Ten largest US cities: Freedom Cities or Horrible Cities?

[Lyin' Steve]

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.

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.

Phoenix:  The one time I went here I got altitude sickness but I remember going downtown and thinking that I didn't miss much.

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.