Which city is the Hub of the Universe- Boston or New York?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Which shall it be:

Boston, a boring, average town (about 4 million inhabitants in the metro area overall) with almost nothing of interest, whose strict 9-to-5 time schedule (I once was amazed to find a Dunkin Donuts shop at the Boston Common that closed after 9 PM!) and draconian rules would suit Bin Laden and the Taliban just fine, has confusing street filled with drivers without the skills, busy places and that empty right after 9 PM, posesses no culture beyond the usual Harvard-style yuppies, and has attractions like Harvard, the Cheers bar at Beacon Hill, the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Filene's Department store, the John Hancock Tower, and...umm... nothing else, so it puzzles me why they have such tall hotels in Boring Beantown... (I traveled there once, so I know how evil it is)

or...

New York, a monster-size metropolis (population of 20 million+ if you include its suburbs) with 19,000 restaurants of all kinds of meals, more than 400 skyscrapers exceeding 300 feet in height,(some of them are tall hotels always filled to capacity even during recessions), a cultural, ethnic, economic, political, and social diversity that is too complicated to describe here, and a 24-hour time schedule matched only by the Las Vegas Strip? And did I mention attractions like Rockefeller Center, South Street Seaport, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Union Square Park, the art galleries at Soho, Macy's Herald Square, FAO Schwartz, Wall Street, Times Square and all its theaters, Grand Central Station, the corporate towers at Park Avenue, the Citicorp Building, the UN Headquarters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Heights, Coney Island, Yankee Stadium, Kennedy Airport, and so on.

So, what city is the "Hub of the Universe"?

― Jason M, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Why do we still live here, in this repulsive town?/All our friends are in New York.

I have never been to either. But why compare the two?

― Ally C, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I would think it difficult to argue that Boston is the Hub of the Universe. it's not even the hub of the USA. It is surely the Hub of Mass. How about some other nations?

― Ron, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Other than the Boston Herald's headline writers, does anyone even in Boston itself call Boston 'the Hub'? Maybe providing the Herald with a suitably short and more accurate nick would prompt them to replace 'Hub.' HUB RAG DROPS NICK.

― Benjamin, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Boston isn't even the Hub of New England, much less the Hub of the Universe. Miami, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, and Cleveland can each stake a stronger claim to being the Hub of the Universe, and we haven't even crossed the Mississippi (much less either the Pacific or the Atlantic) yet.

That doesn't mean NYC is the Hub, either. I think that Tokyo, Hong Kong, Cairo, Bombay, Moscow, or Paris could give NYC a run for the money.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

On second thought, maybe Boston is the Hub of New England. Which isn't that hard, when yer competition is Hartford CT, Burlington VT, or Providence RI. And drat that ILE doesn't have an edit feature!

And my list of competitors to NYC is by no means exclusive. Matter of fact, I would add Berlin and Mexico City to that list.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Neither, surely.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My feeling is that no one city can sum up the whole universe (although New York makes a pretty good compromise). I have reached that delicious and decadent stage of luxury when I can string my life out between two, like a string of fairy lights. Mine are, of course, New York and Tokyo. But I think a good case could be made for the dyad London-Paris; they're a lot closer together, and you only need one visa for both. Or Paris-Berlin. Get a broom closet in each, rather than a big place in just one.

― Momus, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kansas City is the hub of a big tire that has a hole. But at least there are great places to buy old vinyl

― mike hanle y, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i feel the same way about edmonton .

― anthony, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sigh. Why not pick on other mid-sized cities to aid in your thesis that New York is superior? Austin, Chicago, San Francisco, Berkeley, Providence, Atlanta, New Orleans, Seattle, whatever. It would probably be hard to find a knish at any of these places at four in the morning. None of these places, Boston included, has ever claimed to be New York. New York has a bigger better everything than all of these places combined, and most of us acknowledge that. But some of us just don't like New York as much as New Yorkers do; some of us can't afford to live in Manhattan; some of us are happy with our tiny music scenes and cheap rent.

― geeta, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think the real gist of this post is that everyone in the universe hates Boston.

Though, for the record, Boston has never claimed to be New York, you're right. That doesn't stop an awful lot of Bostonians I've met (Dan and Ian excluded) from claiming Boston is far superior, when clearly it isn't - I mean, you can't even fucking buy cigarettes after 10pm, what the hell?

― Ally, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Beernem

― nathalie, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Lung Dong.

― Pete, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The city where I live (don't want to open the gates of hell again) is the pub of the universe. If you saw it yesterday, it was just ridiculous. Town was totally packed with people fighting and vomiting and singing, 14 year olds falling over on the street. Jesus I was scared out of my mind walking to the club to meet my friends.

― Ronan, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In Denver we got mountains n shit. I've never been to Boston or New York, either. Why don't we pick a new Hub of the Universe? My bet is on Pocatella, Idaho.

― Mandee, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

***New York, a monster-size metropolis (population of 20 million+ if you include its suburbs) with 19,000 restaurants of all kinds of meals, more than 400 skyscrapers exceeding 300 feet in height,(some of them are tall hotels always filled to capacity even during recessions)...*

Jason, that's not quite so true, anymore. NY IS a tad battered, at present;> To call it the "hub of the universe" would just draw unfair comparisons. Sure, tis one of the largest cities on the East Coast, but I can think of a few others worldwide that are pretty cool: Crete, San Francisco, Paris, Dublin, London....All these places have benefits to 'em.

Feel free to jump in your car and drive to Philly (even), when Boston irritates you.

― Nichole Graham, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mr Graham, I beg to differ. No to sound superior, but my home city has been through tough times before, as is happening now, and from here it will rise again. Its bigget asset of course is its sheer size as I mentioned before, which in turn gives it a fighting spirit; it's too big and too important to the global village to leave it to rot. Same with London, Paris, Montreal, Tokyo, and others. Even as I speak, New York, like other cities I mentioned, is building new skyscrapers. New York will recover.

― Jason M, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

it's too big and too important to the global village to leave it to rot

Now, yes. Later?

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Boston smells like wee.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

All the drunks, see.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.