1.15.2009



I listened to this, this AM
and it made me think of
my favorite word...



flâneur
from the french
verb flâner "to stroll"

"the person who walks the city
in order to experience it"

-charles baudelaire





the dinning room takes to the streets

so manhattan has gotten
real fussy in the past few years.
"forces of glitz" and property values
have pushed all the cool people
off the island. doncha think?

So it's great to see
that the few surviving bohos
in downtown manhattan are
still holding fort and continuing
to add a little community
to the public sphere.

***

1. Suzanne Seggerman
holds dinner parties
on her bond st.
corner

2. Reno, a comedian,
has turned her Tribeca
loading dock into a
front porch

3. "Being a flâneur, Mr. Tsao said,
“is all about taking in the world
we’ve been given; we want to
embrace it and engage with it.”
ps: Calvin Tsao throws a party
on the Brooklyn Bridge


(photo credit: Christopher Smith)

6 comments:

Maia said...

While I can think of a few things I miss about NY, the one single outstanding thing that I miss more than anything else is the walking just to walk...just to see. And there is always something to see in NY. Never have I known a walking city like that one.

Gretchen said...

I also heard that on NPR. Loved it, and what it inspires. "I believe we should all know each other. After all, our lives are all connected. Also reminds me of the best of the world of blogging.

GG

Jenny said...

Perfect. These photos are making me nostalgic for warm golden afternoon summer light.

Anonymous said...

I'm reminded of Debord and his idea of the dérive...

Anonymous said...

and i have dinners in my community garden...

but as i walked many blocks from a misguided subway ride to the brooklyn flea for pupusas with my fellow manhattanite friend awhile back (we knew we were headed in the right direction as we passed an increasing number of gentrifiers) i turned to her and said... if we were 10 years younger we'd be living in brooklyn... she said... i know.

yes, things have changed here on the island. i still love to walk home through downtown manhattan on a summer night, just now i don't have any junkies to step over and can't go to SAVE THE ROBOTS from 4 a.m. til dawn.

see also...
http://www.papermag.com/?section=article&parid=2736&page=1

Jenny G. said...

I just got back from a trip to Paris, which included, thanks to your NPR link, a trip to Jim Haynes' Sunday dinner party. He was the definition of a character, with a big, bushy moustache and a striped apron with his name stitched on top. He flirted with all the young girls, told obscene jokes, and made me feel like I belong to the wrong generation. An Irishman served us mashed potatoes and meatloaf. Heaven. Thank you.