The problem is that there are about 25 cities tied for #11 on this list. Everyone thinks that their downtown is one of the best or one of the worst. Nobody thinks thinks their downtown is "pretty average".
This is true, but Baltimore and DC shouldn't be on this list. DC is a very interesting city to explore with no shortage of attractions. Even the rough areas are far from boring. Baltimore may have crime issues/poverty, but it has a lot of history, and it has a lot more going on than most US downtowns
I was thinking that too. Especially because of the Five Points/Peachtree St.area. But maybe he thinks the Centennial Park area makes up for that, since all the attractions are there.
Strong disagree about using Rosslyn as the proxy downtown for DC. DC has its own downtown, and it's not the national mall. There's the Foggy Bottom area, Farrgut Square area, McPherson Square area, Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center area, and Gallery Place/Chinatown area that could all be considered a part of DC's downtown. It's very walkable and has a lot going on. No one from DC would consider the national mall to be downtown.
Baltimore has some of the best architecture and walkabikity in the country, but it really hurts how few safe areas there are and how many businesses fled the city. Growing up nearby, I have a fondness for it and see the potential, but it just can never activate it without bringing back jobs
I lived in the otterbein/federal hill neighborhood and it was a great place to live. There was plenty going on and a lot of good restaurants and bars. But yeah, outside of fed hill, the harbor, and fells there really aren’t many places anyone should go
as someone from the jacksonville metro, it’s genuinely shocking just how little there is to do in downtown jax you’re only ever over there to go to a doctor’s appointment or to watch the jaguars score 3 points
i enjoy our parks and historic buildings and also yeah the plays and shows and stuff like that there, but tbh there's a lot more to do in the city as a whole so like who really needs downtown anyway except the government dudes
Housing is the key to having a vibrant downtown. People have to live there so they can step out of their building or townhome and be within walking distance of restaurants and entertainment. Having people living downtown creates demand for shops, restaurants, bars, theater, and entertainment & sports venues. If people have to get in their car and drive downtown, find a parking space and then worry about having to drive back home after a night on the town, most will just stay home.
The other more essential key is a center of employment specialty in any downtown. Otherwise, a large population downtown with a horrible work environment spells out miserably high poverty and often high crime.
The fact that Dallas is not on here but DC/Rosslyn are really surprised me, as somebody who lives in the former and used to travel a LOT to the latter.
@SuperAllStudiosEvery time I get off the highway and get into Dallas it's like i'm in a 80's civil dystopia with the sheer amount of homeless, people fighting in the streets, graffiti everywhere, and general lack of security I feel just walking the streets. Hate Dallas so much.
@MatthewsGauss cmon, every city has that and there is no city with the best food, opportunity and development as much as dallas has! Not bragging, but that's really the truth, also I understand ur problems about highways, but the city itself doesn't only revolve around highways
I'm glad Vegas made this list. As a local, people don't realize how boring Las Vegas can be because it lacks things like a functioning exciting downtown.
So you've never been to The Fremont Street Experience or First Fridays? Or the Arts District or Fremont East? Or any of the Festivals? If you're bored in downtown Las Vegas then you're simply a dull person or you've never actually been to downtown Las Vegas.
@@TeksonikAudio Haha you’re so BUTTHURT!! His comment had nothing to do with the party scene with Fremont St. DTLV does severely lack simple functional essentials like grocery stores. Probably the only downtown without a train station as well. Yep, certainly the worst downtown in America!
But for someone who likes the outdoors and traveling, Las Vegas is a tremendous location. You can get almost anywhere from McCarran. For parks and natural wonders, within a few hours drive it's an embarrassment of riches; Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon, Great Basin, all the Southern Utah parks, Virgin River AZ, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Southern Sierra and Mohave, and on and on.
@@qikstarLas Vegas used to have a train station for the Amtrak Desert Wind train, before this train was eliminated in the late 1990s. It was behind where The Plaza Casino is. There still is an Amtrak mural, inside this building to this day. The old indoor waiting room for trains, now has am exercise room in it btw. Union Pacific passenger trains used to stop there, pre-Amtrak. There is talk Brightline West may eventually start Rancho Cucamonga(where LA Metrolink commuter rail trains go to) to Las Vegas train service, but I guess we'll see if this starts service one day.
Downtown LA is also in a weird location, it's not on the LA River and it's not in the middle of LA, it's in LA's extreme east, so the gravitas of LA is split between Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, and West LA. Even it's beautiful train station is off to the side, alone and across the freeway; disconnected from downtown. I lived in LA for half of my life in the 80s and 90s and I'm as big a LA booster as anyone but the reality is that while downtown LA "could" become a cool and lively place, the city just doesn't know how to do that organically and tries to force places to exist instead of letting downtown be what people want it to be. Right now it's just a place of little disjointed districts with nothing to bring them together, no cohesion, with pockets of character amid blocks of no-man's land. Am I talking about the LA of 1984 or 2024? Yes. People will say it's gotten better and so much has changed, which may be so but it's basically still the same. It's stunning to me that the 2nd largest city in the US with a very lively and diverse entertainment and social scene has such a drab downtown. It's shocking. But then again, that is what LA is all about, isn't it? Stage sets with nothing behind them. The universally hated Pershing Sq is a perfect example of a staged plaza that has had the soul programmed out of it and instead of creating something people want there, a shaded human scale plaza like what used to be there (before it was ripped out for the underground parking lot, which precludes any trees, in an attempt to imitate SF's Union Sq without the amenities around it, and refusing to take the parking out), the city is intending on another over-designed and lifeless plaza, a "forced" place. I live in Chicago now with one of the best downtowns in the world, and as much as it pains me, something LA will never likely come close to having.
Tourists can take a dozen trips to L.A. and never see downtown. I walked around downtown when I visited L.A. in the ‘80s and liked the fact that it was quiet and unpretentious, particularly compared to the big pop culture oriented sites.
@@brianarbenz1329 Agreed. No reason to visit downtown LA. I went there a couple of times in the early 'aughts when living in LV, then lived in SoCal for 8 years from 2015-2023 and never found a reason to visit DT. All the cool stuff is everywhere else.
I can understand your point. What’s funny is downtown Houston if you look at a map looks like “the center” but it isn’t lol. It’s actually more to our east side as well because of how the city limits are laid. The highways fool people, the east side actually ends way before the beltway. Thanks for teaching me something new
Really excited for the "Best Downtowns" video! I'd also be interested to hear your opinion on which downtowns are doing the best to improve, like an "up and coming downtowns" sort of video
Resident of Florida here. You are spot on regarding Orlando and Jax. Orlando attempted to improve DT years ago but it failed due to traffic issues and inability to compete with theme parks. Jax has always been a horror show.
I had lots of fun in DT Orlando between 2000-2015. There was so many varied and different bars/clubs, live music venues located just blocks away from each other. I no longer live in Orlando and they tell me that DT has become ghetto.
Dallas and Atlanta should have been on this list. I am less familiar with Houston, but my impression is the metro is almost the same size as Dallas-Fort Worth, but the downtown area is bigger, so maybe it is not as bad as Dallas.
@@jamesgreen7752 LOL you haven't been to Houston lately it's has come a long way. It's now a place people go to eat, concerts and sporting events ,also city events.
@@rpd888 The list isn't complete trash. Most of the cities listed deserve to be there. It's just that DC and Las Vegas don't really belong. The Mall and the Strip are effectively the 'downtown' of these cities and they are both unique with plenty to do. They can be replaced with Dallas and Atlanta as examples of huge metros that are just urban sprawl, with downtowns that are tiny, lifeless, and not much to do.
“One more lane bro,” had me smirk and chuckle out loud. lol Man i absolutely love the content on this channel, u do such an incredible job. I really appreciate the wide range of geographic and demographic topics. I’m always looking forward to the next video to come. Just wanted to say I wish u nothing but success, the passion and hard work absolutely shows!
As a Jacksonville resident, I was not at all shocked to see my city at #4. Jacksonville downtown is like a run down shopping mall, where 80% of the storefronts are abandoned, and it’s now primarily occupied by crack heads.
Very informative video. When we travel outside the US, we always search out the “Old Town” neighborhood, usually the most interesting and historic part of the city.
Kinda surprised San Jose, CA didn't make the list -- the downtown is very small and is majorly height-restricted due to the nearby airport. It's very empty outside of a few bars by the university, and there's not a lot of jobs in Downtown specifically -- most of the jobs are in sprawling tech campuses way out in the suburbs (Cupertino, Mountain View, Los Gatos, etc.) I think your inclusion of DTLA is very fair, it is quite dirty and dilapidated. There are some areas of improvement -- the area by Staples Center has notably improved -- but a lot of Downtown is very underdeveloped and nasty. Century City and the Westside are the largest job centers in the city, and while city leadership has been trying to increase tourism in DTLA, it's not somewhere I'd recommend tourists to spend a lot of time in.
+1 to everything you said about San Jose. Surprised my hometown wasn't mentioned, which robs us of an opportunity for Kyle to feature the Quetzalcoatl statue in his slideshow. City of almost a million within its limits but a very small downtown. The Shark Tank and San Pedro Square along with (possibly) light rail and train connections probably keep it out of the Top 10. Hardly any shopping exists downtown; everything is out at the malls, particularly Santana Row (of which Bill Burr once said "this has to be one of the most soulless places I've ever been to in my life... why is it so bad?"). Amid the sprawl there are more interesting main-street style destinations like Willow Glen, Los Gatos, and Mountain View (Castro).
@@AlCatSplatswap New Orleans for Pittsburgh or Austin (since New Orleans isn’t in the top 50 metro areas which was the cutoff in this video) and you’ve got basically a perfect list
After watching dozens of your videos, it has become increasingly clear that you have an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge of the United States. Thanks again for the wonderful, informative videos.
Washington, D.C.’s downtown is fine, and it is not across in Virginia. There are museums, historic homes and churches to tour, and lots of cafes and restaurants.
Yeah, Geoff flubbed his assessement of DC. DC's downtown CBD in not in Rosslyn VA. The DC CBD is the centered around Penn Quarter/Chinatown area. And extends west along K Street to about Connecticut Ave where the Farragut North and Farragut West metro stations are. This area doesn't have high rise skyscrapers but it is at the center of the subway system and is entirely built out with almost all parking underground. The pandemic that triggered so much remote work hit the area hard as reduced foot traffic made it harder for storefronts to survive given the CBD's enormous rents. But if there can be a market correction to commercial rents then it should thrive again. At its peak the sidewalks would be busier than pretty anywhere in the US outside of Manhattan or the Chicago loop. More recently its not quite to that level, and even the Chicago Loop isn't what it once was, but doesn't warrant being lumped onto this sad list.
@brianarbenz1329 May make since using the criteria in this video, but in general, I would assess Washington as one of the best, if not the best, designed urban areas in the US and ranking very high globally. Though not necessarily for reasons "urbanists" might consider most important. The motto of Chicago is "Urbs in horto" or City in a Garden. Washington is, in one sense, a city built around a park - a true central park.
