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In his weekly dose of self-parody, the inimitable Tyler Brulé writes in the FT this weekend that "I'll take Casa News over Rizzoli in New York or the Double Bay Newsagency over Lesley McKay in Sydney any day." He even finishes his column with a list of "some of my favourite newsstands": first on the list is the aforementioned Casa News, New York, alongside places in Tokyo, Zurich and London.
I consider myself a New Yorker now, and so I was surprised to see a newsagent I'd never heard of on top of the list. I tried googling it, but no dice; it's not in the White Pages, either. Does anyone know where this legendary Casa News might be?
Sorry, didn't correctly close that tag. The Image is courtesy A9. Songlines says it is also called "Global News", and A9 agrees.
Posted by: 99 on August 14, 2005 10:24 PMDo New Yorkers consider you a New Yorker? I mean once you start claiming New Yorker status, don't you also have to pretend to be American too? I always thought once a Brit always a Brit. Unless you can ditch that horrible accent.
Posted by: michelle on August 14, 2005 11:10 PMMost of the New Yorkers I know would consider the "American" appellation superflous at best. Not becase we don't value the principles of our democracy, but our arrogance is such that anything that is not of here is perhaps only a tepid simulacrum of what American should comprise. We're just waiting for them to catch up.
Posted by: 99 on August 14, 2005 11:37 PMI don't think you have to be American to make the claim but it's easier to do so. I lived almost two years in New York and almost from the start was calling myself a New Yorker. I'm from the US but my claim was no stronger than Felix's; and now that he's made it home, bought property, etc., I think he can safely call himself a New Yorker - although there will always be the caveat that he wasn't actually born there.
I don't feel comfortable calling myself a Hong Konger, though - even though I've lived here for almost nine years and have married a native. That's because there are racial laws (seriously) that separate ethnic Chinese from others, no matter how long you've lived in a place (i.e. my claims to being a HKer would never stand up to claims from, say, an American-born Chinese who spent less time here than me). Also I don't speak Cantonese.
But New York is a city that anybody can call home, even if you don't speak English and regardless of your color. That's why ultimately New York and London and Sydney are so much more worldly than Hong Kong - HK's pretensions notwithstanding.
Went to Casa News today. Nice: dingy in that cool old-fashioned way, with a great selection crowded into a small space. But one of the best newsagents in the world? Don't know about that.
Posted by: Felix on August 15, 2005 08:44 PM