Snobby Pickings or How I Have Picked New Neighborhoods
I've visited Portland, Seattle, Kansas City, Savanahh, San Francisco, Phoenix and Miami.
From all my researc, this is my snobby shortlist of aspects that make a city great. Without it, it all seems like an empty cultural blackhole.
1. A mom and pop Deli or Bakery - no specialties. No cute cupcakes, special brews or fancy hams. Just a bagel, coffee or sandwich.
2. A decent educational institution. If they haven't produced a canon of work in the last thirty years, then the students have no standard for excellence. Cruel but that intellectual deficiency was VERY apparent in media coverage of Obama's commencement speech in Phoenix.
3. Good Museum and great donors. Miami is known for it's beaches but Art Basel is still my favorite Winter Festival in the U.S. How else could you crash a Vanderbuilt Mansion to see a Rodin? Or see a two-mile junkyard turned into a one-night only carnival?
4. A vibrant Hispanic and Asian community. They are the backbone of this country in the last century. Without it a city will feel like a ghost in a shell.
5. Walkability. New Yorkers walk 4 miles a day on average and gyms are a luxury. Guess how many steps the averge American takes in a day? 2000. Not even half a mile. Frequent walking equals social, happy people.
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