The Most "Vintage" US City

[J. M. Stovall]

Something I've often wondered is what American city is still most like it was in the 1930's.

I know here in Houston there's a constant battle between the developers and the preservationists, and history usually looses. Two weeks ago they tore down a turn of the century, 20 story brick hotel right downtown, and just last week here in our historic neighborhood they tore a big, three story Victorian house, to build some kind of restaurant (which I plan to boycott). As in typical Houston fashion, the developer got his demo permit and tore it down within a day. He said he forgot to contact the Heights Historic Foundation, but if you don't there are really no repercussions.

In the 70's during Houston's big oil bust, developers bought up almost all of the downtown shopping district, blocks and blocks of three story brick storefront, and leveled it all for parking lots until real estate prices picked up again. The funny thing is now the interest is to return to downtown, so they are building "fake" storefront type business, sad copies of what used to be there.

What made me think about the most vintage city recently was the story of the sealed off second story, I think in Detroit. It's amazing from my perspective that all those buildings we still standing.

Ok, so my tirade is over. What's it going to be? Minneapolis? Portland? Detroit?

 

[Senator Jack]

I was in, of all places, Scranton, PA a few years back. Walking through the abandoned downtown, I got to thinking that people just up and left sometime around '53 - like the lost colony of Roanoke where they found pipes still burning and beds warm. I can't describe it, it just has to be seen.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[photobyalan]

Any large city south of the Mason-Dixon line is out.

Detroit is out. In the 1930's, Detroit was a bustling, lively, growing city with a bright future riding on the wheels of the automobile industry. Except for a very few blocks downtown, Detroit is now a blighted wasteland.

San Francisco is in the running. What other city still has public transit extant which is virtually unchanged from the 1930's?

Boston was right up there until the "Big Dig". Now I'm not so sure.

Chicago has a very "vintage" feel, even though many things about the city have changed. I would vote for Chicago just on that intangible.

 

[Mycroft]

I agree with Chitown. What about, Miami Beach's Deco Distric? Parts of NYC?

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Chicago is a pretty good choice, it's just that I'm perpetually mad at them for tearing down all those awesome Louis Sullivan Buildings.

This, the old Chicago Stock Exchange Building:

Replaced with this:

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Boston was right up there until the "Big Dig". Now I'm not so sure.

The "Big Dig" didn't touch a single building. In fact, it restored Boston back to where it was pre-1950's when the elevated central artery cut through the city. In its place, will be parks and cafes. Boston, however, is too colonial for a true Art Deco city.

Philadelphia, however has some incredible 1930's buildings and even their new construction are in the Neo-Deco style. 30th Street Station has been restored to its former grandeur, as was NY's Grand Central, which it links to through The Acela. All of Philadelphia's boulevards are intact, but sadly, the Dexter Haven family has moved on.

 

[MudInYerEye]

Most of the buildings in both the East and West Village of NYC were built between 1750 and 1900. At night especially certain quieter blocks maintain a distinctly passed-age feel.

 

[Lauren]

For towns, how bout Bodie. It was completely abandoned by 1950, and all the remnants of life are still in the buildings. It's pretty creepy. I went probably about 6 years ago.
http://www.bodie.com/

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Broadway St. in downtown Los Angeles still gives out that feeling. Some blocks, at least. Miss Neecerie lives nearby; she can give you a better sense of it.

 

[Lena_Horne]

Detroit is out. In the 1930's, Detroit was a bustling, lively, growing city with a bright future riding on the wheels of the automobile industry. Except for a very few blocks downtown, Detroit is now a blighted wasteland.

Oh baby am I reveling in this opportunity. I'm from the Arsenal of Democracy, the Motor City. My bread, my butter, all of it. I'm Detroit darling and we are certainly not blighted wasteland. Don't worry I don't take offense, I just want to be sure to point out that that is not the case.

Not only has a great deal of our architecture been preserved (thought notably it's not nearly enough and mainly due to neglect) but it's coming back into vogue. I am proud to call this place my home as we have representations of so many different forms of architecture through the ages that it's plain mind boggling.

Some of which can be found here: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=20718

We also have (I'm pretty sure) the third largest collection of Pre-Depression skyscrapers left in the world. That's pretty good I'd say. Have fun looking around that site and be sure to check out the Metro Detroit section (there are a great deal of neighborhood tours to be found, my favorite right now is Indian Village 56K be forewarned): http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showforum=71

Oh and just in case no one had guessed, I cast my vote for Detroit hands down.

