California obsession

Whenever I travel, I find it funny how California/Los Angeles-obsessed people seem to be. It's definitely the case here. We have "L.A. Weight Loss," "California Sun Daze," "California Fitness," "California Grill" - all of which I can understand, but "California Hair Crimpers"?? That one has me stumped.

Not sure what "California" has to do with that ugly hair style, so I'm going to chalk it up to my initial premise: that people are obsessed with all things California and it doesn't matter that there's no connection.

"California Plumbing & Heating" . . . "California Bee Removal" . . . "Cakes by California" . . . damn, I'm good.

LAPD: Its infamy knows no borders

This baby is the companion piece to the I Hate Binghamton one below. Who knew that the LAPD was so famous?

However, now that I think about it, I tend to think that the "author" of this message is a big fat liar, because NO ONE around here travels much, it seems, and you have to be really fancy to make it as far as Los Angeles.

That said, I was reading a newspaper article from the 1980s (don't ask) about train-riding hoboes, and this grafitti WAS at the local train yards, so maybe an itinerant vagabond was one of the few Binghamtonians to stradle the East Coast/West Coast divide and return to give a cautionary message to his train-hopping bretheren?

(That started out as a joke but I actually think I might not be too far off base!)

Sometimes, a picture truly is worth a thousand words . . .

We shot this little gem at the railroad tracks just outside of Downtown Binghamton. I love that these words are scrawled on a surface that so perfectly describes WHY young people hate it here: the rusty, crusty, railroad trestle is such a powerful statement about this Rust Belt city, what it used to be and what it has become.

I was at a meeting where the city was trying to come up with a good slogan or something for the city's key gateways, something that would give visitors a sense of place. A neighboring village, Johnson City, has big 1920s-era concrete arches that say "Gateway to the Square Deal Towns."

Not helpful for you, the casual visitor, right? It is actually a reference to Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company, which was just about the biggest shoe manufacturer in the world for the first half of the 20th century, churning out 50,000 pairs of shoes per day and outfitting virtually every soldier in WWI and WWII. After bringing in generations of European immigrants to work in the tanneries, and building loads of housing, parks, hospitals, theaters, and other public buildings, the company fizzled out as manufacturing moved overseas in the 1960s and 70s.

The much-revered founder, Harry L. Johnson (or just "George F" and "Harry L" as they - and seemingly 1/2 of the streets, parks, museums, etc. are called locally) believed in the "square deal"- that is, an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, I think.

Anyway, it's not "Home of the Square Deal," it's even 1 removed from that- it's the GATEWAY to the (even lamer) Square Deal towns.

OK, so back to the meeting where they were thinking of a slogan for Binghamton's gateways, and all I could think was, "Welcome to Binghamton: Gateway to the Rust Belt" or "Welcome to Binghamton: Northern Gateway to Appalachia."

Damn, I'm good. I should be in marketing.

Peregrine Party Platter

As you'll recall, I have written before about the rare and very cool Peregrine Falcons that have a nest on the top of my office building (which is just about the tallest building in the county and region, so these cliff-dwelling birds like to call it home.) Most days, I notice a little wing or leg or other pigeon-part on the sidewalk outside the front door, below the nest. Lately, I've noticed that the birds are really loud (my window is just below the nest, so I have a bird's eye view of their activities) and exceptionally active.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation ranger told me that there were some fledglings getting ready to leave the nest, and there are presently six birds in it, four of them basically hungry teenagers. Well, I can attest to that much . . .

On Saturday, I stopped by my office to pick something up, and was greeted by a scene straight out of a horror movie. WHOLE BLOODY PIGEON CARCASSES spread all over the place. I mean, it was just a pair of intact, fluffy wings still attached to a headless torso that had been totally picked clean! Added to the whole carcasses were the normal bits and pieces, but MAN were these things gross! And EVERYWHERE!

Yes, you can imagine that I was quite lucky that this was on a Saturday when no one was around, becuase I definitely looked like a huge freak putting my cellphone/camera right up to the fly-infested remnants. Lucky readers, you are!!!

