While it is true that, as the New York Times quotes me as saying, “I didn’t want to be a waiter while writing,” I’m slightly disappointed that the extent of Mr. Lee’s and my conversation boiled down to that. As I recall, we mostly talked about the tendency for artistically minded people who move to Buenos Aires to work in journalism, as many artistic skills, esp. writing and photography, easily transfer across artistic-journalistic lines. Sure, there are plenty of artists, writers, etc., who bar-tend, teach English, and … well, bar-tend and teach English, but there are plenty more who have utilized their talents to work in a more closely related field.
(Caroline Bennett, who took pictures of Snoop Dogg, CocoRosie, and many more for my post about Personal Fest, which appeared on the Stop Smiling website, is a good example of the artist/journalist hybrid in BsAs.)
While I hate to nitpick, I would also like to take the time to clear up some errors in the paragraph about my friend, Tom Masterson, “a 35-year-old transplant from Chicago.” Tom is 25, not 35, although he is from Chicago. The article’s author met him only once, in Bahrein, the “stylish sweatbox” (apt description), in which it is very loud, and I’m pretty sure there was nothing like a notebook in sight for jotting down facts or direct quotations.
I received an email this morning from my friend Nydia, who I met in Buenos Aires but who has since moved back to New York City. She always told me she hated the Times and said the “Argentine Nights” article is a good illustration why. Her words (excerpted, edited to look less like an email):
The last New York Times travel article I read about Buenos Aires referred to it as a “city of excess” and made it seem like everyone walks around with designer handbags, crocodile pumps, and eats out at fusion restaurants designed by Nordic sculptors. And they’re always like, “It’s great — this designer stuff is so much cheaper since there’s been that whole economic crisis and everything.” I’ve yet to read an article from the Times about tourism in a third world country that ever even acknowledges the state of the people in the countries it writes about. It’s like poverty doesn’t exist when you go on vacation. And my last thing — The Times writes travel articles about Argentina five times a year. Its like the rest of the continent doesnt exist. Why? Because it’s hard to find other parts of South America that they can paint as clones of the elite sections of NYC/Paris/Milan. And if a city isn’t like New York, and a beach isn’t like the South of France, why bother writing about it? They fucking drive me nuts. Though, oddly, reading that article made me mildly nostalgic for BA. Which I can’t explain.
**
Thanks, Nydia. I think the reason the Times covers Buenos Aires and places like NYC so much is because people who write for the Times like to live in places like NYC, if not in NYC. So you’ve got a bunch of NY Times journalist-types bumming around the city doing what NY Times journalist-types do, and you end up with lots of NY Times articles about NYC-like stuff. I was recently aggravated by a Times article about the Boedo neighborhood, which frequent Times contributor Ian Mount dubbed a rebirthed bohemian hotbed.
I had passed through the Boedo neighborhood a number of times without thinking much of it, but Mount’s article intrigued me, so I thought I’d take a closer look based on his suggestions. I went to Cafe Margot (Boedo 857) by myself one afternoon for some eating and reading, and maybe an encounter with a member or two of the “new generation of artists and writers” that the cafe allegedly attracts (since I’ve now been dubbed by the Times as an aspiring BsAs writer, I should probably just take up residency there).
Mount describes Cafe Margot as a French-style cafe replete with bow-tied waiters, black-and-white floor tiles, and old cigarettes signs — an example of the Boedo barrio’s bohemian past, rediscovered. And while Mount didn’t lie (I certainly took note of the black-and-white floor tiles and old cigarette signs), it didn’t really have shit else that made it remotely interesting, including young bohemian artist-types. I remember particularly looking at the neon Budweiser sign on the wall and thinking, “French-style cafe my ass.”
The fact that Cafe Margot made it into Mr. Mount’s fantastical description of Boedo on the basis of its floor tiles and cigarette signs alone makes me question whether the whole article isn’t sort of an overhyped sham. My understanding of such articles is generally that one picks out the descriptive details that best illustrate the overall feel or special character of an area. Cafe Margot’s cigarette signs don’t illustrate it’s overall character — it’s a normal cafe with some cigarette signs in it. While the article lists a number of cool-ish sounding places and claims that they represent an emergence of urban bohemia in Boedo, it makes me wonder whether or not there aren’t just a couple cool places in an otherwise totally normal neighborhood.
I must admit, though, that I will make at least one jaunt back into Bodeo to try out another of Mr. Mount’s recommendations, Pan y Arte (Boedo 880), to which my food columnist friend was lured by the same article and at which she claims she ate one of the best meals she’s had in the city. I have never received anything but delicious meals at all the restaurants she’s taken me to, so even if I don’t find bohemia, at least I can get some good food.
19 Comments
March 17, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Most of these travel articles are written by people who have never been there,as I live in Jackson Hole,Wyoming so many things are written about Jackson are so untrue.For instance about a upscale store which is actually a factory outlet with most of their inventory coming from sweat shops in China.By the way,where in Wyoming are you from.Iam planning a trip to BA,since my last trip was in 1970,too long.
March 17, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hi Bob,
Most of the BA articles I read in the Times are by people who live here, although the guy who wrote the ‘Argentine Nights’ article was just on a week-long trip. He had enough English-speaking guides to help him navigate the city well enough, and stuck mostly to speaking with English-speaking expats, as far as I know.
It doesn’t surprise me that they screwed up a Jackson Hole article. I think maybe they just figure no one knows anything about Wyoming in the first place, so no one will notice. And I can’t imagine the Wyoming readership of the Times to be terribly high.
