( CNN ) -- Growing up in rural northeast Pennsylvania , the Philadelphia of my childhood was like the Moscow of Chekhov 's `` Three Sisters '' -- the promised land , an emergency exit from my semi-provincial life in Wilkes-Barre . During school trips to see the Liberty Bell or Constitution Hall or the art museum , Philadelphia unfolded like a weird and wonderful tapestry of U.S. history , spanning the colonial era through the post-industrial age . This is the city that gave us Benjamin Franklin , Margaret Mead and Noam Chomsky . It 's a town unashamed of the working-class grit that bleeds through the cracked sidewalks of every neighborhood , from Germantown to South Philly to Mantua . People who move to Philly find a je ne sais quoi that 's mostly alien to those used to the cloistered wealth of every other coastal city besides Baltimore . It 's a city of doers , of hustlers ; from the manic suit racing past the glass-and-granite facades of the financial district to the guy scrapping up and down Broad Street with a cart of bootleg DVDs . City Smackdown : Explore Detroit beyond the headlines . It 's also dirty , noisy and people there are gruff as hell ( in an endearing way ! ) . There is a reason why the show is n't called `` It 's Always Sunny in Boston . '' I moved to Philly for two years after high school , and the short time I spent there was enough to leave an indelible mark on my memory . I make a point to go back whenever the opportunity presents itself . Sooner or later , like an earworm , the city burrows its way inside your brain and lays eggs : Your first bite of an authentic Philly cheesesteak . An afternoon walk across the sun-dappled grasses of Fairmount Park . Frolicking in the fountain at Logan Square . Tailgating at Lincoln Field before an Eagles game . Destination USA : Passion for Portland triumphs . One day , you look down the Ben Franklin Parkway from the top of the art museum steps , and it hits you : The glittering spires of downtown are more than just skyscrapers . They 're almost an act of rebellion , a defiant kiss-off to the collapse of industry that devastated the rest of Pennsylvania and saw the population of Philly shrink by a quarter . Philly is so , so much more than the sum of its touristy trappings . It 's a city of stories , a journalist 's dream . I 've played chess in Rittenhouse Square with grizzled old men who regaled me with tales of how mobsters and rum-runners ruled the streets during the Great Depression . I 've chatted up the ex-communist who ran a newsstand on Spring Garden and told me stories of Philly 's bygone days as a hotbed of revolutionary-socialist activism . The neat , orderly checkerboard arrangement of the city 's streets only belies the turmoil and raw action bubbling underneath the surface . Philadelphia is called the `` city of brotherly love , '' but that 's a little bit misleading . The city 's spirit of fraternal camaraderie springs from its long-running status as a place for cast-offs , misfits and folks who did n't ( or could n't ) fit in anywhere else . Philly chose us as much as we chose it . NYC vs. L.A. : And the winner is ... The Pennsylvania State House was the epicenter of America 's revolt from British rule . At the dawn of the 19th century , the city was the temporary U.S. capital while Washington was being built . Irish immigrants fled their homeland by the thousands during the Great Famine , and Philadelphia was one of their main ports of call . Freed African-American slaves on the Great Migration out of the post-Confederate South increased Philly 's black population sevenfold in the space of a few years . And today , it 's a hub for thinkers , artists and weirdos of every stripe , thanks to the comparatively low cost of living ( especially in the long shadow cast by New York ) , and the city 's status as a hub for financial services and information technology . Philadelphia is , putting it mildly , the ultimate underdog city : Part Rocky , part Will Smith , all heart . If you ever have the pleasure of visiting , see the Italian Market and cruise the banks of Schuylkill River on Kelly Drive , for sure . But take some time just to walk and observe and listen . You wo n't want for entertainment in Philadelphia -- it 's all around you . Check back on Thursday for an ode to Detroit . Which city gets your vote ? Show your support in the poll above , then visit iReport to share your tips and photos for Philadelphia and Detroit .
As part of our Destination USA series , we pit rival cities and let you vote which is best . The final city smackdown is a battle of the underdogs : Philadelphia vs. Detroit . Michael Saba explains why Philly is `` more than the sum of its touristy trappings '' Fight for your city ! Show us why you think Detroit or Philadelphia is better on CNN iReport .