Tijuana Smoked Turkey Wrap?? Not even if it were free . . .

I captured this priceless shot on my cellphone camera at lunch in the cafeteria in my office building (yes, people thought I was crazy when I shoved my phone under the "sneeze guard" to take the shot).

There is such a fascination with all places "warmer" than here, that they really don't discriminate. All they know is that Tijuana is in Mexico, and that sounds a hell of a lot warmer and more exotic than Binghamton.

Clearly, whoever named this not-so-tasty-sounding lunch item either a) has never been to TJ and doesn't know that you don't want to eat anything fish-related there, least of all TUNA, or b) doesn't know that there's no such thing as "Tijuana smoked" anything (other than pot and crack) or c) was smoking something himself when he thought of this name. At least they spelled "Tijuana" correctly, which is a huge achievement and not to go unappreciated.

The misleading "100 year flood" terminology

A "one hundred year flood" is not defined as "a great flood, the probability of which will only happen once every century" (or something like that). A "one hundred year flood plain" is an area, as mapped by the federal government, in which there is approximately a 1% chance of flooding every year.

This means that, over the 30-year life of a mortgage, there is actually a 24% chance of flooding. Very generally speaking, the same home has a 9% chance of fire damage over the same period, yet who doesn't buy fire insurance? Something about people's visceral fear of fire, and abstract fear of some "100 year flood," to be sure.

The reason I go into this explanation is because words are powerful (I guess I did learn something from my time in politics) and I believe that this misleading terminology is part of the reason that so few people carry flood insurance (there were only 74 residential flood policies in place in the City of Binghamton, in a city of 45,000 people).

Like fire insurance, flood damage is not covered under general homeowner's insurance and must be purchased separately. It is easy to see why so many (already pretty low income) poeple would skip buying a policy for something that is only supposed to happen every 100 years.

I want people to know that these are not a bunch of dumb hicks who should have known they needed flood insurance. With all the buzz about global warming, I have a feeling it's going to be a bumper-crop year for flood insurance, both here and around the nation. Hey, there must be some money to be made in that observation . . .

Muddy waters rise fast

Sorry, but the flood is all anyone can talk about around here. I've learned some interesting things that I thought it would be good to share: first, I cannot emphasize enough that people here had virtually NO WARNING that there was going to be flooding of this magnitude. I am a news junkie and when we took off from Binghamton on Wednesday morning, I had read that day's paper and I had no good indication that there was going to be flooding, except for a passing reference to historic rainfall and possible flooding (in a very vague sense). The day before we left, the area had the most rainfall in recorded history! But still, what did that really mean?

A friend of mine works in the Planning Department in City Hall, and she learned from the morning news that there was a state of emergency and that non-essential travel was prohibited. Even a city hall staffer wasn't "in the know," so how could anyone else be?

Also, it is the worst flooding since at least 1936, so there is simply no reference point for what happened here. People who lived through some bad flooding in 1972 thought their houses were safe and were shocked to see the devastation to their neighborhoods.

It is interesting that I was going for precisely the duration of the flood drama. It serves as yet another example of me being an "outsider" to the people here. I actually feel guilty that I missed such a defining "Binghamtonian" experience, but, I guess it doesn't matter since I won't be staying anyway.

More flood drama

I thought this photo was so dramatic that it deserved its own blog entry. This is the interstate near our house, and I believe it's also the site where 2 truck drivers died early Wednesday morning (the first day of the trouble, and also the exact time we took off on a plane to Los Angeles) when their rigs plowed into the newly opened crevasse.

I guess one can analogize this disaster to the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake (where the 10 freeway collapsed and 44 people died) except that I think the trauma is felt more deeply here because it is such a small, tight knit community and everyone knows someone who lost everything.

