From my hometown of Melbourne, Australia, I’m here in San Diego for a brief writing internship with The San Diego Sun. Having recently studied abroad at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, I’ve spent time immersed in the lifestyle and culture of an iconic American city, New York City.
This is my comparison of Melbourne and New York with first impressions of downtown San Diego.
To research downtown San Diego, I walk through the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, East Village, Marina District, Cortez Hill, and Core-Columbia. Having lived on the East Coast since August 2024, the most notable difference is how much quieter the streets are. When I’d exit Penn Station in New York’s Midtown the noise was immediate – cars screeching past and the sound pollution of constant conversation. Someone is always playing music out of a speaker, arguing or yelling, and each sound bleeds into another.
In New York, the subway system is underground and emits exhaust into the streets, often blowing in your face. San Diego and Melbourne are parallel in that the transport is above ground. In Melbourne, because our “downtown” (a word rarely used back home, we use “central business district”) is far smaller than San Diego’s, there is the thrum of noise, perhaps not to the extremity of New York.
Far fewer people can be seen on the streets in downtown San Diego than Manhattan, both day and night. New York is similar to Melbourne, which is also known for bustling nightlife that stays lively well into the early hours of the morning. Melbourne and New York share a fast pace that San Diego doesn’t have, while San Diego and Melbourne share an overt friendliness that I don’t find in New York.
San Diego and Melbourne are filled with warm, welcoming people that greet you as you walk by. In New York, everyone minds their own business. In Melbourne, I’m used to smiling at everyone and making small talk with the barista as I order my morning coffee.
I stop at San Diego’s Tiger Cafe on Market Street for an iced Americano and the woman behind the counter smiles and asks where my accent is from. When I walk to the library in East Village, a woman tells me she likes my outfit, and I smile and thank her for the compliment. The friendliness of San Diego locals reminds me entirely of back home.
Downtown San Diego has a mellow pace, even in the speed people walk. Many streets in San Diego are wider than the narrow streets of New York, and generally cleaner. In New York, trash often sits on the side of the road and the odor lingers in the air. In this comparison, Melbourne’s streets are narrow like Manhattan and comparatively clean like San Diego.
New York is distinctively fast-paced. San Diego has a notably laid-back culture. Melbourne is a unique combination of both cities.
I wonder if the year-round warmer weather has anything to do with San Diego’s more-relaxed atmosphere. I’m here to test that theory. SDSun
