3. Penthouse in Manhattan
4. Condo or something in Hong Kong or Tokyo

I was in LA 6 months ago. A few times before that. Very overrated downtown scene compared to places like Manhattan, SF, Seattle, Chicago, IMO. For the 2nd biggest metro area in the country, I just expected more. Their skyline also kind of weak to look at. Probably Top 12, but again, 2nd biggest metro area in the country.

DC is boring IMO. I get it. Lots of old shit and historic places. But I really DGAF. That rule they have that no building can be over like 3 stories or something like that really hinders that place.

LA is really a decentralized place. They're got a downtown, but it doesn't seem like it's a hub for anything.

Muh Land! Planet

Exactly. I don't want to get close to a city, especially a big one. The Sams run to Springfield Friday made me break out in aids.

Had a deer walk right beside me mid-day yesterday when I was out washing my car.

Had a turtle walk into my shop today. :D

Years ago I was in NY at a Broadway show and there was a murder at the intermission in the lobby.

Pass on the big city, no thanks.

In the middle of 10,000 acres. The last place I would live would be in a major metro.

Ed, glad you are loving retirement. I'm curious what your typical day so are like? I'm about 10 years from retiring. I am worried about isolation, about how I will fill my days. Urban seems better for me but I'm curious how rural/lake people spend their time.

I think they set up militias and count the amount of guns they have. Read "Guns and Ammo" magazine alot. Drink lots of crappy domestic beer.

I had a big ass turtle in the shop last week lol

I imagine it is like Houston. Downtown doesn't exactly have a lot of things. In Houston, you wouldn't live downtown. Mid Town, Westheimer, or Galleria is better.

Just like in DC downtown is kinda barren of things to do. Adams Morgan or Chinatown are much more happening.

Since it's past his bedtime and I've visited his place a few times I'll answer for him. He has a huge out building where he tinkers with his cars, and has an old truck he's restoring. Some days he goes out on the lake on his pontoon boat. Some days he might go out on the fishing boat. Some days he plays golf. Some days he works in his wood shop. Some days he may just nap all day. In short, whatever the hell he feels like. He's living the dream.

I know this will WTF a few on here - but I'd probably live in Pittsburg Kansas if I could find a job that paid well enough. So if any of you could assist, PM me - I wouldn't mind getting out of Atlanta for a while.

What do you do for a living?

Aren't they neat!? We have had some really large ones walking around our place but the one this morning looked pretty young and I put him out heading the right direction.

See Bugeater's post below. :D

Actually, you do make compromises. Impulse shopping, nope.
Dining out? On occasion, but it turns into a pretty big deal. But after 18 years of the Chicago area rat race, I don't miss those things as much as enjoy "looking up when a car goes by."


904 now friend, so it is bed time and look forward to your next visit.

I sell technology solutions - basically there are three elements to our solutions (which we manufacture) - Remote Monitoring, Quality of Experience and Secure Access.... I sell on-premise appliances to Managed Service Providers MSPs

Technology Sales in a nutshell.

You'll have to expand on that lobby intermission murder story one of these days. :D

I’ve done the country living. I Couldn’t handle the inconvience working full time and doing that. My parents did but 30 miles to the nearest store gets old quick.

I enjoy citing living and the convienence. Not sure I’d like raising a family in a major downtown area but I’d love living in a major downtown area if single or no kids. San Diego would be my choice. I’d honestly consider Nashville too.

I may return to country living when I’m older. But for now, it has no appeal.

Greenville, SC. Nice downtown area with plenty of entertainment and eating options. City is still small enough it doesn’t seem crowded.

I'm a weirdo I've basically had my fill of the city - but I'd take Manhattan in a heartbeat. However if it weren't Manhattan, I'd just assume relocate to Pittsburg Ks or Frontenac... I love those towns for their character. I'm tired of Atlanta, mostly because I don't care for the people here, 'overall'

I drive to Pittsburgh about 6 times a year to meet with a few suppliers my plant works with. I have a few contacts in town. If I hear of anything that fits into your skill set, I’ll shoot you a pm.

That, and God does the traffic suck.