I recently took a trip out to the East coast to visit some friends, work and to see what the alternate coast had to offer. I had visited before once for work and another for the 4th of July, yet both were short trips with no time to really see the inter-workings of the New England mentality. I was in New York City for a week and then did a weekend trip up to a few lake homes in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
I felt at home with the movement of the hard-working city yet sought out refuge in Central Park on a sunny afternoon, rooftops in Brooklyn at sunset, and then to the lakes in the country. Coming from San Francisco, where the the residents seek a balance between the hustle of the city and the relief of the outdoors I felt that it was a rare excursion for the kids to step out of New York. I don't blame 'em. The vivacious city pace is something that is intoxication and is defiantly not present in the West. But seeing the same vibe in Fort Greene/ Williamsburg as I do in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco brings up the question of the similarities. It's good whole food, community, craftsmanship, re-using, gardening, less yayo and more greens. The energy being spent on agriculture and design emphasizing on environment and a well rounded lifestyle is rich as popping up like wildfire and at some points bypassing the originating cities of the West. Although it looks as if Williamsburg is taking the West Coast approach of building as much as they can while it's hot. I so wish they would learn from our mistakes. So, the seed has been planted... I say 30% NY and the rest in the lovely state of California should do me just right. It would be lovely to see more of a collaboration between the cities.
I wanted to see where the city kids got out to and where they were from, so we hopped a few subways to Grand Central and took the Metro-North 2 hours to Connecticut. A hour car ride took us out to Western Mass. where we started...
enjoy.
Reading: Patti Smith's biography with Robert Mappelthorpe "Just Kids"
Makes me wanna get back to the nitty gritty.