Secrets of the City

The Minneapolis/St. Paul comparison is especially excellent. Did you know that the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood is just like downtown Saint Paul?

I am vehemently opposed to any comparisons of Minneapolis and Milwaukee.

Richard Florida concurs…

I’m confused. Why would anyone care about these comparisons?

Because they’re amusing.

Really? Huh.
I guess you’d have to know the neighborhoods intimately to get the humor…

Really? Huh.
I guess you’d have to know the neighborhoods intimately to get the humor…

Obviously.

You should be able to compare Minneapolis to Minneapolis. Show me what other neighborhoods are like Longfellow. Nope. Can’t.

This sort of thing COULD be valuable. Many people, when relocating, try to find a neighborhood similar to the one they’re leaving behind. Things like walkability, diversity, commute, types of restaurants (chains vs local) come into play.

Actually quantifying that can’t be easy.

Arthappy, I’m nonplussed by this as well. It’s not just you.

I’m pretty sure it’s using Milwaukie, OR and not the Milwaukee in Wisconsin.

Yeah, and I wanted to be helpful and try to answer Bixby’s question (Is it as bad as I think it is?), but then I was like all “wha?” and then I was all “huh?” and my head started to hurt. Oh well. I’m glad some people find the humor.

Powderhorn Park is like Harlem, Yorkville, Morningside Heights and Little Italy! Awesome!

Pretty sure they did get Milwaukee screwed up. None of those neighborhoods are from Milwaukee WI.

I guess this is only funny if you’re familiar with a lot of Minneapolis or St. Paul neighborhoods and a lot of neighborhood from some other city. But, honestly, watching a Web page try to match San Francisco’s Chinatown with a Minneapolis neighborhood is like watching one of those logic computers in Star Trek melt down because Captain Kirk is behaving deliberately illogically.

It actually seems fairly reasonable. Powderhorn is not unlike the Mission District or Bushwick, I suppose. Fewer hipsters, perhaps.

Also, Max, Minnehaha is totally the Minneapolis Chinatown.

Speaking of Minneapolis neighborhoods, I just found I can reprogram cities and neighborhoods in Dope Wars. so much more fun to score and sell Special K in Uptown than in Derby or Sydney.

Also, Max, Minnehaha is totally the Minneapolis Chinatown.

Oh great, there goes Sturdevant!
As if I don’t already have enough trouble understanding what he’s talking about!

Apparently Longfellow is like either the Upper East or Upper West Side, among other things. Some key understated differences:

Zabar’s — we don’t have it. We do have a conveniently located Little Caesar’s Pizza, however.

Auto Parts and Hardware Stores — Advantage: Longfellow.

The Subway — Well, that’s kind of a given.

Excellent Bagels — Rainbow features frozen Bagel’s Forever bagels, but advantage still goes to New York on this one.

Crazy stack of wildly differing income levels — Longfellow’s got it. The Upper East and West Sides, based on my memory, skew toward the somewhat well-to-do.

This site is beyond useless. Not only do the comparison not add up, they throw two to four New York (or wherever) neighborhoods at you that aren’t even like each other, let alone helpful analogues to Minneapolis.

It would be more helpful if they give some sort of explanation. Is it the price of housing? The number of families verses single dwellers? Ethnicity? Number of bars, grocery stores, shopping areas? Also, it doesn’t take into account the changing nature of neighborhoods, and how in some cities neighborhoods change a lot faster than in others.

We’d be living in Midtown, Central Park in New York.

We’d be Puttin’ on the Ritz! This town ain’t so tough!

Lyndale is like the Financial District? While I have never been to the Financial District in NYC, but I imagine it doesn’t have a BigK in the way, a Juanitas House of Furniture, or only 1 financial institution in the whole neighborhood, like Lyndale does.

They misspelled Milwaukee.

As jtd pointed out, there is a Milwaukie in Oregon. It’s the Dogwood City of the West.

Yeah, I guess you’re right. I didn’t read the previous comments all that closely. I wonder why they left off the better known Milwauk[i/e]e.

Bancroft is like Chinatown, and Little Italy?
Maybe I haven’t been looking hard enough for powdered Tiger bones. I’ll ask the neighbors on the corner.

Oh, and there are no Italians in Bancroft. Many others that practice a similar romance language, but no Italians.

There is a rose in Spanish Powderhorn…a red rose grows in Spanish Powderhorn…