@@joetrey215 Washington's biggest problem is the micro-management of it by Congress, whose members don't care about its residents. Federal law requires that every felony charge within D.C. goes before a federal grand jury before prosecution can be done. The backlog makes it so much easier to get away with armed robberies inside D.C. than just a block away in Maryland or across the Potomac in Virginia. And if a bill is introduced to change this preposterous law, Representatives from Idaho and Mississippi get to vote on it, but the D.C. delegate doesn't have a vote. Same for the law restricting buildings to the height of the Capitol Dome's top.
@@brianarbenz1329 The entire point of a federal district is that ultimately it is managed in the national interest and not in the purely local interest. Otherwise, it might as well be in Maryland. Where the district does exercise home rule, it has been a demonstration of incompetence and stupidity more than any other traits. The crime problem is primarily due to who lives there and not the courts they are processed through.
The thing that blew my mind as an English dude (who works for the railway) is that Phoenix has 5m people and no railway station! You gotta go out to Maricopa to catch the one train a day to LA or Tucson, which itself is down the scariest highway in history. Mad place.
@@georgehenan853 through choice or lack of alternatives? Also you wouldn’t fly to Tucson - I would hope - that’s a clear example of a passenger flow in the sweet spot of journey time.
Orlando is a fun place to visit and a terrible place to live. I was stationed there after I left boot camp. Its nice being able to see the major attractions but really not a good reason to buy a home and stay. You can live in a nicer suburb and just drive in whenever you like.
I'd not even consider Vegas a city, it's a giant casino resort loosely connected by rival casinos trying to keep them from walking across the street. It's an urban planning nightmare.
In my opinion you are dead wrong about DC. The downtown is not the national mall, or rosslyn. Just because tall buildings exist does not mean it is a central point at all. Think european cities which tend to shy away from height in the first place. I am from Arlington, Virginia, and if anything I would call Ballston/virginia square the downtown of ARLINGTON, and rosslyn just another business center like Bethesda or Tysons. DC does in fact have a downtown, which encompasses much of foggy bottom, dupont circle, and extends to chinatown. This area is very walkable, has great nightlife, includes GW university, and many restaurants/points of interest.
I agree I like visiting DC. Granted it has so much going for it (history, museums, government) so it’s kind of had to mess up, but it’s still great. My biggest problem with it is the crime.
Love your videos! One of my favorite geography channels. I will say, coming from a Phoenix resident, Downtown is definitely not the best it could be but I think you overlooked some amenities. Downtown Phoenix is home to the Diamondbacks and the Phx Suns, which are within walking distance from each other and entertainment. You also didn't mention Roosevelt Row or other areas that have quite a bit of revitalization in the last decade. Thanks for the great video and I still believe it belongs on this list.
Gonna defend Vegas as a resident who has lived in 4 different cities on the list. Downtown Vegas is small, but EXTREMELY lively 7 evenings a week, year round. Top-tier restaurants, loads of stuff you can't do anywhere else, and an extremely underappreciated dive bar scene. There's always an event or party or live music. Some of the best cityscape viewing in the country too. The rooftop bars give an amazing view of the strip and surrounding mountains. And OMG the people watching is unparalleled. I've been to most big cities in the US, and Vegas would probably be in my top 10. The strip is trash, but fortunately for the locals it's where most of the tourists go.
Downtown DC is a thing that’s not the national mall. And it’s probably one of the best in the country. The height restrictions just make it so you can’t see it super obviously
I lived in the suburbs and used to go into DC when there was lots of stuff to see and do. The Mall is probably my favorite area, then the zoon, then the food court underneath Union Station. But I have not been back recently. Heard it went to hell during COVID.
@@Shorty_Lickens The food court under Union Station was indeed killed by Covid. Union Market, a few blocks northeast of the NOMA metro stop, is, in my opinion, where the good eating in Northeast DC is now.
Agreed. I know many “work from home” people that permanently moved to cabins or vacation homes. Without the need to work in an office, they happily traded away the urban lifestyle for lakes, forests, and rural areas. Who needs a hip restaurant scene when you can watch the sun set over Lake Michigan instead?
This is one of my favorite videos on your channel. You're not trying to blame anybody but you're just being honest about how the critical parts of major cities are lacking in an important way. I especially like your take on Virginia Beach. It's just chain stores like an outdoor shopping mall. There are not unique businesses and family-owned shops. It's sterile and boring. Cities can't come into existence by large developers and be lively places. They need to start humble and increment their way up as many participants invest in the city. That's how places have always came to be but the US has forgot that. That's not to say there can't be large developers. Large developers are great sometimes but large developers can't manifest a downtown.
Just about every major Florida city has had a boom in their downtowns since 2000 and all the leaders in Jacksonville did was watch through their Binoculars! 😂🤣😋
You completely missed on DC. Rossyln/Nat Mall are not downtown. DC has a dense, walkable, diverse downtown that remains busy long after business hours and on weekends. It has a major arena, university, and transit. Its honestly one of the best cities in US from an urbanist perspective.
@@letitiajeavons6333 George Washington University is downtown. Howard is just outside. Georgetown's law school is downtown. There are lots of extensions of universities such as Johns Hopkins.
Chicago should easily be first or 2nd on the 10 Best downtowns. I'd argue Chicago is the best due to all it offers, it's impact on the rest of the metro/city, its location and layout along the coast straddling the river, not to mention the global city skyline and all of its world class offerings and venues. There isn't another city in the US (maybe even world) that literally has EVERYTHING in its CBD and within a mile of its boundary. Some may argue NYC as #1 but I'd only say that for the amount of office space, not the CBD itself as an economic powerhouse that Chicago greater CBD brings.
@ I'm biased because I'm from here but couldn't agree more. I've traveled to tons of major cities and, although some have gotten close, none of them have a better downtown than Chicago's Loop. NYC is #2 - it's just a bit too dirty and smelly for me.
As someone who has lived in dc many years, I can confirm it has a pretty substantial downtown spanning several areas, such as Foggy Bottom, Farragut and McPherson squares, Penn Quarter, Gallery Place, Chinatown, etc. It is very lively and always has something going on. And Rosslyn I would consider the downtown of Arlington, which is a suburb, not part of DC. It’s a whole different vibe in Rosslyn compared to downtown.
Not sure I agree that LA's downtown is bad. It's gritty and rough around the edges, but those old districts are really cool in my opinion, and are actually quite lively.
I'm a resident of downtown Atlanta. I'm a little surprised we didn't make the Top 10. We definitely have our issues. BUT we do have football/soccer/basketball and major concerts here. Maybe that kept us off the list. On the downside, It's pretty rough here.
Downtown Atlanta is pretty much the most impressive Downtown in the entire south as far as the skyline goes. It may not be the best Downtown, but it certainly ain't the worst.
Major Sports venues, Concerts, Parks, restaurants, College football hall of fame, Georgia State Area, Marta access, Museums, Walkable areas (not everywhere), plenty of places to shop, and thats not even including midtown. Downtown Atl isnt chicago or anything, and it has many places it needs to improve in, but i dont think its anywhere near the worst.
90 clash of the Titans, Hart, Michigan Alice In Chains open for Megadeth anthrax and slayer and it was the rust in peace album, and it was fucking awesome
DC actually has the 3rd biggest downtown in the US after Midtown Manhattan and Chicago. It's larger and more amenity filled than every downtown on this list many of them put together, and has more people walking around downtown than all of them. DC has a clean world class level downtown, with world class museums, activities, and public transit. It should be top 5/10 BEST downtowns tbh. Using Rosslyn, VA as your barometer for downtown of course messes up this synopsis. I'd actually argue that Baltimore is not top 10 worst either. It's bottomed out by now, and back on the upswing IMO.
Yeah I think you giving Downtown DC too much credit. When I think of major downtown, I do think of sky scrapers and I never ever think of DC. However, everything you said is true and it is quite vibrant, clean, and walkable / accessible without a car. If Toronto was 🇺🇸, I would put it as the 3rd best and biggest downtown after Chicago and NYC
@@qikstar thats the proverbial thinking of most people, but in actuality it’s a bit different. Paris and Madrid don’t have skyscrapers downtown, but they are more bustling than 98% of N. American downtowns. On average building height DC builds taller than most American cities downtown and it’s completely built out for miles. It’s just capped at about 13 stories.
@@qikstar I agree with @derekbyrd49, you're understanding of a downtown is limited by your perception that "tall building = city." Obviously, as his video points out, tall buildings are often just offices that clear out at 5pm. The density of paris is actually higher than new york city and it's buildings are rarely above 8-9 stories.
I’m from Baltimore born & raised & you are definitely correct Baltimore downtown is nice & growing & getting better, this guy doesn’t know what he talking about
Albuquerque was like a third world country. I would have put it on the list but it doesn't really have anything to qualify it as having a downtown haha
It has no skyscrapers and it’s waaaay more ghetto and run down than most would expect. It’s honestly not bad but I think people maybe expect a little more form The capital. It feels like a small town just cuz it has no skyscrapers and that’s hard to mentally get over if ur from say NYC or Chicago.
@@jaywizz7008 having skyscrapers should have very little basis on if a downtown is good. And no, downtown DC is not ghetto. DC in the 80s? Yeah that was ghetto
@@Johnny-hn9ts “the only thing it has going for it is all the culture other cities wish they had”…. Got it. Plus restaurants and a super international population with people from all over the globe
Shameless plug: Milwaukee and Chicago both have great downtowns. Chicago is an architectural world class gem. And both are literally built right up to the coastline of that freshwater inland sea; the Great Lakes, and Lake Michigan specifically. You can't even see the other side of the lake. So it's like living on an ocean, only no sharks or hurricanes! Breathtaking views. Even in winter. One just has to embrace the change of seasons. Both are very walkable, drivable and have rail transit. Milwaukee in particular is very bike friendly. Very diverse people, buildings, great mix of office, residential, entertainment. Diverse, high quality, and great value food scene is awesome too. Milwaukee also has festivals going on all summer long downtown on the lakefront. They don't call it the city of festivals for nothing.
Chicagos commercial vacancy rate is almost at 36% (just behind San Fran at about 40%). I was just in chicago a month ago and will be there again next week. it SHOULD be amazing because it WAS amazing, but the leaders have fucked it HARD. its nearing a death spiral....in reality, its probably entered one.
I’m a HUGE fan of both downtowns especially Chicago. I’d live in downtown Chicago if I could. One of my best friends bought a high rise condo near Wrigley and really turned it into a gem in the sky! ❤
Great list! As a Chicagoan who lives in the best downtown of America - I totally agree with this list, except Atlanta should probably replace DC. But Las Vegas is the worst downtown of any major city! How the hell you have ZERO grocery stores? The Art District is cool and and the only part of the city that gives you a dense walkable feel, but it still got a long way to go.
Hi Kyle, big fan of yours. Your vids are so well done. What do you think of Philadelphia as a downtown? It didn't make either your best or worst downtowns lists.
I like Philadelphia and I took some heat for not including it in my 10 Best Downtowns video. The last time I was there was in 2021 and the pandemic had really hurt downtown. So I really need to give it a new look to see what it's like now.
