- Cleanliness
When it comes to New York, clean air and garbage-free sidewalks aren’t necessarily our strong suit. More often then not, we walk over the wrong subway grate and inhale a smell we simply wish we could un-smell. Piles of garbage take up half the sidewalk every night and the air we breathe tends to choke us instead of keep us alive, ironic, right? In San Fran, the minute you step outside, your lungs jump for joy! The air is crisp; you can feel the difference and for this, we have cable cars to thank. In this city, most of their public transportation runs solely on electricity, leaving San Fran with clean air and environmentally friendly ways to get around. Not only do they utilize electricity, every store, restaurant, and sidewalk has garbage pails with the options to recycle, compost and/or send your trash to a landfill. It was pretty hard to find litter around the Bay Area, because there are so many options to recycle and properly trash away all over the city, people seemed more aware of their footprint.
- Friendliness
Almost EVERYONE in the world knows that New York is known to have some very rude residents. For everyone’s information, this is true. We don’t realize just how rude people in the big city are until we leave it. Don’t get me wrong, I love New York but the misery, negative energy, and cynical corporate American’s, most certainly kill my vibe. I’m guilty of this, though, aren’t we all? Here, we are determined to succeed amongst 8.4 million people so, we pound the pavement and keep our blinders on until we’ve reached the finish line. Not a bad mentality but, it gets old after a while. It’s rare to receive a smile from a stranger on the street or be offered help with directions from a New Yorker if you look lost, that is simply found far and few between. I noticed San Fran was a friendly city the minute I stepped out of my hotel and onto the street. Us New York folk looked just as confused as the tourists we see in our city except here, Californians willingly approached us and politely asked if we needed help. This came as a shock to my friends and I, being that we are not used to this type of genuine concern and sincerity, naturally the loud New Yorker in all of us shined through as we overdramatically expressed our excitement of the kindness of the locals. Whatever energy you harness and emit into the universe will manifest within your world. New York manifests so much negativity that it rubs off on its city slickers and surely making all of us feel quite alone in a city filled with millions of people. San Francisco, the opposite.
- Speed
This is one aspect of comparison where New York reigns supreme and wins me over every time. Being that I am a New Yorker, I am used to the fast paced lifestyle we live on a daily basis, the thought of slowing down is unsettling. While in San Francisco, there were a few times I had to remind myself to stay calm, this was brought on by lack of speed and Californian’s surprising amount of patience, patience I simply do not have. Sometimes I feel New York as an entity runs on empty, we spread ourselves so thin, trying to accomplish everything on our to-do lists that we ultimately end up cranky, unable to tolerate “slow as molasses” mentalities – hence the nasty New York attitude we all know and love. San Francisco surely felt like the opposite. Most people in the Bay Area looked energized and ready to tackle the day ahead, with a “happy go lucky” attitude and a green smoothie in hand.
- Fashion
When I hopped off the plane at SFO, I expected to see a new kind of fashion, one we don’t see in the big city, let’s just say…I was thoroughly disappointed. New York is the fashion capital of the world, living here has taught me more then I could have ever imagined about the fashion industry and fashion in general. One of the first things I observe when I travel to a new place is the fashion. I want to analyze what people wear and figure out why certain trends are popular in certain places. While in San Francisco, we stayed in the Financial District; most people dressed in business/business casual attire, casual everyday wear or workout clothing. Those who did not work in a corporate America setting were seen in jeans and a t-shirt or athletic wear. I’m so used to dressing up everyday in New York that the casual attire in California caught me off guard. I think I expected surfer bros and bohemian chicks, so stereotypical of me.
- Food
Something you guys might not know about me is that I’m the ultimate foodie! I love food just as much as I love fashion if not, more. If I had to rank the eats in Cali in comparison to New York, I would have to say it’s a tie, coast to coast. What stood out to me the most was the abundance of Asian/Japanese spots all over San Francisco. The sushi I ordered was fresh and creative, in both my roll and seaweed salad the chefs used lemon for a zesty yet fresh bite – something I have not seen in New York. Both cities offer a variety of food cultures to taste and try!