san antonio as far as walking distances are concerned. new york city is conveinent as well

Chicago, of course if my favorite BUT Indianapolis has a great downtown. You can do bascially anything - Symphony, Shop in a great mall, eat at some of the best restaurants, go to a professional basketball - football game, museums, concerts AND it is safe and clean and plenty of parking!

I've got to go to Indianapolis soon because I too have heard the downtown is good. Yes, Naperville and the Walk are nice in IL. Actually many IL suburbs are starting to develop some good downtowns re Evanston. OF COURSE, nothing like the big city downtowns though.

I'm so lucky to have the memories of downtown Chicago that I have. I was taking the bus there by myself before I was 10. And toting my brother too- it was a different world.

Just to let everyone know that the Berghoff closed for good after 104 years last Tuesday night. It will remain a catering business for one of the offspring- but no restaurant.

Lots of other changes too. Downtown is the LOOP to me and South of the River- within the LOOP that the el tracks made. MM is terrific and the whole has gotten bigger and better.

Seattle has a very vibrant downtown. Lots of new construction and more people living downtown all the time.

Portsmouth NH. Small harbor city with a very vibrant arts culture.

My vote is for Chicago..lots to do..lots of people downtown day and night..safe and friendly..walkable.

San Antonio for sure.

Wow, great cities. I'd list: Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, NYC, Austin & Portland in my top. Santa Cruz and Berkeley are great too.
FYI, I live in San Jose south of downtown in the "burbs". Our downtown has come a long way, but still has a way to go.
FYI, I like Nevada City and SLO too. Fun downtowns in CA to walk around. :-)

Savannah GA., Vail CO. very picturesque looks like Switzerland, Boston, Providence RI, Thayer street has great restaurants and shops. I would agree with the previous raves of Asheville.
In the smaller town category, Lambertville, NJ which connects by bridge to New Hope PA, has lots of shops, galleries and great restaurants.
Cape May NJ has the most beautiful "painted lady" homes from the victorian era. Mt. Dora FL is another town that feels like "old Florida" at the turn of the century. I enjoyed the shops and restaurants there; take the trolley bus tour it is very interesting.

Big City- Toronto.
Smaller City- Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA and Athens, GA
Very small town- Skaneateles, NY

I live in Chicago and am biased to it. As for a smaller scale, I think Naperville's downtown is wonderful. Considering I live right by it, I take full advantage.

As far as just being a really kewl place to visit, Chicago tops my list (okay, I've never been to New York so I'll reserve my final vote until I've actually been there myself). but the Chicago architecture, particularly along the river is stunning and massive, and it's still growing. Photos do not do justice for just how huge the downtown Loop really is. The business and retail is thriving, there are tons of cafes and shops, theatre, night life, museums, the Navy Pier and need I go on. I also like Minneapolis. They've built up a nice theater district (Hennepin Avenue) and and it's overall a very clean city. Nicolett Mall is usually bustling during the day, and there is plenty of night life just a block or two north. As far as active cities, I liked San Francisco. There is an energy in the city that is ahrd to describe. The prettiest downtowns are Seattle and Vancouver BC (mountains as a backdrop does help). I also like Calgary and Edmonton as far as being attractive. One of the most surprising downtowns I've been to is Cleveland. It was not the run down deteriorating city I was expecting. I found it to be quite vibrant with a lot of street activity. Though the skylines of Dallas and Houston look nice, I didn't find much going on (they kind of roll up the sidewalks after five).

As for small cities, I find that most university towns are quite nice. Madison WI, Lawrence KS, Champaign IL, Missoula MT, Boulder CO (to name a few)are all very nice and very liveable. While the downtowns are not full of skyscrapers and tons of energy like Chicago, they seem to have nice shops and cafes, bookstores and more. Plus they are clean.

By the way, I live in Tulsa, which is about as dead of a downtown as you can get, but has some really neat art decco arcitecture and a fairly impressive skyline for its size.

In the US, it could only be a northeastern city because those are the only cities in which people actually live downtown.

Among those, in order, are: NY, Boston, Philly, DC.

Seal Beach, California, has a downtown in the old town section. Four Irish pubs, four taco/mex restaurants, four or five hair cutters, a shell store, verizon store, two pizza joints, two ice cream joints, a diner, furniture store, a couple of art stores (including some nice paintings from a Buenos Aires artist), bikini stores, an old time theatre, four coffee shops two of which also bake their own stuff, bank, doctor, post office, hardware store, library, and a few other stores all in a three block stretch that ends at the pier from which you can see Catalina, Long Beach, and surf city.

... and a palm reader, a nice restaurant (Walt's Wharf), a retro diner, a Ruby's diner at the end of the pier, the SB Shoppe which sells great "Hawaiian" shirts and beachware, a kite store (called "Up, Up, and Away" which makes me think of balloons not kites), a bicycle shop (wear you can buy a cruiser bike), an Italian restaurant, and Angelo's Italian Deli, more t-shirt and bikini stores, and a liquor store. The third block back from the beach ends at the Pacific Coast Highway. The PCH is the big border, the edge of the o.t. seal beach universe.

I miss bunchargum.

Where did bunch go with all his thought provoking questions.

tburke99, I don't think you are correct. Many, many people live in downtown Chicago, circa 2000 plus. I almost bought a condo myself in '98 right across the street from the Art Institute. My cousins and one girlfriend both live near Printer's Row and close to LaSalle St. station respectively.

In the last 10 years huge numbers of square feet living space, have been converted to private quarters, not for business or retail, downtown. And some of those big babies have entire cities within- food shopping etc. right there in the buildings now, you don't even have to go outside in winter. It's not just for show that you saw 10 cranes in the background of the Soldier Field Bears game last Sunday. And next to nothing that is being built or rehabbed now is for sale as business space. In fact we are losing some of that altogether.

Lord & Taylor moves out of Watertower Place today. Another one bites the dust. We are losing the Chicago flavor and specialness of some of our prime areas right now. Only a few of us oldies are noticing that fact. The change is not good with shopping. Going downwards, especially upon State St. itself. Turning more into a neighborhood block.

The days of quiet streets in the Loop after 8pm are over as well. It's not just the increased number of habitats but the increased theatre etc.

You are right, JJ5. I should have included Chicago. There are a number of neighborhoods close to or in the CBD in which one could live.

Chiacgo is a great city, with lots to do and friendly people.

I love downtown Montreal. It's vibrant, exciting, intereting & fun. The City of Montreal was built around McGill University which is a spectacularly beautiful campus. Montreal has an interesting blend of historically significant buildings with contemporary. The bars/clubs, restaurants & shopping are unbeatable. I love Montreal. Just returned from a 4 day weekend there & can't wait to go back!

Big city: NYC. Love it.

Smaller town: Madison, WI (I'm biased; I live here).

I soooo disagree with San Antonio, TX. I just got back from 5 days there. Not looking to return anytime soon!