Even me- I've been here only a few months, but my boss' secretary, who lives over the border in Pennsylvania, apparently got hit very hard. Although, I can't tell you for sure because she hasn't been to work since the floods. We are taking donations at work for things like "size 7 women's shoes"- for our own employees. That also really hit home for me, or, at least, as close to "home" as anything can hit me here.

Flood Fallout

We returned to Binghamton on the 4th of July and even though it was midnight and I had to work the next morning, we spent an hour driving around the city, looking at the fallout from the floods. Thanks to warm, dry weather, the water had totally receded, but we definitely saw lots of mud and silt in places that have no business being mucky (like 5 feet up on the windows of businesses).

Although the place didn't look, on its face, as flood-ravaged as I had thought it might, there was definitely evidence that a disaster had hit certain houses. The saddest thing was seeing houses with mountains of brown undifferentiated masses of household items. There were many homes with multiple mattresses, couches, and loads of personal effects just dumped on the curb, sometimes a 5-foot-high stack that ran for 20 feet. You couldn't even see the houses for the mounds of junk (many of which were formerly family heirlooms, to be sure).

And the floods didn't discrimate- although there were definitely lots of trailer parks that got hit particularly hard, many of the most elegant, historic homes sit along the river near our house. It was sort of surreal to see people sitting outside of their stately homes in lawn chairs, surrounded by mud and their own junk. I guess mother nature doesn't care how fancy your antiques are.

Holy Flood!

It figures- the biggest thing to happen in Binghamton in decades, and John and I leave on a plane the night before all the activity. After being delayed by weather on Tuesday night, we left Binghamton early Wednesday morning for a scheduled trip home to Los Angeles for 6 days over the long 4th of July weekend. You can imagine my surprise when I woke up Thursday morning in LA, only to hear the local newscaster talking about Binghamton and the "mighty Susquehana River" and showing video footage of one of the local bridges. I could figure out where I'd woken up! Then, to open the L.A. Times and read about my adopted "home" . . . too weird.

Since people are asking, our house (which we rent) is totally fine, but there is serious, serious damage immediately surrounding our house and offices, and for miles around. I found a photo of our favorite diner, Jane's. Just in that one instance, which will certainly be repeated for thousands of other businesses, I think about the nice older Greek couple that owns the busy diner, and all the sweet young Greek girls who work there. Not only is their restauarant ruined, but all those people are out of work for the foreseeable future. And, as much as I want to support them, I have to say that- given the fact that the local sewage treatment plant is in ruins for now- I'm not eating out for awhile.

The hospital that sits 3 blocks from our house was totally evacuated. I'm pretty sure my office (in downtown Binghamton) never opened, since people couldn't get there. I found so many photos online, where I knew exactly the block or the store, I can't begin to post them. Here is a sample- a street sign John passes every day on the way to work.

Downtown Binghamton sits at the confluence of two rivers: the Chenango and the Susquehana. It's not a very fast or exciting river- just sort of flat with not-very-big slopes. There are retaining walls in spots, but apparently they were breached in 4 places in the city (to the benefit of the downstream areas of Pennsylvania).

Well, I'm not really sure what to write here since a) I don't have personal stories to share yet, and b) there's so much to talk about! Here is the link to our local newspaper, which has very good coverage and amazing photos.

Small town parades are HUGE!!

This year is the 200th Anniversary of Broome County, of which Binghamton is the county seat and all around biggest city (it is home to about 45,000 of the county's 200,000 residents). That means that downtown Binghamton played host to the bicentennial parade, and John and I took the time to head down and check it out.

Now, normally, I could not care less about parades. The last 2 I went to really sucked- 1 was in London on St. Patrick's day and 1 was in Downtown Los Angeles, also on St. Patrick's day. They had about as much soul as George W. Bush (although the London one got points for allowing open containers of beer). But this parade was destined to be different- the local paper reported that the parade organizers had to cut off parade entrants because they were at almost 200 and couldn't handle any more. TWO HUNDRED? That's 1 parade entry per 1,000 people in the county. Now I was intrigued.

