Savannah, GA
I have liked this city from afar, sight unseen. It seems to have the culture, history, architecture (Federal, Italianate, Georgian and Victorian) and sociability of great southern coastal cities. Hey, we love Charleston, right?
Like so many people, I first learned of Savannah's charms in John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Indeed, Berendt fell in love with the city after his first visit here and shuttled between Savannah and New York City for eight years. It's sad to say, however, that the statue made famous by his book and the subsequent movie was picked at so thoroughly by tourists that it had to be moved into a museum.
It's even sadder to say that the city doesn't work for me; not yet anyway. Twenty or so wonderful squares form the backbone of Savannah's Historic District. Their fountains and statues surrounded by magnolia and hibiscus form natural idylls in the heart of the city. Still, the river district and adjacent City Market are rather run-of-the-mill, low-end tourist traps and, well, just try to find a decent restaurant open on Sunday. Savannah has a reportedly terrific food scene made all-the-more notable by the incomparable Paula Deen. But here's a city that invests great sums of money luring tourists who then confront shuttered restaurants on a Sunday afternoon during the height of tourist season. Go figure!
Interestingly, the region bills itself as The Creative Coast with a mission to attract, nurture and promote what officials here call brain-based business. They have the creative economy concept positioned correctly in its association with the knowledge economy. New England was the first to pursue a creative economy initiative of any note, but it was positioned as a non-profit arts project and not a matter of next-generation economic development and job creation subsequently touted by Richard Florida, Dan Pink and others. The New England effort died, at least as a powerful, cohesive and unifying economic initiative. Now, everybody is claiming the creative economy and some are even positioning it correctly, too. It all comes down to effective framing, right?
I have liked this city from afar, sight unseen. It seems to have the culture, history, architecture (Federal, Italianate, Georgian and Victorian) and sociability of great southern coastal cities. Hey, we love Charleston, right?
Like so many people, I first learned of Savannah's charms in John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Indeed, Berendt fell in love with the city after his first visit here and shuttled between Savannah and New York City for eight years. It's sad to say, however, that the statue made famous by his book and the subsequent movie was picked at so thoroughly by tourists that it had to be moved into a museum.
It's even sadder to say that the city doesn't work for me; not yet anyway. Twenty or so wonderful squares form the backbone of Savannah's Historic District. Their fountains and statues surrounded by magnolia and hibiscus form natural idylls in the heart of the city. Still, the river district and adjacent City Market are rather run-of-the-mill, low-end tourist traps and, well, just try to find a decent restaurant open on Sunday. Savannah has a reportedly terrific food scene made all-the-more notable by the incomparable Paula Deen. But here's a city that invests great sums of money luring tourists who then confront shuttered restaurants on a Sunday afternoon during the height of tourist season. Go figure!
Interestingly, the region bills itself as The Creative Coast with a mission to attract, nurture and promote what officials here call brain-based business. They have the creative economy concept positioned correctly in its association with the knowledge economy. New England was the first to pursue a creative economy initiative of any note, but it was positioned as a non-profit arts project and not a matter of next-generation economic development and job creation subsequently touted by Richard Florida, Dan Pink and others. The New England effort died, at least as a powerful, cohesive and unifying economic initiative. Now, everybody is claiming the creative economy and some are even positioning it correctly, too. It all comes down to effective framing, right?