The Flâneur & The City: Historic Core

Urban historian Richard Schave’s site-specific discussion series “The Flâneur & The City” is an ongoing attempt to explore some of the more important issues revealed by the constantly changing heart of the metropolis. The core notion of the series is of culture and history as commodities that are packaged and sold to a target demographic; meanwhile, it’s the ignored and seemingly worthless scraps of meaning found on the sidewalks and marketplaces where the true remnants of positive public space can be found. All interpretations and nuisances of the word flâneur are examined — from the modern-day aesthete dreaming of Baudelaire while carried along in the human tide past the stalls and shops of Broadway, to its more recent and perhaps relevant use, someone who is loitering. At its heart this series is a celebration of the simple act of getting out of your car, walking through a neighborhood and learning to see it with your own eyes.

The first installment of this series will begin on the roof of the Los Angeles Athletic Club for a general overview of the forces at play within the Historic Core and a basic orientation to the geography of the neighborhood, followed by a stroll along Broadway and Spring Streets to discuss the finer points of the impact of recent public policy on urban renewal, gentrification and positive public space on the fragile ecologies of these two important thoroughfares. Reservations will be required, and space is very limited for all events in this series. Reserve your space for the March 28 event by clicking “Signups” above ((before 10:30am on 3/28, after which you should just show up at the Sunday Salon and ask if there is space available), and subscribe to LAVA’s mailing list for announcements of future events in the series.