The parade started at 11:00 am on a Saturday, in the rain. The route was pretty short- probably 1/2 mile through our tiny downtown, but what it lacked in distance it made up for in sheer quantity: despite the rain, 175 entries participated. After about 1 1/2 hours of John and I sitting/squatting in a doorway out of the rain, I said, about every 30 minutes, "That must be about it, right?" and John would pop his head out of our alcove, peer down the street, and say "No, I still see a LOT of fire engines coming down the road." The parade lasted a FULL TWO AND A HALF HOURS.

Don't be too fooled that it might have been cool. It was mostly a parade of municipal cars, firemen, politicians, really really really bad school bands, a couple ethnic organizations, etc. We knew we were seeing a real down-home parade when the local "mammography van" from the health center cruised by, followed by a shuttle bus from an old folks home. The best part was that it was full of REALLY old people inside, trying to wave through the darkened glass windows.

At some point, a guy came by and gave us little plastic American flags, that were prominently printed with "Made in China" on the stick. That's what John's waving in the photos as he drinks his coffee in the rain. As corny as the parade was, it was still a heck of a lot better than the Big City versions. However, I do think that having that many people participating in the parade really cut down on attendance- there were FAR more people IN the parade than watching it!

Fish-outta-water, further outta water!

This weekend, we went to Denver for my cousin Tommy's wedding. This out-of-town experience was pretty much my first since I moved here in February (we went to London in March, but at that point I was still mentally in Los Angeles-mode, so it just felt normal to be in another big city). The first thing I thought when we landed in Denver airport was, "There are so many young people here!" In Binghamton, the city has 1/2 the population that it did at its peak in 1950 (it's now at about 44,000, down from nearly 90,000 50 years ago). That dramatic population change is a result of many recent decades of blow after blow to the local economy. For example, IBM, which began in this area around the turn of the century, had over 20,000 employees in Endicott in 1980. Today, there are only about 2,000 IBMers remaining at the old corporate campus.

Back to the Denver weekend- it was wonderful to see all the family, of course, and funny to share details of my new life here. For example, when I told my Uncle Oliver where I lived, and that the population was about 45,000, he (smartly) asked, "Isn't there a Big City nearby?" to which I had to answer, "We are the Big City!"

Coming home was also funny. As John and I sat in the airport in Detroit, waiting for our connecting flight back to Binghamton's regional airport, John looked around at the people waiting with us and got a funny feeling that we were at the wrong gate. He got up no fewer than two times to check the destination, flight number, etc. Finally he realized, and I agreed, that he thought we must be in the wrong place because he couldn't imagine that the 50-or-so people waiting with us could all possibly be headed to tiny Binghamton. What do they do there? Who are these people? We sometimes feel like we know everyone in town because we constantly run into familiar faces.

Final Ha Ha of the weekend: Everyone is always pronouncing Binghamton wrong. They usually say something like "bing-HAMP-ton" or "BING-ing-ton" when it really is pronounced "BING-hamton." Well, the poor flight attendant on the tiny plane definitely mutilated our destination when she announced it at the beginning of the flight, which is pretty discourteous, and she obviously didn't care. As we were exiting the plane, an elderly man in front of me pulled the flight attendant aside on the jetway and firmly told her, "There's no "h" in Binghamton!" (She must have said "bing-HAM-ton") He was probably from here, and he was clearly tired of people screwing it up.

The reason I thought this was particularly funny was because I had a sassy t-shirt made up for John, as part of our 2-person Binghamton marketing team, which says "Ain't no P in Binghamton!" He wore it out to the monthly artwalk and to some bars afterward and, needless to say, it was a huge hit with the locals, who are tired of constant misspellings on credit card statements, address labels, etc.

More to come on the 2-man marketing effort in later posts.

Friends in High Places: Take Two

Last month, I posted about the very cool, and rare, Peregrine falcon nest in the top of downtown Binghamton's most famous "skyscraper" (at 10 stories, the Security Mutual Building was a very big deal when it was built around 1904). The nest is apparently located at the top floor, behind the decorative scroll, just underneath the flagpole in the near-corner in the photo at left.