L_H

 

[D-Day-Doll]

Milwaukee is still vintage in a very industrial kind of way.

Or how about Rantoul, Illinois- home of Chanute AFB? We went there a few weeks ago and it is virtually unchanged since 1941 when all the major buildings were built. There's still a 1940's hospital, theater, American Red Cross serivce club, theater, firehouse, gymnasium, lots of barracks, officer's housing, and P-3 which was the largest military complex until the Pentagon was built. Driving around Chanute was amazing, although very surreal since its almost completely abandoned other than an aviation museum.

 

[Lauren]

Broadway St. in downtown Los Angeles still gives out that feeling. Some blocks, at least.

Agreed. Just walk looking up. I used to live right across from the staples center and skateboarded through downtown a lot. I always wanted to take my telephone lense down there and take pictures but I was afraid I'd be jumped.

 

[Robert Conway]

Supposedly downtown Los Angles is the most intact city core in the country.
They bulldozed all of the surrounding Victorian mansions and old tenaments, you see in the film noir pictures, and replaced them with glass skyscrapers many years ago. (Grrrr!)

There is an area just beyond that, running parallel to the freeway that looks like an untouched 1940's neighborhood, and covers many city blocks. Lots of one and two story family homes and some small apartment buildings.

The only problem is that downtown L.A. turns in to 'Escape from New York' at night and the Mission (Skidrow) is a warzone at any time of the day. Wandering around there after dark would be a serious mistake.

Sections of Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood and along Wilshire Blvd. area are still intact, as are parts of old Pasadena. But once again, not all of these places are safe for travel.

Large parts of old Beverly Hills are still intact; but every once and a while they will bulldoze a 20's palace and replace it with a fugly MacMansion.

 

[Nick Charles]

My home town

Not exactly a city 5000 maybe but the buildings are still pretty presereved.

www.saranaclake.com

This is the main hotel,the Hotel Saranac buit in 27, Linen postcard and real picture.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I always liked the old buildings and neighborhood in New York City -- there are places where you can get a feel for other eras and centuries. I loved some of the buildings there: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Dakota, and my very favorite NYC building, built in 1902:

http://www.photosofoldamerica.com/webart/large/228.jpg

The Flatiron building.

You can take walking tours in the Village and see buildings in which Poe resides, or other famous authors and entertainers. Some neighborhoods in the Bronx harken back to the Golden Era and, of course, there's Harlem.

I have heard that Savannah, Georgia has a vintage look, with lots of old houses and buildings. I have never been there.

karol

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Something else just occurred to me, there have been a few threads lately about the lost of style in clothes: men dressing like boys, all the damn t-shirts and ballcaps, flip-flops at the Whitehouse. Well it seems like all our American cities have the same crappy style too: fast-food plastic buildings, billboards farms, strip centers built in a day.

I guess everything matches, in a really depressing way.

 

[Novella]

It's funny to think that probably someday 60 or so years in the future people will look back on our time and talk about how much they love the architecture and the clothes (t-shirts, flip flops and all).

 

[Fu Manchu]

Jersey City and Brooklyn

If you're looking for a vintage feel on the east coast, I recommend getting to the outskirts of NYC. Brooklyn has entire neighborhoods of preserved brownstone (Fort Green, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, &c.) - those rowhouses haven't been knocked down to make way for new buildings as has happened in much of Manhattan. Plus, as rent is more affordable than in the Village or other old NYC neighborhoods, you can still see signs of bustling city life, like I imagine the Lower East side 100 years ago.

If you want to see something strange, however, I recommend that you visit Journal Square in Jersey City. This section of town was envisioned as an escape from downtown New York in the late 20's. The Hudson Tubes (PATH) was finished in 1928 and the neighborhood was packed with movie palaces and restaurants - all in deco style. When the market crashed, these buildings were abandoned and the neighborhood died. One huge theatre, the Stanley, became a Jehova's Witness meeting hall. The other, the Loew's, is still in service and they show classic movies. They're highly recommended:

www.loewsjersey.org

Fu Manchu

 

[resortes805]

I really gotta put in a good word for Miami. The only problem is that it honestly looks better in black in white. Alot of the buildings are painted those gawd-awful Don Johnson colors.

 

[chilidawgguy]

Karol is correct that Savannah is well preserved. It is truly one of America's most beautiful cities, as is Charleston, SC. Both have an F. Scott Fitzgerald feel. But if you really want to strut your stuff, I vote for Pasadena, CA.