Brazilian Big Apple (São Paulo nickname)
São Paulo is the capital city of the state of São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state. The city is often compared to New York City, although São Paulo is larger in area and in population.
“This is Brazil’s big apple” and “Some call her Brazil’s ‘Big Apple’” were cited in print in 1986. “Sao Paulo, the Brazilian Big Apple” was cited in a 1993 travel book.
Wikipedia: São Paulo
São Paulo (/ˌsaʊ ˈpaʊloʊ/; Portuguese pronunciation: [sɐ̃w ˈpawlu] ( listen); Saint Paul in English) is a municipality located in the southeast region of Brazil. The metropolis is an alpha global city — as listed by the GaWC — and is the most populous city in Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere. The municipality is also Earth’s twelfth largest city proper by population.
The city is the capital of the state of São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous and wealthiest state. It exerts strong international influence in commerce, finance, arts and entertainment. The name of the city honors Saint Paul of Tarsus. The city’s metropolitan area of Greater São Paulo ranks as the most populous in Brazil and the ninth most populous on Earth.
Google Books
Fodor’s South America 1987
New York, NY: David McKay Co.
1986
Pg. 102:
This is Brazil’s big apple. Great expectations are what Sao Paulo is made of.
Google Books
Food & Wine: The Guide to Good Taste
International Review of Food & Wine Associates
1986
Pg. 138:
Some call her Brazil’s “Big Apple,” but Sao Paulo is bigger than New York—585 square miles and over 12 million people. In fact she’s South America’s largest metropolis, as well as the corporate and industrial core of Brazil.
10 January 1988, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Booked for Travel” by Don James, pg. 14:
“A Gringo’s Guide to Doing Business in Sao Paulo,” by Jayne H. Bloch, addresses a lot of questions a visiting executive may have in Brazil’s “Big Apple.”
Google Books
Fielding’s Brazil 1993
By Pamela Bloom
New York, NY: Fielding Travel Books
1993
Pg. 2:
Sao Paulo, the Brazilian Big Apple, is also easily accessible from New York City, but with direct flights also now available to Recife and Salvador from the States, the Northeast of Brazil has opened up as a tourist destination in its own right.
1 November 1998, Boston (MA) Globe, “Race takes on a new light in Brazil’s politics Sao Paulo mayor caught in middle” by Richard Chacon, pg. A13:
SAO PAULO—A walk along the muscular avenues of this fast-paced industrial metropolis leaves little doubt that Brazil’s Big Apple is a multicultural miracle.
Twitter
Ronaldo Faria Lima
@ron_lima
Good morning, rainy day! Last day at brazilian “big apple”
3:09 AM - 30 Jan 2009
Twitter
K|@¡r
@LittleKakau
I’m thinking where to go next month: NYC (Big Apple), Tokyo or Sao Paulo, that some people say to be Big Apple of Brazil….
6:52 PM - 16 Oct 2009
Twitter
K
@FutureAuPair
I’m getting my documents.It’s not that easy.I think I’ll not able to work.I need to go to the Brazilian big apple to get my visa - Sao Paulo
4:49 PM - 22 Sep 2010
Twitter
Laurence Martins
@LarryRedpill
@missmimimartins how’s life in brazil’s big apple?
11:37 AM - 21 Jan 2016
Travel Weekly (UK)
48 hours in Sao Paulo
May 11th 2016, 11:28
Ella Buchan spends a weekend in Brazil’s biggest city.
(...)
It’s been nicknamed the ‘Brazilian Big Apple’ and, just like New York, has world-class restaurants, a true 24-hour culture and a frenetic pace.