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Recently I walked through
South Street Seaport. I was astounded by how "mainstream" it had become. Ann Taylor to Foot Locker to the United Colors of Benetton, an alphabet of all the usual suspects. I didn't recognize it as New York at all. Last summer too, in Montreal, I saw the same alphabet. We all speak the same language and it's called "Universal Retail".
It was a relief to head for chinatown for some Shanghai cuisine. At least it's one part of the city, vibrant and quirky, still with it's own visual dialect. Art spoken here.