I grew up in Rock Springs, WY, and have spent small stints of time there since I moved away in 2001. I haven’t really stayed anywhere long enough since to call anywhere but Wyoming home.
March 17, 2008 at 10:27 pm
[...] Here is the original post: Buenos Aires, according to the New York Times [...]
March 18, 2008 at 1:11 am
Bob,
The NYT got the facts wrong but I’ll bet the hits on your blog soared! At least that is not without good reasons/results since it is interesting to read. Glad to have met you.
March 18, 2008 at 2:50 am
Thanks, Jeff, but it’s Nate. I am Nate. The other guy was Bob.
Yes, the number of hits my blog receives certainly has not dropped the past few days, and I’m not upset about the article whatsoever, despite my critiques. They’re just that: critiques.
Thanks for reading.
March 19, 2008 at 12:35 am
Hi everyone!
I understand some tourists only stay here in Buenos Aires just for a week or so, but BA is more than that…. I mean, not just Palermo Soho/Hollywood, Puerto Madero, etc. but a lot of other neighbourhoods that are not known ’cause they aren´t too “touristic” or you can´t find designer´s stuff there.
Welcome to my beautiful city!!
Leticia
March 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Nate,
Your hipness oozes enough to lure the NY Times? I am truly impressed. Moreover, I love the critiques of the parachute reporting. Keep up the good work, including the fiction. I look forward to my Grating Space time each week.
March 19, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I want to be you
March 20, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Nate, Love that you were quoted and the response on the blog – if we only knew you had the blog before reading about it in the Times, but I am clueless about most things outside of my Boulder bubble, so ehh? Keep it up. Since most people don’t veer out of what they know (and I’ll admit I belong to this camp), relating experiences to existing experiences, we can’t see outside of the tourist veiwpoint to get to the traveler pov. and see something real (Dare to be pithy) – either way, sounds like you are having the “experience” that we all crave. V.
March 21, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Hi Nate, the NYT piece brought me to your lovely blog. I’ve been thinking about moving to BA for a while now. You’re living my dream, or so it seems. How did you do it? Cheers! ~P
March 22, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Hi Phenman,
Thanks for the kind words. As far as moving down here: Just tell enough people that you’re going to move to Buenos Aires and eventually you’ll feel so much social pressure from people to whom you told that, you’ll be forced to follow up on it or be deemed an “all talk, no action” type of person for the rest of your days.
March 22, 2008 at 5:02 pm
thats how I became a vegetarian
March 24, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Funny, that’s also how I became a vegetarian. And an (awful) guitarist.
~Pam
March 26, 2008 at 10:42 am
Mr. Paltroon,
I have a feeling that the man named Jeff, that called you Bob, works for the NY Times. Just food for thought. Good luck and please do not let your meat loaf.
March 26, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Mr. Walner,
Excellent investigative journalism work. I always find a dearth of paranoia getting in the way of my drive to sleuth. If “Jeff,” as we’ll refer to him, is truly an undercover NY Times agent trying to make me feel grateful for being mentioned in such a prestigious publication (albeit with factual errors), it was really a wasted effort because I already felt grateful, as stupid as that may sound. That’s one of the reasons I used my friend’s words to criticize the paper instead of my own — because I didn’t want to seem too much like an ungrateful bastard, because I’m not (much).
Thank you for your continued interest, Mr. Walner. You’ll begin to receive an endless stream of Grating Space promotional materials soon.
March 26, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Thanks palt, I’m really looking forward to adding my grating space “kiss me I’m shitfaced” badge to my stockpile of Items from Nate…Still really enjoying the knot on head you gave while thrusting me into unsuspecting jock and inevitably hitting brick wall. I must say thanks again.
April 14, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Dude, your assessment of the Times’ Boedo article is dead on. While the barrio does remind me of Queens a little bit, with it’s shoe store – toy store – barber – shoe store – toy store – barber commercial planning, there is definitely nothing bohemian going on there. It is simply a nice, quiet neighboorhood where you can relax and drink a coffee without dealing with too many people or too much car exhaust. I, actually, was at Cafe Margot last night for some drinks and picadas and in addition to the neon Bud and Heineken signs, they were playing a U2 greatest hits record. Although, the level of rudeness employed by the waitstaff did remind me of some of the nicer cafes in Paris.
But, I can’t really talk shit on Cafe Margot, because the banana licuado con leche is pretty damn good.
October 6, 2008 at 8:41 am
La verdad es que boedo es un barrio muy feo, solitario y sucio.
Y café Margot no vale la pena, excepto el flan que es riquisimo y las milanesas que son gigantes.
No entiendo porqué los extranjeros idealizan tanto a Buenos Aires….
Hay otras partes del pais que son infinitamente mejores.
Vivir en buenos aires es dificil, muy caro y la agresividad y mal humor de la gente cansa.
Si al menos tuvieramos la alegria de otros paises latinoamericanos….. pero somos (sobre todo los porteños) un hatajo de depresivos.
saludos
October 6, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Yes, the milanesas at Margot are certainly gigantic.
Don’t get my wrong, I love Buenos Aires and actually found it pretty easy to live in, considering its size and problems. I think the reason foreigners idealize it so much is exactly what I touched on above: Select parts of Buenos Aires are really, really similar to New York and other cosmopolitan cities around the world that rich people like to travel to. Many of these people do not prefer to venture far from their comfort zones, so they go to destinations that have essentially the same amenities as they’ve grown accustomed to, but with just a dash of local flavor. This way, their ideas about life, people, and the world will not be challenged by experiences that fall outside their preconceptions.