Glasgow is the place to be, it’s where everything is happening, clearly the busiest city in Scotland - a city for business, music, food and drink like New York - but there’s much more the two cities have in common than you might think at first glance.
Glasgow has more in common with New York than any city in Scotland, or the UK for that matter. From the buildings to the very layout itself - we may be separated by thousands of miles across the Atlantic, but we share a lot of similarities.
Obviously we share a historical link, with so many people departing from Glasgow docks to reach a better life in New York, arriving at Ellis Island. We’d argue that the very essence of the cities are linked, we’re twin souls really.
Though we’re a much older city, there are loads of spots that pay homage to America’s most cosmopolitan city from the blatantly obvious NYC bar and grill and the Sear’s pizza joint in the West End, to the more subtle Anchor Line on St Vincent Place, based in the former booking office for luxury Cunard Liners which ran cruises from Glasgow to New York in the 18th and 19th century.
If you can make it here you can make it anywhere; Glasgow, Glasgow or New York, New York? We have a very similar cultural heritage that can’t be denied - theatres were a massive part of Glaswegian nightlife culture for generations, a similar spirit to that of Broadway, though in times since we’ve changed massively.
Though we’ve not drifted as far as part as you may think.
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We’ve put together this list of the eight main reasons why Glasgow and New York are so similar, and how Glasgow is an analogue to New York here in Europe.
5. Architecture
While New York is obviously a lot taller than Glasgow, we too have the biggest concentration of Art-Deco architecture in our country. Just look at the Beresford building, could you not see that sitting next to the Chrysler Building? | Keller Williams
6. Weird wee triangular buildings
If you weren't already convinced, you surely are now. Just look at the similarities between Eglinton Toll and the Flatiron Building - truly uncanny. While the flatiron building has been empty since 2019, we've heard (certainly not made up) rumours that The Star Bar is set to open a second location in Manhattan. Americans will surely to go wild for the $4 pub lunch. | Contributed
7. Beautiful Parks
Much like Glasgow, the designers of New York understood just how important having a plush bit of greenery available for people living in a dense urban environment can be. While they opted for less parks, but covering pretty huge spaces like Central Park, Glasgow opted to put smaller parks in every district of the city they could. Photo: Joel Ryan
8. Subways
Both Glasgow and New York have a subway system - albeit our cities one is a bit more basic. We have two lines, NYC has 36 lines. Glasgow's clockwork orange has 15 stops, New York has 472 stations. Glasgow's subway has six and a half miles worth of track, New York has 665 miles worth of track. Hey New York, why don't you get your own patter and stop stealing all of Glasgow's ideas? Punks. | Glasgow Subway