Which U.S. Cities Have Changed The Most This Decade?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

Probably too late to ask but is this change limited to buildings and development? I mentioned Houston changing despite a lack of real change to the skyline but probably the biggest change to Austin is not it's skyline but the rather the feel of the city (I'm sure the local's can agree) that it feels less like a relaxed college town and now a fast paced high tech urban metropolis with the worst traffic this side of Mumbai. Many of my friends my age who went to UT are glad they left because it changed so much and are glad they lived there when they did.

New York is still New York and feels like it despite the explosive development in Midtown and other parts of town.

The perception of most long-time residents is that San Franciso feels VERY different and they complain loudly about it. Hard to say how much of that is real because San Franciscans like to think of their town as a mellow Californicated place for alternative life styles, artists and the tuned out and turned on. But of course that's always been a bit of an exaggeration or even a lie. Still, my own perception is it HAS changed. Even during the dot-com boom, which had a bit of a Roaring Twenties feel to it, there didn't seem to be the crowds of annoying overpaid frat bros and their equally annoying lady friends lining up at every desirable venue, whether for blanket space in Dolores Park or to get into the latest 3-star Michellin joint. I've never tried the famous house-made ice cream at Bi-Rite because it's a small store and the line is always half a block or more long. I praised my higher power when the toney grocery on the first floor of the Twitter HQ started selling Tartine "rustic" bread ($9.99 a loaf--one wonders how many rustics can afford that) so I didn't have to get in line at their main location to get some.

The traffic is unquestionably worse and I'm not sure whether that's largely because so many traffic lanes have been turned into transit-only or bike lanes because a lot have.

It is now virtually impossible to exit the city across the Bay Bridge without getting involved in bumper-to-bumper creeping gridlock (and I've tried as late as 2 AM to avoid that but been unsuccessful). This is entirely new.

One sign of change you can form your own opinion on is that the grim, fortress-like building in the Mission district that was once th National Guard Armory and became an S&M gay porn studio a couple of decades ago (because the neighbors protested every other potential use--believe it, this is SF) is finally becoming a tech "incubator".

Note the "leather pride" flags--they are proud of their bondage films

https://www.groupon.com/deals/sf-armory-3

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by JManc

I moved down here in 1997, it's changed dramatically since that time; development-wise, culturally and demographically.

Yeah, since 1997. Back then, Houston was where Phoenix is at. Now, it's one of the premiere metros in the country. But since 2010? Very little has changed.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by SLO

Totally agree, I was away in Texas for 20years and LA is extraordinarily different than it was. I also don't agree that its not interconnected. It is connected in a different way, its more like you have lulls in the development (residential) from one hot spot to the next. A place like LA may have 15-20 hot spots where people go to hang out or live in an urban environment a place like Seattle will have 3-4 with downtown overwhelming everything else. Just an example. I love DT Seattle.

Maybe more like 15-20 vs. 6-8.

Downtown Bellevue, the University District, Downtown Kirkland, Downtown Ballard, West Seattle Junction, Downtown Tacoma, and others would parallel some of the LA area's top 20. Most have been growing explosively.

[pizzaguy]

Kink is not a gay porn company. Bondage, sure. But there's plenty of straight porn made in the armory.

[cityscapes]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Well, downtown specifically.

the 'ruins of detroit' are no more (except MCS). Most have been refurbished.

other cities

* Miami - built a lot more white condos with balconies (and some interesting towers as well). need neighborhoods, not condos
* New York - tons of construction and evolving neighborhoods in the outer boroughs makes it a contender, despite vast size.
* SF, Los Angeles - not enough oomph to the current boom
* Seattle - tons of changes downtown, a contender for the title
* Austin - new towers, but have they filled in all the vacant lots behind 6th street? unacceptable...city should look more 'filled in', like portland. see also: nashville. but getting there.
* Chicago - plenty of new construction, evolving neighborhoods, solid growth especially considering stagnant urban area population
* DC - solid performance, matches growth rates. flies under the radar here.
* houston - so spread out its hard to tell sometimes. inner loop progressing nicely
* dallas - see houston
* portland - lagging its PNW peers
* Philly - livable areas keep expanding nicely

Portland lagging it's PNW peers?

The only other metro areas in the PNW are Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Boise, Eugene, The TriCities, Salem, Medford, and Bend. It only lags Seattle, which is much larger and is home to very large corporations.

I moved to Portland in 2009 and moved back in 2015 and it changed significantly. You don't notice it as much as you do from changes to the skyline like in Austin but so many of Portland's streetcar suburb retail streets have been fleshed out with nicely scaled infill along with a scattering of larger projects in the city center combine to make the city very different from what it was a decade ago.

[mhays]

Probably meant Vancouver and Seattle. The others aren't peers.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Kink is not a gay porn company. Bondage, sure. But there's plenty of straight porn made in the armory.

I yield to first-hand knowledge but the reputation is that they produce a lot of gay BDSM films if not exclusively and the flag they fly is usually associated with same-sex BDSM.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

* SF, Los Angeles - not enough oomph to the current boom

Missed this earlier. I hope you are joking. In SF there is about all the "oomph" that can be supported by the available construction labor pool. Frankly, there's more construction activity than I've seen in 35 years by a considerable amount and much of it is high rise including one of a handful of supertalls (and another almost-supertall) being constructed outside NYC (LA has another). Somebody in the SF section recently counted 10 construction cranes just in Mission Bay. There are 4 working on the new Warriors arena alone and at least 8 towers going up in the Transbay District including what will be 3 of the city's 5 tallest including #s 1 and 2.

