Congratulations on GLASS CENTURY. You have already contributed so much to the literary scene with the Metropolitan Review. We are all rooting for you. Godspeed!
Loved this Ross. I recently moved back to Chicago because I love the city, but also because it's become so much more livable than my last two stops (LA/DC).
It's still not cheap (it is a major city, after all) but I was talking to some author friends and there's a belief that rising prices across the country will give way to an artist renaissance here.
I think it is kind of a sweet spot in terms of being friendly to creative people and not hella unaffordable. I lived there for a long time but I couldn't stand the weather!
Chicago winters are now milder than they used to be, which is a point in its favor.
On the broad topic, I find it interesting that Ross is making a similar argument to the one Russell Jacoby made in "The Last Intellectuals" (1987). Almost 40 years ago, he was bemoaning the decline of urban bohemia, but he blamed other factors in addition to rising rents: suburbanization, and the sequestering of American intellectual life in academia. These other factors obviously still play an important role.
Good stuff. It’s grim out there indeed. I live abroad now in NZ and when I think about moving home this is one of my first concerns: I want to live somewhere interesting, even bohemian, but have sense this is prohibitively expensive or doesn’t quite exist in the way I wish it did? We’ll find our way. Substack’s a good watercooler. I appreciate your optimism and energy for wherever all this is headed. Good luck with the novel, I look forward to reading!
I can’t help but think you’ve gotta come to Paris to see the literary scenes that have been percolating for the last fifteen years or so.
Between our burgeoning publishing outfit Kingdom Anywhere and the scene I’ve been active in since 2010, a lot is currently happening in Paris in terms of community building and genuine literary connections …folks just don’t speak about it as much because, well, some secrets are best kept secret. Looking forward to having you around sooner or later. If you need some ideas for where to do an event or two, give me a shout 🎯
Oh also it’s worth stating: the rent in Paris is a fraction of the rent in NYC. You can find studio apartments for anywhere between 700-1500. If you spend 2 grand, you’ve got two bedrooms in most of the neighborhoods where Bohemia is flourishing
Tu m'étonnes. If I thought things would be better there, I'd book a flight tomorrow. I have family there who would take me in, no problem. Through a series of crazy life events, I'm fluent in French.
Ross, this is great. My daughter is a HS junior, and we’ve been touring colleges. I’m struck by how “bougie” and cookie-cutter all the just-off-campus housing has become. College-town rents are pricey. It’s like “starter kit” gentrification before the grads move to the cities.
Beautifully expressed. I suspect you'll find elements of the Sculpture in the Age of Slop article complementary - sculpture is acted on by the same forces but it a fundamentally different beast than writing, 2D art, music or film, and offers different contributions to culture.
Increased rent is a big part of it, but I also sense that fewer people are willing to make sacrifices. After all, there are cities like Baltimore and Cleveland that are still affordable. New York is an amazing place, but I think people cling to it too much.
I'm somewhat familiar with Cleveland. It's a city that's lost over half its population since 1950, and much of it is depressed, but it has what urbanists call "good bones." It also has one of the biggest concentrations of high-culture institutions in the country. In the long term, I would bet on its future.
Both cities have a lot to offer. Another depressed city with potential is St. Louis. I'm not sure what rents are like, but housing prices in Tampa are dropping.
Yes, it's amazing to realize that St. Louis used to be the 4th biggest city in the country. It even held the Olympics once. There's also, of course, Philadelphia (where I lived briefly). Has its problems, but it's an old city with tons of character and potential for renewal.
In the 1980s lots of creative ghettos sprouted in old immigrant districts, like the East Village. In Tampa it was the cigar district of Ybor City. Cheap rent, access to a major university, and red brick authenticity drew artists, writers and scene makers. My book, Cigar City: Tales From a 1980s Creative Ghetto, chronicled that magic era.
It won a fiction gold medal in the Florida Book Awards.
Sadly, I don’t know that artists and writers coming of age today can find similar places to gather and flourish.
How will cities thrive without cheap rent? I don't think they really will... housing prices and rents need to decline in cities creative people are drawn to but it's not fair to have property owners not get a good price for their property. Maybe other de-industrialized towns will host new "bohemias".
Neo-Bohemia by Richard Lloyd explored a lot of this ground very well. That was twenty years ago so obviously is not fully current, but I would guess still worthwhile.
The whole paradigm has shifted so much because of the internet. At this point wanting to live in 20th century bohemia is like Snoopy wanting to be the Red Baron.
Congratulations on GLASS CENTURY. You have already contributed so much to the literary scene with the Metropolitan Review. We are all rooting for you. Godspeed!
Loved this Ross. I recently moved back to Chicago because I love the city, but also because it's become so much more livable than my last two stops (LA/DC).
It's still not cheap (it is a major city, after all) but I was talking to some author friends and there's a belief that rising prices across the country will give way to an artist renaissance here.
I think it is kind of a sweet spot in terms of being friendly to creative people and not hella unaffordable. I lived there for a long time but I couldn't stand the weather!
Chicago winters are now milder than they used to be, which is a point in its favor.
On the broad topic, I find it interesting that Ross is making a similar argument to the one Russell Jacoby made in "The Last Intellectuals" (1987). Almost 40 years ago, he was bemoaning the decline of urban bohemia, but he blamed other factors in addition to rising rents: suburbanization, and the sequestering of American intellectual life in academia. These other factors obviously still play an important role.
Good stuff. It’s grim out there indeed. I live abroad now in NZ and when I think about moving home this is one of my first concerns: I want to live somewhere interesting, even bohemian, but have sense this is prohibitively expensive or doesn’t quite exist in the way I wish it did? We’ll find our way. Substack’s a good watercooler. I appreciate your optimism and energy for wherever all this is headed. Good luck with the novel, I look forward to reading!
I can’t help but think you’ve gotta come to Paris to see the literary scenes that have been percolating for the last fifteen years or so.
Between our burgeoning publishing outfit Kingdom Anywhere and the scene I’ve been active in since 2010, a lot is currently happening in Paris in terms of community building and genuine literary connections …folks just don’t speak about it as much because, well, some secrets are best kept secret. Looking forward to having you around sooner or later. If you need some ideas for where to do an event or two, give me a shout 🎯
Oh also it’s worth stating: the rent in Paris is a fraction of the rent in NYC. You can find studio apartments for anywhere between 700-1500. If you spend 2 grand, you’ve got two bedrooms in most of the neighborhoods where Bohemia is flourishing
Wouldn't even need that. At least not at first.
Tu m'étonnes. If I thought things would be better there, I'd book a flight tomorrow. I have family there who would take me in, no problem. Through a series of crazy life events, I'm fluent in French.
'be better'
excited to catch your talk about the novel in Philly!
yes, looking forward to seeing you there!
Ross, this is great. My daughter is a HS junior, and we’ve been touring colleges. I’m struck by how “bougie” and cookie-cutter all the just-off-campus housing has become. College-town rents are pricey. It’s like “starter kit” gentrification before the grads move to the cities.
nice to be so privileged, you know the lingo, far from the old bohemian
Beautifully expressed. I suspect you'll find elements of the Sculpture in the Age of Slop article complementary - sculpture is acted on by the same forces but it a fundamentally different beast than writing, 2D art, music or film, and offers different contributions to culture.
Increased rent is a big part of it, but I also sense that fewer people are willing to make sacrifices. After all, there are cities like Baltimore and Cleveland that are still affordable. New York is an amazing place, but I think people cling to it too much.
I'm somewhat familiar with Cleveland. It's a city that's lost over half its population since 1950, and much of it is depressed, but it has what urbanists call "good bones." It also has one of the biggest concentrations of high-culture institutions in the country. In the long term, I would bet on its future.
Both cities have a lot to offer. Another depressed city with potential is St. Louis. I'm not sure what rents are like, but housing prices in Tampa are dropping.
Yes, it's amazing to realize that St. Louis used to be the 4th biggest city in the country. It even held the Olympics once. There's also, of course, Philadelphia (where I lived briefly). Has its problems, but it's an old city with tons of character and potential for renewal.
I live in that bohemian world you're talking about, but I'm all alone. Sort of...
It can be sad to live in a neighborhood that has been largely drained of its creative community like brownstone Brookyn.
In the 1980s lots of creative ghettos sprouted in old immigrant districts, like the East Village. In Tampa it was the cigar district of Ybor City. Cheap rent, access to a major university, and red brick authenticity drew artists, writers and scene makers. My book, Cigar City: Tales From a 1980s Creative Ghetto, chronicled that magic era.
It won a fiction gold medal in the Florida Book Awards.
Sadly, I don’t know that artists and writers coming of age today can find similar places to gather and flourish.
How will cities thrive without cheap rent? I don't think they really will... housing prices and rents need to decline in cities creative people are drawn to but it's not fair to have property owners not get a good price for their property. Maybe other de-industrialized towns will host new "bohemias".
Neo-Bohemia by Richard Lloyd explored a lot of this ground very well. That was twenty years ago so obviously is not fully current, but I would guess still worthwhile.
The whole paradigm has shifted so much because of the internet. At this point wanting to live in 20th century bohemia is like Snoopy wanting to be the Red Baron.
Yep and yep! Except: "itineration" and "Pheonix."
Bohemia is not dead! Alot of the time my life makes Withnail and I look very up scale!! 😜
good history. the ring of truth to it.