The East Coast and West Coast are so often pitted against one another.
We each have this idea of what the other coast is like and how different their lives are from our own just due to their environment.
If you think we're going to tell you that we're going to destroy stereotypes in this article, you're dead wrong. We're New Yorkers. We're competitive and (sometimes) brash.
But we're honest. You'll know pretty much immediately whether or not we like you. There's no point in faking it.
The people of San Francisco can be pot-smoking vegan hipsters who bike everywhere and rock their man buns and lumberjack beards.
But in a head to head battle, which city reigns supreme? Which city is definitively the better city?
We compare the two cities from our experiences in both. Here's how they stack up.
1. Cleanliness
charlesanddognyc No cans no container - years of filth and rats - sanitation dept's solution? Put out more poison. Ug. #nycsanitation #nycgov #nycfilth #ilovenyc #nycgarbage #nyc2ndclass #nycmayorsoffice
Pretty much every joke made about New York City pertains to something about the amount of garbage uglying our streets and the rats that call those garbage heaps home.
About 8.5 million people call this city home. That means we have 8.5 million people producing trash each and every day. When you compare that to the mere 850,000 people living in San Francisco, you can understand why we have so much more trash to dispose of than the city by the bay.
[anad]
Plus, on top of those 8.5 million people, we have a kingdom of rats living among us. Do you really think we're going to win this one?
Not a chance, New Yorkers. San Francisco is, hands down, the cleaner city.
SFO: 1 - NYC: 0
2. Layout
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Unless you have massive calves and love walking up hills more than anything in the world, New York City is definitely the winner.
Of course San Francisco's hills are beautiful and provide a wonderful landscape to look at.
But when you have to successfully parallel park on a street with an almost 60 degree angle, then walk a few blocks UP said hill at said angle, you'll never complain about the layout of NYC again.
Also, who's bright idea was it to make Lombard street? Eight hairpin turns to decline down an insane hill? Yea, we'll keep our straight streets, bridges, and tunnels.
SFO: 1 - NYC: 1
3. Attractions
New York City hosts an unbelievable amount of tourists each and every day.
Many of us avoid the obvious tourist attractions (Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc.) in order to go about our daily lives without having to navigate through hoards of tourists.
San Francisco's tourist attractions are pretty limited to the waterfront area near Fisherman's Wharf. Of course, there's Alcatraz, Ghirardelli Square, and the Golden Gate Bridge, but beyond that, there aren't too many "touristy" things to do that you can't find elsewhere.
New York definitely takes this one due to the pure amount of attractions for tourists.
SFO: 1 - NYC: 2
4. Food
kellanskitchen NYC research at its finest. Finally made it to @robertaspizza and it was well worth it. #nycpizza #research #robertas #pizza
New Yorkers pretty much have food at their fingertips 24/7.
Whether it's from the cart on the street corner or the dollar slice down the street, we can pretty much find food whenever we want it. In terms of quantity, New York takes this one.
[anad2]
San Francisco does have some pretty amazing late night joints, but they certainly win in quality. The amount of fresh produce that California harvests is far superior to NYC, simply due to location. California's weather allows farmers to grow and harvest fruits and veggies pretty much year round.
SFO: 2 - NYC: 2
5. Bars
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This one is a tough one. Both NYC and SFO have pretty amazing bars. Between high end and dive bars, San Francisco's got them all, as does New York City.
NYC you can pretty much find crazy awesome bars anywhere. Some of us in the spoiledNYC office head to the LES, while others will go anywhere besides Midtown.
San Francisco has Polk Street (otherwise known as the area to avoid during SantaCon). Then there's the Mission, and of course, the Castro (which, in case you didn't know, has incredible bars). One of our favorite bars is Buckshot on Geary. Skee ball anyone?
The deciding factor?
Pretty much every bar in San Francisco has a couple of really amazing craft beers on draft. In NYC you can always find a Coors or a Bud, but craft beers become less common. The prevalence and availability of craft beers puts SFO slightly over NYC.
SFO: 3 - NYC: 2
6. Priciness
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People in both cities complain about how expensive it is to live in the city.
But it's actually much cheaper to live in NYC than it is in SFO. Sure, you can find cheap apartments anywhere (did you see the guy who lives in a dumpster?), but rent is actually much more expensive in SFO than it is in NYC.
[anad]
The San Francisco housing market has been growing at an insane rate.
People are paying astronomical prices for a piece of property in the city. Of course, there is no way that the prices can sustain such a rapid growth. Regardless, NYC is actually cheaper to live in than SFO.
SFO: 3 - NYC: 3
7. Weather
Like we said before, California has amazing weather.
However, San Francisco is pretty much a constantly changing bubble of weird weather. You can pretty much always expect some level of fog (due to the whole city on the bay thing). Plus, it doesn't actually get really hot or really cold. Just mild.
NYC can get extremely warm and extremely cold. We also have the threat of hurricanes (we're lookin' at you, Sandy), blizzards, or Nor'easters. You would think that SFO's mild, balmy weather would kick it up to the winner's circle.
WRONG: SFO is sitting on constantly shifting tectonic plates. If you forgot everything you learned in elementary school, that means that they have earthquakes. California is supposed to have a pretty massive earthquake in the near future.
Earthquakes are scary.
You can prepare for a blizzard or a hurricane. You have warning. With an earthquake, there's no warning. NYC weather definitely wins this one.
We'll take blizzards and hurricanes over potential destruction at any minute, thank you very much.
SFO: 3 - NYC: 4
8. Traffic
Everyone knows that California traffic is absolutely insane. People often forget how bad NYC traffic is. Accident on the FDR? Yea, you'll be there a while. Lincoln Tunnel or George Washington Bridge during rush hour? Forget it.
But, if you can imagine, traffic into and around San Francisco is so horrendous that you'll want to pull your teeth out one at a time over sitting in traffic. One day, it took one of our staff writers four hours (read FOUR) to go to work when it normally took her 30 minutes. The reason?
San Francisco traffic. New Yorkers, no matter how bad the traffic is in NYC, be grateful. It could be worse.
SFO: 3 - NYC: 5
9. Public transportation
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New York City has the subway, buses, taxis, bikes, ferries, trains, and even a gondola.
Most New Yorkers don't even own a car. They really aren't necessary whatsoever. No matter where you need to go, there is multiple ways to get there.
San Francisco has taxis, ferries, BART, and the trolley. Just like NYC, a lot of residents don't have cars. It's entirely possible to get where you need to go with public transportation.
[anad2]
But, lets face it.
If you had the choice between taking the subway or a cleaner, less hectic, more direct version (also known as BART), would you hesitate? We wouldn't. NYC may have more options, but San Francisco public transportation is much more efficient and much less hated.
SFO: 4 - NYC: 5
10. Skyline
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Look, San Francisco has those beautiful hills. From Alameda (right across the bay from San Francisco), San Francisco looks stunning, especially when the fog rolls in.
But the hills and fog is just no match for the New York City skyline. Sure people would recognize the outline of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the skyline doesn't exactly stand to someone who has never been there.
The New York City skyline is magical. People from all over the world recognize it from a quick glance. And when you see it from a distance (read: from New Jersey), the lights of the buildings almost twinkle with an unknown magic that the city perpetuates.
There's nothing else in the world that could come close.
SFO: 3 - NYC: 6
Check out L.A. Vs. New York: Kids Edition, ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Style.
[Feature Image Courtesy The Real Deal]