Oh, it's worse. Some expensive houses now have a show kitchen and a work kitchen. Why would someone make counter tops from permeable stone? That's idiotic. There are stone materials like granite that are impermeable. Besides, why is marble high-status? You can get that stuff at Home Depot. My own countertops are inch thick glazed fired ceramic tiles, from the 1960s. Same material as those indestructible walls schools…
Good lord... a show kitchen? Not to doubt you, but I have never heard of this. Clearly I don’t travel in rarefied circles. But, it’s hard for me to imagine being held hostage to the psychological drive to own such a thing.
Something I've wondered is why people don't turn abandoned big-box stores (and smaller malls) into flea markets. There wouldn't be any problems with the weather. The merchants can rent by the month and not have to tear-down their shops on Sunday evenings. Bathrooms would be available. Power could be run.
Flea markets are an eyesore and typically sell low quality merch, attracting ebay type resellers slinging phone cases, gold by the inch, stuff like that
Oh, it's worse. Some expensive houses now have a show kitchen and a work kitchen. Why would someone make counter tops from permeable stone? That's idiotic. There are stone materials like granite that are impermeable. Besides, why is marble high-status? You can get that stuff at Home Depot. My own countertops are inch thick glazed fired ceramic tiles, from the 1960s. Same material as those indestructible walls schools…
Good lord... a show kitchen? Not to doubt you, but I have never heard of this. Clearly I don’t travel in rarefied circles. But, it’s hard for me to imagine being held hostage to the psychological drive to own such a thing.
You’ve seen show living rooms, right? Where the furniture is new and pristine, nobody’s allowed to sit there and kids aren’t allowed to play there? Even some middle class people do this thing. Probably a similar concept, especially in bigger houses. Beyond some size, I suppose you have more space than you can effectively use, so rooms start emphasizing display rather than function.
Not emphasized in Johnny’s post, there’s also a ton of neighborhood pushback against flea markets and such in many communities. Basically the wealthier folks don’t like the aesthetics of these things, and will argue that they’re a nuisance or crime-magnets or whatever, a thin veneer over the discomfort they have with anything that draws a low income crowd. You’ll see things like the “Sunday Farmers Market” that close…
Basically the wealthier folks don’t like the aesthetics of these things
Isn't TFA a wealthy guy raving about how great the flea market is? Clearly a lot of wealthy folk do like the aesthetics.
>there’s also a ton of neighborhood pushback against flea markets and such in many communities. Basically the wealthier folks don’t like the aesthetics of these things Tons of perfectly fine things that don't really bother anyone are not allowed because wealthy people don't like the aesthetics.
"Don't like the aesthetics" is code for "it attracts minorities and the poor." The primary reason they or their direct ancestors moved out of the city in the first place was to get away from "those people".
"It attracts minorities and the poor" is wokespeak for "It drives up the crime rate, lowers the value of the property you're still paying mortgage on, makes it less safe to go out at night, and makes it more likely that your child will accidentally step on a used syringe."
Oh, it's worse. Some expensive houses now have a show kitchen and a work kitchen. Why would someone make counter tops from permeable stone? That's idiotic. There are stone materials like granite that are impermeable. Besides, why is marble high-status? You can get that stuff at Home Depot. My own countertops are inch thick glazed fired ceramic tiles, from the 1960s. Same material as those indestructible walls schools…
Good lord... a show kitchen? Not to doubt you, but I have never heard of this. Clearly I don’t travel in rarefied circles. But, it’s hard for me to imagine being held hostage to the psychological drive to own such a thing.
The living room in my grandparent's house was basically for show and never used, and they were by no means affluent. It was (and still is) a collection of antique and early-sixties furniture, often inherited, thick carpets and baroque wallpaper. They gradually stopped using the room and converted the dining room into a second living room after their children were out of the house, and by the time I was a child, the room was basically a museum where children were not allowed. My grandpa is 90 and lives in the house alone now, he still never uses the room. There even is an alibi television set in there that was last used in the 70ies.
Why would you say that? Cities ate constantly doing studies of revenue and cost impact. Forecasting revenue and traffic changes is bread and butter stuff. Putting flea markets in walking distant of everyone is a terrible logistical model.
Actually no, it's amazing one. This is how markets have been for thousands of years, within walking distance of the homes of the people using them. But yet it isn't compatible with modern "advances" like zoning, parking lots, and NIMBY driven politics.
also not compatible with modern 'advances' like fire and hygiene codes and bans on open defecation.
Not emphasized in Johnny’s post, there’s also a ton of neighborhood pushback against flea markets and such in many communities. Basically the wealthier folks don’t like the aesthetics of these things, and will argue that they’re a nuisance or crime-magnets or whatever, a thin veneer over the discomfort they have with anything that draws a low income crowd. You’ll see things like the “Sunday Farmers Market” that close…
Basically the wealthier folks don’t like the aesthetics of these things Isn't TFA a wealthy guy raving about how great the flea market is? Clearly a lot of wealthy folk do like the aesthetics.
the wealthy class LOVES the aesthetics of those things. Woke is so IN right now. The middle class, on the other hand, have mortgages to pay and thin walls to block the noise with.
Something I've wondered is why people don't turn abandoned big-box stores (and smaller malls) into flea markets. There wouldn't be any problems with the weather. The merchants can rent by the month and not have to tear-down their shops on Sunday evenings. Bathrooms would be available. Power could be run.
Flea markets are an eyesore and typically sell low quality merch, attracting ebay type resellers slinging phone cases, gold by the inch, stuff like that
But setting up an indoor flea market means they wouldn't be an eyesore, and would put a property to productive use that would otherwise sit empty, generating no tax revenue, possibly becoming a target for vagrants, arsonists, and graffiti taggers.