[mhays]

It's a lot by SF standards at least.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by mhays

It's a lot by SF standards at least.

Thanks for the back-handed support. It's a lot . . . period.

[mhays]

This is a thread about "most." Transbay is up with the top single districts for current construction, but overall SF isn't building that much.

So it depends how you define "a lot."

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Kink is not a gay porn company. Bondage, sure. But there's plenty of straight porn made in the armory.

LOL, beat me to it. I didn't want to be the first one to say it.

[JManc]

Seattle traded Frasier and Grunge for Amazon. Fail.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by JManc

Seattle traded Frasier and Grunge for Amazon. Fail.

And Starbucks was cool in the 90's. Now it has become McDonald's. They even have crusty sausage biscuits for sale that are microwaved for you!

Seattle definitely has changed quite a bit.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

And Starbucks was cool in the 90's. Now it has become McDonald's. They even have crusty sausage biscuits for sale that are microwaved for you!

Seattle definitely has changed quite a bit.

Never been...only through SeaTac...but I want to think it is stuck in 1992 and everyone is still wearing flannel.

[mhays]

Flannel was probably popular with loggers back in the day. Then musicians from logging towns (Kurt Cobain etc.) bought them at second-hand stores, and flannel briefly became a "thing" in the early 90s. It's seen in Seattle, but not much. Hikers wear performance fabrics.

The McDonald's reference is an odd one for Seattle, even if pointed at Starbucks. One of Seattle's defining features is a lack of fast food in core districts. Greater Downtown has four(?) McDon'ts, but I don't recall a burger king, wendy's, taco bell, etc., in any part of the core. What counts as fast food here are more about coffee shops ("independent" would be the larger than any brand), teriyaki places (all independent), Mexican like Taco Del Mar, a growing wave of poke places, pho...

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by mhays

Flannel was probably popular with loggers back in the day. Then musicians from logging towns (Kurt Cobain etc.) bought them at second-hand stores, and flannel briefly became a "thing" in the early 90s. It's seen in Seattle, but not much. Hikers wear performance fabrics.

The McDonald's reference is an odd one for Seattle, even if pointed at Starbucks. One of Seattle's defining features is a lack of fast food in core districts. Greater Downtown has four(?) McDon'ts, but I don't recall a burger king, wendy's, taco bell, etc., in any part of the core. What counts as fast food here are more about coffee shops ("independent" would be the larger than any brand), teriyaki places (all independent), Mexican like Taco Del Mar, a growing wave of poke places, pho...

There aren't many traditional fast food restaurants in any major downtown I have been to. They tend to be slightly higher end, fast-casual types of places. I can think of maybe 4-5 McDonald's restaurants in the Loop. There was a Wendy's, but it closed. No Taco Bells. No Burger King's that I can think of. A few 7/11's, but that's not really a fast food restaurant. A large part of this is likely due to lack of drive-thrus. These companies depend on quick turnover. Not many people are so high on McDonald's or Burger King that they're willing to stand in line for 10+ minutes. They'd rather spend an extra 5 or so minutes waiting for higher quality food that isn't much more expensive if we're being honest.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

I can think of maybe 4-5 McDonald's restaurants in the Loop. There was a Wendy's, but it closed. No Taco Bells. No Burger King's that I can think of. A few 7/11's, but that's not really a fast food restaurant.

the loop proper (north branch to congress, south branch to michigan ave) is home to:

27 starbucks
11 subways
9 mcdonalds
9 dunkin donuts
8 jimmy johns
8 potbellys
6 chipotles
2 burger kings
2 arbys
1 taco bell
1 dairy queen
1 KFC

all of that smooshed into just a 1/2 square mile of land!

and if you expand the search out to the greater downtown area (river north, streeterville, east loop, west loop, south loop, etc.) then there are dozens more of these national fast food chains.

chicago is the freaking poster child for fast food chains in its downtown core.

[ocman]

Originally Posted by JManc

Seattle traded Frasier and Grunge for Amazon. Fail.

Grunge...is flannel something that should be missed?

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

the loop proper (north branch to congress, south branch to michigan ave) is home to:

27 starbucks
11 subways
9 mcdonalds
9 dunkin donuts
8 jimmy johns
8 potbellys
6 chipotles
2 burger kings
2 arbys
1 taco bell
1 dairy queen
1 KFC

all of that smooshed into just a 1/2 square mile of land!

and if you expand the search out to the greater downtown area (river north, streeterville, east loop, west loop, south loop, etc.) then there are dozens more of these national fast food chains.

chicago is the freaking poster child for fast food chains in its downtown core.

I actually don't think those counts are egregious given the land area and population density. McDonald's and Subway are definitely over represented, but there are more subway franchises than any other fast food restaurant and McDonald's is a local company even if it's a chain. Same goes for Potbelly. I wouldn't necessarily say Dunkin or Starbucks are fast food. I'm sure the bulk of their sales are from coffee.

I also have a hard time calling Chipotle fast food. It's a fast casual restaurant similar to Greek Kitchen or Roti. They serve higher quality food than McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.

I just remembered there's a fast food lovers heaven in the lower level of the Thompson Center. Ogilvie and Union also have some options (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonalds...) although there are some smaller chains in there as well.