August 2012
1 post
“I can remember a time when I could almost pinpoint a man’s place of origin by...”
– John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley, 1961
June 2012
1 post
5 tags
How Hyperlocal? Eat Your Sidewalk!
The crew behind a campaign called Eat Your Sidewalk has brought an entirely new meaning to the word local. Forget the vast Agricultural Industrial Complex. Eat Your Sidewalk is about finding breakfast, lunch, dinner in your own front yard. Literally. The project, which failed to reach its $23,000 Kickstarter goal, is nonetheless in the midst of a seven-day challenge to get at least some of the...
April 2012
1 post
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
2 posts
Schadenfreude, Part Two: I Apologize
Schadenfreude, or gloating over another’s misfortune, is not a pretty thing. By definition.
And though I’m used to being scolded by readers, my upbraiding by some of the Patch rank-and-file over my last post here has left me unexpectedly chastened.
I meant my rant for AOL’s corporate overlords, for Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington in particular, but I managed to offend...
7 tags
Schadenfreude Time: Watching AOL Circling the...
Those of us who are the proprietors of small, independent hyperlocal news blogs have been watching the headlines with glee.
Tim Armstrong’s AoL dream may be ending
What Happens When AOL Finally Decides to Go Private
What an AOL Garage Sale Would Look Like
AOL Needs to Break Up Now
“Patch is worthless,” wrote Dana Blackenhorn in Seeking Alpha. ”Close it. Think a company...
June 2011
5 posts
Talking to The Sopranos Location Scout about...
Mark Kamine was the original location director of The Sopranos and, since the show ended, he’s moved on to become a production director of movies like “The Fighter” and “Limitless.” A 16-year-resident of Montclair, Kamine himself departs for a new location today, when moving vans come to move him and his family to New York City. We sat down to talk to Kamine about...
Authentically Locavore →
Let’s hoist a glass to Frank Bruni of The New York Times for his 3,200-word paean to the authentically local food scene of Seattle in Sunday’s Travel section. Best quote: “To eat in and around Seattle, which I did recently and recommend heartily, isn’t merely to eat well. It is to experience something that even many larger, more gastronomically celebrated cities and regions...
3 tags
Patch Dispatch
Today they are standing on every corner in one town outside New York City. They are blonde, female and clearly under 25. They wear bright green T-shirts and visors that say “Patch,” and they hand out pens and stickers and leaflets by the gross. They do not live here.
“Have you read Patch?” they croon to the commuters and shoppers and mommies with strollers, many of whom stare straight...
May 2011
6 posts
What About the Local Cinema Chain?
Clearview Cinemas, a New Jersey-based chain of movie theaters with outposts in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, is owned by Cablevision, a giant corporation with plenty of enemies — which makes it hard to argue that it is an “authentically local.” Still, when we at Baristanet started our Favorite Places feature, we led off with the Clairidge, a Clearview theater based in...
Justin Bieber Doesn't Live Here
A few months back, AOL dropped a 58-page handbook on its Patch editors entitled “The AOL Way”. After some introductory remarks on how the operations of its local sites should be organized—bolstered by more arrows and flags than an NFL playbook—the document got down to brass tacks. “The AOL Way” laid out exactly what each site—or “town” in AOL...
Four Questions to Ask When Patch Moves Into Your...
AOL’s Patch.com, with editor in chief Arianna Huffington, is on the aggressive move: it’s right now in about 800 communities, with a goal of 1,000 by the end of 2011. Huffington wants to make the Patches a keystone in coverage of the 2012 election, and AOL is investing heavily in them, so they’ll want a significant return. Patch isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But I don’t think Patch is the...
Remembering Fernwood...
Place has always been important to me. In 1998 I wrote a column for The New York Times about a swim club called Fernwood, which held a special place in my heart. Of all the columns I wrote in my five years at the Jersey column, this is the one people mentioned most. It’s easy to take favorite places for granted. But when they’re gone, it’s like a death…
Here are the first...
Authentically Local
The restaurant decorated with bright glass bottles, renowned for its French toast and its convivial atmosphere when the tables are set up for outside dining.
The dry cleaner who doesn’t need to be told that you like your shirts folded, not hung. Light starch.
The shop owner that runs down the street after you when you accidentally leave your credit card behind.
The hardware store with the sign...
