Are Chicago and San Francisco an odd couple?

Are Chicago and San Francisco an odd couple? Now that's a question that some may consider insane, to even begin to compare flat Chicago with hilly San Francisco, two cities that differ greatly in ways other than topography, climate, and location. So let me clarify the point I'm making: New York's core in Manhattan is a world unto its own, so large and complex that functions like no other city. For however much centralization Manhattan provides for NYC and for metro NY, the island itself is not centralized and spreads its pleasures over a wide landscape. Unlike other US cities, it is served by two huge core areas in downtown and midtown. New York's urbanism has no parallel in the US in its size and scope.(that doesn't necessarily make it better than other US cities, just different). But once you leave New York, there really are (IMHO) only two cities that have electric downtown district that offer the full range of central city experiences (again IMHO, Boston has some of the above, but to a lesser extent, perhaps due to the very proximity of NYC). The result? Chicago and San Francisco tend to gather those special restaurants, the entertainment, the culture, the street life, the downtown building booms inviting to residential growth to their downtown cores (admittedly Chicago does it with more sizeand San Francisco with more density...but they both do it). Let's use shopping as an exmple: which other city than SF and Chgo has Bloomingdale's, Saks, Nordstrom, and Neimans in its downtown core? None. From conventions to tourism to the business community (Montgomery St. is the wall st. of the west, LaSalle the wall st. of the center) to the ways each keeps its consciously of the value of its streetscape, these two seemingly different cities share a delightfully lot in common. Gavin Newsome, SF's mayor, views the Windy City as a model of what he'd like to have in San Francisco; San Francisco remains a place where so many Chicagoans left their hearts. Again, it is strictly my opinion, but I think these two are unique in the US in the way that they generate downtown buzz and excitement in traditional core like no other US cities. Others may disagree.>