East Coast VS West Coast cultures

[navigaytion]

This applies to a certain extent in Canada as well. The east is obviously centuries older in terms of reaching a certain level of establishment.

I think of the east coast as having "culture," while I think of the west coast as having "lifestyle."

They both have culture, and they both provide different lifestyles.

 

[palemale]

New Yorkers don't obsess about LA or California. Most New Yorkers actually like the West Coast and rarely say anything bad about it. One exception is that NYers will volunteer that one thing they do not like about LA is that one has to drive everywhere. We walk everywhere, here. Most people don't own cars.

As far as natural disasters, NYC handles them pretty well. We have blizzards of 20" or more, and can drive in the streets within minutes of the snow stopping. It gets plowed immediately. We got 20" of snow the day after Christmas, then 5", then 9", then 19". The City keeps on trucking. If LA or SF got a 20" snowstorm (or a 2" snowstorm), what would happen? Cities prepare for the disasters they are used too.

As far as hurricanes in NYC, direct hits are so infrequent, that most people alive cannot remember the last one to have hit NYC. Also, when hurricanes move into colder water, they travel about twice as fast as in warm water. Therefore, once a hurricane moves past North Carolina, its speed usually doubles, leaving northern areas with much less time to heed warnings and evacuate people in danger zones. The increased speed of the storm, and denser population, leaves governments with little choice but to err on the side of caution.

 

[Zu-Mendel]

As a native Floridian I would like to point out that unless the hurricane is a Cat 3+ when it hits land...we really don't tend to care a whole lot. Sure the power goes out for a few days, and schools close, but there isn't a whole hell of a lot that differentiates a Cat 1 from a really shitty Florida thunderstorm.

Then again it doesn't hurt that due to Florida's flatness we really don't get flooding or landslides either.

 

[JayHawk]

I just don't get the 'My disaster is bigger than yours theory' That and the same folks who will decry nationalism will defend the city they love to the bitter end. Kinda amusing...

 

[barnbuddy]

I don't think it has anything to do with the age of the cities

NY and Charleston SC were well established by 1776, but they certainly don't share a culture

in fact, I'd say Atlanta is more like LA than NY

and SF is more like Boston than LA

 

[palemale]

The major cities in the US that tend to be the most unique culturally are the cities that were not founded by the English, especially New York, San Francisco and New Orleans. All are cities that were well established under the flags of other countries; the Netherlands in the case of New York, Spain in San Francisco, and France in New Orleans.