NYC is the exception in American cities. What other examples in America are comparable to Montreal/NYC? In terms of just having entire swaths of the city be walkable with lots of small shops.

I mean Montreal is the exception in Quebec too, but I get your point. I think north america in general is just not very walkable. Even cities like Quebec City (very walkable old city) only have a very small area that I would consider walkable. Another example here in Quebec would be Laval, which is very close and well connected to Montreal yet still almost always requires a car to get by outside of rush hour.