Parisian Stairs, Post-COVID Real Estate & Prioritizing the View (Cafe Society Quick Bite #6)
Mini-Downtowns - Is the Future . . . Los Angeles?
Cafe Society is Maxwell Social’s weekly magazine on the intersection of community and society — an anthropological look at the underpinnings of what makes the world tick, written by David Litwak (@dlitwak) and the Maxwell team. Maxwell is building a new type of social club.
If you missed last week’s Dinner Discussion, Rubirosa, Dodgeball & the Unraveling of the Local Neighborhood, go check it out — I got a lot of personal emails with your own analyses which I’ve really enjoyed reading, and there was a theme — when we re-bundle the local neighborhood it likely WON’T be around commerce:
From Tomos Lovett of WithOthers: “So if you’re not coming together to buy stuff, what are you coming together for? And with all that opened up real estate, what new functions does that serve if it’s not a space to sell people stuff?”
From Phil Levin of the Supernuclear Newsletter: “When people talk about a neighborhood being desirable or interesting, this is often synonymous with there being a high density of unique retail. Interesting neighborhoods (like The Mission or Nolita) are interesting because of a plethora of stores and restaurants and bars. Every real estate developer wants distinctive retail, but there's only so much distinctive retail (that can stay afloat) to go around.
For me the question we should be asking is not "how can we get retail back?" The question we should be asking is "how can local places be about more than buying things?" What should be in the public commons if not retail? What should replace shops on main street to provide that sense of community and place that shops (incidentally) provided in the course of doing their retail business? Is there a more direct way of accomplishing this?”
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And check out some of our deeper dinner discussions like why Soho House has had trouble scaling its community (and why we think miniclubs are the future), Possibility-As-A-Product: Superbad, Clubhouse & the Inciting Incident, Gatekeepers & The Wing, Inclusive Exclusivity, Sofar Sounds & Self-Cancelling Greek Life, Ford Bronco, Blockbuster & Nostalgia Porn For A Simpler World and Amsterdam’s Radical Anarchist White Bikes & Community Hobbyists.
Have a great rest of the week!
David (@dlitwak) & The Maxwell Team
