Also, this makes it look as if you're not just relying on WF for their demographic research, but actually plan on shopping there, despite their unsavory anti-union policies.
is it correct that you want to live in walking distance of a whole foods store? whole foods stores require lots of space and often entail large parking lots and so are not often located in high density areas. So if you can walk to the whole foods store, you may not be able to walk anywhere else.
I would say, live in close proximity to a trendy/gay gym. Or any neighborhood that was a gay neighborhood five years ago.
This is indeed genius. Although the first analytical step would be to see to what degree the Whole Foods-worthiness of a neighborhood is already priced in to real estate value. If not, let's go raise some money and put this into practice. Your new kidney will be solid gold.
"Wild Oats" is good too. I didn't want to bog down the post with pesky details, but "Whole Foods or similar" will work. The problem with the "former gay neighborhood" method is that it requires local knowledge. Let the corporation do the work!
13 -- this is not true near me. The two closest WF's are in Montclair and a town whose name I forget south of Summit, and both are in mixed-use walkable neighborhoods. (And there are plenty of big-box stores around here that are not that way, eg Target, Costco, Home Despot, Best Buy.)
Hey! That's me! I am even a member of said trendy/gay gym.
And the Whole Foods is several miles away. My neighborhood is the fucking shit, though. I just signed on for another year in my building - first time I've ever done that (I have many nomadic qualities).
Living not so far from the Whole Foods in Berkeley, eb's comment is only about half right. That is to say, only about half that circle is going to be similar to what Ogged is looking for. (Anything East/Uphill, anything Northeast. The area just north of it is borderline, probably not what he's looking for now, but will be in another 10 years. Anything South or West is not at all what he's looking for.) On the other hand, doing the same thing with the three Andronico's here would actually give exactly what he was looking for (a circle around Solano, the Elmwood area, the Gourmet Ghetto).
I wonder, is Andronico's doing better research, did they just buy land earlier, or is the prevalence of aging hippies here just messing up the grocery demographics?
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Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) |
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06-15-06 1:01 PM
My theory is that this cancer scare has made ogged realize what really matters and he's stolen his ex back from the big city and its paint and powder beaux and they're looking to make a new go of it in a new place.
Whole Foods in Chicago area are often, as the man says, in urban, walking settings. Nearest to us, in Evanston, certainly is.
I worked for a famous retail law chain in the '80s. "You can come in, and talk to one of our lawyers, for just $20"
They "piggybacked" market research by locating as close as possible to Firestone stores. Must have known what they were doing. The kind of guy whose gun had been taken, who wanted me to make a 2nd Amendment argument in municipal court, always seemed to find me.
Is Evanston the Chicago suburb where McDonald's HQ is? If so I did some consulting there (for Reu/ters) about 9 years ago and it didn't seem urban and walkable to me. But maybe I did not find the correct part of town; or maybe Evanston was not the name of the suburb where I was working.
29: My comment was just that the radius would include some portion outside of ogged's criteria, not that all of it would be out. About aging hippies and Adronico's, did you know they replaced the Berkeley locations of an old Co-Op store that was hippie founded?
Also, aren't there two Whole Foods and another Andronico's on Acton?
Andronico's isn't perfect, ogged. You want a combination of places, like the Milk Pail and Dittmer's, and maybe a fishmonger nearby. Sundries and whatnot can be purchased any old where.
Are you talking about the Union Square Whole Foods or is there one in Chelsea? Because certain parts of Chelsea (something like 9th Ave. and 22 st.) would be far-ish from the Union Square one.
Yeah, Evanston is not Oak Brook. Evanston is extremely walkable, and an excellent place to live for a certain genre of people (like the city close by, like college town, good transit, walkable). When I do go to Whole Foods, I go to the one up there, just 'cause it's a good excuse to go up there and putz around. I also like to go to the Main Northwestern Library.
Andronico's is perfect for the purposes of drawing our circle, b-dub, you schlub, not for all your shopping needs. Re Dittmer's, I think Schaub's is closer to you, though they might not have the whatsit you were looking for.
46 - Chelsea is the area I always associate with Whole Foods because it's the first WF I saw in the city. That area around 24th Street is becoming a mini grocery store district. I used to take a class over there and would always do some shopping on the way home, as Lower Manhattan's grocery stores are all ass. (But we're getting a WF very soon!)
29: Good point about the Andronico's on University, forgot all about that one. Doesn't fit the profile much at all.
29: Where is the other Whole Foods? Their website only lists one.
Posted by
Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) |
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06-15-06 1:17 PM
56
Schaub's is closer, but Schaub's and Dittmer's have nonintersecting stock (eg Schaub's can order you calf heart, but Dittmer's has pork belly in stock), and Dittmer's is less expensive and has the benefit of being near the Milk Pail, which I ♥ to pieces.
That said, I'm about to head out to Andronico's, 'cause I need me some cod.
IOW, even though I too desire a pleasant walk to a niceish supermarket, this wouldn't work great in Pittsburgh, for roughly textian reasons.
"textian reasons"?
I was going to point out that Pittsburgh's Whole Foods is actually almost entirely surrounded by either low-income neighborhoods or very cheap undergraduate-rental areas, and as a result has a large and incredibly crowded parking lot.
52: My grandmother's apartment was at 9th and 25th and I remember it always being pretty grocery store—heavy; a D'Agostino's, I think an A supermarket if there is any such thing. This may not be much density by NYC standards though.
I used to take a class over there and would always do some shopping on the way home, as Lower Manhattan's grocery stores are all ass.
I don't know if it counts as in Lower Manhattan, but the place where I got the beer to give to the kitchen, which was only a few blocks away from washington square park, seemed not assy. Though far too pricy.
There has been a sign on a new apartment building on Houston, with a vacant lower level, promising a Whole Foods coming soon to that location, for about 18 months or so, with very little visible progress.
Cryptic, IIRC if you're within walking distance of the Whole Foods you're not in walking distance of many other stores (except Kelly's); this being due to urban renewal rather than suburbanization, but it's still a case of the WF needing to go where the land is cheap.
Are these things you require on a semi-regular basis? If so, teh awesome.
I think it's impossible to consume pork belly on a semi-regular basis without dying, so no. In fact I punted on the calf heart and got a frozen pig heart from Dittmer's in the end. I think Schaub's also has odds 'n' ends for stock, which is nice (as does Draeger's, and probably any such place will give/sell you some if you ask, but Schaub's actually has it out).
I live in walking distance of two whole foods (well, the second is a fairly long walk, ~2 miles). I will now accept bids for my apartment starting at 3 million.
61: A good friend of mine was a back waiter at their sister restaurant last summer. Also, do you remember which cardinal direction it was from WSP?
And that's too far uptown for Becks, methinks. I would think lower Manhattan starts around City Hall.
63: Ah yes, that's changed hands at least once. I think it may have been a Thai grocery briefly, I'm not sure what it is now. Speaking of change in that neighborhood, the Jay-Zee's liquor store down another few blocks has been replaced by a Montessori school.
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06-15-06 1:26 PM
70
61 - IIRC, that was Citarella, which is very good but a little far from my neighborhood. I tend to go to the stores in Brooklyn near where I work (like Garden of Eden) for my produce now that I'm not near WF on a regular basis.
Cryptic, IIRC if you're within walking distance of the Whole Foods you're not in walking distance of many other stores (except Kelly's);
You're right, it's not in a shopping district; I think the closest businesses are a hair salon and a flower store that both must be 40 years old. It's right near shopping centers containing Panera and Quizno's - more signs of gentrification perhaps - although the Panera is in a shopping center that also contains a laundromat and a liquor store both of which have homeless-looking people sitting outside of them 24 hours a day.
It's quite close to ultra-trendy Ellsworth Avenue and Walnut Street, but it's on the other side of the East Busway, so not really.
Of course, just like the rest of you, I'm terrified of all working class people and want non-white neighbors only if they make more money than I do.
This is why I have absolutely no compunction about being mean to you. However, I should be fair: I appreciate the honesty. Which is why I have absolutely no compunction about picking on people who think like you but pat themselves on the back a lot in public.
The key here is that Whole Foods has a bunch of schlubs who have already done the demographic research for me:
I know a Whole Foods that, in theory, meets the requirements. However, that's about a quarter-mile from several large apartment complexes that used to be fairly nice. 10-20 years ago. Now, of course, that's where all the 'in-call' ladies work.
Really, since yer a yup, you oughta go with Central Market, assuming they have those.
54: Tiffin is good, and open late, but pricey. I live right up the cross street, a block a half away. Our favorite is Hema's Kitchen, a storefront at Oakley & Devon.
Not only did I forget to put M-Wein's comment in italics, but I forgot to say that I posted #78.
Anyway, since Whole Foods requires a lot of space to do its thing, I'd think it'd be common for it to be in places where the rent is cheap, i.e. places where you wouldn't want to actually LIVE until maybe 2015.
