Rose-coloured glasses about the charm of cities in the past?
September 21, 2015 8:18 AM Subscribe
Another thing Benjamin loved about cities was book stores. He was a collector, and his description of travelling to a new town to look for books in his essay Unpacking My Library sounds *exactly* how it goes down when I do the same thing while looking for records:
Collectors are people with a tactical instinct; their experience teaches them that when they capture a strange city, the smallest antique shop can be a fortress, the most remote stationary store a key position. How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books!
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:31 AM on September 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Collectors are people with a tactical instinct; their experience teaches them that when they capture a strange city, the smallest antique shop can be a fortress, the most remote stationary store a key position. How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books!
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:31 AM on September 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
A better link to Benjamin's essay about getting baked as hell and wandering around Marseilles:
While I was descending the stairs I recalled the last time I had taken hashish---it had been several months before and I had been unable to quell the consuming hunger which had come over me late at night in my room. It therefore seemed advisable to purchase a bar of chocolate.
posted by theodolite at 8:36 AM on September 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
While I was descending the stairs I recalled the last time I had taken hashish---it had been several months before and I had been unable to quell the consuming hunger which had come over me late at night in my room. It therefore seemed advisable to purchase a bar of chocolate.
posted by theodolite at 8:36 AM on September 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
I think we can all agree that we're better off without propeller-powered sleighs, though.
How can we possibly know until we too have been stuffed into one with a dozen grumpy muscovites?
posted by poffin boffin at 8:41 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
How can we possibly know until we too have been stuffed into one with a dozen grumpy muscovites?
posted by poffin boffin at 8:41 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
> Benjamin's essay about getting baked as hell and wandering around Marseilles:
Walter's my man.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:46 AM on September 21, 2015
Walter's my man.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:46 AM on September 21, 2015
I think we can all agree that we're better off without propeller-powered sleighs, though.
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to have to ask for a roll call vote on that one.
posted by Naberius at 9:01 AM on September 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to have to ask for a roll call vote on that one.
posted by Naberius at 9:01 AM on September 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Well, I'm not a fan of the current Times Square, but I'm not clueless enough to want the old one back either.
posted by jonmc at 9:52 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 9:52 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Call me clueless then.
posted by Splunge at 10:05 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 10:05 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Man, so much Marseille and so little Marcel Pagnol.
posted by Duffington at 10:28 AM on September 21, 2015
posted by Duffington at 10:28 AM on September 21, 2015
Aw, come on, jonmc. Good enough for Chip Delany's good enough for me.
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:56 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:56 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I'd go back to the old Times Square in a heartbeat. Sure, the occasional tourist got culled, but that's good for the species.
posted by languagehat at 11:14 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by languagehat at 11:14 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is all well and good, and I also like the "authenticity" (geddit?) in these tough towns, but aren't we being a little cavalier about things like standard of living and street crime? Redevelopment doesn't always improve those things, to be sure, but to stick with the Times Square example, you can go there without having to watch out for used needles on the sidewalk these days.
On the other hand, that mostly just means that the addicts and sex workers are getting pushed into other, less-visible areas, I suppose, so my point may be corkscrewing rapidly into incoherence.
posted by ColdOfTheIsleOfMan at 12:06 PM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
On the other hand, that mostly just means that the addicts and sex workers are getting pushed into other, less-visible areas, I suppose, so my point may be corkscrewing rapidly into incoherence.
posted by ColdOfTheIsleOfMan at 12:06 PM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
New Orleans is a gorgeous city.
posted by oceanjesse at 12:18 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oceanjesse at 12:18 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
> to stick with the Times Square example, you can go there without having to watch out for used needles on the sidewalk these days.
But why would you go there? There are lots of places you can go if you just want not to watch out for used needles on the sidewalk. Times Square used to be like nowhere else on earth; now it's just another glitzy place for tourists to gather and wonder what the fuss is about.
posted by languagehat at 1:34 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
But why would you go there? There are lots of places you can go if you just want not to watch out for used needles on the sidewalk. Times Square used to be like nowhere else on earth; now it's just another glitzy place for tourists to gather and wonder what the fuss is about.
posted by languagehat at 1:34 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait, how old a times square are we talking here? Are we talking junkies and peep shows, or just "before they got the cars out and made space for people"?
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:45 AM on September 22, 2015
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:45 AM on September 22, 2015
I think I've referenced this here before, but years ago I watched the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie with a younger relative and while it was pretty bad, there was one good joke that stuck with me;
"During a road trip between L.A. and New York City, the same fast-food restaurants, motel chains and gas stations pop up again and again. Naturally, Bullwinkle thinks he and his partner are going in circles. "Hey, Rock! There's that same town again!" he exclaims."
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:52 AM on September 22, 2015
"During a road trip between L.A. and New York City, the same fast-food restaurants, motel chains and gas stations pop up again and again. Naturally, Bullwinkle thinks he and his partner are going in circles. "Hey, Rock! There's that same town again!" he exclaims."
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:52 AM on September 22, 2015
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posted by The Card Cheat at 8:25 AM on September 21, 2015