Downtown LA is definitely underwhelming, but there's no way it's the second worst downtown in the US. There's plenty of great places to shop and eat (chain and local alike), the Lakers, Kings, Sparks and (basically) Dodgers play there, it has a lot of historic districts including Chinatown and Little Tokyo, and it has several "monuments" including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the US Bank building, the Broad, the Grammy museum, and the new tallest building in California. Yes, the other areas of LA are much more popular than downtown LA, but that doesn't mean downtown LA is worse than downtown Norfolk or Jacksonville.
I know! I thought the analysis of LA's downtown was harsh. Although it is possibly the dirtiest DT I've been to in the US, it still has so much interesting stuff that it can't be number 2. Plenty of skyscrapers, offices, art walks, chic cafes, food trucks, parks, transit, sports stuff, ethnic areas, LA Live, bike infrastructure, fashion district, Old LA/Olvera, jewelry district, and Santee Alley. To me, DT is one of my favorite spots! A solid mix of grimey, upscale, historic, and entertainment that the city is known for. With that said, Grand C. Market is very underwhelming.
The "tallest building" is a joke. It's only tallest because it has a giant broomstick on top. Otherwise, I agree that there are parts of downtown LA that are pretty cool.
Part of the way he makes his lists is to compare the size of the city to what the CBD has to offer. LA‘s downtown, even if it there are some interesting things there, is really underwhelming for the second largest city in the country.
Totally surprised downtown Houston wasn't on this list. For the 4th largest city, the downtown is so unbelievably boring. People go down for sports or a concert and immediately leave. I was so disappointed when I went for the first time lol.
That's because most of the entertainment is not centered around downtown. There's Midtown, rice village and numerous city centres throughout the city. You missed out
I was just at the George R Brown Convention Center and was surprised with how “dead” it seemed in that whole area around downtown Houston. I guess the action is in the surrounding burbs! Lol
@@jacobrodriguez4832 museums and food, just like any other big city. Houston has no character, such a vanilla city that loses power about 1 month out of the year lol. Windows broken from winds, flooding, hurricane damage, trees falling, no power when it is too hot or cold....lovely place.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city. Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty. How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there. You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares. So go downtown.
Well done program and thoughtfully presented. I only take issue with your DC segment. Once you cross the Potomac you’re no longer in Washington. To call Roslyn/ Arlington DC’s downtown is absurd. Finally, Thank you for putting yourself and your work out there. I’m sure it’s not always easy so I’m grateful for your efforts!
"There was this kid I grew up with; he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition, we ran molasses into Canada... made a fortune, your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts".
You did DC dirty. Dupont, Georgetown, and Adams Morgan are all cool places within walking distance from the mall. A lot of the listed cities aren't walkable
Hey, I agree it's not fun to be negative, but this was a really fun video and I really appreciate the hard work you put into it. I cannot wait to watch the follow-up that I see you just uploaded, and the future "top 10 BEST big city downtowns!"
I think Chicago has a great downtown with Millennium Park, concerts, museums, theaters, the ballet, shopping, Lake Michigan and the heart of the govt and business district. COVID took its toll, as it did for most downtowns, as more people work from home nowadays, but it’s still vibrant with culture and frequent fun activities.
Your right about Town Center in Virginia Beach. The true downtown for the area is Downtown Norfolk, and its actually a very nice and upscale downtown with alot of shops, restaurants, parks, festivals, and entertainment districts, and with current development, it is about to triple in significance when you factor in the St Pauls Quadrent, the Neon District, Harbor Park, and the Fort Norfolk area. The two big make or break situations are the casino, and whatever they choose to do with the massive 3 story shopping mall in the middle of the city that has been slowly declining for reasons. Town Center on the other hand is a joke, and despite the fact that it is about to absorb Pembroke mall, it is basically just a few blocks of urban that is plopped in the middle of the suburbs, so while its great for the surrounding suburbs, it basically landlocks the area because the only way for it to expand is to demolish and rezone entire subdivisions. The funny thing is that town Center could be better if the city had some foresight, but they let nimbyism control their planning. There is a light rail line that runs from Downtown Norfolk to the Norfolk/Virginia beach border. That light rail line was supposed to continue down an abandoned freight rail line that runs through Town Center, and all the way to the Oceanfront. It would have connected Town Center to Downtown Norfolk and The oceanfront. Virginia Beach purchased the freight rail line with the intention of developing the light rail line, but there was a grassroots effort led by the city treasurer that ran a massive negative ad campaign to stop the line from being developed and they were successful(via referendum), so now they dont have light rail in the future. They have been talking about converting the freight line into a liniar park, (and thats way better than nothing)but it has been a long time, and not a single shovel touched dirt yet. Hampton roads has the potential to have a massive linier urban district running from Chesapeake, through Norfolk, and all the way to the oceanfront, but NIMBY, a lack of cooperation, and bad urban planning from Virginia Beach and Chesapeake (to an extent) hold the area back.
I was thinking exactly this. Virginia Beach is just the largest, Norfolk seems like the true primary city. The other thing I was thinking is if one was to claim a legitimate area in Virginia Beach as downtown, the reality is it has to be the beach, right? It's not really a traditional central business district but it certainly seems more like the economic center and most built up district in the city. Certainly more so than the town center.
Agreed, Norfolk is the true classic anchor city for that region, as Virginia Beach mostly grew as suburban sprawl spurred by white flight leaving Norfolk. If Virginia Beach were to have a true “downtown” it would be the Oceanfront, which is by the far most walkable/dense part of the city proper.
@street_ruffian I agree, and the oceanfront is the small beach town that annexed the surrounding land to call themselves a city, so its technically the historic center of the city. They are trying to develop the oceanfront more inland with things like the Vibe District, but until they move the city offices to either the oceanfront or town Center, Virginia Beach doesn't have a Downtown IMO.
I am surprised to NOT find the Vietnam (and adjacent Corea) Memorial sites mentioned. When I visited DC way back I found those highly impressive. Over all I believe your Survey is informative and as usual well balanced! Well done!
That Jacksonville section made me more interested in what cities you think have interesting projects in works/planning stages more than cities with good downtowns. For example, Birmingham has that amphitheater project aiming to make its uptown area more of it's own separate area from the CBD, plus the Red Mountain Cut project aims to make a more walkable connection from Southside to downtown Homewood and a couple of the Mountain Brook villages. So it'd basically go from almost Village Creek to almost Shades Creek for that low level connected feeling instead of just north of 459 to Red Mountain.
The Port of Los Angeles is “colonial incorporation”- where the municipality gerrymandered a bizarre protrusion to wrap itself around a high-revenue area so they could deny that money to people in Inglewood, Compton and others more affected by the port’s negative environmental impact. Chicago did the same thing with O’Hare airport.
I lived in the Phoenix area almost two years, had a job driving around the entire metro area and never figured out where downtown Phoenix was supposed to be
if you are on the north side of town get on Central Ave and head south. It starts getting interesting when you get to about Indian School road. Downtown continues 5-7ish of miles south of the this but mostly it meanders east and west. Thats why Central Ave is Central.
Excellent video as always. As a native of Columbus, I completely agree that the city is setup perfectly for a street car line to run from Clintonville down to German Village ( or even further south ). Not sure why the fastest growing metro in the Midwest can’t figure out public transit but I appreciate you calling it out!
Totally agree! I think a similar thing would work for Broad St, connecting Franklinton with Olde Towne East. There is so much potential in downtown Columbus but the only place where good stuff is happening is Bicentennial Park, basically
Yeah, KC's geography is very strange. Also, the KC Metro is way too big to not have any inner city rail, especially considering all the miles of tracks throughout the city. A crying shame.
@@StLouis-yu9iz from someone who has lived in KC and lives in the south, I would say the most overrated city is Dallas. Especially in the south, people act like Dallas is the most amazing city they have ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got its draws and it’s a beautiful skyline but it’s very over crowded and over priced.
@@wmbrent123Dallas is a “yuppie” city. It’s for the “country boys” who drive lifted F-350s from their $400k+ single family suburban home to their Lawyer office. Not even Home Depot. They’ll hire a guy with a King Ranch F-150 to do that. Us real country folks laugh at that shit all the time. Hell, most big cities in the U.S. at minimum have a neighborhood that captivates African American culture, and Dalls has its gentrified by white people Deep Ellum District, but most of the representation of Black culture in Dallas is of the… “thug” variety (and Dallas really ain’t even all that violent or anything so Dallas doesn’t even do a good job at representing that…) There’s better representation of Black culture in San Antonio, a Hispanic city, and that Black cultural representation in SA was an afterthought. Fort Worth has the stock yards, but that’s not even southern culture really, that’s western culture, and friggin’ Lubbock does a better job at representing western culture. The best part of Dallas is the Six Flags… yet I-30 is the most wild ride in the city.
I think KC is less a city and more of a gathering place for the surrounding rural areas and small towns. They come in from far away maybe once a month maybe, to do stuff they need a city for, or go to a the3atre, or attend a football or baseball game, and then go home. Urbanism doesn't work for such a population base.
Downtown DC is actually great. Anywhere on K St and 14th is downtown and alive. Rosslyn not even the downtown for Arlington. It’s A downtown in Arlington. But it’s still a suburb technically. It just has big buildings but def not DC’s downtown. Basically like saying Jersey City is NYC’s downtown.
Baltimore's downtown isn't great, but most of the businesses moved to the new business center of Harbor East/Harbor Point, which really isn't far. It's basically replaced downtown and is thriving. Also the inner harbor is being redeveloped, which will allow for some revitalization of the neighboring CBD.
Amazing video as always Kyle. I'm sure I share the sentiment with many others of surprise not to find Portland, Oregon on this list. It truly is the best definition of the title of this video in the whole of North America as of right now this minute as I was there just 2 weeks ago. Partly due to the recent legalisation of everything, downtown was a scene like no other. And I must say that downtown LA is much cleaned up compared to post covid and my previous visit there in 2021. I think Portland stands as unique given the fact that so many homeless people travelled there from the Western and Midwestern USA owing to the recent legalisation of everything. What does everyone else think?
Otherwise good video, but like many comments are saying, DC has a specific downtown area that is specifically concentrated by the transport hubs of Metro Center and Gallery Place. There are miles of gigantic office buildings just north of the mall, which is also included in downtown. This makes downtown DC not only one of the largest job centers in America but also one of the largest tourist destinations. I personally don’t like it as a DC native because the height restrictions, wide streets, and lack of corner stores/ restaurants downtown really make it feel less lively than NYC or Chicago even when the streets are packed with office workers, and the mall is far too spread out and frankly unbearable in the summer months. Objectively though you didn’t analyze downtown DC, you picked one of DC’s many satellite downtowns. We have almost too many of those to count. Roslyn, Arlington, Alexandria, Tyson’s, Bethesda, North Bethesda, Rockville, Wheaton, Silver Spring…and I’m sure I failed to mention a couple of them.
Madison, WI is similar to Columbus, OH in that it is a state capital and home to a Big Ten University - but in Madison, those two institutions are connected by State Street and many people who work for the University and the State and the City live within walking distance, and both have many activities on the weekends as well as good bars and restaurants in the area.