Wow. Speaking of the gay gym, I just got the following phone call.
Woman: Is this Silvana?
Me: Yeah.
Woman: I'm calling from Gym. When we tried to run the automatic payment, it said invalid number. Is there a problem with your credit card?
Me: Hmm. Oh yeah! I was issued a new card with a different number. I can give you the updated number. Sorry; I didn't even think about that.
Her: No problem, I'll do that right now.
[blah blah getting credit card number]
Her: I see here you haven't been to the gym in a while.
Me: Yeah.
Her: Why is that?
Me: Um, does it matter?
Her: No, I guess not.
Me: Ok, bye.
WTF? For the record, I think it's been about three weeks since I've been to the gym, which isn't really THAT long, considering. That's total bullshit. They aren't supposed to guilt you about not coming! From where I stand, it's better for them if you don't come, because if a lot of people pay but don't go, they are getting money for nothin.'
From where I stand, it's better for them if you don't come, because if a lot of people pay but don't go, they are getting money for nothin.'
But given that your membership is a sunk anti-cost for them, do they gain anything from you not showing up? Maybe just less wear and tear on the machines and the sweat-wiping spray bottles?
80: Yeah, the Tiffin is def. pricy. I love Hema's Kitchen, and have probably been there more times than the Tiffin (not even including the many times I've been to the Lincoln Park Hema's location when feeling too lazy to trek up to Devon).
84: Well, I was thinking (and I didn't articulate this) that if they have a lot of members who pay put don't show, they can accomodate more members overall.
That said, not a very good argument, unless there are actually gyms that have to turn people away due to lack of capacity (there may be some, because elite, but I doubt this is one of them).
If you think I confuse bar waitresses, you should see me in an Indian Restaurant. My daughter knows exactly what she wants, and doesn't even open the menu.
What's cool/interesting in NYC is that, while Whole Foods is in the rich nabes, Fairway (which does hire union labor and is cheaper and has better food and is larger) is in two quite desititute areas that everyone must then travel to. It's good for everyone and real live poor people get training and hired!!
86- Well, the housing prices do seem to track with your system. I'd rather have only one WF and save 20% on monthly payments.
89- Is that the one under the west side highway in Harlem?
"Of course, just like the rest of you, I'm terrified of all working class people and want non-white neighbors only if they make more money than I do. "
Are you kidding? What kind of idiot would make a remark like that?
I suppose you believe a white, college educated person picked the produce that you would like to be able to purchase at a location near you. And that his peers are the folks working at said establishment just waiting to serve you?
Of course they wouldn't be able to afford to live in the area you want, so that makes it safe for you, right? Nice.
I suppose you believe a white, college educated person picked the produce that you would like to be able to purchase at a location near you. And that his peers are the folks working at said establishment just waiting to serve you?
Of course they wouldn't be able to afford to live in the area you want, so that makes it safe for you, right? Nice.
94: I think she's thinking of the new one in Red Hook.
And lighten up on kris, who seems to have just wandered in and doesn't have any reason to give Ogged the benefit of the doubt on being a racist bastard. (After all, if he weren't a racist bastard, why would God have given him cancer?)
Actually, my older sister, I just realized, did exactly what ogged is suggesting, but with Trader Joe's. She lives in LA, and doesn't drive, and is vegan, so her number one requirement for an apartment is that it be in walking distance of a Trader Joe's (lot easier in LA than in Chicago, where there are only two). She succeeded, and I have to say that it's awesome.
if he weren't a racist bastard, why would God have given him cancer?
Funny you mention that, LB, because just a couple of days ago, God said to me, "Ok ok, they are genetically predisposed to violence, I'll take back the stomach cancer."
Ah yes, that's changed hands at least once. I think it may have been a Thai grocery briefly, I'm not sure what it is now. Speaking of change in that neighborhood, the Jay-Zee's liquor store down another few blocks has been replaced by a Montessori school.
The space eb is thinking of used to be a Wild Oats, which then shut down and became some other grocery (Picadilly Circus or somesuch) and is now a Thai grocery.
If you want to talk change in that neighborhood, it always weirds me out a bit that the old EDD office is now a copy shop. And that Berkeley Square is now a furniture store. (Did you ever go into that Jay-Vee before it shut down? Their inventory was remarkably upscale for the neighborhood and the external appearance of the store.)
Who's going to play Ann Coulter and say everyone's defending Ogged just because he has cancer? I bet he wanted to get cancer so he wouldn't be criticized!
I've got 2 Whole Foods within 5 minutes of my house, but neither of them is exactly walkable. And a trendy gay gym within 10. Plus, it's cheaper than NYC or Cambridge. And there are three nice but affordable restaurants within walking distance. And cute little streets with lots of trees. And a park. And an ice cream shop(pe). Man, I wish I was at home instead of at work.
This comment brought to you by the Providence Chamber of Commerce, apparently.
(pulls on blonde wig and ridiculously short miniskirt)
Have you ever noticed when someone gets a horrible disease, how everyone suddenly treats them with kid gloves and never dares to question anything they might say or any of their agenda? Got cancer? Of course you're an expert on it. We can't say anything against your moral superiority.
The day you got cancer was the best day of your life because then you knew you could advance your liberal agenda and no one could say a word against you because you'd be attacking a cancer victim.
no one could say a word against you because you'd be attacking a cancer victim
Damn right! Someone referred to it as my "cancer scare" last night, and I was all, "I still have cancer, motherfucker!" (With an 85% probability, anyway.) And not a single one of you wrote to ask how, in these trying times, I was deciding who to root for in the Iran/Mexico match.
It's true that, despite the mostly odious clientele, WF has some fucking awesome meat.
But of course one can find good meat for cheap elsewhere! Towards the beginning of my stay here (classes hadn't even started) I went to a halal market way the fuck down in Sunnyvale and got a leg of lamb for cheap (even considering added gas expense), and it was yummy.
113: Fox & Obel is amazing, best choice of proscuittos and other cured hams that I've seen. Their cheese section is also great to the point of being completely overwhelming.
But it seems that you were just there for the superior sausage selection anyway.
Yeah, we really need to be more esoteric and in-jokey so that people are afraid to comment just because they have an opinion on the post. I was making an effort on the esoteric front last week, when I brought up the existential and universal quantifiers for no particular reason.
There are some problems with my 140, in particular that it suggests that the reason people will be afraid to comment is because they have an opinion on the post, when of course I meant too afraid to comment despite having one.
141: Most likely what they're doing is paying very well to have people support them on the internets.
Yeah, we really need to be more esoteric and in-jokey so
Uh, no. Seriously, guys, we have enough barriers to entry. If new people stop showing up, at some point we will have heard everything clever any of us has to say, and this will all get very dull. Really, lurkers, comment! If you're stupid and annoying, we'll be mean, but there's a perfectly good chance that you aren't!
The Fairway in Upper Harlem?! A place everyone must travel to?! Destitute?!
1. West Harlem, maybe. It's called "Manhattanville," and the immediate neighborhood (about 3 x 4 blocks) is about to be eminent domain'd by C.U.--that part of it that has not surreptiously been folded into the Fairway empire, that is.
2. Speak for yourselves!
3. It's changed A LOT in the last six years, but the area to the immediate south was always hard-working working-class. Yes, one of the gas stations is fairly well-known locally as a place to buy crack, um, and a guy got shot dead at the McDonald's a couple of months ago, but the neighborhood really is more than meets the eye. Oh, and the city is renovating the pier there, which makes me kind of sad because the fishermen there were always nice to me even though they were insane to fish in the Hudson.
Why don't the World Cup teams have racist mascots like American sports teams do? That would make it so much more awesome to follow.
This is so very true. Each team should have a mascot they choose for themselves, and a mascot chosen by their historical rivals. Failing that, there should be a Saudi Arabian cheerleading squad.
Uh, no. Seriously, guys, we have enough barriers to entry. If new people stop showing up, at some point we will have heard everything clever any of us has to say, and this will all get very dull.
I sincerely doubt that we'll run out of clever things to say to each other. Plus, in recent months this place has gotten less clever! Despite the total number of comments and posts having gone up, not only the per-post clever but arguably the total clever has, it seems, gone down.
Of course a self-conscious attempt at increasing clever would be stupid, so we need to trick ourselves into it or something. (Writing that makes me wish I had really thought more about what was going on in the last few weeks of my self-deception class, because it's the same sort of structure as a lot of stuff we talked about. Oh well; I still have the notes, anyway.)
I agree that people who lurk long enough to consider themselves lurkers and get a feel for the place should comment. And people who are either personally being discussed or having something they wrote being discussed. Well, I guess it's impossible to have high enough barriers to entry to avoid single-shot comments like 91, so nevermind.
"Of course, just like the rest of you, I'm terrified of all working class people and want non-white neighbors only if they make more money than I do. " --> "you're an asshole."
