Lets Hear It For Twin Cities!

[cabasse]

tampa - st. petersburg.


speaking of tampa, i just got back from visiting family there a couple of weeks ago and damn that city is booming... i wouldn't mind owning property there - kind of flies under the radar but has some nice neighborhoods, a fantastic waterfront and it's not too expensive, yet.

[Chef]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The good: Davenport & Rock Island

The bad: Moline

The ugly: Bettendorf

I have a friend from East Moline who claims that it and not Bettendorf should be the fourth Quad City. Maybe that is true, and maybe it isn't, but when your brag is that you are better than Bettendorf you have already lost.

[CaliNative]

Did someone mention Dallas-Ft. Worth? Are they too far apart to be considered "twin cities"? Austin-San Antonio are too far apart to be twins, plus they are so different and functionally independent. Can cities be twins when one is so much larger than the other? Example: Los Angeles (4 million)-Long Beach (about 450,000). Or Seattle-Tacoma, with Seattle being the much bigger one. Twins should be similar in size, right?

[Chef]

There are also the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin. Duluth is definitely the nicer of the two. Superior is like someone gave David Lynch a rust belt town to play with, that place has a really weird vibe. Supposedly Superior is where the nightlife is.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Chef

There are also the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin. Duluth is definitely the nicer of the two. Superior is like someone gave David Lynch a rust belt town to play with, that place has a really weird vibe. Supposedly Superior is where the nightlife is.

Curious about what the "nightlife" in Superior is--strip clubs and rowdy bars? That sounds like a good topic for a thread--"Where is the "nightlife" and fun zones in your city?

[Chef]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Curious about what the "nightlife" in Superior is--strip clubs and rowdy bars? That sounds like a good topic for a thread--"Where is the "nightlife" and fun zones in your city?

It is first and foremost a port city, so that probably has some impact. Most of Downtown Superior appeared to be dive bars. Also, Wisconsin is one of the only places in the US where minors can drink in bars with their parents. I was reminded of this when I saw an entire family - mom, dad and two teenage kids, wasted in front of a bar in Superior smoking cigarettes. That definitely grabs your attention if you are from anywhere else in the US.

[SFBruin]

I think this was addressed in an earlier comment, but could Washington and Baltimore be considered twins?

[Razor]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Did someone mention Dallas-Ft. Worth? Are they too far apart to be considered "twin cities"? Austin-San Antonio are too far apart to be twins, plus they are so different and functionally independent. Can cities be twins when one is so much larger than the other? Example: Los Angeles (4 million)-Long Beach (about 450,000). Or Seattle-Tacoma, with Seattle being the much bigger one. Twins should be similar in size, right?

My thought is that the one of the cities has to be large enough to have/had a distinct identity and administration.At least at one point anyways..Even if amalgamated into one, they should each still have their own character.. Ideally, they both should be similar in size, but that could be a grey area..One can't be just a suburb or now a large neighbourhood for the other primate city. Some good examples so far!

[MolsonExport]

Plattsburgh-North Pole-Burlington

Aubuchon Hardware, Where you can charge it!

[Wigs]

Buffalo Metro kind of has the tri-cities: Tonawandas

Erie county
Town of Tonawanda (71,000)
City of Tonawanda (<15,000)

Niagara county
City of North Tonawanda (30,000)


source:
Erie county

For the purpose of this thread you could say Twin Cities of Tonawanda, but North Tonawanda doesn't really want to be associated with the City of Tonawanda

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Istanbul and Constantinople

Good luck finding Constantinople on a map, though.

[Chef]

There is also Utica - Rome, the metropolis of the Mohawk Valley. People always forget about Rome.

[BigDipper 80]

Do Kansas City and Kansas City count? What about other border cities like Texarkana/Texarkana and Bristol/Bristol?

[Sam Hill]

Denver has suburbs larger than Boulder. But those suburbs just feel like suburbs. Boulder is the other city.

Perhaps not a twin, though. More like the pretentious, artsy, liberal cousin the rest of the family makes fun of behind its back.

No two cities are truly twins because one is always more prominent than the other, and that prominence varies by metropolis. Minneapolis-Saint Paul are conjoined. Dallas-Fort Worth are twins that now have their own families and live across town from each other.

Raleigh-Durham?

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by BigDipper 80

Do Kansas City and Kansas City count? What about other border cities like Texarkana/Texarkana and Bristol/Bristol?

Yeah, good question. How about San Diego/Tijuana? In terms of size and proximity, they're twins, but they feel more like close, affectionate neighbors - not siblings.

[softee]

Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Good luck finding Constantinople on a map, though.

Easy. It's very close to Byzantium.

[paytonc]

Having grown up between Raleigh and Durham, the two never really considered each other to be twins but rather cousins down the road, though they do now immediately abut in places. Durham and Chapel Hill are more intertwined, Raleigh cares more about Charlotte. Research Triangle Park and RDU airport were state-arranged marriages of convenience.

Similarly, Washington and Baltimore do share some facilities and commute sheds, but the codependency and rivalry isn't really there yet. They just kind of operate on separate planes.

What qualities makes cities "twins," rather than just nearby rivals?

Originally Posted by PoshSteve

The Ohio City neighborhood in Cleveland, right across the river from downtown, used to be an independent city. It merged with Cleveland in 1854.

Many western cities were amalgamated from multiple smaller settlements, often facing one another across a river. Oftentimes, the annexed town's downtown would suffer economically and eventually fall to redevelopment. Such was the fate of, say, Kilbourn WI, East Portland OR, Allegheny PA, St Anthony MN (Minneapolis' real twin), and Auraria CO.

Originally Posted by Chef

when I saw an entire family - mom, dad and two teenage kids, wasted in front of a bar in Superior smoking cigarettes

Yeah, I could totally see that happening in Superior.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by softee

Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York.

That is a good one!..As is Sault Ste. Marie ON, and Sault Ste. Marie MI

[Kenneth]

Detroit - Windsor, beat me to it, most people wont except it, they'll say its two countries, but it is whT it is

Originally Posted by pj3000

Buffalo - Niagara Falls

Boston - Cambridge

Detroit - Windsor

Philadelphia - Camden

Kansas City - Kansas City

S. Louis - East St. Louis

San Francisco - Oakland

Seattle - Tacoma