Yesterday, I interviewed at the local Big Fancy Law Firm in town, when there was a lull in the conversation and I gazed out the window toward the incredible view of downtown. Suddenly it struck me, and I said, "Hey, isn't this where the peregrine falcon nest is? but 3 floors above us?" Not bad for a newcomer to town, eh? Well, one of the men - eyes aglow- says, "Yes! it is! I'm a 'birder,' are you?" Well that sent us down a 20 minute conversational path about falcons and eagles and all manner of such things. He was impressed that I knew about the birds and that they are the only pair of falcons known in this county/region.

A few interesting things I learned: first, falcons are cliff-dwelling birds, which is why they tend to turn up in strange places like sky scrapers. There really aren't any cliffs around, to speak of, so I guess the ornate/creviced sky scraper in downtown Binghamton is the man-made approximation. Second, falcons (and bald eagles, for that matter) are beginning to return to the area because the DDT in the area is starting to go away and birds are having an easier time propigating, etc. Third, this pair, although they've mated every year for the past several years and produced chicks, is having a hard time successfully rearing their young into adolescence and their chicks are dying off.

Probably the best part was that, when I walked out of the building after the interview, I passed underneath the nest on the way to the car and noticed- not making this up- what can only be called "bird bits" on the sidewalk. There was definitely a non-meaty wing, possibly from a sparrow?, and it was surely the result of a Falcon Feast 10 stories above.

This morning, I got to thinking- Binghamton needs to have more fun things, more things that make it unique and attract attention in the media. Why not a Falcon Camera, like the one at Kodak in Rochester, NY? It serves the dual purpose of drawing attention to a cool local phenomenon, and, if one of the cameras is focused outward, toward the downtown area, it also serves as a (literally) bird's eye view of our quaint (but ragged) little city.

Well, not one to sit on a good idea, I went to the building this morning. I was standing outside on the median of the street, looking up at the building, when a veritable stream of lawyers flowed out of the building, 3 of whom I'd interviewed with the day before. There I was, dressed in jeans and unshowered, staring up at their building, trying to explain myself. They either thought I was nuts or very committed to Binghamton!

Anyway, I'm going to work on this one. I'm going to do some more research on the birds and then talk to the Security Mutual building manager/head honcho guy. At the very least, they should have a Security Mutual Downtown Binghamton Cam affixed to the building, because it would be so cheap and easy to do and would be a fun addition to the local scene.

"NEWSFLASH!!! NEWLY PLANTED TREE GROWS IN MEDIAN!!"

I know that there is not a lot of news in this area, and that the local daily paper really has to do some digging for stories, but today's front-page article might take the prize. It's a story about a friggin' TREE that was recently planted in the newly built/landscaped round-a-bout. This was a front-page, huge color photo, above-the-fold story.

Almost as good, just above it was a headliner about how the mayor of a local city is "unofficially thinking about" running for the state Assembly seat. Since when is it news that someone is "unofficially thinking" about something? I bet he was not happy, either, because the writer apparently interviewed other local politicians who were surprised by the "news" since he was just elected mayor.

The implication, which politicians always want to avoid, is that he is just using his current post and biding his time until he can climb up to the next, more powerful office, and isn't really devoting his full attention to the present gig. Looooooove the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin.

Eliot Spitzer in da house!

It's not often that anyone of national importance passes through Binghamton, so I decided to pony up my $35 to the Democratic Club of Broome County and attend a luncheon for New York Attorney General, and gubernatorial hopeful, Eliot Spitzer.

The local Holiday Inn banquet room was almost at full capacity, and my sources told me that there were 320 people there- quite a respectable turnout for such a small town. Speaking of "small town," days like today freak me out when I know at least 10% of the people in the room, and I've only lived here 3 months!