Anyway, O. has cancer. From here on out, he pretty much has to live in neighborhoods that have clean water and air and are very far away from toxic emissions. Which pretty much rules out being in shouting distance of poor people.
Oh! And I totally saw the Mexican/Iranian thing happen IRL the other day. I was at the corner deli where I always get lunch and some yuppie a-hole came up and placed his order in overenunciated, badly accented Spanish in an attempt to be totally cool and "down" with the deli staff or something. The kid working there gave him this awesome look like "Fucker, I'm Persian."
Not only that, we're way behind on our cock joke quota.
Look, I put 'hung' in a limmerick. What do you want?
I'll tell you what I want. I want apostropher to find more videos of those ice skaters. Damn, before 'preview' I got so excited thinking about the ice skaters that I spelled it 'scater,' which is probably very different.
i'm comin' late to the party but speaking of finding new places to live, i'm about to move to Seattle and via the Whole Foods plan, that puts me (from what i found) in the U-district which isn't highly recommended for grad students. Is anyone on here from that area (and if so, can recommend a good neighborhood for a poor Museum Studies student)?
i'm comin' late to the party but speaking of finding new places to live, i'm about to move to Seattle and via the Whole Foods plan, that puts me (from what i found) in the U-district which isn't highly recommended for grad students. Is anyone on here from that area (and if so, can recommend a good neighborhood for a poor Museum Studies student)?
147: LB, butch it up a little. (See, Ogged? I was right all along. You *need* bitchy feminists here. The reasonable ones let people get away with too much.)
A comment every 12 seconds, not bad. By my lights this means that ogged didn't really beat me to the spelling correction, nor did M/lls to the kidney crack.
178: Avoid the U-district. Capitol Hill is nice, but getting pricey (then again, Broadway is going downhill again, so maybe it's less pricey nowadays). Good bus service to the U and downtown, gay people, restaurants. If you can't find an affordable place there, move a little bit south to the Central Dictrict, which is rapidly gentrifying. Don't look at Queen Anne, b/c the bus service sucks. Wallingford and Ravenna are okay if you like yuppie residential areas (admittedly not purely residential; Seattle's good like that). Columbia City is really fantastic, and somewhat less far along on the gentrification trajectory, but further from the U; however, you can still hop on the bus, it just takes longer.
Your grad student social life is going to be best if you live in CapHill/the CD.
Geez, man, have you seen the various Hirshman threads I'm been managing at LGM? I'm the feminist devil, out to grind decent women beneath my heel because they aren't slaves to capitalism. (Oh, okay. No one said that, or even really came close, and I think there aren't really any hard feelings. But tense.)
If I can't show my soft, feminine side here, where can I show it? (And how can I go about developing one?)
191: You know I love you. And you have my eternal gratitude for the Hirshman threads, where I've been trying really hard not to yell at people. I think we make the best good cop/bad cop team EVAH.
cheerylilgoth, my services, being second-hand, will take longer to produce information than bitchphd's. She sounds like she knows what she's talking about. How recent is your assessment, B?
194: Aww. Man, I get caught up in an argument like that, but after a day or so of it the tension does get to me. There were some great moments yesterday, though, when you, I, and Silvana were all making perfectly coordinated points simultaneously -- that's fun.
199: That would be telling, but I have email, and cheery goth grad students are always welcome to drop me a line. I might even be able to find out about rentals.
202: I know. I was feelin' the love.
201, 203: I'm bitchy, but lazy.
204: NO. NO EXPLAINING INJOKES.
Ok, I have to go do mommy things now. Which is just as well, b/c if I keep hogging the thread, O. will ban me again.
178, 190: I sort of like the U District, but it's been 15+ years since I lived there, so who knows. Ballard is also pretty bus-able and non-horrible (again, unless things have changed while I wasn't looking).
And I have to go hobnob with the Big Dog. (Sadly, I forgot when I got dressed for work this morning, and am in an ill-assorted outfit somewhere between business casual and avant-garde clown.)
And the most important piece of Seattle real-estate advice: avoid apartments that face north. You will kill yourself along about mid-February. South-facing windows can make up for a lot of other shortcomings.
Stealing a joke from a very clever commenter, I think we should all demur from any more in-joke discussions. And why is Yahoo so much better than Google at searching this site's archives.
218 - I think the (awesome) spam fix might be blocking Google's bots. I saw some errors in the access logs that looked googlish yesterday but didn't have a chance to investigate.
I'd like to live within walking distance of a whorehouse. Is there a Whole Foods of a cathouse franchises I can google to find all the nabes that would suit me?
(Of course, it would have to be a PC bordello with hot guys for horny chicks like Tia as well as foxy lasses for horny guys and lesbians.)
So how many lurkers are there here? Surely someone smart can do an analysis on the server logs and see how many different non-bot IP addresses have at least, say, 5+ hits on a given day, and the subtract the number of unique commenters on that day.
During the server troubles, someone mentioned that there are 500 or so regular readers, out of 2000-ish unique visits per day. And there are maybe 30-40 regular commentors? Regardless, a lot of lurkers.
On in-jokes: it occurs to me that there have been at least 3 comment exchanges in recent weeks where someone has mimicked or re-enacted previous exchanges. I can't tell if that's too self-referential or a sign that we're approaching some kind of singularity.
Probably just a sign of familiarity, except with a written record. With some old friends, I've been having the same conversations for years now. Habit, I guess.
Are you including Earth Fares in your search? 'Cause if you're including Earth Fares, where I live pwns. I can walk (ok, bike) to the Earth Fare and I can walk to the gay gym (ok, not gay enough and you'll probably want to bike there, too). But it's the South so it's totally white--I can see a Confederate flag from my window!
I am right now three blocks from a Whole Foods. This is a pretty pleasant area by ogged's standards in the post, so score one for his system. It would, however, be a terrible way to decide where to live in Albuquerque, since the WF there is near Wyoming and Academy, about as suburban as you can get. My house is close to a Wild Oats, however, and my neighborhood is pretty walkable (although no one ever walks), so, you know, when chains enter markets and where land is cheap at those times matters a lot.
I've never been to a Whole Foods (there's a regular grocery store across the street from the one here so I just shop there), but Wild Oats is outrageously expensive and irritatingly earnest and granola. I hate shopping there.
In Cambridge there are three--Fresh Pond/Alewife, Prospect Street and River Street. River Street is new and has a large parking lot. Most people drive there, but it's accessible fromHarvard Business School on foot, although the actual neighborhood there is still a little sketchy.
Fresh Pond is suburban mall land.
Prospect Street is liek a small corner grocery. It and the store at Fresh Pond were originally Bread and Circus Stores. (Even after Whole Foods bought them out, they were still called Bread and Circus stores for a while. The Prospect Street store has a tiny parking lot, and a lot of people walk there. It has a very loyal clientele. Whole Foods wanted to shut it down whn they opened the River Street store, but their customers threatened to riot, so it stayed.
The new one in Boston is in the same spot where there was a Stop and Shop when I was growing up. It's on the flat of Beacon Hill (convenient to rich folks), has soem parkign and a hoe delivery servcie and is right next to Massachusetts General Hospital and a stone's throw from the new stem cell research institute.
The skill of the Whole Foods people at doing demographic analysis is really kind of uncanny. Next up, UK readers, is Kensington. (They bought out Fresh and Wild.)
I could see ogged living in Wellesly--subrban but with a recognizable downtown. You have to drive to the downtown, but onc you're there, you can walk to different shops. Wellesley has an old Whole Foods from the Bread and Circus days.
w/d, Fresh Pond is a T ride away. The accesible whoel foods is the 5 year-old store on River Street which is close to Central Square, about a fifteen minute walk to Harvard Square and near the River Houses and the Business School. It's just off of Memorial Drive around the corner from the Trader Joe's.
I don't understand the double naming thing. I only type the name once. It's happening whenever I try to comment using Safari which I prefer to Firefox. (I know that's heresy here. Sue me.) I'm not sure why that keeps happening. I did recently install a security update, but I think it may not have stated before you all did some of the more recent software tweaks.
Hey, am I still allowed to post here?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:37 PM
Slightly smaller? Shurely an understatement.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:37 PM
Hey, am I still allowed to post here?
After that fright you gave us? Hell no.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:38 PM
Hey, you should consider living around where I live.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:38 PM
Are you even updating the other blog, ogged?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:41 PM
I suspect, if the Whole Foods are still where they were when last was I in Berkeley, this is wrong.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:42 PM
Also, this makes it look as if you're not just relying on WF for their demographic research, but actually plan on shopping there, despite their unsavory anti-union policies.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:42 PM
Glad to see you're feeling better, Ogged.
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:42 PM
2: The circle is complete. The apocalypse is at hand.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:44 PM
Ogged, whether "techmology" is a mistake or an attempt to be cutesy, it's unacceptable.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:45 PM
Are you even updating the other blog, ogged?
