I've lived in both NYC and Chicago. The problem with the skyline in NYC is that there are so many skyscrapers that you just cannot really see many of them when you're in Manhattan. You have to go outside the city to appreciate the skyline. It an issue of "not being able to see the forest for the trees." On the other hand, you can see and appreciate much of the Chicago skyline from multiple areas within the city.
Chicago also has amazing public art, more than other cities. Tourists often don’t see the river side of buildings, but they should as those are some of the most interesting views.
The Dallas skyline has changed a lot. I grew up in Dallas and remember whenever we went on a trip, coming back we always looked for the red Pegasus. On top of the magnolia building was a big red neon Pegasus that you could see for miles. Its been there for 80 years and thats what everyone remembered. As newer, bigger buildings have gone up its become pretty obscured although its still there. Also the tower with the globe of lights is called Reunion Tower. Can't say I've ever heard it called "Gods Microphone". The building framed with neon green is the Bank of America building. Impressive, yeah, but I miss the red pegasus.
I live in Dallas Uptown and I’ve seen the skyline from both sides. 😁 I agree, it’s changed a great deal over the years. I’ve never heard of the gods microphone name either.
I went to Dallas yesterday to see the Texas Rangers and every time I see that skyline it always blows me away. Just looking at it from Arlington is absolutely gorgeous because you can see everything in there.
The castle-like building you pointed out in Pittsburgh is One PPG Place. PPG stood for Pittsburgh Plate Glass, which has been around since 1883. The building was completed in 1984.
Baseball games in Toronto when the roof of the stadium is open are incredible because the CN Tower is directly beside the stadium so it towers over the playing field.
My current home of Cincinnati made it. The best view of the skyline is called “The Reveal”. It’s on I75 when you’re driving north in Kentucky. You go around a hill which obscures your view and then the skyline is “revealed”. It’s pretty great because you go from pedestrian farmland and suburbs and then suddenly “The Reveal” comes out of nowhere.
I lived near Dayton in the early 1970s as a kid, so we made the drive to Central Kentucky and to Cincinnati to visit relatives frequently for weekends or school breaks. The reveal driving north is great.
I live about 35 miles north of Chicago. You should see the skyline when you’re out on Lake Michigan (especially at night). It is absolutely incredible. My favorite by far.
The San Francisco skyline is stunning. The combination of the buildings with the unique topography is incredible. I was blessed to be on a cruise ship arriving into San Francisco at dawn on an unusually clear morning. Being on the deck and going under the Golden Gate Bridge was unforgettable.
When I was in the Navy I was on the USS Midway. I was discharged before we came into port at San Francisco. They usually take ten ft off the mast to clear the bottom of the Golden Gate, at low tide. I went up on top of the Island and watched as we went under the bridge. It was cool , I stepped off the afterbrow directly into a cab, then in SF i stepped out of the cab onto the bus. I got home to Petaluma in time to watch the ship going under the bridge, on TV, earlier when I was on it.
I'm from Chicago and by far and has the most vertigo feeling when you walk downtown..... But I love San Francisco.....and New York.... Although I live in Salt Lake City now I think it's underrated as far as the skyline because it's in the valley surrounded completely by mountains.... It's breathtaking at night it never gets old... And should have made the list
One of the things I’ve liked about visiting many other big cities in the US is the architecture. Not just the skyscrapers, but the rest of it...especially the architecture away from the interstate highways and actually in the cities. The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is one my favorites to view all the neat architecture in its many cities that make up the metropolitan area! I live in a city of 50,000 in rural Oklahoma so when driving into my city the skyline is dominated by the very large grain elevators that were the largest in the world when they were built (the largest in the US is located in neighboring Kansas and the largest in the world is located in Russia). My city is the US’s largest grain storage and so the elevators are full year round with trains and trucks constantly bringing in grain to be stored and moving grain to Chicago or the coasts to be transported around the US and the world. The myriad of large grain elevators along with the few high-rise buildings downtown that were built in the 1920s art deco style (they’re office buildings) and the tall bell tower at the university and the large steeple of the downtown Catholic church are what define the skyline of my city. And since my city is built on prairie there isn’t any natural obstructions so regardless of which direction one is driving into the city you’ll see the skyline. From the ground the buildings look closer together than they actually are due to the sheer size of the grain elevators, but when flying in you can actually see the buildings are more spread out so you don’t quite see the actual