50 Best US Skylines

[craigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

I just did the same with my wife, she immediately recognized it as STL.

He's not at all into SSP or skyscrapers or urban stuff, and he's never been to St. Louis--which leads me to believe that the Arch is more of an icon than I had thought.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by craigs

I did an experiment and showed my husband the St. Louis skyline from the Mississippi River, with the Arch directly in the middle. He correctly identified the city immediately.

I just did this with my 9 year old daughter and 8 year old son.

They both nailed it

Perhaps not fair, though, as we took a family road trip down to St. Louis two years ago and visited the arch.

If you ever visit the arch, you don't forget it.

It's spectacular!!

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

The Sears Tower is pretty well known (though some people can't tell it apart from the Hancock...) for being the tallest in the world for so long. Maybe that doesn't work on the kids though...

Yeah, Sears Tower's global reign of terror for over two decades back in the 70s/80s/90s gave it a fair bit of notoriety, but probably mostly a boomer/genX thing these days.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by craigs

He's not at all into SSP or skyscrapers or urban stuff, and he's never been to St. Louis--which leads me to believe that the Arch is more of an icon than I had thought.

Yup. Same with her. I have a model of the Sears Tower in my office and she thought it was the Empire State Building.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by JManc

I have a model of the Sears Tower in my office and she thought it was the Empire State Building.

(Frantically searching for "raised eyebrow" smilie.)

[MolsonExport]

I remember my first trip to China (2012). When locals would find out I was from Canada, many would say something like: "Canada! CN Tower!!" and smile broadly.

I think these days may be numbered.

I recall this girl that I had a crush on, who used to car pool with me back in my early Vancouver years (1994). She apparently had never heard of The Beatles.

My estimation of that girl as a possible girlfriend just fuckin' plummeted.

[Crawford]

Is CN Tower less prominent these days? Doesn't seem particularly more or less notable, but who knows.

I'm a little surprised it is (or was) well-known in China bc these types of towers are pretty globally ubiquitous and similar- looking, but maybe its extreme height and skyline-defining location gives it global icon status.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I recall this girl that I had a crush on, who used to car pool with me back in my early Vancouver years (1994). She apparently had never heard of The Beatles.

My estimation of that girl as a possible girlfriend just fuckin' plummeted.

We're all busy people who have different interests, and it's impossible to know everything, but there are certain universal things that we should all know about - at least here in North America.

You shouldn't have to be a sports fan to recognize names like Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky (elsewhere maybe you'd recognize Lionel Messi or Ronaldo) and identify the sport they play. You shouldn't have to be into pop music to recognize the name Taylor Swift, or into rock music from the 1960s to recognize The Beatles. You should be able to identify a portrait of Einstein. If someone asks you "what is the tallest mountain on earth?" you should be able to reply "Mount Everest" without thinking. You shouldn't have to follow politics to recognize a picture of Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Barack Obama.

For global landmarks, I'd say if you can't recognize at least the Eiffel tower, Statue of Liberty or Big Ben and correctly identify which city they're located in, then you are a complete ignoramus.

[WhipperSnapper]

Eastern Europe in the 1980s. Reagan was viewed as the President of Canada. Those same people knew the CN Tower was taller than the Ostankino Tower.

Everyone I've met knows the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building but, they often mistake photos of them with the other.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

For global landmarks, I'd say if you can't recognize at least the Eiffel tower, Statue of Liberty or Big Ben and correctly identify which city they're located in, then you are a complete ignoramus.

I suspect that a lot of people would easily identify the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty but struggle with Big Ben.

[jbermingham123]

Originally Posted by craigs

He's not at all into SSP or skyscrapers... [and he's] never been to St. Louis...

Sounds like he's a smart man. Those are both huge green flags

[BillM]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

For global landmarks, I'd say if you can't recognize at least the Eiffel tower, Statue of Liberty or Big Ben and correctly identify which city they're located in, then you are a complete ignoramus.

This reminds me of an episode of "The Big Bang Theory".

Jake somehow took a random airplane flight to somewhere. He called his father from the destination who asked, "where are you, Jake?". Jake looked around and there was the Eiffel Tower rising above the landscape. He replied, "I have no clue".

[mhays]

Originally Posted by pj3000

... like the St. Louis arch (maybe it's not all that well known outside the US/Canada/Mexico, but it sure as hell is more of an identifier than Seattle's Space Needle).

... Space Needle... not sure about this one, but I'd bet max 20% of the US population could see a pic of it and identify the city as Seattle.

I might have homer bias, but I'd say the Space Needle is more known than the Arch. And that's one reason why Seattle's skyline is both good and recognizable.

Seattle has multiples of the urban tourism STL gets. It also has a decent second-tier global recognition. The Space Needle is in movies and TV shows every year. There are typically maybe 500 people inside or in line in the summer. While the world is full of observation towers, this one is relatively unique.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mhays

I might have homer bias, but I'd say the Space Needle is more known than the Arch. And that's one reason why Seattle's skyline is both good and recognizable.

The Arch is far more recognizable to me than the Space Needle. I often get the Space Needle confused with the CN Tower.

The Arch has to be in the top 10 of recognizable manmade American landmarks outside of New York City.

[DZH22]

Originally Posted by mhays

I might have homer bias, but I'd say the Space Needle is more known than the Arch.

I'm sure it's more well known if you live in Seattle. Outside of the Pacific Northwest... It's just homer bias. The Arch is easily the more famous landmark.

[Steely Dan]

Gateway Arch is more one of a kind.

The world has plenty of "pod on a pole" observation towers.

But I can't think of anything that looks quite like the arch.

It's certainly the more distinctive of the two.

[homebucket]

I just polled 3 people randomly, and they all said the Space Needle was more recognizable/well known as a landmark. One actually didn't even know what the Gateway Arch was, probably because they've never been to St Louis and Seattle is in more movies. He did agree the Arch looked cool though.

Perhaps the Space Needle is more recognizable even if the Arch is more unique. And for us West Coasters, Seattle is a more likely travel destination whereas very few would even think of visiting St Louis.

[hipster duck]

If we're basing recognizability from 90s sitcom openings, the Space Needle is featured in the opening credits of Frasier while the Gateway Arch is featured in the opening credits of, uh, The John Larroquette Show.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

If we're basing recognizability from 90s sitcom openings, the Space Needle is featured in the opening credits of Frasier while the Gateway Arch is featured in the opening credits of, uh, The John Larroquette Show.

The Space Needle is also heavily featured in Sleepless in Seattle and Grey's Anatomy.

[JManc]

I think the Space Needle is probably the default "pod on a pole" and most people (at least in NA) would assume any generic tower was the Space Needle. Show them a skyline pic of Calgary and they might assume it was Seattle.

[Six Corners]

Well I also showed my wife a picture of the St. Louis skyline with the arch in it and she too identified it right away as St. Louis. But that’s probably because we live here and can see arch from our house.