Indeed. I'm a bit beat at the moment, but I have some posts planned.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:48 PM
Mot a nistake.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:48 PM
is it correct that you want to live in walking distance of a whole foods store? whole foods stores require lots of space and often entail large parking lots and so are not often located in high density areas. So if you can walk to the whole foods store, you may not be able to walk anywhere else.
I would say, live in close proximity to a trendy/gay gym. Or any neighborhood that was a gay neighborhood five years ago.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:51 PM
This is indeed genius. Although the first analytical step would be to see to what degree the Whole Foods-worthiness of a neighborhood is already priced in to real estate value. If not, let's go raise some money and put this into practice. Your new kidney will be solid gold.
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:52 PM
Are you even updating the other blog, ogged?
I thought Kevin gave it to the Carpetbagger.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:52 PM
I'm a geniuse. Let me explain.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:54 PM
fuck
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:55 PM
I walked a few times to the Whole Foods around North & Clybourn from around Division and Western. Only a 4.4-mile round trip.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:55 PM
Paging Dr. Oops. Paging Dr. Oops. Pay no attention to Ogged.
IOW, even though I too desire a pleasant walk to a niceish supermarket, this wouldn't work great in Pittsburgh, for roughly textian reasons.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:56 PM
what am I saying? I live in a city without a whole foods store. we have "wild oats." Don't ever listen to me. But go to gay gyms.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:56 PM
wolfson, you lived about two blocks away from me.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:57 PM
Long walks to Whole Foods is the new long walks on the beach!
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:57 PM
19: Ah, I believe she chose the "look in close proximity to a transplant center" method, in case she need to rip someone's liver out on short notice.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:57 PM
mad props on the new "unfogged happy fun page."
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:58 PM
"Wild Oats" is good too. I didn't want to bog down the post with pesky details, but "Whole Foods or similar" will work. The problem with the "former gay neighborhood" method is that it requires local knowledge. Let the corporation do the work!
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:59 PM
So, ogged, you're moving? What, your old neighborhood has rules about only letting people with an even number of kidneys live there?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 12:59 PM
13 -- this is not true near me. The two closest WF's are in Montclair and a town whose name I forget south of Summit, and both are in mixed-use walkable neighborhoods. (And there are plenty of big-box stores around here that are not that way, eg Target, Costco, Home Despot, Best Buy.)
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:00 PM
trendy/gay gym
Hey! That's me! I am even a member of said trendy/gay gym.
And the Whole Foods is several miles away. My neighborhood is the fucking shit, though. I just signed on for another year in my building - first time I've ever done that (I have many nomadic qualities).
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:00 PM
Living not so far from the Whole Foods in Berkeley, eb's comment is only about half right. That is to say, only about half that circle is going to be similar to what Ogged is looking for. (Anything East/Uphill, anything Northeast. The area just north of it is borderline, probably not what he's looking for now, but will be in another 10 years. Anything South or West is not at all what he's looking for.) On the other hand, doing the same thing with the three Andronico's here would actually give exactly what he was looking for (a circle around Solano, the Elmwood area, the Gourmet Ghetto).
I wonder, is Andronico's doing better research, did they just buy land earlier, or is the prevalence of aging hippies here just messing up the grocery demographics?
Posted by Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:01 PM
"Wild Oats" sounds like a gay Western bar.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:01 PM
My theory is that this cancer scare has made ogged realize what really matters and he's stolen his ex back from the big city and its paint and powder beaux and they're looking to make a new go of it in a new place.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:02 PM
Whole Foods in Chicago area are often, as the man says, in urban, walking settings. Nearest to us, in Evanston, certainly is.
I worked for a famous retail law chain in the '80s. "You can come in, and talk to one of our lawyers, for just $20"
They "piggybacked" market research by locating as close as possible to Firestone stores. Must have known what they were doing. The kind of guy whose gun had been taken, who wanted me to make a 2nd Amendment argument in municipal court, always seemed to find me.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:02 PM
And about 6 blocks from my last-year apartment. Weird.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:04 PM
33 to 21.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:04 PM
31 - But the Ex lives right by a Whole Foods and many gay gyms.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:05 PM
sure, I was totally wrong about that. I recall similar in chicago. but my main point stands: only go to gyms for gay men, and always take a sauna.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:05 PM
Now that I don't live there anymore I have no qualms about giving the exact address, viz, 1252 N Artesian, not two blocks away from the Empty Bottle.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:06 PM
I have many nomadic qualities
I'm the total opposite of silvana. I'll put up with just about anything to not have to move.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:06 PM
Unfoggetarian, yes, Andronico's is perfect, but just isn't in as many places as Whole Foods. Ditto Draeger's.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:07 PM
Is Evanston the Chicago suburb where McDonald's HQ is? If so I did some consulting there (for Reu/ters) about 9 years ago and it didn't seem urban and walkable to me. But maybe I did not find the correct part of town; or maybe Evanston was not the name of the suburb where I was working.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:08 PM
considering both 33 and 28, there's a good chance silvana goes to the gym I used to go to.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:08 PM
29: My comment was just that the radius would include some portion outside of ogged's criteria, not that all of it would be out. About aging hippies and Adronico's, did you know they replaced the Berkeley locations of an old Co-Op store that was hippie founded?
Also, aren't there two Whole Foods and another Andronico's on Acton?
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:09 PM
TMK, McD's HQ is in Oak Brook, not Evanston.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:10 PM
41: No, I'm a member of the trendy/gay gym in Andersonville, which is where I now live.
37: Weird. I used to walk on Artesian on a fairly regular basis, given my penchant for taking hour-long walks, particularly in the summer.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:10 PM
Andronico's isn't perfect, ogged. You want a combination of places, like the Milk Pail and Dittmer's, and maybe a fishmonger nearby. Sundries and whatnot can be purchased any old where.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:11 PM
Are you talking about the Union Square Whole Foods or is there one in Chelsea? Because certain parts of Chelsea (something like 9th Ave. and 22 st.) would be far-ish from the Union Square one.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:12 PM
Yeah, Evanston is not Oak Brook. Evanston is extremely walkable, and an excellent place to live for a certain genre of people (like the city close by, like college town, good transit, walkable). When I do go to Whole Foods, I go to the one up there, just 'cause it's a good excuse to go up there and putz around. I also like to go to the Main Northwestern Library.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:12 PM
Oops, no, it was Oak Brook. Not even close, sorry.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:14 PM
Andronico's is perfect for the purposes of drawing our circle, b-dub, you schlub, not for all your shopping needs. Re Dittmer's, I think Schaub's is closer to you, though they might not have the whatsit you were looking for.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:14 PM
I and my friends have lived all around there, too. Just now I'm about a mile and a half from both Silvana and Kotsko, around Devon & Western.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:15 PM
Never mind. Local has that address as .7 miles and my distance to that same whole foods ay 1.2 miles and I walk there every couple of weeks.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:16 PM
46 - Chelsea is the area I always associate with Whole Foods because it's the first WF I saw in the city. That area around 24th Street is becoming a mini grocery store district. I used to take a class over there and would always do some shopping on the way home, as Lower Manhattan's grocery stores are all ass. (But we're getting a WF very soon!)
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:16 PM
Are you talking about the Union Square Whole Foods or is there one in Chelsea?
There's one in Chelsea, on 24th, if I recall.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:16 PM
I was near Devon and Western not just last week, eating at the Tiffin.
Mm. Indian food.
I have been spending a lot more time in the Rogers Park-ish area lately, and it's really starting to grow on me.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:16 PM
29: Good point about the Andronico's on University, forgot all about that one. Doesn't fit the profile much at all.
29: Where is the other Whole Foods? Their website only lists one.
Posted by Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:17 PM
Schaub's is closer, but Schaub's and Dittmer's have nonintersecting stock (eg Schaub's can order you calf heart, but Dittmer's has pork belly in stock), and Dittmer's is less expensive and has the benefit of being near the Milk Pail, which I ♥ to pieces.
That said, I'm about to head out to Andronico's, 'cause I need me some cod.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:17 PM
IOW, even though I too desire a pleasant walk to a niceish supermarket, this wouldn't work great in Pittsburgh, for roughly textian reasons.
"textian reasons"?
I was going to point out that Pittsburgh's Whole Foods is actually almost entirely surrounded by either low-income neighborhoods or very cheap undergraduate-rental areas, and as a result has a large and incredibly crowded parking lot.
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:19 PM
52: My grandmother's apartment was at 9th and 25th and I remember it always being pretty grocery store—heavy; a D'Agostino's, I think an A supermarket if there is any such thing. This may not be much density by NYC standards though.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:19 PM
the Milk Pail, which I ? to pieces
U R a priss, but the Milk Pail is indeed awesome.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:20 PM
Schaub's can order you calf heart, but Dittmer's has pork belly in stock
Are these things you require on a semi-regular basis? If so, teh awesome.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:20 PM
I used to take a class over there and would always do some shopping on the way home, as Lower Manhattan's grocery stores are all ass.
