Wandering the streets

I like wandering city streets with no particular purpose.

I spent almost 3 hours wandering through South Beach/Miami Beach tonight, and with the old/new job, I've had the chance to wander New York, Portland, Boston, Salt Lake City, London, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. When I worked for CNN, I managed walks through Georgetown and New Orleans.

Some things are the same in every city. Everybody seems to have Pottery Barns and Gaps even in the old parts of town, but there are still some differences. South Beach feels like a city for younger people; the only bookstore I saw carried books of African-American interest only. On the other hand, I must have passed 8 places selling thongs, and four with smoothies.

Walks like this always make me lament Atlanta's lack of density, lack of planning, and lack of friendly spaces for people to gather. It's worse in Atlanta, since there's no waterfront, no train stations to speak of (MARTA stations don't require waits long enough to justify a classic train station), and no respect for anything that isn't going to make money next week.