Cultural capital of the world

Jay-Z, the New York Yankees, Spike Lee, Greenwich Village, Rucker Park, Harlem, Little Italy, 30 Rockefeller Center, the Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, Central Park, Central Park, Saturday Night Live, Dick Clark's New Year's Eve Celebration, Madison Square Garden, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Met, the United Nations Headquarters, Broadway, Fifth Ave., Times Square, The Godfather, Tin Pan Alley, The Strokes, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Bronx Zoo, Flushing, New York Times, EMI, Warner Music Group, MTV, Fox News, the food on the streets, and Stickball Blvd.

Yeah, New York City is on a whole new level of culture. Los Angeles gets props for Hollywood, Compton, hip-hop, etc. (and so much props that I accidently voted for them because I was not thinking that hard about NYC)

Globally, I'd have to say New York or London, which I'd say are about equal.

For me personally, I'd say San Francisco, as most of my cultural tastes got their birth in that city.

That's a pretty good question, and difficult to answer.

But for me, because the OP asks for a 2010 number, I'd have to argue Los Angeles. As much as I hate to identify the broad cultural influence around the world, you just can't beat the heartbeat of the global entertainment industry. Film film film is what guides much of culture today. Unfortunately art, in the visual form, has taken a backseat to the more instant gratification that film provides. Literature? Most people throughout the world tune into Desperate Housewives than sit down with a good novel. Fashion? While Milan and Paris have the edge here, it is Los Angeles that delivers western fashion to all corners of the world.

I hate to admit it. Paris has been the capital of art for hundreds of years. London has churned out some of the best pieces of literature in the same period. And yes...New York probably leads the financial world and can claim the most saturated collection of humankind on the planet. But at the end of the day, culture, as it has become, permeates the globe more fervently from Los Angeles than anywhere else.

~Chris

Owen Glyndwr said:

For me personally, I'd say San Francisco, as most of my cultural tastes got their birth in that city.

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San Fran only has one type of culture. Heeeellooooo.

Theige said:

An "international" visitor to Paris can visit Paris from a distance 1/10 as large as a "domestic" visitor to New York.

My numbers come from the administrative offices of the respective cities in question

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A visitor from your own country doesn't reprensent in any way the INTERNATIONAL relevance of your culture. Especially if your numbers simply count "people not from the city", as many can come to see relatives, to look for works, to have a one-day stop during a long travel and the like.

Sorry, but when someone plan a cultural trip, I think he's much more commonly thinking about Paris or Venice than about New York or Los Angeles.

Kyriakos said:

No city projects its culture globally at the moment. There is only projection of anti-culture nowdays.

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What exactly is "anti-culture."

Akka said:

A visitor from your own country doesn't reprensent in any way the INTERNATIONAL relevance of your culture. Especially if your numbers simply count "people not from the city", as many can come to see relatives, to look for works, to have a one-day stop during a long travel and the like.

Sorry, but when someone plan a cultural trip, I think he's much more commonly thinking about Paris or Venice than about New York or Los Angeles.

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International visitors could be coming to these cities for the same exact reasons you just specified; especially to Paris since anyone in the EU can work there.

I agree concerning Los Angeles, but not concerning New York.

New York has just as much, if not more, to offer if one were planning a "cultural trip."

Theige said:

International visitors could be coming to these cities for the same exact reasons you just specified; especially to Paris since anyone in the EU can work there.

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Yes. I just pointed that raw numbers don't tell the whole story, it depends what they represent, and it can go both ways.

For what it's worth, Wikipedia says that Paris is still n°1 destination in the world, NY being somehow back at number 5 or 6 and about half as much tourists.

Akka said:

For what it's worth, Wikipedia says that Paris is still n°1 destination in the world, NY being somehow back at number 5 or 6 and about half as much tourists.

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We've already been over that in this very thread.

That is in terms of international visitors.

City governments provide their own numbers for total visitors as well as international visitors.

NY of course. Perfectly represents the dominant culture - lust for cash, pollution abounding, people living in disconnection & yet everyday striving in a million ways to connect.