New York: Kicks ass, the center of everything, has everything, I always have a great time whenever I visit. Can't wait for Uber to kill all the damn taxis though. I wouldn't want to live there -- too many cockroaches and rats and high-rent sh*tty apartments. But it's a damn good city.
Los Angeles: Trashy, relatively boring, full of pretentious people, everything is expensive and exclusive for no reason, lots of bums and crime, absolutely nightmarish traffic makes it impossible to leave the city. If I asked you to name iconic things in New York we could do Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, WTC, Central Park, Broadway, Times Square, Met, etc. but if I asked you LA I bet you could only give me Hollywood.
Chicago: I've been here on trips and it's a godawful boring city at night. The weather is usually miserable, there's not a whole lot to do, there's not much special or unique about Chicago. Miracle mile is nice but it doesn't excuse the terrible drivers and high crime.
I agree. I voted FF only for New York among the first three, although admittedly it is the only one I ever worked and lived in. We sometimes had to go to Chicago for important matters. I've driven there and taken the train as well and I've seen White Sox, but not Cubs, home games. Chicago is noisy and unpleasant, generally. I'm less familiar with LA, having been there only once for a day in 1999. We were staying for a week in Anaheim and rented a car. Too inconveniently placed generally. Not pleasant.
Houston: The Gulf of Mexico is so nice, and Houston has a lot of fun things to do. Overall I find it to be a rather pleasant city, except that it's too damn hot.
Philadelphia: I like the classic American vibe of Philly, the city center is beautiful and there are a lot of nice landmarks. Somehow whenever I've been in Philadelphia it always seemed to be dirty and constantly under construction. But overall it's a pretty nice city.
I have to disagree with you here. Houston is smelly and Philadelphia is scary. I think they're both horrible cities. There are worse places in the world, and certainly I've enjoyed Astroworld, Astros home games, Phillies home games, and the Franklin Institute, but I would not want to live in either.
Phoenix: The one time I went here I got altitude sickness but I remember going downtown and thinking that I didn't miss much.
I spent a few days there in the spring of 1997. I didn't care for Phoenix either.
San Antonio: I popped through here for a day once and did the riverwalk and it was really nice. Overall seemed a lot more culturally-focused and try-hard than the other Texas cities which just kind of did their own thing, but it's a pleasant city.
San Diego: One of the best cities I know of, which is surprising considering every other California city absolutely sucks. San Diego's just gotten lucky, maybe, but it's kept its act together for years and the result is one of the most solid, enjoyable cities in the country.
Dallas: A good old fashioned Texas city. I remember thinking that it was all parks and buildings, very very nice but not a whole lot to do and it didn't really fit with its local culture which was very Texas. Nice to visit on a weekend but I don't think I'd want to live there.
San Jose: Basically an extension of Silicon Valley. If you like dramatically-overpriced housing, frozen-solid traffic and drowning in nerd culture, go to San Jose. As for me, I'll keep San Diego.
I voted FF for all of these. San Antonio is one of my favorite places in the US and I always have a good time and meet interesting people there. Lots of swingers, if you're into that sort of thing. I'm not but I've been approached an inordinate number of times by such couples especially in SA. San Diego has a very pleasant climate and a friendly clientele. I wish I had had more time there. I used to like visiting Deep Ellum and the West End in Dallas when I lived in Arlington, and generally enjoy the good food (Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, etc.) for about half the price of many comparably-sized markets. San Jose is somewhere I didn't visit often when I lived in California, because Oakland and San Francisco were more convenient and more familiar, but I have an uncle who lives there and I've visited his neighborhood a few times. Very pleasant.
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