It struck me that New Orleans may be the most foreign-like city in the states, one that seems like it could be in a different country. It has the French influence, architecture, and food.
I am curious if there are other cities that stand out in this regard? Maybe somewhere near the Amish perhaps, what with their old world ways? Or Miami’s Cuban area?
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San antonio felt somewhat foreign because of the Spanish missions and southwest architecture. As well as language. SC or parts of it that I hail from have a high immigrant presence from central America but not the same influence San antonio has.
Back to the city….. But then its shrouded in modern buildings that are very much American by design.
Annapolis, MD
Miami felt more like a Latin American city than an American one on my visits. It’s very different from say, Orlando or Tampa.
There are a lot of cities with unique areas but I have never been anywhere that didn’t feel american overall. Santa Fe, New Orleans are two well known ones but there area lot of small towns with strong european influence all across the country. But they all still feel very american to me.
I have heard that Montreal Canada is the closest you can get to feeling like europe without leaving north america. I don’t think there is anywhere in the US that truly fits that description.
Santa Fey NM feels like a foreign town to me.
Your premise is incorrect to a certain degree.
*One touristy part* of New Orleans has distinct architecture.
The answer to your question is almost all big cities have ethnic enclaves. Chinatown (in many places) is a great example. It may not be reflected in the architecture but it is reflected in the language spoken on the streets, the shops, the people who live there, the newspapers they read, the connections they make.
Devon Avenue in Chicago is another good example. It’s a single street that has, in succession, enclaves of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.
Jackson Heights in Queens, NY is similar.
Until 1992, Koreatown in LA was a mostly Korean enclave.
There are suburbs of Detroit like Hamtramck that are majority Muslim and have a huge Somali population.
Here in CT, the Jamaicans basically run the North End of Hartford.
Hard-hittin’ New Britain, CT is full of Poles.
The Amish don’t live in cities.
See where I’m going with this? It’s a patchwork.
Just because a city isn’t Anglo-centric doesn’t mean it’s “foreign-like”. The French and the Spanish have been on this continent just as long as the English. That’s like saying an old city like Boston is “foreign-like” because of the British influence on its founding.
Saint Augustine in Florida is a very unique city built in the 1500s with some very cool architecture you don’t see elsewhere in the USA.
Solvang CA is sold as the Danish capital of America. Don’t know how true it is but there was a lot of Danish influence in the buildings I saw and the stuff they sell. Kind of a tourist trap though.
Boston feels very European in terms of infrastructure.
I mean, in my experience, San Juan but the fact that we’re not answering that or Saipan or whatever sort of indicates how much we really think of the territories as “the US.”
La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís would be my vote