skyline that people traveling on the ground see. As much as I love visiting the big cities and getting to see the amazing architecture that exists there, I’m always happy seeing my city’s skyline when driving home after a long trip! In fact, if you’ve seen the films: Dillinger, The Killer Inside Me, or Wildlife then you’ve seen part of my city’s historic downtown area as scenes for those films were done downtown (Wildlife also included numerous other locations in my city). If you’ve watched Jurassic Park 3 then you’ve heard of my city because that’s where the Kirby family is from in that film. Coincidentally, the location cited by the characters for their fictional business in my city is currently a retro video game store. I used to work at that store and it was definitely something tourists visiting liked to tell the employees (which we were always good sports about it pretending we didn’t know that fun fact when they excitedly told us). In Episode 13 of Season 3 of The Big Bang Theory Sheldon Cooper thinks of moving here, but then says he’s against it because we don’t have a model train store. That’s slightly inaccurate since Hobby Lobby sells model train sets and accessories which is why there’s no independent retailer store. And we have a railroad museum! So maybe we don’t have an impressive skyline, but Hollywood seems to like to use us (I’m told by a friend that lives in LA and works in the film industry that he knows of a few writers who’ve known people from my city that have worked for them and apparently they made a good impression on them and that’s why those few writers use my city’s name; and my state and city offer financial incentives for filming in the state/city to companies that do because filming companies usually have large crews of people that come with filming and those crews spend money locally...which definitely makes businesses happy and locals enjoy meeting and talking with the crew; the only downside is that it can mean detours as areas used in filming get closed off and are off limits, but my city’s mostly a grid so it’s easy enough to find alternative routes to the most commonly needed locations).
That’s exactly what I look for. What is the character of the city? How does it stand out? I can imagine your city looking amazing in its own way. My local city was once the insurance capital of the world. The population is about the same size as yours but the buildings served a very different purpose and looked different. And of course every city has its weirdo that sticks out. Modern, Art Deco, … blue onion dome?
I love the bridge in Cincinnati, designed by John Roebling. It's the precursor to New York City's Brooklyn Bridge. I grew up in New York City in the 1960s and 70s. Maybe this is pure nostalgia, but I far prefer the NYC of my youth to its current appearance. The skyline was truly grand, with most of the magnificent skyscrapers clad in stone (like the Empire State Building) or terra cotta. Also, the detailing of each building was superb. They not only made a great skyline, but they were also individually wonderful. Things started to go downhill with the construction of the original World Trade Center towers. As one architectural critic put it, they looked like two rows of giant staples put up on end. (They also messed up our TV reception.) This was the age of the "glass boxes." In the hands of a truly skilled architect, like Mies van der Rohe, they could be great buildings, but most of the architects were not that skilled, and the developers put tremendous pressure on them to design buildings that were, above all else, cheap. The current fad for "sliver" skyscrapers is very disturbing, and from what I understand, those buildings have lots of problems with their plumbing and HVAC systems. They also move a lot in the wind, and residents of the upper stories have reported problems with seasickness on windy days. Give me the skyline of the early 1960s! As an aside, Trump Tower is not visible in the photo where you mention it. It is behind (south) and to the right (east) of the photographer.
Dallas and Ft. Worth are two completely different cities 30 miles apart. There's no way they'd have a single downtown area. The only reason they are considered the same "metro area" is because their suburbs have grown towards each other and connected, plus they share an international airport (DFW) that is located between them. Otherwise, they are entirely separate cities. BTW, if you like the Dallas skyline just know that I don't think those photos did justice to the building called "Fountain Place." It's a turquoise mirrored jewel of a building shaped like a faceted crystal designed by I.M. Pei.
I hate it when people hate on DFW and say "The only reason why the metroplex is so big is because of Fortworth" like no shyt, its apart of the Metropolitan area, along with other suburbs. It doesnt matter how big Fortworth is, it's still a neighboring city. Just like Tokyo- Yokohama NYC- Jersey city LA- IE SF-Oakland-San Jose Osaka- Kyoto- Kobe Pearl river Delta And more
I live in Arlington, Texas which is exactly between Dallas and Fort Worth. Thank you so much for your wonderful reaction and kind words about the Dallas skyline. When looking towards Dallas from Arlington, you can see the entirety of the skyline. It looks quite beautiful, especially when lit up. I love your enthusiasm about all things American! I enjoy your reactions!