I don't know if it counts as in Lower Manhattan, but the place where I got the beer to give to the kitchen, which was only a few blocks away from washington square park, seemed not assy. Though far too pricy.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:20 PM
There has been a sign on a new apartment building on Houston, with a vacant lower level, promising a Whole Foods coming soon to that location, for about 18 months or so, with very little visible progress.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:20 PM
55: There was a Whole Foods-type store on University, but it could be unrelated/no longer there.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:22 PM
Cryptic, IIRC if you're within walking distance of the Whole Foods you're not in walking distance of many other stores (except Kelly's); this being due to urban renewal rather than suburbanization, but it's still a case of the WF needing to go where the land is cheap.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:23 PM
Are these things you require on a semi-regular basis? If so, teh awesome.
I think it's impossible to consume pork belly on a semi-regular basis without dying, so no. In fact I punted on the calf heart and got a frozen pig heart from Dittmer's in the end. I think Schaub's also has odds 'n' ends for stock, which is nice (as does Draeger's, and probably any such place will give/sell you some if you ask, but Schaub's actually has it out).
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:23 PM
I live in walking distance of two whole foods (well, the second is a fairly long walk, ~2 miles). I will now accept bids for my apartment starting at 3 million.
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:24 PM
61: A good friend of mine was a back waiter at their sister restaurant last summer. Also, do you remember which cardinal direction it was from WSP?
And that's too far uptown for Becks, methinks. I would think lower Manhattan starts around City Hall.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:26 PM
Correction, make that 3 within 2 miles. The first bid is 5 million.
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:26 PM
63: Ah yes, that's changed hands at least once. I think it may have been a Thai grocery briefly, I'm not sure what it is now. Speaking of change in that neighborhood, the Jay-Zee's liquor store down another few blocks has been replaced by a Montessori school.
Posted by Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:26 PM
61 - IIRC, that was Citarella, which is very good but a little far from my neighborhood. I tend to go to the stores in Brooklyn near where I work (like Garden of Eden) for my produce now that I'm not near WF on a regular basis.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:27 PM
I would think lower Manhattan starts around City Hall.
Ding ding ding! Washerdreyer wins a prize! None of this "anything below 14th Street" shit.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:29 PM
Speaking of grocery stores and Thai groceries, I am in super lust with this place. Sometimes I go in there and just walk around.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:29 PM
3 within 2 miles
Where the fuck do you live, SP, Nirvana???
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:31 PM
Curiously, the founders of Andronico's lived on the Arlington in Kensington: not within walking distance of any of their stores.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:32 PM
U:"pe,tgi"(9): Does your handle refer to a long-delayed decision to stop lurking?
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:33 PM
37: Wow, that must've been great for obscure music and pretty much crap for everything else.
Ogged, are you actually looking at moving back into the city or just some upper-crust suburb with easy access (like Evanston or Oak Park)?
Posted by JAC | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:34 PM
2138
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:34 PM
Cryptic, IIRC if you're within walking distance of the Whole Foods you're not in walking distance of many other stores (except Kelly's);
You're right, it's not in a shopping district; I think the closest businesses are a hair salon and a flower store that both must be 40 years old. It's right near shopping centers containing Panera and Quizno's - more signs of gentrification perhaps - although the Panera is in a shopping center that also contains a laundromat and a liquor store both of which have homeless-looking people sitting outside of them 24 hours a day.
It's quite close to ultra-trendy Ellsworth Avenue and Walnut Street, but it's on the other side of the East Busway, so not really.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:35 PM
Of course, just like the rest of you, I'm terrified of all working class people and want non-white neighbors only if they make more money than I do.
This is why I have absolutely no compunction about being mean to you. However, I should be fair: I appreciate the honesty. Which is why I have absolutely no compunction about picking on people who think like you but pat themselves on the back a lot in public.
The key here is that Whole Foods has a bunch of schlubs who have already done the demographic research for me:
I know a Whole Foods that, in theory, meets the requirements. However, that's about a quarter-mile from several large apartment complexes that used to be fairly nice. 10-20 years ago. Now, of course, that's where all the 'in-call' ladies work.
Really, since yer a yup, you oughta go with Central Market, assuming they have those.
ash
['Almost signed that with the wrong name.']
Posted by ash | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:36 PM
54: Tiffin is good, and open late, but pricey. I live right up the cross street, a block a half away. Our favorite is Hema's Kitchen, a storefront at Oakley & Devon.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:37 PM
Not only did I forget to put M-Wein's comment in italics, but I forgot to say that I posted #78.
Anyway, since Whole Foods requires a lot of space to do its thing, I'd think it'd be common for it to be in places where the rent is cheap, i.e. places where you wouldn't want to actually LIVE until maybe 2015.
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:37 PM
Wow. Speaking of the gay gym, I just got the following phone call.
Woman: Is this Silvana?
Me: Yeah.
Woman: I'm calling from Gym. When we tried to run the automatic payment, it said invalid number. Is there a problem with your credit card?
Me: Hmm. Oh yeah! I was issued a new card with a different number. I can give you the updated number. Sorry; I didn't even think about that.
Her: No problem, I'll do that right now.
[blah blah getting credit card number]
Her: I see here you haven't been to the gym in a while.
Me: Yeah.
Her: Why is that?
Me: Um, does it matter?
Her: No, I guess not.
Me: Ok, bye.
WTF? For the record, I think it's been about three weeks since I've been to the gym, which isn't really THAT long, considering. That's total bullshit. They aren't supposed to guilt you about not coming! From where I stand, it's better for them if you don't come, because if a lot of people pay but don't go, they are getting money for nothin.'
I am appalled!
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:38 PM
Ogged, are you actually looking at moving back into the city or just some upper-crust suburb
I'm not moving anywhere at the moment, I've just been complaining about being away from home, and this occurred to me.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:38 PM
From where I stand, it's better for them if you don't come, because if a lot of people pay but don't go, they are getting money for nothin.'
But given that your membership is a sunk anti-cost for them, do they gain anything from you not showing up? Maybe just less wear and tear on the machines and the sweat-wiping spray bottles?
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:39 PM
80: Yeah, the Tiffin is def. pricy. I love Hema's Kitchen, and have probably been there more times than the Tiffin (not even including the many times I've been to the Lincoln Park Hema's location when feeling too lazy to trek up to Devon).
Posted by silvana` | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:40 PM
02138
Ah, ok then. Not quite Nirvana, but a fine place to live.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:40 PM
84: Well, I was thinking (and I didn't articulate this) that if they have a lot of members who pay put don't show, they can accomodate more members overall.
That said, not a very good argument, unless there are actually gyms that have to turn people away due to lack of capacity (there may be some, because elite, but I doubt this is one of them).
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:42 PM
If you think I confuse bar waitresses, you should see me in an Indian Restaurant. My daughter knows exactly what she wants, and doesn't even open the menu.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:44 PM
What's cool/interesting in NYC is that, while Whole Foods is in the rich nabes, Fairway (which does hire union labor and is cheaper and has better food and is larger) is in two quite desititute areas that everyone must then travel to. It's good for everyone and real live poor people get training and hired!!
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:46 PM
86- Well, the housing prices do seem to track with your system. I'd rather have only one WF and save 20% on monthly payments.
89- Is that the one under the west side highway in Harlem?
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:53 PM
"Of course, just like the rest of you, I'm terrified of all working class people and want non-white neighbors only if they make more money than I do. "
Are you kidding? What kind of idiot would make a remark like that?
I suppose you believe a white, college educated person picked the produce that you would like to be able to purchase at a location near you. And that his peers are the folks working at said establishment just waiting to serve you?
Of course they wouldn't be able to afford to live in the area you want, so that makes it safe for you, right? Nice.
Posted by kris | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 1:54 PM
I suppose you believe a white, college educated person picked the produce that you would like to be able to purchase at a location near you. And that his peers are the folks working at said establishment just waiting to serve you?
Of course they wouldn't be able to afford to live in the area you want, so that makes it safe for you, right? Nice.
Oh noes! Teh idiocy!
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:01 PM
Suburban Chicago, much like soccer, sucks more the more I see of it
That's because you haven't read my treatise yet. My treatise is as exquisite as the thing it describes: the sport that some call Association Football.
Actually, at the moment my treatise is as nonexistent as your enthusiasm. So.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:05 PM
90: One of the two fairways is there, yeah.
AWB: The other is on what, Broadway in the high 70s/low 80s? That's not so destitute.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:05 PM
We should fast-track kris onto the main page.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:08 PM
I cannot believe that Trader Joe's has not been mentioned yet in this conversation.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:08 PM
One Fairway is in upper Harlem, one is in Red Hook, and the first was created on the UWS (true, not poor neighborhood).
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:09 PM
94 -- there's also one in Red Hook, which I reckon is what AWB was referring to.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:09 PM
94: I think she's thinking of the new one in Red Hook.