Having everything squeezed into an isthmus helps a lot. Little Amery in the same state boasts four isthmuses (isthmi? isthmous?), but hasn't taken advantage of that.
North Americans have a quite unique understanding about the downtown. In any other part of the world downtown means the place where people work AND live not to mention: go shopping. No wonder that so many cities has bad downtown. Third of it was bulldozed for highways and parking lots. No wonder nobody wants to live there any more and the shops are closing. Great cities are walkable, human centric and has good public transportation. So you can list almost all of the US cities except maybe New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
As others have pointed out, the National Mall and/or Rosslyn are absolutely not considered the city center (or Downtown) for residents in the DC region. The historic city center in the District of Columbia was along Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and the White House (though Eastern Market and M Street in Georgetown also served as early nodes along streetcar lines before Pennsylvania Avenue became dominant alongside the DC Central Market). The historic core expanded into the area that is now Metro Center (you can find many of the historic buildings of the old city center in this area, mainly along F, G, and E Streets but extended up around the White House a bit. This is the historic city center of DC, and would have been dominant in the 1800s through the early 1900s. However, some of this historic core was demolished to make way for Federal Triangle and other large federal office buildings and museums (Central Market was destroyed to building Archives, for example). In the mid and late 1900s, especially boosted by the construction of the DC Metro, the city center expanded with lots of office buildings being added around Farragut Square, effectively expanding the CBD to both sides of the Lafayette Square. The city center continued to push west into the West End/Golden Triangle in the 1990s, and east into Gallery Place and Mt. Vernon Triangle in the early 2000s. Admittedly, due to the federal height restrictions, it is true the District of Columbia’s CBD does not have an impressive skyline. However, one should not confuse height and density (if you’re familiar with European cities you will know what I am talking about). DC’s city center is a large area of buildings built out to roughly 14 stories with very little setbacks. It’s one of the largest office districts in North America, despite not having a skyline, simply by packing incredible density over a very large area. I don’t have a current estimate but in 2011 DC had roughly 131.7 million square feet of office space in the city center, more than Lower Manhattan and San Francisco, similar is scale to Chicago, and behind Midtown Manhattan’s 200.2 million square feet. That’s also magnitudes more office space than Rosslyn, which is actually not all that large, and has lots of setbacks and open space between the taller towers that limits its overall density. Personally, I like the centers of Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston more than DC (DC is a little too office heavy in the core for me), but in terms of size and scale DC is more impressive than people give it credit for. I think part of this is due to the lack of a skyline and also that many tourists visit and only see the National Mall and the various Smithsonians without venturing into the actual city of DC (you can easily spend days visiting museums and monuments alone and not see any of DC in a way that isn’t as easy to do in New York and Chicago where the tourist things are more interspersed with the city itself; the National Mall and institutional uses nearby kind of separate it from the rest of the District).
So many more cities could have been on this list. San Jose, Atlanta, Houston, Portland, Miami. Seems like Having a good downtown is the exception in this country
No, SJ is much more dynamic to even being close to be on this list. It got housing, university, nightlife, entertainment, diversity, culture and all the trappings of a great urban environment it should have.
The biggest problem with Kansas City MO is that, if you're not familiar with the area, you'll have trouble finding fun places to go. Also, everything is really spread out so you have to do your homework and figure out where everything is in relation to each other. However, if you take the time and do your research, KCMO (in my humble opinion) is one of the best cities in America. I've been all over the US but KCMO is one of my favorite cities. There are great restaurants (including some famous BBQ spots), excellent music venues (big and small), and most of the population is friendly.
@@jimferris9447 St. Louis has made some improvements downtown with the additions of Ballpark Village and the aquarium/Ferris wheel at Union Station. The big problem it continues to have is crime. A general lack of police presence makes it feel unsafe especially at night. I personally have never had any issues there but can definitely see how it would make some people nervous.
I just got back from KC and absolutely had trouble finding fun places to go. I also went Saturday to Tuesday in November (to see Monday night football) so understandably the city wasn't exactly bustling Sunday to Tuesday. But I was left a little disappointed in my experience. I'm not familiar with the area, don't know anyone from there and kind of struggled to keep myself entertained.
@@axelaxelrod9006 I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. Did you try Googling things or did you just drive around while looking for fun? Also, were you in Kansas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri?
As somone who lived within a 5 minute walk of the Virginia Beach Town Center, no local ever considered it Virginia Beach's downtown. Downtown Norfolk was pretty much considered the downtown for the entire metro. It's really more of an outdoor shopping mall built by a single company to resemble a downtown city block.
If you’ve ever wondered why the St. Johns River flows north, it’s because Jacksonville sucks. And Orlando gets really screwed because of the nearby small executive airport which has imposed an FAA height restriction on buildings and has killed a lot of cool projects downtown.
@@UserName-ts3sp Yes it does - been there a few years ago, The downtown is small but has a lot of attractions in its core within walking distance including the Circle Center Mall. Also nearby are the Fountain Square district and the Mass Avenue Arts District.
The problem is that there are about 25 cities tied for #11 on this list.
Everyone thinks that their downtown is one of the best or one of the worst. Nobody thinks thinks their downtown is "pretty average".
No, I think El Paso's downtown is average
@@MichaelSweet-nn5bg Pittsburgh has an okay downtown
Nah. /
Yeah I thought Dallas would be #5 easily
This is true, but Baltimore and DC shouldn't be on this list.
DC is a very interesting city to explore with no shortage of attractions. Even the rough areas are far from boring.
Baltimore may have crime issues/poverty, but it has a lot of history, and it has a lot more going on than most US downtowns
How is Atlanta not on the list? Mostly empty offices and a 14 lane highway going right through the center.
@@cubersanonymous5180 I didn’t think Fairlie Popular and Midtown were concerning
I know right. Atlanta is one of the worst
I was thinking that too. Especially because of the Five Points/Peachtree St.area. But maybe he thinks the Centennial Park area makes up for that, since all the attractions are there.
J@@CLE2ATL66 It may be Covid is the reason for the decrease in workers downtown.
@@CLE2ATL66I haven’t been to Atlanta in 10 years or so but last time I was there 5 points was nice. What’s wrong with the area?
Strong disagree about using Rosslyn as the proxy downtown for DC. DC has its own downtown, and it's not the national mall. There's the Foggy Bottom area, Farrgut Square area, McPherson Square area, Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center area, and Gallery Place/Chinatown area that could all be considered a part of DC's downtown. It's very walkable and has a lot going on. No one from DC would consider the national mall to be downtown.
Agreed
I just posted about that, but you have much more detail in yours. Thanks.
Yep, I lived in VA and MD for a little while and went there a few times.
As someone who works downtown (literally next door to the monstrosity known as the FBI building), I can confirm there is a downtown
Hard to imagine the evil you work next to everyday
Baltimore has some of the best architecture and walkabikity in the country, but it really hurts how few safe areas there are and how many businesses fled the city. Growing up nearby, I have a fondness for it and see the potential, but it just can never activate it without bringing back jobs
That's about the most unsafe city to walk.
Yes unsafe cause of the usual.
I lived in the otterbein/federal hill neighborhood and it was a great place to live. There was plenty going on and a lot of good restaurants and bars. But yeah, outside of fed hill, the harbor, and fells there really aren’t many places anyone should go
Smart voting led to this...
Yasssssss
as someone from the jacksonville metro, it’s genuinely shocking just how little there is to do in downtown jax
you’re only ever over there to go to a doctor’s appointment or to watch the jaguars score 3 points
There’s a few good live music joints but yeah there’s not much to do.
Ya'll are lame
Lol 😂
Duuuval
i enjoy our parks and historic buildings and also yeah the plays and shows and stuff like that there, but tbh there's a lot more to do in the city as a whole so like who really needs downtown anyway except the government dudes
Jacksonville has one of the most depressing downtowns in any city in the US.
Lerp
Borderline dead
Maybe one of the most depressing top-25 cities.
Which Jacksonville?
Totally!
Housing is the key to having a vibrant downtown. People have to live there so they can step out of their building or townhome and be within walking distance of restaurants and entertainment. Having people living downtown creates demand for shops, restaurants, bars, theater, and entertainment & sports venues. If people have to get in their car and drive downtown, find a parking space and then worry about having to drive back home after a night on the town, most will just stay home.
❤
The other more essential key is a center of employment specialty in any downtown. Otherwise, a large population downtown with a horrible work environment spells out miserably high poverty and often high crime.
agree - if people do not live in the core, it is a dead city
I really don't know enough to rank those cities but believe Houston should at least get an honorable mention.
I was amazed it wasn’t on this list.
Me too @@75aces97
Houston and Dallas are two of the worst, least livable cities in the country. Maybe not LA bad, but not too far off.
@@balboa0621 There's far worse.
Too much incredible food in downtown Houston to have it on this list
Simply fascinating. As a irelander whose been in 30 of your 50 states, I find your content to be 'narcotic' KEEP IT GOING KYLE
The fact that Dallas is not on here but DC/Rosslyn are really surprised me, as somebody who lives in the former and used to travel a LOT to the latter.
Well, the author doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Rosslyn? Hilarious. That’s like saying NYC’s “downtown” is Long Island City.
dallas is amazing
@SuperAllStudiosEvery time I get off the highway and get into Dallas it's like i'm in a 80's civil dystopia with the sheer amount of homeless, people fighting in the streets, graffiti everywhere, and general lack of security I feel just walking the streets. Hate Dallas so much.
@MatthewsGauss cmon, every city has that and there is no city with the best food, opportunity and development as much as dallas has! Not bragging, but that's really the truth, also I understand ur problems about highways, but the city itself doesn't only revolve around highways
@SuperAllStudios and that's why the suburbs are populated. Cities are cesspool
I'm glad Vegas made this list. As a local, people don't realize how boring Las Vegas can be because it lacks things like a functioning exciting downtown.
So you've never been to The Fremont Street Experience or First Fridays? Or the Arts District or Fremont East? Or any of the Festivals? If you're bored in downtown Las Vegas then you're simply a dull person or you've never actually been to downtown Las Vegas.
@@TeksonikAudio Haha you’re so BUTTHURT!! His comment had nothing to do with the party scene with Fremont St. DTLV does severely lack simple functional essentials like grocery stores. Probably the only downtown without a train station as well. Yep, certainly the worst downtown in America!
@@TeksonikAudio Freemont Street is so dirty and cheap stick to the strip
But for someone who likes the outdoors and traveling, Las Vegas is a tremendous location. You can get almost anywhere from McCarran. For parks and natural wonders, within a few hours drive it's an embarrassment of riches; Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon, Great Basin, all the Southern Utah parks, Virgin River AZ, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Southern Sierra and Mohave, and on and on.
@@qikstarLas Vegas used to have a train station for the Amtrak Desert Wind train, before this train was eliminated in the late 1990s. It was behind where The Plaza Casino is. There still is an Amtrak mural, inside this building to this day. The old indoor waiting room for trains, now has am exercise room in it btw. Union Pacific passenger trains used to stop there, pre-Amtrak.
There is talk Brightline West may eventually start Rancho Cucamonga(where LA Metrolink commuter rail trains go to) to Las Vegas train service, but I guess we'll see if this starts service one day.
Downtown LA is also in a weird location, it's not on the LA River and it's not in the middle of LA, it's in LA's extreme east, so the gravitas of LA is split between Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, and West LA. Even it's beautiful train station is off to the side, alone and across the freeway; disconnected from downtown. I lived in LA for half of my life in the 80s and 90s and I'm as big a LA booster as anyone but the reality is that while downtown LA "could" become a cool and lively place, the city just doesn't know how to do that organically and tries to force places to exist instead of letting downtown be what people want it to be. Right now it's just a place of little disjointed districts with nothing to bring them together, no cohesion, with pockets of character amid blocks of no-man's land. Am I talking about the LA of 1984 or 2024? Yes. People will say it's gotten better and so much has changed, which may be so but it's basically still the same.
It's stunning to me that the 2nd largest city in the US with a very lively and diverse entertainment and social scene has such a drab downtown. It's shocking.
But then again, that is what LA is all about, isn't it? Stage sets with nothing behind them. The universally hated Pershing Sq is a perfect example of a staged plaza that has had the soul programmed out of it and instead of creating something people want there, a shaded human scale plaza like what used to be there (before it was ripped out for the underground parking lot, which precludes any trees, in an attempt to imitate SF's Union Sq without the amenities around it, and refusing to take the parking out), the city is intending on another over-designed and lifeless plaza, a "forced" place. I live in Chicago now with one of the best downtowns in the world, and as much as it pains me, something LA will never likely come close to having.
Tourists can take a dozen trips to L.A. and never see downtown. I walked around downtown when I visited L.A. in the ‘80s and liked the fact that it was quiet and unpretentious, particularly compared to the big pop culture oriented sites.
@@brianarbenz1329 Agreed. No reason to visit downtown LA. I went there a couple of times in the early 'aughts when living in LV, then lived in SoCal for 8 years from 2015-2023 and never found a reason to visit DT. All the cool stuff is everywhere else.
I can understand your point. What’s funny is downtown Houston if you look at a map looks like “the center” but it isn’t lol. It’s actually more to our east side as well because of how the city limits are laid. The highways fool people, the east side actually ends way before the beltway. Thanks for teaching me something new
Los Angeles Metropolitician area is just a bunch of cities that have their own mini downtowns
Downtown Boise is better than downtown LA
Really excited for the "Best Downtowns" video! I'd also be interested to hear your opinion on which downtowns are doing the best to improve, like an "up and coming downtowns" sort of video
Detroit #1 up and coming for sure!
Resident of Florida here. You are spot on regarding Orlando and Jax. Orlando attempted to improve DT years ago but it failed due to traffic issues and inability to compete with theme parks. Jax has always been a horror show.
I had lots of fun in DT Orlando between 2000-2015. There was so many varied and different bars/clubs, live music venues located just blocks away from each other. I no longer live in Orlando and they tell me that DT has become ghetto.
Florida sucks
Absolutely no way Dallas and Houston aren’t on the list.
I was watching for Dallas. As the cities ticked by I thought it must have made it even higher
Downtown Fort Worth is pretty nice. Downtown Dallas is a Sesspool..
Dallas is far better than Houston
Dallas and Atlanta should have been on this list. I am less familiar with Houston, but my impression is the metro is almost the same size as Dallas-Fort Worth, but the downtown area is bigger, so maybe it is not as bad as Dallas.
@@jamesgreen7752 LOL you haven't been to Houston lately it's has come a long way. It's now a place people go to eat, concerts and sporting events ,also city events.
Get DC off this list… 😂 In my opinion it’s one of the best downtowns in the country.
Absolute trash list.. so much to do in DC
@@rpd888 The list isn't complete trash. Most of the cities listed deserve to be there. It's just that DC and Las Vegas don't really belong. The Mall and the Strip are effectively the 'downtown' of these cities and they are both unique with plenty to do. They can be replaced with Dallas and Atlanta as examples of huge metros that are just urban sprawl, with downtowns that are tiny, lifeless, and not much to do.
@timanderson5981 fair, but the DC section had such faulty reasoning that I question the analysis of everything that came after it.
It is refreshing - and hopeful - to see that Detroit is not on this list.
Detroit has a great downtown
@@shawnmcnamara6032It's the rest of the D that sucks!
Detroit's downtown is so good it gets criticized for being too much of the focus on investment at the expense of the outer neighborhoods.
Usually Detroit and Cleveland make these lists to the point it becomes almost cliche. Both have worked hard and it’s good to see neither.
@PhantasyStarved we know that's right!
“One more lane bro,” had me smirk and chuckle out loud. lol
Man i absolutely love the content on this channel, u do such an incredible job. I really appreciate the wide range of geographic and demographic topics. I’m always looking forward to the next video to come. Just wanted to say I wish u nothing but success, the passion and hard work absolutely shows!
Thank you! "One more lane bro" was coined by someone else, but certainly appropriate for some of these cities.
@@JM-qb2kd But his stories are just made up BS not facts
As a Jacksonville resident, I was not at all shocked to see my city at #4. Jacksonville downtown is like a run down shopping mall, where 80% of the storefronts are abandoned, and it’s now primarily occupied by crack heads.
I live downtown on the Southbank and it is terrible.
Very informative video. When we travel outside the US, we always search out the “Old Town” neighborhood, usually the most interesting and historic part of the city.
Kinda surprised San Jose, CA didn't make the list -- the downtown is very small and is majorly height-restricted due to the nearby airport. It's very empty outside of a few bars by the university, and there's not a lot of jobs in Downtown specifically -- most of the jobs are in sprawling tech campuses way out in the suburbs (Cupertino, Mountain View, Los Gatos, etc.)
I think your inclusion of DTLA is very fair, it is quite dirty and dilapidated. There are some areas of improvement -- the area by Staples Center has notably improved -- but a lot of Downtown is very underdeveloped and nasty. Century City and the Westside are the largest job centers in the city, and while city leadership has been trying to increase tourism in DTLA, it's not somewhere I'd recommend tourists to spend a lot of time in.
Kyle has a bit of a California bias since he's from the Central Valley I think
Haha same! King Kyle knows his audience. I bet a lot of people were biting their nails waiting for SJ downtown to win.
+1 to everything you said about San Jose. Surprised my hometown wasn't mentioned, which robs us of an opportunity for Kyle to feature the Quetzalcoatl statue in his slideshow. City of almost a million within its limits but a very small downtown. The Shark Tank and San Pedro Square along with (possibly) light rail and train connections probably keep it out of the Top 10. Hardly any shopping exists downtown; everything is out at the malls, particularly Santana Row (of which Bill Burr once said "this has to be one of the most soulless places I've ever been to in my life... why is it so bad?"). Amid the sprawl there are more interesting main-street style destinations like Willow Glen, Los Gatos, and Mountain View (Castro).
San jose is part of the SF metro right? Since this video only showcases the largest city of its metro I didn’t think it’d qualify
@@Tipen San Jose actually has a higher population than San Francisco
Hey Kyle, I have a video idea.
How about the top largest cities not located on/near a body of water (lake, river, bay, ocean)?
boosting, i like this
Great idea!
I like this too.
Does the river have to be navigable? Asking because our river here in Dallas is pretty useless by river standards.
I like this idea!
I liked this video but would definitely like to see a “best 10 downtown” version
It'll be the "best for bar hopping."
1. Manhattan
2. Chicago
3. Boston
4. San Francisco
5. Philadelphia
6. Washington, DC
8. Seattle
9. Miami
10. New Orleans
I think he already did.
@@AlCatSplatswap New Orleans for Pittsburgh or Austin (since New Orleans isn’t in the top 50 metro areas which was the cutoff in this video) and you’ve got basically a perfect list
I want to see that too
After watching dozens of your videos, it has become increasingly clear that you have an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge of the United States. Thanks again for the wonderful, informative videos.
Love all the new bumpers and new view of your office but my favorite addition is the Megadeth album getting a background role. Big fan, Kyle!
Washington, D.C.’s downtown is fine, and it is not across in Virginia. There are museums, historic homes and churches to tour, and lots of cafes and restaurants.
Yeah, Geoff flubbed his assessement of DC. DC's downtown CBD in not in Rosslyn VA. The DC CBD is the centered around Penn Quarter/Chinatown area. And extends west along K Street to about Connecticut Ave where the Farragut North and Farragut West metro stations are. This area doesn't have high rise skyscrapers but it is at the center of the subway system and is entirely built out with almost all parking underground.
The pandemic that triggered so much remote work hit the area hard as reduced foot traffic made it harder for storefronts to survive given the CBD's enormous rents. But if there can be a market correction to commercial rents then it should thrive again. At its peak the sidewalks would be busier than pretty anywhere in the US outside of Manhattan or the Chicago loop. More recently its not quite to that level, and even the Chicago Loop isn't what it once was, but doesn't warrant being lumped onto this sad list.
@@pauljarski7977 Who is Geoff?
@brianarbenz1329 May make since using the criteria in this video, but in general, I would assess Washington as one of the best, if not the best, designed urban areas in the US and ranking very high globally. Though not necessarily for reasons "urbanists" might consider most important.
The motto of Chicago is "Urbs in horto" or City in a Garden. Washington is, in one sense, a city built around a park - a true central park.
@@joetrey215 Washington's biggest problem is the micro-management of it by Congress, whose members don't care about its residents. Federal law requires that every felony charge within D.C. goes before a federal grand jury before prosecution can be done. The backlog makes it so much easier to get away with armed robberies inside D.C. than just a block away in Maryland or across the Potomac in Virginia.
And if a bill is introduced to change this preposterous law, Representatives from Idaho and Mississippi get to vote on it, but the D.C. delegate doesn't have a vote.
Same for the law restricting buildings to the height of the Capitol Dome's top.
@@brianarbenz1329 The entire point of a federal district is that ultimately it is managed in the national interest and not in the purely local interest. Otherwise, it might as well be in Maryland. Where the district does exercise home rule, it has been a demonstration of incompetence and stupidity more than any other traits. The crime problem is primarily due to who lives there and not the courts they are processed through.
I like the new intro of your videos! It looks so cool
The thing that blew my mind as an English dude (who works for the railway) is that Phoenix has 5m people and no railway station! You gotta go out to Maricopa to catch the one train a day to LA or Tucson, which itself is down the scariest highway in history. Mad place.
Most people fly
Well we (Americans) don't have many issues with public transportation, because there is very little public transportation to take issue with.
The John Wayne Parkway? What's scary about it? The creepy desert landscape or the huge holes in the road itself?
@@leaaugusta9924 the holes, the trucks, the mad driving and yeah… the desert! Loved Tucson tho. Underrated town.
@@georgehenan853 through choice or lack of alternatives? Also you wouldn’t fly to Tucson - I would hope - that’s a clear example of a passenger flow in the sweet spot of journey time.
Orlando is a fun place to visit and a terrible place to live. I was stationed there after I left boot camp. Its nice being able to see the major attractions but really not a good reason to buy a home and stay. You can live in a nicer suburb and just drive in whenever you like.
I second this
I'd not even consider Vegas a city, it's a giant casino resort loosely connected by rival casinos trying to keep them from walking across the street. It's an urban planning nightmare.
In my opinion you are dead wrong about DC. The downtown is not the national mall, or rosslyn. Just because tall buildings exist does not mean it is a central point at all. Think european cities which tend to shy away from height in the first place. I am from Arlington, Virginia, and if anything I would call Ballston/virginia square the downtown of ARLINGTON, and rosslyn just another business center like Bethesda or Tysons. DC does in fact have a downtown, which encompasses much of foggy bottom, dupont circle, and extends to chinatown. This area is very walkable, has great nightlife, includes GW university, and many restaurants/points of interest.
Just left a very similar comment. Although respectfully disagree about DuPont being downtown - that's its own neighborhood.
I agree I like visiting DC. Granted it has so much going for it (history, museums, government) so it’s kind of had to mess up, but it’s still great.
My biggest problem with it is the crime.
Fuckin loved living in Rosslyn / DC. Actually wonderful city
He’s not talking about neighborhoods that offer the things a good downtown should offer. He’s talking about the actual CBD.
He made the same mistake with Virginia Beach too. The historical downtown is the area on the beach, not the place with the skyscrapers.
Been a fan for years, love the new intro lol
Love your videos! One of my favorite geography channels. I will say, coming from a Phoenix resident, Downtown is definitely not the best it could be but I think you overlooked some amenities. Downtown Phoenix is home to the Diamondbacks and the Phx Suns, which are within walking distance from each other and entertainment. You also didn't mention Roosevelt Row or other areas that have quite a bit of revitalization in the last decade. Thanks for the great video and I still believe it belongs on this list.
Gonna defend Vegas as a resident who has lived in 4 different cities on the list.
Downtown Vegas is small, but EXTREMELY lively 7 evenings a week, year round. Top-tier restaurants, loads of stuff you can't do anywhere else, and an extremely underappreciated dive bar scene. There's always an event or party or live music. Some of the best cityscape viewing in the country too. The rooftop bars give an amazing view of the strip and surrounding mountains. And OMG the people watching is unparalleled.
I've been to most big cities in the US, and Vegas would probably be in my top 10. The strip is trash, but fortunately for the locals it's where most of the tourists go.
Interesting take on urban struggles! It’s a stark reminder of how city planning can make or break a downtown area.
Downtown DC is a thing that’s not the national mall. And it’s probably one of the best in the country. The height restrictions just make it so you can’t see it super obviously
K Street would probably be the CBD.
I lived in the suburbs and used to go into DC when there was lots of stuff to see and do. The Mall is probably my favorite area, then the zoon, then the food court underneath Union Station. But I have not been back recently. Heard it went to hell during COVID.
@@Shorty_Lickens The food court under Union Station was indeed killed by Covid. Union Market, a few blocks northeast of the NOMA metro stop, is, in my opinion, where the good eating in Northeast DC is now.
@@FulanitoMk2 thats a shame. years ago it was the coolest place on earth.
Covid really hit downtowns hard. Many of them are going to need to reinvent themselves.
What is the purpose of a "downtown"? I've always lived semi rural-ly on the edge of big cities and they've always felt restrictive
@@sdrc92126They’re more of less in the middle of everything, so they serve as the natural hubs for commerce and entertainment.
@@sdrc92126 To be a gathering place for business and culture. They aren't a really a purpose or means as much as an end result of civilization.
Agreed. I know many “work from home” people that permanently moved to cabins or vacation homes. Without the need to work in an office, they happily traded away the urban lifestyle for lakes, forests, and rural areas. Who needs a hip restaurant scene when you can watch the sun set over Lake Michigan instead?
@@sdrc92126 A convenient place to eat, shop, work, sightsee, etc.
Can we have a "Best Downtowns" video as well please? Thank you for the fun and the information!
downtown slc better be on there
This is one of my favorite videos on your channel. You're not trying to blame anybody but you're just being honest about how the critical parts of major cities are lacking in an important way. I especially like your take on Virginia Beach. It's just chain stores like an outdoor shopping mall. There are not unique businesses and family-owned shops. It's sterile and boring. Cities can't come into existence by large developers and be lively places. They need to start humble and increment their way up as many participants invest in the city. That's how places have always came to be but the US has forgot that. That's not to say there can't be large developers. Large developers are great sometimes but large developers can't manifest a downtown.
Downtown Jacksonville has been on the brink of a Renaissance for about 30 years now. Don't expect anything to change soon.
Just about every major Florida city has had a boom in their downtowns since 2000 and all the leaders in Jacksonville did was watch through their Binoculars! 😂🤣😋
Basically
Bold City
You completely missed on DC. Rossyln/Nat Mall are not downtown. DC has a dense, walkable, diverse downtown that remains busy long after business hours and on weekends. It has a major arena, university, and transit. Its honestly one of the best cities in US from an urbanist perspective.
Which university? Galludette? Howard? American U? Catholic University of America?
@@letitiajeavons6333 George Washington University is downtown. Howard is just outside. Georgetown's law school is downtown. There are lots of extensions of universities such as Johns Hopkins.
Not for tourists.
Are you also going to make a top 10 best downtowns video? Would love to see it! Hopefully Chicago ends up on there as well.
Chicago should easily be first or 2nd on the 10 Best downtowns. I'd argue Chicago is the best due to all it offers, it's impact on the rest of the metro/city, its location and layout along the coast straddling the river, not to mention the global city skyline and all of its world class offerings and venues. There isn't another city in the US (maybe even world) that literally has EVERYTHING in its CBD and within a mile of its boundary. Some may argue NYC as #1 but I'd only say that for the amount of office space, not the CBD itself as an economic powerhouse that Chicago greater CBD brings.
@ I'm biased because I'm from here but couldn't agree more. I've traveled to tons of major cities and, although some have gotten close, none of them have a better downtown than Chicago's Loop. NYC is #2 - it's just a bit too dirty and smelly for me.
As someone who has lived in dc many years, I can confirm it has a pretty substantial downtown spanning several areas, such as Foggy Bottom, Farragut and McPherson squares, Penn Quarter, Gallery Place, Chinatown, etc. It is very lively and always has something going on. And Rosslyn I would consider the downtown of Arlington, which is a suburb, not part of DC. It’s a whole different vibe in Rosslyn compared to downtown.
Right? That was a weird pick. Don’t drag DC into that mess. It’s one of the best cities.
Not sure I agree that LA's downtown is bad. It's gritty and rough around the edges, but those old districts are really cool in my opinion, and are actually quite lively.
Hey Kyle! Love that Megadeth Album in your background! Rust in Peace is my fav album 😁
I'm a resident of downtown Atlanta. I'm a little surprised we didn't make the Top 10. We definitely have our issues. BUT we do have football/soccer/basketball and major concerts here. Maybe that kept us off the list.
On the downside, It's pretty rough here.
GSU definitely kept us off the list.
Downtown Atlanta is pretty much the most impressive Downtown in the entire south as far as the skyline goes. It may not be the best Downtown, but it certainly ain't the worst.
Major Sports venues, Concerts, Parks, restaurants, College football hall of fame, Georgia State Area, Marta access, Museums, Walkable areas (not everywhere), plenty of places to shop, and thats not even including midtown.
Downtown Atl isnt chicago or anything, and it has many places it needs to improve in, but i dont think its anywhere near the worst.
I think downtown Atlanta is ok, but it won't exactly be on the Top 10 downtowns list.
@@kazeryu17 The most impressive downtown in the south would definitely be Miami.
OMG, Megadeth Rust in Peace is the greatest album of all time!! I love your channel even more now!!! 😁
90 clash of the Titans, Hart, Michigan Alice In Chains open for Megadeth anthrax and slayer and it was the rust in peace album, and it was fucking awesome
The vinyl reissue sounds great.
anyone who calls a metal record as GOAT has outed themselves as having zero fucking taste
Putting DC on a list of worst US downtowns is absolutely unhinged.
Agreed it's got no high rises but the national mall, downtown, and chinatown are so beautiful with no super highways going through them.
DC's CBD stretches from the National Mall to Massachusetts Avenue and out to Dupont Circle. Sorry Kyle, but this is pretty big L of a take
The beauty of subjective lists. 🎉
Dc is lame..
@@abhinavpotluri9654Chinatown? With so many businesses having closed down and the owner of the Wizards/Caps wanting to move out? Lol
Nice vid. I love the globe. I appreciate your research.
Always loved your videos keep up the good work!!
DC actually has the 3rd biggest downtown in the US after Midtown Manhattan and Chicago. It's larger and more amenity filled than every downtown on this list many of them put together, and has more people walking around downtown than all of them. DC has a clean world class level downtown, with world class museums, activities, and public transit. It should be top 5/10 BEST downtowns tbh. Using Rosslyn, VA as your barometer for downtown of course messes up this synopsis. I'd actually argue that Baltimore is not top 10 worst either. It's bottomed out by now, and back on the upswing IMO.
As a DC native, you pinned it on the head.
Yeah I think you giving Downtown DC too much credit. When I think of major downtown, I do think of sky scrapers and I never ever think of DC. However, everything you said is true and it is quite vibrant, clean, and walkable / accessible without a car. If Toronto was 🇺🇸, I would put it as the 3rd best and biggest downtown after Chicago and NYC
@@qikstar thats the proverbial thinking of most people, but in actuality it’s a bit different. Paris and Madrid don’t have skyscrapers downtown, but they are more bustling than 98% of N. American downtowns. On average building height DC builds taller than most American cities downtown and it’s completely built out for miles. It’s just capped at about 13 stories.
@@qikstar I agree with @derekbyrd49, you're understanding of a downtown is limited by your perception that "tall building = city." Obviously, as his video points out, tall buildings are often just offices that clear out at 5pm. The density of paris is actually higher than new york city and it's buildings are rarely above 8-9 stories.
I’m from Baltimore born & raised & you are definitely correct Baltimore downtown is nice & growing & getting better, this guy doesn’t know what he talking about
10.Kansas City
9.Baltimore
8.Columbus
7.Phoenix
6.Orlando
5.Washington DC
4.Jacksonville
3.Virginia Beach
2.Los Angeles
1.Las Vegas
Well thank goodness Toledo didn't show up this time.
San Francrapo joins the chat
@@ChristopherSobieniak too small. it would rte with albany or hartford ct
@@Job0121 I bet.
@@jamesrecknor6752too small
Hey Kyle, fun video 😊 i was glad to see neither Denver or Albuquerque were on there!
Albuquerque was like a third world country. I would have put it on the list but it doesn't really have anything to qualify it as having a downtown haha
Excellent video! Lived in Phoenix and L.A, terrible downtowns. Generally speaking, cities on the West Coast have terrible downtowns.
Seattle,Portland,San Francisco and San Diego are OK,LA is horrible
Couldn't disagree more with the DC placement. Like... I just don't get the logic whatsoever.
