Week 3: Project 3A

WORLD CITIES: LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK

San Francisco “Open your Golden Gates,” for one would know this song, especially if they lived here. Once one has the breathtaking view of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, they will never forget it. The large cables that hoist the bridge over the ocean are amazing, and many men who worked on the bridge lost their lives. The Statue of Liberty is the landmark for freedom for all in the United States and is in New York. Many throughout the United States and the world know these two towering landmarks. People assume that world cities house diversity and culture, and they are correct, but do they know how much the people are alike? The landmarks may be different and the climates very drastic in comparison, but people are very similar in many ways.

Both cities hold multi cultural populations, both have incredible shopping and cultural experiences, and both have some of the most amazing places to eat and visit. If one were a tourist visiting, he or she may not notice much difference in the cultural milieu of each city, but they would definitely notice the weather! San Francisco located in the North and New York is located in the East of the United States.

“San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California, and the 14^th most populous city in the United States” (www.wikipdia). San Francisco has 72. million people living and working in the large city. New York, on the other hand, is the largest city in the United States. It also has the word gate in its repertoire, but the word gate refers to the “gateway for immigration to the Unites States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center” (www. wikipedia).

San Francisco has a mild climate compared to New York. San Francisco has sunshine, rain, and fog; however, even though New York shares the sunshine, and rain, New York has snow, and when it snows, it can reach -13 degrees Celsius. What makes one want to live in such a severe winter state? You really only need a coat or warm jacket for the cold temperatures in San Francisco, but in New York, one must have protective snow gear to keep from freezing to death. I have always wanted to know why people choose to fight such drastic winters? 

In order to try and answer this question, I looked into the economy of both san Francisco and New York. New York’s personal income was $40,072 in 2004, and when one considers how expensive it is to live in New York, one wonders how they afford to live there. San Francisco is also expensive to live in. Both New York and San Francisco rely on tourism as the large backbone to their economy. Both areas offer diverse culture in music, film, and stage. New York houses the stock exchange and San Francisco is one of the largest finance banking centers due to the California Gold Rush. Both have bridges, but San Francisco has the Golden Gate and New York has the Brooklyn Bridge. They are different looking and built differently. Can this type of landmark make the cities so unique, adding to even more diversity?

  I viewed Marjorie Croweder’s blog; she wrote about Seattle and San Diego comparing and contrasting two large cities, both coastal towns, except one is located in the Pacific Northwest regions and the other in Southern California, the southwestern corner of the continental United States. She stated, “Seattle is the birth place of grunge music,” which I did not know. I did know that it rained quite a bit in that region of the U.S. I am much more familiar with San Diego, since I have studied a lot about my seventh great grandfather Henry Delano Fitch. I agree that cities do attract various degrees of weather, reputations, and diverse cultures. That is why I choose New York and San Francisco. Each has various degrees of weather and reputations, and a melting pot of culture and ethnic diversity.

I chose these two diverse cities to show that tourism, banking, and bridges all create pathways to merging cultures, and as unique and alike as our cities are, I still have come to believe that the people who inhabit them are all more alike than different.