Hirsute Sea Bass

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis

The more I move and travel around, the more American cities seem to blur together. Because current ideas about urbanity are so widely propagated, everything being built in cities today looks pretty much the same. The same patterns are everywhere, I've found myself thinking as I've driven around Minneapolis these past few days. For example, developers everywhere seem to be anticipating an explosion of empty-nesters looking to downsize--without forfeiting luxury--and move back to the city, and thus the same condos are going up everywhere. Chicago has a ridiculous number. High rises were going up everywhere in River North, the Gold Coast, and the South Loop while I was there. When I was in San Diego recently, it appeared that the same thing had happened there. And now in Minneapolis I'm driving by construction sites covered up with the same fancy signs bearing images of the fancy building to be built, the same script typeface, and the same instructions to go across the street to the sales center to see models of penthouses starting at $1 million. Naturally, they don't want to wait until it's finished before they start selling units. I imagine the financing factors in a certain number of "presales," in fact. And the condo towers all look the same, too. I suppose you can't really expect much variation in design from residential high rise to residential high rise when you're trying to build so many so fast.

Another constant of core city revitalization is the built-all-at-once entertainment district. Baltimore rebuilt its Inner Harbor, Chicago has its Navy Pier, and now Minneapolis has its Block E. Block E is a large block near the edge of downtown that sat empty for a really long amount of time while the City Council argued what to do with it. I remember going to my first "shows" at First Avenue in junior high and staring at the posters on the abandoned Shubert Theater (which was across the street) afterward and thinking I was all urban and hip--while I waited for my mom to pick me up. But the council eventually found someone to build an "entertainment and dining experience" that was plopped down in one piece maybe two years ago. These districts, or "experiences," all have the same features. Hotels, restaurants, video arcades, movie theaters, and bars and clubs for later on. The same tenants show up in these developments from city to city. They're where you go to find your Cheesecake Factory, your Hard Rock Cafe, your AMC megaplexes, and your Borders Books & Music. Sometimes someone's vision of the entertainment complex of the future is included, and the city ends up with a temple to media such as San Francisco's Metreon, wherein sensations (tastes! lights! colors! sounds!) rather than solid goods are emphasized. This latter complex is not a mall but an "entertainment destination" and "the place to try all things bright, shiny, and irresistibly new." If I knew anything about Marshall McLuhan's work I might quote him here.

I'm guessing that the original model for all this was the redevelopment of New York City's Times Square. And that's part of what I think is interesting about these districts. While New York may have the biggest such development, and the city undoubtedly retains its edge in many other ways, so much of what it offers in its most famous entertainment district has been cloned throughout the country. Is it really worth it to go all the way to Times Square just because its Olive Garden is bigger? Or they have a Virgin Megastore rather than just a Tower Records or a Sam Goody? Or its megaplex has 5 more screens? It seems to me that what people use for "a big night out" can be found just about anywhere these days with these mini Times Squares popping up throughout the country. The same experience can be had everywhere due to the spread of the chains. And if you're running a business, of course you would want to expand beyond just one market. I guess there's still only one TRL taping a day to scream outside of, though, and Times Square will always have that. Just don't try to get tickets if you're older than 24.

I'm too tired now to celebrate or bemoan the phenomena I've been talking about, so I'll say this is just a record of my musings this Thanksgiving rather than an attempt to argue some grand point.

posted by John @ 10:45 PM