Dc is lame, the only the thing it's got going are the monuments and museums...
@@Johnny-hn9ts ???? Are you retarded?
It has no skyscrapers and it’s waaaay more ghetto and run down than most would expect. It’s honestly not bad but I think people maybe expect a little more form
The capital. It feels like a small town just cuz it has no skyscrapers and that’s hard to mentally get over if ur from say NYC or Chicago.
@@jaywizz7008 having skyscrapers should have very little basis on if a downtown is good. And no, downtown DC is not ghetto. DC in the 80s? Yeah that was ghetto
@@Johnny-hn9ts “the only thing it has going for it is all the culture other cities wish they had”…. Got it. Plus restaurants and a super international population with people from all over the globe
Shameless plug: Milwaukee and Chicago both have great downtowns. Chicago is an architectural world class gem. And both are literally built right up to the coastline of that freshwater inland sea; the Great Lakes, and Lake Michigan specifically. You can't even see the other side of the lake. So it's like living on an ocean, only no sharks or hurricanes! Breathtaking views. Even in winter. One just has to embrace the change of seasons. Both are very walkable, drivable and have rail transit. Milwaukee in particular is very bike friendly. Very diverse people, buildings, great mix of office, residential, entertainment. Diverse, high quality, and great value food scene is awesome too. Milwaukee also has festivals going on all summer long downtown on the lakefront. They don't call it the city of festivals for nothing.
Milwaukee is a very UNDERrated city! That’s a great thing!
Absolutely!
Chicagos commercial vacancy rate is almost at 36% (just behind San Fran at about 40%). I was just in chicago a month ago and will be there again next week. it SHOULD be amazing because it WAS amazing, but the leaders have fucked it HARD. its nearing a death spiral....in reality, its probably entered one.
You must be drinking that Chicago water. Lol.
I’m a HUGE fan of both downtowns especially Chicago. I’d live in downtown Chicago if I could. One of my best friends bought a high rise condo near Wrigley and really turned it into a gem in the sky! ❤
Great list! As a Chicagoan who lives in the best downtown of America - I totally agree with this list, except Atlanta should probably replace DC. But Las Vegas is the worst downtown of any major city! How the hell you have ZERO grocery stores? The Art District is cool and and the only part of the city that gives you a dense walkable feel, but it still got a long way to go.
Kyle, good description.
Hi Kyle, big fan of yours. Your vids are so well done. What do you think of Philadelphia as a downtown? It didn't make either your best or worst downtowns lists.
I like Philadelphia and I took some heat for not including it in my 10 Best Downtowns video. The last time I was there was in 2021 and the pandemic had really hurt downtown. So I really need to give it a new look to see what it's like now.
@@GeographyKing Makes sense, no city's best showing really back then. My Toronto was shut down hard and long. Now we're back to regular (crazy) form.
Downtown LA is definitely underwhelming, but there's no way it's the second worst downtown in the US. There's plenty of great places to shop and eat (chain and local alike), the Lakers, Kings, Sparks and (basically) Dodgers play there, it has a lot of historic districts including Chinatown and Little Tokyo, and it has several "monuments" including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the US Bank building, the Broad, the Grammy museum, and the new tallest building in California. Yes, the other areas of LA are much more popular than downtown LA, but that doesn't mean downtown LA is worse than downtown Norfolk or Jacksonville.
I know! I thought the analysis of LA's downtown was harsh. Although it is possibly the dirtiest DT I've been to in the US, it still has so much interesting stuff that it can't be number 2. Plenty of skyscrapers, offices, art walks, chic cafes, food trucks, parks, transit, sports stuff, ethnic areas, LA Live, bike infrastructure, fashion district, Old LA/Olvera, jewelry district, and Santee Alley. To me, DT is one of my favorite spots! A solid mix of grimey, upscale, historic, and entertainment that the city is known for. With that said, Grand C. Market is very underwhelming.
You cannot spell “lame” without L.A.
Agree, the Cathedral, museums and ethnic enclaves make downtown LA quite interesting.
The "tallest building" is a joke. It's only tallest because it has a giant broomstick on top. Otherwise, I agree that there are parts of downtown LA that are pretty cool.
Part of the way he makes his lists is to compare the size of the city to what the CBD has to offer. LA‘s downtown, even if it there are some interesting things there, is really underwhelming for the second largest city in the country.
Totally surprised downtown Houston wasn't on this list. For the 4th largest city, the downtown is so unbelievably boring. People go down for sports or a concert and immediately leave. I was so disappointed when I went for the first time lol.
That's because most of the entertainment is not centered around downtown. There's Midtown, rice village and numerous city centres throughout the city. You missed out
@@rufusgoldstein2655 "entertainment" there is food and some museums, not much else. Nothing that any other city doesn't have.
I was just at the George R Brown Convention Center and was surprised with how “dead” it seemed in that whole area around downtown Houston. I guess the action is in the surrounding burbs! Lol
@@dylanc6856world class museums. Multiple! And world class food as well
@@jacobrodriguez4832 museums and food, just like any other big city. Houston has no character, such a vanilla city that loses power about 1 month out of the year lol. Windows broken from winds, flooding, hurricane damage, trees falling, no power when it is too hot or cold....lovely place.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city. Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty. How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there. You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares. So go downtown.
When you alone
and life is making you lonely,
you can always go
Downtown. 👍🏽
Gentle bossa nova…
Where all the lights are bright!
That was written and sung in the mid-1960s when downtowns generally still the center of activity of all sorts. I know I remember it.
Leslie Gore???
I find that speeding up videos like this is far more enjoyable and effective than listening to the speaker take FOREVER to get through his slide show.
Well done program and thoughtfully presented. I only take issue with your DC segment. Once you cross the Potomac you’re no longer in Washington. To call Roslyn/ Arlington DC’s downtown is absurd. Finally, Thank you for putting yourself and your work out there. I’m sure it’s not always easy so I’m grateful for your efforts!
Rust in peace, tasty. Another great vid, thanks!
Love your stuff. DC has an amazing downtown though, this is so confusing you included them
"There was this kid I grew up with; he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition, we ran molasses into Canada... made a fortune, your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts".
Hyman Roth, how you doin? Didn't you get the memo from Michael?
That Rust in Peace album in the background shows you in a whole new light.
I wouldn’t expect him to be a metalhead
Great video. Totally agree with your choices. How about a 10 best big city downtown? I nominate Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and San Diego.
You did DC dirty. Dupont, Georgetown, and Adams Morgan are all cool places within walking distance from the mall. A lot of the listed cities aren't walkable
You are spot on about the Town Center at Virginia Beach it was a developer same thing with the Town Center in Newport News and Hampton
Yeah, but putting VA Beach right behind LA?
@@roryfitzpatrick5273 I agree that’s extreme considering LA is a 💩 hole
All of these cities deserve much better. Hopefully their continued growth means a bright future for them and the people who live there.
Good thing there's a video for the Best Downtowns. Truth be told, there's a lot fewer good downtowns than bad ones.
Hey, I agree it's not fun to be negative, but this was a really fun video and I really appreciate the hard work you put into it. I cannot wait to watch the follow-up that I see you just uploaded, and the future "top 10 BEST big city downtowns!"
I think Chicago has a great downtown with Millennium Park, concerts, museums, theaters, the ballet, shopping, Lake Michigan and the heart of the govt and business district.
COVID took its toll, as it did for most downtowns, as more people work from home nowadays, but it’s still vibrant with culture and frequent fun activities.
It’s not on this list…
10 years ago, the inner harbor was hopping. Just 3 years later, things really began to hollow out and I hear the Inner Harbor is basically dead now
Your right about Town Center in Virginia Beach. The true downtown for the area is Downtown Norfolk, and its actually a very nice and upscale downtown with alot of shops, restaurants, parks, festivals, and entertainment districts, and with current development, it is about to triple in significance when you factor in the St Pauls Quadrent, the Neon District, Harbor Park, and the Fort Norfolk area. The two big make or break situations are the casino, and whatever they choose to do with the massive 3 story shopping mall in the middle of the city that has been slowly declining for reasons. Town Center on the other hand is a joke, and despite the fact that it is about to absorb Pembroke mall, it is basically just a few blocks of urban that is plopped in the middle of the suburbs, so while its great for the surrounding suburbs, it basically landlocks the area because the only way for it to expand is to demolish and rezone entire subdivisions. The funny thing is that town Center could be better if the city had some foresight, but they let nimbyism control their planning. There is a light rail line that runs from Downtown Norfolk to the Norfolk/Virginia beach border. That light rail line was supposed to continue down an abandoned freight rail line that runs through Town Center, and all the way to the Oceanfront. It would have connected Town Center to Downtown Norfolk and The oceanfront. Virginia Beach purchased the freight rail line with the intention of developing the light rail line, but there was a grassroots effort led by the city treasurer that ran a massive negative ad campaign to stop the line from being developed and they were successful(via referendum), so now they dont have light rail in the future. They have been talking about converting the freight line into a liniar park, (and thats way better than nothing)but it has been a long time, and not a single shovel touched dirt yet. Hampton roads has the potential to have a massive linier urban district running from Chesapeake, through Norfolk, and all the way to the oceanfront, but NIMBY, a lack of cooperation, and bad urban planning from Virginia Beach and Chesapeake (to an extent) hold the area back.
I was thinking exactly this. Virginia Beach is just the largest, Norfolk seems like the true primary city. The other thing I was thinking is if one was to claim a legitimate area in Virginia Beach as downtown, the reality is it has to be the beach, right? It's not really a traditional central business district but it certainly seems more like the economic center and most built up district in the city. Certainly more so than the town center.
Agreed, Norfolk is the true classic anchor city for that region, as Virginia Beach mostly grew as suburban sprawl spurred by white flight leaving Norfolk. If Virginia Beach were to have a true “downtown” it would be the Oceanfront, which is by the far most walkable/dense part of the city proper.
@street_ruffian I agree, and the oceanfront is the small beach town that annexed the surrounding land to call themselves a city, so its technically the historic center of the city. They are trying to develop the oceanfront more inland with things like the Vibe District, but until they move the city offices to either the oceanfront or town Center, Virginia Beach doesn't have a Downtown IMO.
great vid!
I am surprised to NOT find the Vietnam (and adjacent Corea) Memorial sites mentioned. When I visited DC way back I found those highly impressive. Over all I believe your Survey is informative and as usual well balanced! Well done!
That Jacksonville section made me more interested in what cities you think have interesting projects in works/planning stages more than cities with good downtowns. For example, Birmingham has that amphitheater project aiming to make its uptown area more of it's own separate area from the CBD, plus the Red Mountain Cut project aims to make a more walkable connection from Southside to downtown Homewood and a couple of the Mountain Brook villages. So it'd basically go from almost Village Creek to almost Shades Creek for that low level connected feeling instead of just north of 459 to Red Mountain.
I've got some topics coming up where I'll discuss some of these major projects going on right now.
Duuuval
Best Geography channel on TH-cam!