And lighten up on kris, who seems to have just wandered in and doesn't have any reason to give Ogged the benefit of the doubt on being a racist bastard. (After all, if he weren't a racist bastard, why would God have given him cancer?)
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:10 PM
Actually, my older sister, I just realized, did exactly what ogged is suggesting, but with Trader Joe's. She lives in LA, and doesn't drive, and is vegan, so her number one requirement for an apartment is that it be in walking distance of a Trader Joe's (lot easier in LA than in Chicago, where there are only two). She succeeded, and I have to say that it's awesome.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:10 PM
Curse me for a Manhattan-centric fool. Also, there's one in Manetto Hills on Long Island which I've been too visitng family near there.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:12 PM
Doesn't TJs tilt west coast, whereas WF is fairly even across the country?
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:13 PM
The other is on what, Broadway in the high 70s/low 80s?
For the record, it's Broadway at 74th.
And TJ's is a good substitute.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:15 PM
if he weren't a racist bastard, why would God have given him cancer?
Funny you mention that, LB, because just a couple of days ago, God said to me, "Ok ok, they are genetically predisposed to violence, I'll take back the stomach cancer."
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:16 PM
I'm down with Trader Joe's for lots of stuff, but for produce and meat they kinda suck.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:18 PM
Ah yes, that's changed hands at least once. I think it may have been a Thai grocery briefly, I'm not sure what it is now. Speaking of change in that neighborhood, the Jay-Zee's liquor store down another few blocks has been replaced by a Montessori school.
The space eb is thinking of used to be a Wild Oats, which then shut down and became some other grocery (Picadilly Circus or somesuch) and is now a Thai grocery.
If you want to talk change in that neighborhood, it always weirds me out a bit that the old EDD office is now a copy shop. And that Berkeley Square is now a furniture store. (Did you ever go into that Jay-Vee before it shut down? Their inventory was remarkably upscale for the neighborhood and the external appearance of the store.)
Posted by Josh | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:18 PM
I'm down with Trader Joe's
Actually, I totally don't need them. They're weird. But like the man says, they're demographic indicators.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:19 PM
Who's going to play Ann Coulter and say everyone's defending Ogged just because he has cancer? I bet he wanted to get cancer so he wouldn't be criticized!
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:19 PM
Whole Foods is very pricey. Trader Joe's is not, but has no produce. Solution: find a farmer's market and go to Trader Joe's
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:20 PM
I think that was me. Hi, I'll be your blonde pundit for the evening...
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:20 PM
On the subject of quality meat, I have sat and ogle the meat cabinet at this place on more than one occasion.
Damn, just damn.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:21 PM
who seems to have just wandered in and doesn't have any reason to give Ogged the benefit of the doubt on being a racist bastard
Such people should be lurking, I say.
What ever happened to that fellowship?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:22 PM
Damnit. This place.
And "ogled".
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:22 PM
My employer has informally granted me one.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:22 PM
If you're in Boston, TJs + Haymarket = really cheap groceries.
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:23 PM
Hi, I'll be your blonde pundit for the evening...
Do you know what that entails? Check out the unspeakable references here.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:24 PM
My employer has informally granted me one.
What, a Fairway, a fellowship of lurkers, quality meat? What?
Posted by Idealist | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:25 PM
I've got 2 Whole Foods within 5 minutes of my house, but neither of them is exactly walkable. And a trendy gay gym within 10. Plus, it's cheaper than NYC or Cambridge. And there are three nice but affordable restaurants within walking distance. And cute little streets with lots of trees. And a park. And an ice cream shop(pe). Man, I wish I was at home instead of at work.
This comment brought to you by the Providence Chamber of Commerce, apparently.
Posted by mrh | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:25 PM
I'm really starting to think that silvana needs to get together with Wolfson for some quality meat.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:25 PM
105 gets it exactly right. Hey anybody got info on Trader Joe's' labor relations?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:25 PM
(pulls on blonde wig and ridiculously short miniskirt)
Have you ever noticed when someone gets a horrible disease, how everyone suddenly treats them with kid gloves and never dares to question anything they might say or any of their agenda? Got cancer? Of course you're an expert on it. We can't say anything against your moral superiority.
The day you got cancer was the best day of your life because then you knew you could advance your liberal agenda and no one could say a word against you because you'd be attacking a cancer victim.
Posted by Ann Calacoulter | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:26 PM
Such people should be lurking, I say.
hear.hear!
Takes some people months to find out what goes on here. Tread sofltly before wielding the stick.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:26 PM
Fox & Obel catered both of our B'nai Mitzvot very inexpensively and to universal acclaim. Have gone there to eat while in classes?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:26 PM
117: A fellowship to sit and read all the comments. They don't exactly know about it.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:26 PM
Who's going to play Ann Coulter
I haven't seen Daniel around here lately...
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:26 PM
123: Only like every other day.
More like once a week; it's a lot to spend like $9 on lunch. But teh yum.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:27 PM
the meat cabinet at this place
And by "this place," I mean "The Mineshaft."
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:30 PM
I was swelling with pride when I thought that 111 was about The Mineshaft, but 113 totally deflated me. (And 119 gets it exactly right.)
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:30 PM
Wow, are you pwned.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:31 PM
"Meat cabinet" sounds like an unwieldy euphemism for a man's trousers.
Posted by mrh | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:31 PM
no one could say a word against you because you'd be attacking a cancer victim
Damn right! Someone referred to it as my "cancer scare" last night, and I was all, "I still have cancer, motherfucker!" (With an 85% probability, anyway.) And not a single one of you wrote to ask how, in these trying times, I was deciding who to root for in the Iran/Mexico match.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:32 PM
meat
Posted by meat | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:33 PM
It's true that, despite the mostly odious clientele, WF has some fucking awesome meat.
But of course one can find good meat for cheap elsewhere! Towards the beginning of my stay here (classes hadn't even started) I went to a halal market way the fuck down in Sunnyvale and got a leg of lamb for cheap (even considering added gas expense), and it was yummy.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:33 PM
who to root for in the Iran/Mexico match
Why don't the World Cup teams have racist mascots like American sports teams do? That would make it so much more awesome to follow.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:33 PM
113: Fox & Obel is amazing, best choice of proscuittos and other cured hams that I've seen. Their cheese section is also great to the point of being completely overwhelming.
But it seems that you were just there for the superior sausage selection anyway.
Posted by JAC | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:33 PM
Iran or Mexico? Lemme guess. Trick question: you don't watch soccer.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:33 PM
Well, Silvana could go to Berlin in August, but I think she's already bought her ticket for someplace else.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:34 PM
And not a single one of you wrote to ask how, in these trying times, I was deciding who to root for in the Iran/Mexico match.
But we speculated! That has to count for something.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:34 PM
How did I get so pwned on 128? When I hit "Post" 119 was the last visible post! And I type fast!
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:34 PM
Yeah, we really need to be more esoteric and in-jokey so that people are afraid to comment just because they have an opinion on the post. I was making an effort on the esoteric front last week, when I brought up the existential and universal quantifiers for no particular reason.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:34 PM
Hey anybody got info on Trader Joe's' labor relations?
I'm told they pay very well, but that's the extent of my knowledge.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:35 PM
He may not have written, but the Iran vs. Mexico thing was adequately covered here.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:36 PM
But it seems that you were just there for the superior sausage selection anyway.
This is what we call tall-standing fruit.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:36 PM
He put Iran/Mexico in the past tense; in our forgetfulness, we overlooked the tension of his obvious mixed loyalties.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:38 PM
There are some problems with my 140, in particular that it suggests that the reason people will be afraid to comment is because they have an opinion on the post, when of course I meant too afraid to comment despite having one.
141: Most likely what they're doing is paying very well to have people support them on the internets.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:38 PM
the Iran vs. Mexico thing was adequately covered here.
Ah, ok, bless old Mitch.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:39 PM
Yeah, we really need to be more esoteric and in-jokey so
Uh, no. Seriously, guys, we have enough barriers to entry. If new people stop showing up, at some point we will have heard everything clever any of us has to say, and this will all get very dull. Really, lurkers, comment! If you're stupid and annoying, we'll be mean, but there's a perfectly good chance that you aren't!
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:40 PM
The Fairway in Upper Harlem?! A place everyone must travel to?! Destitute?!
1. West Harlem, maybe. It's called "Manhattanville," and the immediate neighborhood (about 3 x 4 blocks) is about to be eminent domain'd by C.U.--that part of it that has not surreptiously been folded into the Fairway empire, that is.
2. Speak for yourselves!
3. It's changed A LOT in the last six years, but the area to the immediate south was always hard-working working-class. Yes, one of the gas stations is fairly well-known locally as a place to buy crack, um, and a guy got shot dead at the McDonald's a couple of months ago, but the neighborhood really is more than meets the eye. Oh, and the city is renovating the pier there, which makes me kind of sad because the fishermen there were always nice to me even though they were insane to fish in the Hudson.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:41 PM
Why don't the World Cup teams have racist mascots like American sports teams do? That would make it so much more awesome to follow.
