Plastic Fantastic Bohemia

I can’t believe they didn’t consult us!  The NY Times comes out with a whole issue of their magazine about Bohemia, and there is no mention of the Chelsea.  And we are, after all, the Last Outpost of Bohemia^TM.  There’s something rotten going on here.  The very first thing I noticed is that the issue contradicts itself: First there’s a piece about how bohemia has disappeared from Manhattan – migrating to various places in Brooklyn – and then there two big photo spreads about all the oh so cool “Bohemians” in Manhattan. Can’t they profile some bohemians, and talk about some cool boutiques in Brooklyn ?

But the answer is obvious: Manhattan is where the money is! All the bohemians in the magazine are young, rich kids; they don’t have to worry about the rising rents that have sent so many writers and artists scurrying to Brooklyn. Bohemia is here defined in terms of youth and privilege. Old bohemians are simply bores, I suppose, scarcely worthy of a mention.

Of course, Bohemia needs the young, but it needs older people as well. That’s part of the meaning of Bohemia: It’s a cross pollination among generations. Hence the title of this blog, Living with Legends: our elders, and even the dead, walk beside us and guide our efforts. Bohemians hanging out at Marc Jacobs! And oh my, aren’t they photogenic! The Times presents a sterile plastic vision of Bohemia.  (Ed Hamilton)
(Thanks to S. Mazzocchi for demanding that we write about this. She also wants the readers in Kansas to know that Danny Meyer's Shake Shack is dirty. )