Comparing Portland And New York

Writing assignment #2
Compare and contrast essay

Over the past ten years Portland and New York have been vying for distinction of being creative capital of the United States. They range in size, both geographically and in terms of population, they have very different environments and people, although they have some things in common, like a diverse art and music scene. We can explore these differences and similarities to better understand the significance of each city and the things they have to offer. New York is a city with pavement, concrete and smog in the air. Portland has a more suburban feel with all the beautiful houses, gardens and trees everywhere. Green streets with nice houses on both sides invite for a long walks in search of peace. New York is the opposite of peacefulness. It’s like an ocean during the storm, chaotic and fierce. That’s what makes New Yorkers so aggressive and closed off; they are not interested in meeting new people, because they are consumed with their own life and busy schedules. In Portland people have a much friendlier attitude, strangers often ask how your day is going. The population of New York is very diverse. There are people from different ethnical and cultural backgrounds and there are so many different groups, that a whole neighborhood can be
inhabited by one cultural group. Portland is completely different from that. It’s less diverse and mostly inhabited by white people. People come to see New York from all over the world, any time of a year.
They are flooding the streets, making it hard to walk, and everybody hates them. In Portland you hardly see any tourists walking around with cameras hanging around their necks, being annoying and stupid. There’s not so many common touristy spots to go to, or many shopping malls, as opposed to New York. All that may or may not affect prices of everything. Some places in New York have very inflated prices, because they are targeted towards wealthy tourists. Portland is pretty cheap and affordable. $20 would get you a big bag of groceries, where in New York you can get only couple things for
$20. Despite all the differences there are still some things that are similar. Both cities have a large music scene with a great number of good up and coming bands. Portland as well as New York has a lot of places to go to see live music and something is going on every night. There are a lot of art galleries both in New York and Portland, although New York art scene is more formal and somewhat restricted, where in Portland it’s more liberated. The other thing Portland and New York have in common is good food and hospitality. Both places have a lot of cafes and restaurants, and you can find any type of cuisine you like. Although there are some differences here as well. It’s way more affordable to eat out in Portland than it is in New York. Portland food carts are an important part of food culture. They are everywhere and you can find something delicious and cheap very quickly. The only problem is that everything closes early and it’s really hard to get food after 11 pm. In New York, on the other hand, everything stays open late and you can get breakfast even at 3 o’clock in the morning.
Portland and New York are very similar and very different at the same time, they both have a lot to offer, and a lot of young people have been moving to Portland lately, because for aspiring poor artists it's more affordable than New York. At the same time it does not have as many opportunities as New York does. It's impossible and somewhat pointless to try to tell which city is better or worse, it's a matter of a personal taste and lifestyle.