This is so very true. Each team should have a mascot they choose for themselves, and a mascot chosen by their historical rivals. Failing that, there should be a Saudi Arabian cheerleading squad.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:41 PM
Uh, no. Seriously, guys, we have enough barriers to entry. If new people stop showing up, at some point we will have heard everything clever any of us has to say, and this will all get very dull.
I sincerely doubt that we'll run out of clever things to say to each other. Plus, in recent months this place has gotten less clever! Despite the total number of comments and posts having gone up, not only the per-post clever but arguably the total clever has, it seems, gone down.
Of course a self-conscious attempt at increasing clever would be stupid, so we need to trick ourselves into it or something. (Writing that makes me wish I had really thought more about what was going on in the last few weeks of my self-deception class, because it's the same sort of structure as a lot of stuff we talked about. Oh well; I still have the notes, anyway.)
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:43 PM
ben wolfson is banned.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:45 PM
I agree that people who lurk long enough to consider themselves lurkers and get a feel for the place should comment. And people who are either personally being discussed or having something they wrote being discussed.
Well,I guess it's impossible to have high enough barriers to entry to avoid single-shot comments like 91, so nevermind.Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:46 PM
Jackmormon, check your e-mail.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:46 PM
self-deception class
This was a training course?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:48 PM
in recent months this place has gotten less clever!
Not only that, we're way behind on our cock joke quota.
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:48 PM
"Of course, just like the rest of you, I'm terrified of all working class people and want non-white neighbors only if they make more money than I do. " --> "you're an asshole."
People. Learn to read.
Anyway, O. has cancer. From here on out, he pretty much has to live in neighborhoods that have clean water and air and are very far away from toxic emissions. Which pretty much rules out being in shouting distance of poor people.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:50 PM
Oh! And I totally saw the Mexican/Iranian thing happen IRL the other day. I was at the corner deli where I always get lunch and some yuppie a-hole came up and placed his order in overenunciated, badly accented Spanish in an attempt to be totally cool and "down" with the deli staff or something. The kid working there gave him this awesome look like "Fucker, I'm Persian."
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:51 PM
Poor people are bad for my health! B understands!
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:51 PM
we really need to be more esoteric and in-jokey so that people are afraid to comment
That worked on me, I lurked here for months and months because I was quick enough to get that I didn't get the in jokes.
Though "meat cabinet" is exactly the sort of thing that's kept me coming back for more ATM.
Posted by I Can't Put Esquire After My Name | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:52 PM
"Fucker, I'm Persian."
Totally should be the blog's new motto.
Posted by mrh | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:52 PM
Not only that, we're way behind on our cock joke quota.
Look, I put 'hung' in a limmerick. What do you want?
I'll tell you what I want. I want apostropher to find more videos of those ice skaters. Damn, before 'preview' I got so excited thinking about the ice skaters that I spelled it 'scater,' which is probably very different.
Posted by Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:56 PM
108: Obviously, the answer is me.
I'm Ann Coulter! We all knew it was only a matter of time.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:56 PM
See 110:
I'm Ann Coulter. Catfight!
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:58 PM
110, 121, and for all I know several comments afterwards: Pwned.
Also 112 gets it exactly right.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 2:59 PM
158: that's 'cause she's a girl. They're like that.
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:00 PM
No, that's okay, I'm shutting up until I get caught up on the thread. Which at the current rate of commenting (I'm at about 118), means: never.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:00 PM
Ah, ok, bless old Mitch.
This is turning out to be quite a week for me!
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:02 PM
Are there enough people around to make a concerted effort to make sure that B never catches up with the thread?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:03 PM
Nevermind, Millsy and I can do this ourselves.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:04 PM
a Saudi Arabian cheerleading squad
Hummus, felafel, shawarma van,
Come on boys, cover your man!
Wahid, Ithnan, Thalatha Inshallah,
Get out there and Goooooooooaalaaa!
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:05 PM
Also, Becks, IIRC there are two or three Greenmarkets in lower Manhattan. Buy your produce there.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:05 PM
Millsy sounds like something that would be followed by: What's that you say, there's trouble at the old mill?
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:06 PM
Slol, that's priceless, but the women telling the men what to do lacks in verosimilitude.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:07 PM
trouble at the old mill
Nobody expects the Saudi Arabian cheerleading squad.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:07 PM
verosimilitude
Did I type that? I'm so sorry.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:08 PM
Nevermind, Millsy and I can do this ourselves.
What you mean "we", OneKidney? I prefer my men uncut.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:08 PM
the women telling the men what to do lacks in verosimilitude
Oh, but the whole concept of high-kicking, chanting Wahabbi cheerleaders is on the nose?
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:08 PM
i'm comin' late to the party but speaking of finding new places to live, i'm about to move to Seattle and via the Whole Foods plan, that puts me (from what i found) in the U-district which isn't highly recommended for grad students. Is anyone on here from that area (and if so, can recommend a good neighborhood for a poor Museum Studies student)?
Posted by cheerylilgoth | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:08 PM
i'm comin' late to the party but speaking of finding new places to live, i'm about to move to Seattle and via the Whole Foods plan, that puts me (from what i found) in the U-district which isn't highly recommended for grad students. Is anyone on here from that area (and if so, can recommend a good neighborhood for a poor Museum Studies student)?
Posted by cheerylilgoth | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:08 PM
verosimilitude.
That's "verisimilitude", you kidneyless pisser.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:08 PM
whups, double post...sowwy
Posted by cheerylilgoth | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:09 PM
147: LB, butch it up a little. (See, Ogged? I was right all along. You *need* bitchy feminists here. The reasonable ones let people get away with too much.)
168: Fuck you, I read quickly.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:10 PM
A comment every 12 seconds, not bad. By my lights this means that ogged didn't really beat me to the spelling correction, nor did M/lls to the kidney crack.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:10 PM
What you mean "we", OneKidney?
One and a half, fuckhead!
Hey, seriously, who loves you, baby?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:10 PM
cheerylilgoth, I can ask my Seattle peeps and get back to you. They were once poor students in Seattle too. Will you be studying at UW?
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:10 PM
In light of 173 then, perhaps a revision to, "We'd be very pleased, but of course not express that in public, or Goooooooooaalaaa!"
verosimilitude
That was worse than my spelling of verisimilitude, in which I just dropped one "i".
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:12 PM
I shall! Let me practice a min: Go Heel--i mean, Huskies!...hmmm Oh the joys of prepping to move cross-country.
Posted by cheerylilgoth | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:13 PM
Hey, seriously, who loves you, baby?
Yeah, your were right about needing a back-up plan . . .
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:14 PM
A cheery lil goth I can accept, but one that cheers on the sports team? Beyond the pale (so to speak).
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:14 PM
178: Avoid the U-district. Capitol Hill is nice, but getting pricey (then again, Broadway is going downhill again, so maybe it's less pricey nowadays). Good bus service to the U and downtown, gay people, restaurants. If you can't find an affordable place there, move a little bit south to the Central Dictrict, which is rapidly gentrifying. Don't look at Queen Anne, b/c the bus service sucks. Wallingford and Ravenna are okay if you like yuppie residential areas (admittedly not purely residential; Seattle's good like that). Columbia City is really fantastic, and somewhat less far along on the gentrification trajectory, but further from the U; however, you can still hop on the bus, it just takes longer.
Your grad student social life is going to be best if you live in CapHill/the CD.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:14 PM
147: LB, butch it up a little.
Geez, man, have you seen the various Hirshman threads I'm been managing at LGM? I'm the feminist devil, out to grind decent women beneath my heel because they aren't slaves to capitalism. (Oh, okay. No one said that, or even really came close, and I think there aren't really any hard feelings. But tense.)
If I can't show my soft, feminine side here, where can I show it? (And how can I go about developing one?)
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:15 PM
And hmmmm, Michael was so nice and helpful on that thread.
I may need to go back to hating wolfson . . .
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:16 PM
If I can't show my soft, feminine side here, where can I show it?
Come with me and I'll show you.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:17 PM
191: You know I love you. And you have my eternal gratitude for the Hirshman threads, where I've been trying really hard not to yell at people. I think we make the best good cop/bad cop team EVAH.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:18 PM
I'll call you when I come up with one.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:18 PM
Man, I go to get a cup of tea and this thread goes nuts.
But way up in 137: IDP, what are you talking about? And how did you know that I was thinking about going to Berlin (haven't bought any ticket.)?
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:18 PM
good cop/bad cop
More like, Bad cop / Worse cop.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:19 PM
Dude, LB just totally turned you down flat.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:19 PM
cheerylilgoth, my services, being second-hand, will take longer to produce information than bitchphd's. She sounds like she knows what she's talking about. How recent is your assessment, B?