My favorite was when the Mayor came up to me and thanked me for getting involved in civic affairs, and then introduced me to someone as a "member of the Main Street Advisory Committee." Who knew that showing up at one meeting made me something official!

"Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root"

That title got your attention, didn't it?

Living in Binghamton, I've been very disappointed by the pace and depth of "news." I'm definitely a news-hound, and, in Los Angeles, I eagerly read the L.A. Times cover-to-cover every morning, in addition to the Daily Breeze, L.A. Daily News, and several blogs (laobserved, mayorsam, L.A.'s homeless blog, etc.). On a weekly basis, I lived for the L.A. Downtown News, L.A. Weekly, L.A. Alternative Press, and others. I want to know, on an hourly basis, what's going on in my city, and I readily found that in L.A.

Here, our local "big city" newspaper is the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin. It comes out daily, but it probably shouldn't: the articles are short (most front-page pieces stop right there) and not-so-newsworthy (don't get me started). As much as I used to live for that crispy L.A. Times on my driveway every day, I can't bring myself to subscribe to The Press. The New York Times is an amazing publication, and I read it online daily, but it gives virtually no coverage to upstate NY. I'll have to be happy splurging for it on Sundays.

I was so desperate to get some good coverage of Binghamton that I tapped into the historic archives of the Los Angeles Times online (so cool- I can access the full L.A. Times from 1881 to present). When I typed in "Binghamton," I got over 1,700 "hits" since 1881, which surprised me. I forget that Binghamton used to be New York City's "second city."

I learned a ton about Binghamton's history, but probably my favorite part was the advertisements- There were some Binghamton companies that advertised for comfy new teeth (FasTeeth) and some for itchy/scratchy dog powder of some sort (in the 1930s). But most notably, in the late 1890s/early 1900s, there was a local company that advertised very heavily in the L.A. Times. "Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root" was big stuff around here- the Kilmer family name is on lots of great old buildings, sort of like the "Bayer" of its time. Apparently, Kilmer's Swamp Root would heal whatever ailed your kidney, liver, mind, hair, toenails, psyche, etc. ,it's such good stuff. You can read more here.

Postcards from the edge . . .

This weekend is the biggest antiques show in the region, Sertoma's "Million Dollar Antiques Show," hosted at SUNY Binghamton. To be fair, it is a very nice show- about 200 dealers and very high-quality stuff, and well-organized.

They must be doing something right because I ponied up $15 to attend the pre-sale show on Friday evening. I figured it would only be fancy tchotchke, for which I presently have no use, and I was right.

However, I found great pleasure in one stall that specialized in antique postcards, about 20,000 of them. I had been feeling quite homesick that day, so I was so happy to ask to see thse of Los Angeles (not the "Hollywood" ones, to be clear) and find a willing ear in the older lady who owned the business. One by one, I went through the 100 or so postcards, most of which related to Downtown L.A., and tell her the current state of the object of the photo.

For example, there were many shots of Broadway Street, the former shopping and entertainment center of L.A., and Spring Street, the "Wall Street of the West" (1 block over).

I pointed out that the glamorous photo of "5th and Broadway" had a different flavor, now that it is ground-zero for heroin sales in the L.A. region. And that the one of "The Rosslyn/Million Dollar Hotel" on 5th and Main evoked images of a Skid Row-adjacent flophouse, presently in the midst of a legal battle over gentrification.

In happier news, there were some great photos of buildings, such as those on Spring Street, which have been saved from urban decay and become thriving residential buildings.

The best ones, however, were of 2 things that I didn't really realize we had in L.A.: an ostrich farm, and a pigeon farm. Who knew?

"Newborn"

Today I painted our bedroom a lovely shade of light yellow, to harmonize and yet minimize our incredibly awful rice-a-roni yellow shag carpet (we've tried, but we're stuck with it.) The color I painted our walls is a shade of light yellow that Glidden calls "Newborn."

I am alternately horrified and engrossed by this name. Is it bad karma to paint your newlywed bedroom "Newborn"? or is it a good omen? Not clear. At any rate, it's on the walls now, and it looks good.