The Port of Los Angeles is “colonial incorporation”- where the municipality gerrymandered a bizarre protrusion to wrap itself around a high-revenue area so they could deny that money to people in Inglewood, Compton and others more affected by the port’s negative environmental impact. Chicago did the same thing with O’Hare airport.
I lived in the Phoenix area almost two years, had a job driving around the entire metro area and never figured out where downtown Phoenix was supposed to be
if you are on the north side of town get on Central Ave and head south. It starts getting interesting when you get to about Indian School road. Downtown continues 5-7ish of miles south of the this but mostly it meanders east and west. Thats why Central Ave is Central.
It used to be within a few blocks of Washington and Central, when I was a kid. Then with the advent of shopping malls it spread way, way out.
The Vegas strip isn’t even in Las Vegas, NV - it’s in Paradise, NV.
Excellent video as always. As a native of Columbus, I completely agree that the city is setup perfectly for a street car line to run from Clintonville down to German Village ( or even further south ). Not sure why the fastest growing metro in the Midwest can’t figure out public transit but I appreciate you calling it out!
Totally agree! I think a similar thing would work for Broad St, connecting Franklinton with Olde Towne East. There is so much potential in downtown Columbus but the only place where good stuff is happening is Bicentennial Park, basically
Absolutely agree
Kansas city is just crazy. So much highway. Its unbelievable
Yeah, KC's geography is very strange. Also, the KC Metro is way too big to not have any inner city rail, especially considering all the miles of tracks throughout the city. A crying shame.
@@liamtahaney713 most overrated city in the country…
@@StLouis-yu9iz from someone who has lived in KC and lives in the south, I would say the most overrated city is Dallas. Especially in the south, people act like Dallas is the most amazing city they have ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got its draws and it’s a beautiful skyline but it’s very over crowded and over priced.
@@wmbrent123Dallas is a “yuppie” city. It’s for the “country boys” who drive lifted F-350s from their $400k+ single family suburban home to their Lawyer office. Not even Home Depot. They’ll hire a guy with a King Ranch F-150 to do that. Us real country folks laugh at that shit all the time.
Hell, most big cities in the U.S. at minimum have a neighborhood that captivates African American culture, and Dalls has its gentrified by white people Deep Ellum District, but most of the representation of Black culture in Dallas is of the… “thug” variety (and Dallas really ain’t even all that violent or anything so Dallas doesn’t even do a good job at representing that…)
There’s better representation of Black culture in San Antonio, a Hispanic city, and that Black cultural representation in SA was an afterthought.
Fort Worth has the stock yards, but that’s not even southern culture really, that’s western culture, and friggin’ Lubbock does a better job at representing western culture.
The best part of Dallas is the Six Flags… yet I-30 is the most wild ride in the city.
I think KC is less a city and more of a gathering place for the surrounding rural areas and small towns. They come in from far away maybe once a month maybe, to do stuff they need a city for, or go to a the3atre, or attend a football or baseball game, and then go home. Urbanism doesn't work for such a population base.
Downtown DC is actually great. Anywhere on K St and 14th is downtown and alive. Rosslyn not even the downtown for Arlington. It’s A downtown in Arlington. But it’s still a suburb technically. It just has big buildings but def not DC’s downtown. Basically like saying Jersey City is NYC’s downtown.
Baltimore's downtown isn't great, but most of the businesses moved to the new business center of Harbor East/Harbor Point, which really isn't far. It's basically replaced downtown and is thriving. Also the inner harbor is being redeveloped, which will allow for some revitalization of the neighboring CBD.
Amazing video as always Kyle. I'm sure I share the sentiment with many others of surprise not to find Portland, Oregon on this list. It truly is the best definition of the title of this video in the whole of North America as of right now this minute as I was there just 2 weeks ago. Partly due to the recent legalisation of everything, downtown was a scene like no other. And I must say that downtown LA is much cleaned up compared to post covid and my previous visit there in 2021. I think Portland stands as unique given the fact that so many homeless people travelled there from the Western and Midwestern USA owing to the recent legalisation of everything. What does everyone else think?
Otherwise good video, but like many comments are saying, DC has a specific downtown area that is specifically concentrated by the transport hubs of Metro Center and Gallery Place. There are miles of gigantic office buildings just north of the mall, which is also included in downtown. This makes downtown DC not only one of the largest job centers in America but also one of the largest tourist destinations. I personally don’t like it as a DC native because the height restrictions, wide streets, and lack of corner stores/ restaurants downtown really make it feel less lively than NYC or Chicago even when the streets are packed with office workers, and the mall is far too spread out and frankly unbearable in the summer months. Objectively though you didn’t analyze downtown DC, you picked one of DC’s many satellite downtowns. We have almost too many of those to count. Roslyn, Arlington, Alexandria, Tyson’s, Bethesda, North Bethesda, Rockville, Wheaton, Silver Spring…and I’m sure I failed to mention a couple of them.
Madison, WI is similar to Columbus, OH in that it is a state capital and home to a Big Ten University - but in Madison, those two institutions are connected by State Street and many people who work for the University and the State and the City live within walking distance, and both have many activities on the weekends as well as good bars and restaurants in the area.
Having everything squeezed into an isthmus helps a lot. Little Amery in the same state boasts four isthmuses (isthmi? isthmous?), but hasn't taken advantage of that.
Oh, and Madison *has* a capitol, but *is* a capital. "Capitol" is short for "capitolium", which is an easy way to keep the spellings straight.
@@kenaikuskokwim9694 thank you
The layout of Madison is very cool, with the capitol building in a parklike square and avenues radiating out from there.
Yes indeed. Madison is very, very nice.
North Americans have a quite unique understanding about the downtown. In any other part of the world downtown means the place where people work AND live not to mention: go shopping. No wonder that so many cities has bad downtown. Third of it was bulldozed for highways and parking lots. No wonder nobody wants to live there any more and the shops are closing. Great cities are walkable, human centric and has good public transportation. So you can list almost all of the US cities except maybe New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Have friends in FL.. Having visited Jacksonville a few times, cant disagree with your assessment but hoping those projects will lift the are up.
Rust in Peace. Awesome stuff. 🎸
As others have pointed out, the National Mall and/or Rosslyn are absolutely not considered the city center (or Downtown) for residents in the DC region.
The historic city center in the District of Columbia was along Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and the White House (though Eastern Market and M Street in Georgetown also served as early nodes along streetcar lines before Pennsylvania Avenue became dominant alongside the DC Central Market). The historic core expanded into the area that is now Metro Center (you can find many of the historic buildings of the old city center in this area, mainly along F, G, and E Streets but extended up around the White House a bit. This is the historic city center of DC, and would have been dominant in the 1800s through the early 1900s. However, some of this historic core was demolished to make way for Federal Triangle and other large federal office buildings and museums (Central Market was destroyed to building Archives, for example).
In the mid and late 1900s, especially boosted by the construction of the DC Metro, the city center expanded with lots of office buildings being added around Farragut Square, effectively expanding the CBD to both sides of the Lafayette Square. The city center continued to push west into the West End/Golden Triangle in the 1990s, and east into Gallery Place and Mt. Vernon Triangle in the early 2000s.
Admittedly, due to the federal height restrictions, it is true the District of Columbia’s CBD does not have an impressive skyline. However, one should not confuse height and density (if you’re familiar with European cities you will know what I am talking about). DC’s city center is a large area of buildings built out to roughly 14 stories with very little setbacks. It’s one of the largest office districts in North America, despite not having a skyline, simply by packing incredible density over a very large area. I don’t have a current estimate but in 2011 DC had roughly 131.7 million square feet of office space in the city center, more than Lower Manhattan and San Francisco, similar is scale to Chicago, and behind Midtown Manhattan’s 200.2 million square feet. That’s also magnitudes more office space than Rosslyn, which is actually not all that large, and has lots of setbacks and open space between the taller towers that limits its overall density.
Personally, I like the centers of Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston more than DC (DC is a little too office heavy in the core for me), but in terms of size and scale DC is more impressive than people give it credit for. I think part of this is due to the lack of a skyline and also that many tourists visit and only see the National Mall and the various Smithsonians without venturing into the actual city of DC (you can easily spend days visiting museums and monuments alone and not see any of DC in a way that isn’t as easy to do in New York and Chicago where the tourist things are more interspersed with the city itself; the National Mall and institutional uses nearby kind of separate it from the rest of the District).
So many more cities could have been on this list. San Jose, Atlanta, Houston, Portland, Miami. Seems like Having a good downtown is the exception in this country
I assume DT San Jose was forgotten about, which is about right.
Portland Oregon has a really nice downtown, especially compared to the other cities you listed. What’s your reasoning to include it?
No, SJ is much more dynamic to even being close to be on this list. It got housing, university, nightlife, entertainment, diversity, culture and all the trappings of a great urban environment it should have.
Miami? You're tripping bro.
@@alexEMP1 Yeah most everything there is boarded up and it's a homeless community.
The biggest problem with Kansas City MO is that, if you're not familiar with the area, you'll have trouble finding fun places to go. Also, everything is really spread out so you have to do your homework and figure out where everything is in relation to each other. However, if you take the time and do your research, KCMO (in my humble opinion) is one of the best cities in America. I've been all over the US but KCMO is one of my favorite cities. There are great restaurants (including some famous BBQ spots), excellent music venues (big and small), and most of the population is friendly.
All true. Just not concentrated in downtown. Much like Saint Louis in that regard.
@@jimferris9447 St. Louis has made some improvements downtown with the additions of Ballpark Village and the aquarium/Ferris wheel at Union Station. The big problem it continues to have is crime. A general lack of police presence makes it feel unsafe especially at night. I personally have never had any issues there but can definitely see how it would make some people nervous.
I just got back from KC and absolutely had trouble finding fun places to go. I also went Saturday to Tuesday in November (to see Monday night football) so understandably the city wasn't exactly bustling Sunday to Tuesday. But I was left a little disappointed in my experience. I'm not familiar with the area, don't know anyone from there and kind of struggled to keep myself entertained.
@@axelaxelrod9006 I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. Did you try Googling things or did you just drive around while looking for fun? Also, were you in Kansas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri?
Agree.
As somone who lived within a 5 minute walk of the Virginia Beach Town Center, no local ever considered it Virginia Beach's downtown. Downtown Norfolk was pretty much considered the downtown for the entire metro. It's really more of an outdoor shopping mall built by a single company to resemble a downtown city block.
If you’ve ever wondered why the St. Johns River flows north, it’s because Jacksonville sucks.
And Orlando gets really screwed because of the nearby small executive airport which has imposed an FAA height restriction on buildings and has killed a lot of cool projects downtown.
How did Indianapolis avoid the list?
i think indy has a pretty nice downtown tbh
Indianapolis has a great downtown. It's the rest of the city that sucks
When they started to revitalize downtown Indy in the late 80's/early 90's it became the model of redevelopment for many 2nd tier cities.
Fort Worth too
@@UserName-ts3sp Yes it does - been there a few years ago, The downtown is small but has a lot of attractions in its core within walking distance including the Circle Center Mall. Also nearby are the Fountain Square district and the Mass Avenue Arts District.