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:19 PM
197: Slol, comments like that will get you a beatdown.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:20 PM
comments like that will get you a beatdown
Promises.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:20 PM
194: Aww. Man, I get caught up in an argument like that, but after a day or so of it the tension does get to me. There were some great moments yesterday, though, when you, I, and Silvana were all making perfectly coordinated points simultaneously -- that's fun.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:21 PM
She backed out on striking me down as well.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:21 PM
196: ATM injoke: Wolfson is going to Berlin later in the summer. And I thought you had bought your ticket, maybe you just decided to go.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:22 PM
Wolfson is going to Berlin
later in the summerin twelve days.Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:23 PM
Yesterday was indeed awesome. As is this thread, which totally feels like old times.
[earnestness]I love this fucking blog.[/earnestness]
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:23 PM
all making perfectly coordinated points simultaneously
I think Synchronized Feminism needs to be an Olympic event.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:23 PM
204: Really? I thought Wolfson was going to Finland.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:24 PM
Silvana is banned!
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:24 PM
Banned for 206, that is.
204: Really? I thought Wolfson was going to Finland.
I'm going to Berlin and Helsinki.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:25 PM
199: That would be telling, but I have email, and cheery goth grad students are always welcome to drop me a line. I might even be able to find out about rentals.
202: I know. I was feelin' the love.
201, 203: I'm bitchy, but lazy.
204: NO. NO EXPLAINING INJOKES.
Ok, I have to go do mommy things now. Which is just as well, b/c if I keep hogging the thread, O. will ban me again.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:25 PM
178, 190: I sort of like the U District, but it's been 15+ years since I lived there, so who knows. Ballard is also pretty bus-able and non-horrible (again, unless things have changed while I wasn't looking).
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:27 PM
And I have to go hobnob with the Big Dog. (Sadly, I forgot when I got dressed for work this morning, and am in an ill-assorted outfit somewhere between business casual and avant-garde clown.)
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:27 PM
Avoid the highrises in Ballard.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:28 PM
And the most important piece of Seattle real-estate advice: avoid apartments that face north. You will kill yourself along about mid-February. South-facing windows can make up for a lot of other shortcomings.
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:31 PM
214: highrises in Ballard? Really?
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:34 PM
Explaining a joke always ruins everything and makes baby Jesus cry.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:35 PM
Stealing a joke from a very clever commenter, I think we should all demur from any more in-joke discussions. And why is Yahoo so much better than Google at searching this site's archives.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:36 PM
Had to leave the machine for a bit but thank you all very much! I will certainly be following up on all of this info.
Posted by cheerylilgoth | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:38 PM
No, no need to explain the joke. All I really wanted to know was whether I was confused about real estate or something else.
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:39 PM
218 - I think the (awesome) spam fix might be blocking Google's bots. I saw some errors in the access logs that looked googlish yesterday but didn't have a chance to investigate.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:39 PM
Dave: I am the infractor, not you. Or is that explaining another one?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:42 PM
222: 220 to 217 to 216 to 214. Check the link in 217.
Posted by DaveL | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:45 PM
I'd like to live within walking distance of a whorehouse. Is there a Whole Foods of a cathouse franchises I can google to find all the nabes that would suit me?
(Of course, it would have to be a PC bordello with hot guys for horny chicks like Tia as well as foxy lasses for horny guys and lesbians.)
Posted by Adam Ash | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:54 PM
a PC bordello
I understand those words, but not in that order.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:57 PM
Silvana's more familiar with the Bordello PC, a small in-dash computer that alerts drivers as to the locations of nearby houses of ill repute.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 3:59 PM
the Bordello PC
The Mac version is better.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 4:02 PM
to the locations of nearby houses of ill repute
Like Your Mom's.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 4:09 PM
Like Your Mom's.
I beg to differ. The reputation of Ben's mom is excellent. I recommend her to all my friends.
Posted by JAC | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:16 PM
Christ, I'm tired. Fucking earthquake.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:22 PM
Fucking earthquake.
They should do something about those.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:26 PM
Get used to it.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:27 PM
And me with an engagement tonight. I'll probably pass out.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:27 PM
Fucking earthquake.
Did you feel the earth move?
Posted by My Alter Ego | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:35 PM
So how many lurkers are there here? Surely someone smart can do an analysis on the server logs and see how many different non-bot IP addresses have at least, say, 5+ hits on a given day, and the subtract the number of unique commenters on that day.
Posted by pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 5:57 PM
During the server troubles, someone mentioned that there are 500 or so regular readers, out of 2000-ish unique visits per day. And there are maybe 30-40 regular commentors? Regardless, a lot of lurkers.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:14 PM
On in-jokes: it occurs to me that there have been at least 3 comment exchanges in recent weeks where someone has mimicked or re-enacted previous exchanges. I can't tell if that's too self-referential or a sign that we're approaching some kind of singularity.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:16 PM
Probably just a sign of familiarity, except with a written record. With some old friends, I've been having the same conversations for years now. Habit, I guess.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:28 PM
500 or so regular readers
Suddenly I feel naked.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:33 PM
That's what happens when you drop your pants.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:38 PM
That's not all that happens.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:43 PM
241: Yeah, Wolfson feels the earth move.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:50 PM
eb, you surely know whether the re-enacted conversation I was the primary force behind was self-referential or singularity indicating.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 6:53 PM
Are you including Earth Fares in your search? 'Cause if you're including Earth Fares, where I live pwns. I can walk (ok, bike) to the Earth Fare and I can walk to the gay gym (ok, not gay enough and you'll probably want to bike there, too). But it's the South so it's totally white--I can see a Confederate flag from my window!
Posted by Paul | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 8:00 PM
I am right now three blocks from a Whole Foods. This is a pretty pleasant area by ogged's standards in the post, so score one for his system. It would, however, be a terrible way to decide where to live in Albuquerque, since the WF there is near Wyoming and Academy, about as suburban as you can get. My house is close to a Wild Oats, however, and my neighborhood is pretty walkable (although no one ever walks), so, you know, when chains enter markets and where land is cheap at those times matters a lot.
I've never been to a Whole Foods (there's a regular grocery store across the street from the one here so I just shop there), but Wild Oats is outrageously expensive and irritatingly earnest and granola. I hate shopping there.
Posted by teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 8:48 PM
In Cambridge there are three--Fresh Pond/Alewife, Prospect Street and River Street. River Street is new and has a large parking lot. Most people drive there, but it's accessible fromHarvard Business School on foot, although the actual neighborhood there is still a little sketchy.
Fresh Pond is suburban mall land.
Prospect Street is liek a small corner grocery. It and the store at Fresh Pond were originally Bread and Circus Stores. (Even after Whole Foods bought them out, they were still called Bread and Circus stores for a while. The Prospect Street store has a tiny parking lot, and a lot of people walk there. It has a very loyal clientele. Whole Foods wanted to shut it down whn they opened the River Street store, but their customers threatened to riot, so it stayed.
The new one in Boston is in the same spot where there was a Stop and Shop when I was growing up. It's on the flat of Beacon Hill (convenient to rich folks), has soem parkign and a hoe delivery servcie and is right next to Massachusetts General Hospital and a stone's throw from the new stem cell research institute.
The skill of the Whole Foods people at doing demographic analysis is really kind of uncanny. Next up, UK readers, is Kensington. (They bought out Fresh and Wild.)
I could see ogged living in Wellesly--subrban but with a recognizable downtown. You have to drive to the downtown, but onc you're there, you can walk to different shops. Wellesley has an old Whole Foods from the Bread and Circus days.
Posted by Bostoniangirl Bostoniangir | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 9:36 PM
BG2 last time I tried to argue about Harvard with the actual students, things went poorly for me. But isn't Alewife real far on the T from Cambridge?
a hoe delivery servcie
BG, I drink and all, but really?
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 9:48 PM
wd, it only looks odd because you've intentionally taken it out of context.
"soem parkign and a hoe delivery servcie"
Who's laughing now, funny guy?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 9:57 PM
But isn't Alewife real far on the T from Cambridge?
I don't think so, no. Isn't it just a couple stops from Harvard?
Posted by teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 10:03 PM
w/d, Fresh Pond is a T ride away. The accesible whoel foods is the 5 year-old store on River Street which is close to Central Square, about a fifteen minute walk to Harvard Square and near the River Houses and the Business School. It's just off of Memorial Drive around the corner from the Trader Joe's.
I don't understand the double naming thing. I only type the name once. It's happening whenever I try to comment using Safari which I prefer to Firefox. (I know that's heresy here. Sue me.) I'm not sure why that keeps happening. I did recently install a security update, but I think it may not have stated before you all did some of the more recent software tweaks.
Posted by Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 10:05 PM
Yep, three stops.
Posted by teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 10:07 PM
We don't sue for heresy here. We do much worse.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-15-06 10:09 PM
We wear plaid and stripes.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate |