Fleeing Manhattan

[BrushStart]

Today, there was an article in the NYT about a bar called Max Fish closing its doors on city's Lower East Side. Apparently, the bar was a relic of Manhattan's grittier days when life in NYC was "real." However, the quirky street Max Fish first opened up on has become commercial and has lost its diversity of originality, that certain je ne sais quoi that makes a neighborhood feel like home. Because Max Fish can no longer afford the high rents of Manhattan, it has been forced to close up shop. So, you ask, "Why does this matter to me..? I don't live in New York...." Well, I think it matters a lot. Scroll down and take a look at comment #24 to the article: http://community.nytimes.com/comment...ldest&offset=1

I read the NYT daily and such has become a common theme. For some reason, New Yorkers have an affinity for Detroit's "realness." Detroit is becoming a buzz word among potential NYC expatriates. If I would have saved the articles, I could show you a dozen more examples of similar comments. Recently, there has been quite a bit of chatter on City-Data [[another discussion forum) of New Yorkers asking about relocating to Detroit. They aren't deterred by our urban issues and find value in the fact that Detroit is still "real." Our urban landscape hasn't been engulfed by corporatism, in fact, Detroit is alarmingly devoid of it. Perhaps our edge in all of this is what we originally thought was our embarrassing weakness. Just food for thought.