Guess the secondary downtown

[Cirrus]

Here are 10 images from Google Earth, each showing a non-downtown-downtown somewhere in North America. That is to say, these are all urban downtown-like areas, but they are not the main downtown for the metropolis they're in. Can you guess them all?

We'll do more rounds later. This first round is pretty easy.

1.

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2.

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3.

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4.

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5.

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6.

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7.

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8.

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9.

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10.

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[BrandonJXN]

8 is Century City. 1 is...Clayton, MO?

[the urban politician]

Methinks #2 is Evanston

[Crawford]

#1 is Clayton, #3 is Arlington, #5 is White Plains.

[Steely Dan]

#2 is definitely evanston.

#6 is north york I think.

[Crawford]

Yeah, #6 has to be North York, and #10 has to be something around Vancouver (Burnaby? I don't know Van). I guess #9 is Bellevue, WA.

[Crawford]

I can't figure out #4 or #7.

#4 seems to have little new development, a mall and lots of commieblocks so maybe Rust Belt America or Canada? #7 looks like California, maybe? An older city outside LA?

[dc_denizen]

1. Clayton?
2. Kendall, FL? actually this is obviously Evanston. oops.
3. Rossyln
4.
5. new Rochelle
6. North York
7.
8. Century City
9.Bellevue
10. Somewhere in Vancouver

[lio45]

#9 is guaranteed to be Bellevue, WA.

#7 is very mysterious... large baseball stadium with bleachers and tennis courts right in the middle of downtown, at least one 12-story pre-WWII "skyscraper" (other buildings seem centenarian as well), almost no surface parking lots, impressive density and urban fabric... outdoors baseball/tennis, so likely not northern/snowy, yet no palm trees. No coniferous trees at all though, only hardwoods (the tree mix looks Virginian/Carolinian to me).

[dc_denizen]

7 looks western to me

[austlar1]

Is number 7 maybe Pasadena? Probably not b/c no palms at all.

[cabasse]

#7 is berkeley. i was thinking stockton for some reason at first glance...

[dc_denizen]

4 looks Canadian

[niwell]

#10 is New Westminster, which is technically an older city than Vancouver proper (although still definitely a secondary downtown).

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by cabasse

#7 is berkeley. i was thinking stockton for some reason at first glance...

Check. I was busy looking for Oakland, identifiable by the Tribune Bldg and Lake Merritt.

[Crawford]

So #4 is the only unknown. I agree it looks Canadian, but it also looks like nothing was built in the last 30 years, which is un-Canadian.

Suburban Montreal or Hamilton, maybe?

Also, gotta admit Berkeley was a toughie. I was thinking suburban edge city business centers, not college towns. To me Berkeley is a different animal than a White Plains, Bellevue or Arlington. Like a New Haven or Cambridge would fit with the former, and a Stamford or Bethesda would fit with the latter.

[dc_denizen]

Is 4 a suburb of Minneapolis?

[Crawford]

I think I know #4. Towson, MD, outside Baltimore. It has a mall and a mediocre downtown with 1970's-era commieblock buildings.

Not certain but that's my guess.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I think I know #4. Towson, MD, outside Baltimore. It has a mall and a mediocre downtown with 1970's-era commieblock buildings.

Not certain but that's my guess.

agreed

[Cirrus]

All 10 have been guessed! Congrats to Crawford for pegging the hardest one!

Here are the answers:
1. Clayton
2. Evanston
3. Rosslyn, Arlington
4. Towson
5. White Plains
6. North York
7. Berkely
8. Century City
9. Belleview
10. New Westminster