Get Into The Grove: NYT Loves to Hate It... But Really Loves It

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Apparently, like many denizens of LA, New Yorkers also wish they could deny the charms of The Grove, but ultimately cannot. In a New York Times article today, writer Mike Albo meanders around what he dubs "fake town," and realizes, somewhat horrified: "But then you will watch the old-fashioned trolley passing by, or the dancing fountain as it splurts jovially to the cadence of a Sinatra song, and you will drop your snobby urban integrity and walk around consuming things in a mouth-breathing stupor just like everyone else." Oh, yes, that is the magic of The Grove. The article is pretty short, and an amusing read, but Albo pretty much sums it up here: "The Grove is everything that is horrible and spectacular about our brand-saturated American lives. It’s a living version of every pretentious theory you may have read back in grad school: a facsimile of a space, a scripted zone, a generic city, a vituperative quote by Baudrillard or Deleuze. But it’s also totally great!"
· Only Your Money Is Not Pretend [NYT]