A Tale of Two West Coast Cities

I use to live in downtown Seattle, fairly close to some tourist spots. In the summertime when I'd be walking to wherever, I would overhear conversations from tourists. I heard a lot of "This reminds me of San Francisco." I figured they meant geographically: hills going into a bay. We do get fog, but ours tends to burn off by afternoon.

Now having been to SF, I see what they mean. Yes, geographically, but it also has a similar feel to it that is hard to explain if you haven't been to both. I guess I was mostly surprised at it being so similar because I'm use to visiting cities in the Midwest - and those are definitely different!

Some things that are the same makes sense:
Of course we're going to have a lot of similar street names since they were built (or rebuilt) about the same time - the funny thing is that they lead to or are in the same kind of neighborhoods in both cities. I joked that it might be possible to move from Seattle to SF and not change your street address.

Also obvious: still being on the West Coast, we have a lot of the same chain stores and restaurants.

Then there is the background of both cities. We have similar histories, they just didn't always happen in the same decade:

Seattle in Blue SF in Orange

1897 - The Big Fire Destroys Seattle
1906 - Big Earthquake/Fire Destroys San Francisco

starting 1849 City Booms Because of the Gold Rush
starting 1898 City Booms Because of the Gold Rush*

Big Music Scene in the 1960's
Big Music Scene in the 1990's

Silicon Valley
Silicon Forest

1997 - New Ball Park Construction Begins (opened 2000)
1997 - New Ball Park Construction Begins (opened 1999)
(ok, that one is just for fun)

On the bus tour, the guide mentioned that the street we were on at that moment use to be a double-decker highway-type but was taken down. I had to laugh. When I left Seattle this week, they were still counting votes about what to do with our double-decker, The Alaskan Way Viaduct (Highway 99): get rid of it, repair it, build a tunnel, or find another option.


*But Seattle doesn't have gold, you say? People came here to get equipment, supplies, and passage to the Yukon Gold Rush. Seattle was called "The Gateway to Alaska."