Reading over my previous post, I realize that it sounds as if I am promoting life in Alaska, with its wide open but largely uninhabited spaces, over life in big city America, with its teeming millions all trying to get somewhere at the same time you are. This is not the case at all. Mitch Gann is a city boy, through and through. I love having neighbors. I don’t interact with them much; I just love having them around, in case I need something. I love city conveniences, such as paved streets and cable TV. I love the cultural opportunities, such as libraries, theaters and cable TV. I love the big-box stores where I can buy a 65 inch plasma TV, cable-ready, any time I want to. I’ve never bought such a TV; I just love knowing I could drive to a store and in ten minutes live out the American dream of big-screen plasma ownership.
I am not into roughing it. The wide open spaces give me the hebee-geebees. The sad truth is, I feel at home in the lonely crowd.
So, it is perhaps to be expected that my two big trips this summer were to major cities — indeed, great cities — Chicago and New York.
I enjoyed my time in both cities, even though the hotels in both were relying on satellite TV, which just is not as reliable as cable; I don’t care what anyone says. I would return to either Chicago or New York in an instant, especially if someone else were paying the fare and offering a generous per-diem.
And yet, I felt far more at home in Chicago than I did in New York. Well, I have visited Chicago many more times than New York, so that is a big part of it. But there was something else, too.
New Yorkers walk faster and there are more of them on a given stretch of sidewalk. In Manhattan, I felt like I was merging onto the high-speed lanes of an interstate — even when I was merely walking out the door of our hotel. “Fast-paced New York” is a cliche, and an over-generalization, but nevertheless it’s my dominate impression of the place. The crowds on Manhattan’s sidewalks, at almost any time of the day or night, are thick and fast flowing. An abrupt stop in the middle of the sidewalk is not advisable. Get into a doorway or off to the side somewhere. But exit with care.
Chicago has its crowds, too, of course, and people aren’t exactly lolly-gagging around there. But on foot, at least, I felt more comfortable with the Chicago pace. (The cabs were another story.)
Maybe Chicago just has wider sidewalks to accomodate the famous broad-shoulders.
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