The thing that strikes me, though, is how a paint color came to be called "newborn," but, more relevant, the fact that it is yellow. Does this mean that the standard "newborn" is yellow? Because that might mean that we are all Asian. Or White. What if the color were brown-ish, would that be scandalous? Would someone protest? Would the result be a shade called "Chocolate Baby"? Would that be scandalous?

Friends in High Places

I am definitely not knowledgeable about wildlife, nor birds, but somewhere in my psyche I do know that Peregrine Falcons are extra cool. Not sure why, something about them being really rare?

I was visiting a downtown Binghamton office today, and its fourth floor (that's tall around here) had an amazing "bird's-eye view" (tee hee hee). One of the men I was meeting with, a writer for the Greater Binghamton Business Journal, pointed out the fact that there is a Peregrine Falcon nest on the top ridge of the most prominent building in Downtown Binghamton.

Are you joking me? How cool is that? This is the stuff that fills the crevices of major news services. Just last week, I'd seen something on the major New York City news channel about a homeowner's group that cleaned out a red-tailed hawk's nest, only to see a huge public outcry that demanded its restoration. And here it was, right here in my own back yard.

To add to the intrigue, I learned that there are extraordinarily few Peregrine Falcons in the world (fewer than 50 pairs in all of NY state, to be exact). Some cities in upstate NY have installed "Falcon Cams" that keep a close watch on the birdies. The things you learn, just from looking at life from (literally) a different perspective, and from taking the time to talk to people.

The best part is that, after only 2 months, I'm well on my way to knowing as much random crap about Binghamton as I did about Los Angeles. If only this were an employable skill . . .

"First Friday": Binghamton's emerging art scene

By any measure, Los Angeles is world-famous for its art, from the Getty and MOCA to Hollywood and every possible flavor of underground or off-best form of artistic expression. And yet, probably because the city is so physically spread out, there isn't one center of gravity for the kind of retail/art gallery/walk-in-off-the-street experience that can be found in places like Laguna Beach or Carmel or even SoHo in NYC.

Don't get me wrong, I was a big fan of Downtown L.A.'s Gallery Row open house nights each month. But there is so much going on on any given night in L.A. that the crowds could be a bit thin, and it was almost always the same faces.

Lucky for me, downtown Binghamton is working to style itself as a funky/artistic area that offers incredibly cheap rents on old commercial buildings that have become loft spaces and art galleries. On the first Friday night of each month, they all open their doors for what they call (appropriately) First Friday. I don't know how many galleries there are, but it was at least as many is Gallery Row and more than John and I could see in 1 1/2 hours. It took a long time to wander through because the art (and the hearty free food) was actually really good. Unlike downtown L.A.'s art scene, which can be a bit too edgy for my taste, the art in Binghamton was actually something that regular people might buy (not that it's cheap, it's just a lot more attractive and generally accessible).

First Friday in Binghamton brings people of all ages and stripes into downtown's usually-deserted nighttime streets. Where Gallery Row is spread out among many long, dark and somewhat deserted blocks, First Friday is concentrated in a very walkable area. Whereas downtown L.A.'s Gallery Row nights are a relatively homogenous crowd in that it's almost all single/funky/artist/downtown dwellers, here there are families with little kids, grown-up gay couples, government workers, the Mayor . . . all in the same mix. It is definitely the place to be that night, because it has hardly any competition. The result is a success, in my opinion.

Now we'll have to see whether Binghamton can succeed in using the downtown arts community to drive an economic resurgence in the area. So far, they are ahead of downtown L.A. in lots of ways, not the least of which is the fact that they have a vibrant, respectable, gay-friendly bar right in the middle of it all, which downtown L.A. still lacks (I'm not counting the gay Latino cowboy bars on Main Street or the gay bathhouse on 4th and L.A. Streets). I did, however, miss running into Brady Westwater, but I can always read his blog. :-)