The Toronto skyline has changed a lot over the past 30 years. Many of the older, historic buildings are still there if you keep your eyes at street level as they were masterfully incorporated into the new buildings. There were a group of old buildings that had to come down because they were quite literally flung up after the Toronto fire of 1904 & were deemed unsafe. But the best view of the Toronto skyline is from the Toronto Islands, day or night. However, the one thing that differentiates Toronto from other cities is the PATH, a 30km underground city full of shopping, services, subway access points, food courts & entrances to most of the skyscrapers & condos from Front St. in the south up to mid-town on Bloor St. In bad weather, it can be a boon.
The PATH is in fact the largest underground shopping complex in the world. The pandemic hasn't been kind to it though... No office workers means very little foot traffic.
Love NY but Chicago is a smaller, cleaner and more beautiful version of NY. Yes the city has its problems but the architecture is incredible and the aqua blue water of Lake Michigan during the summer is stunning. Best big city in America.
I don't have much of an eye for urban architecture, I'm afraid, and I also grew up in the New York area, which may have jaded me somewhat when it comes to clusters of tall buildings. All skyscrapers tend to look the same to me, so I like the skylines like Dallas's, Seattle's, and Toronto's (and Dubai's!) that have buldings with big rounded structures on top. Even I notice those!
The pictures make Los Angeles look much more impressive than it looks in oerson, even with the mountains. First the mountains are rarely snow covered. Second in comparison to the rest of the city, the downtown is tiny. My favorite of those I have personally seen are Seattle, Vancouver B.C., Chicago & New York City.
The picture with the backdrop snow covered mountains is not Los Angeles, I know for sure that’s the city skyline of Vancouver, B.C. Canada, I live here so I recognize those buildings & the skyline backdrop views is the majestic north shore mountains.
@@jasmines3490 that’s most definitely not true. I’m from California. And that is 100% all of Los Angeles. Not Vancouver. US Bank tower is iconic enough to recognize. LA mountains get snow in the winter time. That’s how it looks after a good rain storm.
Pittsburgh might be my favorite "underrated American city" Has the best City Views. Great Ethnic food. Culturally diverse. Awesome History. Sports fan Loyalty bar none. World rated Hospitals and Universities.
I live across the lake from Toronto. On a clear day from the top of the Niagara Escarpment we used to be able to see whether the Rogers Centre (domed stadium) was open or closed. Now we can’t even see it anymore.
New York is definitely my favourite, it's so iconic and stunning. One of my favourite places to visit. I'm weirdly happy my city (Toronto) made the top three. I grew up here and sort of take it for granted but it does have a pretty skyline.
The Cincinnati ferris wheel is located on Coney Island. It's a theme park and water park along the river right off downtown. The ferris wheel and all attractions that aren't water-based are gone as of 2019. My dad used to run Coney Island back in the 1960s.
I'm so glad Pittsburgh got the prominence it deserves. It really is a stunning-looking city, and people still seem to be surprised by the fact. Chicago and Seattle are also gorgeous. I almost feel like Los Angeles gets included on lists like this as an obligation, because it's too big to ignore. But to me, the city has many great aspects but they don't include its skyline, which is impressive but no more so than lots of other cities. I'd rather see another "surprise" like the two Alberta cities.
I live close to los angeles and have traveled enough to know that AS Beautiful as some of these other cities skylines are, Los Angeles still absolutely dwarfs 80% of cities on this list. The size of its recognized downtown just may not be up to par with its name recognition and population but its still massive. The height it has especially is the most impressive. Only Houston has LA tied west of Chicago with # of 700+ footers (11) and beats LA in # of sky scrapers (500+ footers) by just a couple. LA metro is massive though. You can travel an hour or 2 in any direction and it still looks like you haven't left LA, with many of the neighboring cities having their own proper skylines and downtowns, making the area look that much bigger.
One thing he forgot to mention about Dallas is Frisco is beginning to build tons of high rises and Addisson has a ton of high risees. I love looking at the skyline in Dallas every day. One thing downtown Dallas has too is an airport in the middle of it so seeing the planes flying through it is amazing. But in terms of building boom its happening in North Dallas especially Frisco.
I live in Montreal, I don't know when that list was made, but I can say that there are at least 15 more 45 - 60 storey high rises right now and a few more under construction and still going crazy in the last 2 years and more just starting, so this picture is OLD. mind you the amount of 20 storeys buildings that also went up is crazy as well, whole parts of the city just changed. but the best is that we kept all the old buildings and nice neighbourhoods as well. there is so much construction going on it is a bit of a nightmare but in 5 years the whole city will be very nice.
Cincinnati is my hometown. The riverfront skyline is beautiful with 2 sports stadiums on the Ohio river. Look it up. The architecture in the downtown area is a mix of old and new.
I didn't realize you were an architect. As such, you definitely need to visit Chicago. It has some of the best examples of American historical architecture in the downtown area. There are excellent (affordable) narrated river tours downtown which provide a wealth of information about American architecture in Chicago.
I’m glad Seattle made it to one of his favorites. For being the so-called Geography King, he didn’t include any skylines from Mexico. I’m gonna assume he forgot Mexico is and has always been part of North America.
These days many people use the term "North America" in reference to Anglo American North America (Canada + US), and they lump everything else together as "Latin America". Regional differentiation can be complex, but I too would have liked to see Mexican cities included. Monterrey has a beautiful skyline for a city of its size.
Up to the last few years of the 20th Century, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver broke all the height records for highrise building in the British Commonwealth.
I am super late to this video but as a fellow architecture nerd, lots of cool places in NA to visit. My favorite was NYC. My nieces live there, and the skyline doesn’t factor into how awesome New Yorkers are. I’ve visited quite a few places with kids and it was only in NYC that someone chased me half a block because my kid threw her bottle out of the stroller and they wanted to bring it back. Very nice young man. He did say I interrupted his basketball game but I think that’s very New York. I went to Las Vegas the year before Covid. I brought my toddler and hospitality upgraded us to a suite. The walls were literally paneled with 1x1 gold tile and a jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom. They sure know how to lean in to a stereotype. My kid loved the bubble baths. I’ve also been to Des Moines; it’s a great place. Once I got off the plane it was *corn corn corn* Hello people!! Iowans are pretty cool people.
PPG )Pottsburgh Plate Glass) is a mirrored building with crenalated top, they covered all the surrounding 4 to 6 story buildings with the same glass so when tou stanf at the entrance plaza all you see are reflections, It by Phillip Johnson, one of the most famous american architects, look up hid "Glass House".
The narrator mentioned "category 1 hurricane" 🌀 FYI, 'category 5' is the strongest 1 is the weakest. Alot of people think 1 is the strongest, for some strangely odd reason.
Good video, but was a bit surprised the St. Louis skyline was not on it. The gateway arch is a story in itself. The way of getting up to the top of the arch is something else.
The most "breathtaking" view of the San Diego skyline is from the left side of the aircraft - the first time you fly into Lindbergh Field. On final approach - it is pretty startling to suddenly realize that you are looking up at the very nearby downtown buildings. :-)
The geography king who did this video should do a 25 top skylines inthe world video. Sydney, Melbourne, and Briabane in Australia all have some impressive skylines.
He failed to mention the reason San Diego doesn't have super tall skyscrapers. The airport is located downtown and buildings downtown are limited to 500 feet. That said, our skyline is super fitting for the nature of our city.
Chicago's the best skyline...Forever and always! And because the Midwest is so flat, you can see downtown from miles away. Stand on Halsted in Harvey, Illinois, about 23 miles from Downtown Chicago and you can see all the way to the Sears Tower. Go up in the top floor of the Hancock Building and you can see Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa
Check out the Cleveland Ohio skyline. It has Really tall buildings for such a small city, lots of Hollywood movies have actually been filmed here recently because the architecture looks so much like New York but the costs of filming are significantly less
The scale of New York is unbelievable in person, bit Seattle & Vancouver, BC are the most impressive in terms of beauty. Pittsburgh is also really nice, but there are no newer buildings. I guess I like the cities that are blended with amazing geography.
The building you liked in Minneapolis is the Wells Fargo Tower. It is in a Neo-Art Deco style. It is my favorite building in Minneapolis in day and night. But it is a nice skyline, driving through the major interstates at night it is very nice.
Edmonton and Calgary both have insane skylines for cities of only 1.3 million people because both of those cities are sitting on endless oil reserves. In fact they sit on most of Canadas oil reserves which are the second largest in the world. Both of their skylines look much better than the pictures here. Especially in the summer.
Seattle was number 9 ? Seriously? It should have been 5 or better. I may be slightly biased though , as I live near there. But it is great place to visit , so many things to see and do. If you decide to come for a visit , let me know I'll give you the guided tour. Jim from Seattle Washington.
I'm admittedly partial to Pittsburgh and glad it made the list. Nighttime pictures should have been included, though. Also, there are some beautiful buildings in downtown Pittsburgh that cannot be seen here or appreciated except from the streets.
Other note, Houston's uptown is another competing skyline and is at least double to triple the size of the medical center with it's tallest building being shorter than only the two tallest ones in downtown
The pictures of Philadelphia are older. We've got a few new buildings that have gone up in the past few years. Plus they didn't show the view from across the river in Camden, New Jersey where you can see City Hall. It's the largest in the country and was until the 1700s. They could have also showed it from West Philadelphia showing the famous Boat House Row and Art Museum's water all lit up with the buildings in the background. Both those views show the majority of the buildings.
@@TheAnomics1 there’s no need to say that part. San Francisco and Los Angeles both have more skyscrapers than Dallas. So no need to be worried about a opinionated vote of what skyline is best to them. Crazy I never heard of that skyline vote here in California. Must be a Texas thing 🤣🤣 Dallas lacks a supertall like LA, and San Francisco already have and dallas less skyscrapers than both cities. So try again and catch up baby 😘 truth hurts.
14:50 lol the Denver mountains are way higher than the mountains behind LA. I think that they're prettier too and that the pic he showed didn't do Denver justice. But then again, that's hardly the prettiest view of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado 😏🗻
@@jasmines3490 The picture shown at 14:50 is definitely Denver, I grew up there and recognize those mountains and certain buildings. However, I've been to Vancouver before too, and it is absolutely gorgeous. The north shore mountains and the Olympic mountains to the south make Vancouver look like its surrounded by mountains and it's beautiful.
Yes 14:50 not Vancouver, at 12:56 to 13:24 it is the north shore mountains overlook Vancouver downtown, the pictures don’t clearly shows the skyscrapers seems like photo-shots or edited. Anyway B.C.s vast outdoors has lots to offers too do come back best time to visit is🌸🌞🍂❄️seasons equally beautiful if you ask me🌝.
@@californiamade5608 CA has the tallest singular peak in the lower 48 (by about just 40 feet), I'll give you that. But that does not mean you have the highest mountain range. Colorado has way higher mountains on average, they have the highest range. We have over 50 peaks exceeding 14,000 feet, California has just 4. On average, the Rockies are WAY higher. Besides, I'm not even talking about the Sierra Nevada range (the range with Mt. Whitney, your tallest peak), I'm talking about the mountain ranges in the background of LA vs. the background of Denver. The mountains near Denver are way higher.
I still believe that the best way to view Vegas at night is to go into town from the southeast on U.S. Highway 93 over Railroad Pass. The view is quite stunning. . . .
I'm partial to Minneapolis and Chicago. These skylines change with the seasons. I'm probably partial to them because I live in one. Nice video Beesley, you don't disappoint.
Funny enough, prior to the mid 80's Philadelphia didn't have much of a skyline. A city ordinance stated that no building could be higher that the statue of William Penn atop city hall. You can see the old skyline with far fewer tall buildings in the film "Rocky" when Sylvester Stallone runs to the top of the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raises his arms looking back at Center City (downtown) Philadelphia. It wasn't until about 1985 that the first buildings taller than city hall were built.
Glad Dallas made the list. The rejuvenation of Fort Worth over the last decade or so has made it fairly impressive from some angles as well. Especially at night when the buildings are lit up.
Agreed. It's hard to take a single photo of Miami's skyline and get its full impact from the south side of Brickell, all the way to Edgewater near midtown, and that doesn't even include all the towers along Miami Beach and the rest of the barrier island.
Miami's Skyline currently ranks 3rd. in the US for the number of buildings taller than 500+ Feet / 152+ Meters after New York City & Chicago with 54 Skyscrapers and another 8 under construction in that category.
6:50. The Renaissance Center in Detroit was basically its own enclosed luxury City when I was a kid in the 90s before GM bought it. I Remember it had its own Shopping centers, Luxury Apartments and Basically anything Within the complex for the residents along with 5 star Restaurants enclosed. Complete with an exclusive monorail gliding into the towers . As a kid this was basically Omni Consumer Products OCP from "Robocop" movies headquarters on steroids.
I'm in Calgary Canada. Downtown, we have the Calgary Tower which also has a revolving restaurant at the top. Don't know about access to it with Covid restrictions. Fun fact about the CT. You can go up to the top and step onto a section of glass so you can see the street below. Pre-Covid, there was a charity run up the stairs too.
If you are on top the mountains near Los Angeles you get an amazing skyline infront of the ocean, los Angeles is also an old city some of the buildings in downtown are over 150 years old so they can't be torn down for skyscrapers. I admit some angles make Los Angeles look bad but he picked the worst.
As someone born and raised in Miami, the fact that he didn’t show the skyline at night was disappointing. The bridge over the Biscayne Bay and all the buildings light up. It is stunning.
