THE MORNING RANT: Hampton Prescott Returns to Discuss the Importance of Architecture for Urban Renewal

In a post a couple of months ago I invited Hampton Prescott to contribute his thoughts about a subject that is important to me – “municipal conservatism.” Like me, Mr. Prescott understands the importance of conservatives working to not only gather votes in urban areas, but also working to make urban areas inhabitable again. Rudy Giuliani proved it can be done. Doing so will also have spillover benefits, including the construction of more housing, thus reducing overall housing costs by increasing supply.

As frustrating as the decline of urban areas is, we cannot simply wish their problems away, or completely walk away from them. They exist, even in red states. I appreciate conservatives who want to address the problem.

I am traveling right now, so I invited Mr. Prescott to provide a follow-up piece, this time focusing on the importance of architecture in the livability of cities. He kindly obliged. Read the whole thing, but here is a quote that captures the importance of the topic: ”Classical architecture isn’t nostalgia—it’s proven urban technology refined over the centuries. It restores dignity and desirability while delivering economic, social, and cultural returns.”

In an age of sterile glass boxes, “Tetris Chic” monstrosities, and sprawling suburban monotony, many cities feel like they’ve lost their soul. New construction often worsens the problem: out-of-scale, soulless structures that prioritize short-term cost-cutting over enduring appeal.
As I’ve noted before, the poor quality of contemporary architecture is an underrated driver of why urban spaces feel downtrodden. Lately, there’s growing lament in the discourse about the sterile, lifeless designs of restaurants, hotels, theme parks, and streetscapes. People crave vibrancy and a sense of being alive in a world where their senses are being dulled by overexposure to screens. This theory is further supported by studies consistently showing public preference for traditional/classical designs (often 70-84% in polls).
A return to classical principles—proportion, hierarchy, human scale, ornamentation, and just plain grandeur—offers more than aesthetic redemption. It provides a practical pathway to urban renewal and a massive arbitrage opportunity for developers who recognize the shift in tastes.
Postwar planning and modernist dogma treated cities as machines for efficiency rather than places for human flourishing. Tom Wolfe’s “From Bauhaus to our House” documents this superbly. Vast redevelopment schemes razed historic fabric for high-rises and highways, eroding the fine-grained, walkable streets and dignified buildings that once fostered community and pride. The result was predictable: ugly environments signal low value, deterring investment, accelerating blight, and inviting more utilitarian “solutions.”
Classical and traditional architecture counters this cycle. Timeless forms—properly proportioned columns, balanced facades, rhythmic streetscapes, and human-scaled detailing—create places people want to linger in, invest in, and maintain across generations. Historic districts with classical or traditional character consistently show higher desirability, better upkeep, stronger property values, and greater resilience. This is illustrated by the Polo Bar in New York—the hardest reservation in town—and classic hotels like The Breakers in Palm Beach, which command $2,000+ a night. These lifestyle assets benefit tremendously - from a financial as well as a cultural perspective - from spaces that uplift rather than demoralize.
To expand upon this point, restoring or emulating classical elements sparks broader renewal—increased foot traffic, tourism, private reinvestment, and community stewardship. Poor architecture fails Jane Jacobs’ “eyes on the street” test and erodes sense of place; context-ignoring modernist insertions often accelerate blight, even if it yielded its developer a healthy promote (though the end of QE has made this a much less frequent occurrence).
The Real Estate industry, writ large, is desperately looking for a new business model after the interest rate shock of 2022. While the major allocators are tying their capital up in data centers, traditional developers are generally at a loss for next steps considering today’s landscape—rising costs, regulatory complexity, shifting demographics, hybrid work, and pent-up demand for authentic places. These headwinds indicate an opportunity for a new approach that strongly favors classical strategies benefitting from the following:
1. Premium Pricing & Resilience: Traditionally inspired buildings often deliver higher rents, sales prices, occupancy rates, and tenant retention. Buyers and residents pay for craftsmanship and timelessness that resist obsolescence. In volatile markets, these assets hold value far better than the ubiquitous “Tetris Chic” designs.
2. Incentives & Leverage: Historic tax credits, downtown revitalization grants, and area-wide programs reduce risk. Bundling rehab with sympathetic new classical infill can pencil out financially while unlocking public support and faster approvals (time is money, and as any developer can tell you, NIMBY resistance can quickly kill the profitability on a project.)
3. Demographic Tailwinds: Growing preference for walkable, family-friendly, high-quality environments (neither sterile high-density nor car-dependent sprawl) aligns perfectly with classical urbanism. The massive popularity of Seaside in 30A illustrates this and the late, great Robert AM Stern’s designs in New York routinely achieving the highest per square foot sales in the market makes this hard to ignore.
4. Long-Term Economics: Upfront investment in high quality, aesthetically pleasing construction will often yield lower maintenance, superior durability, and elevated market perception—improving ROI.
5. First-Mover Advantage: Momentum is building—from cultural discourse to policy shifts to select developer projects. Those who move now will benefit from immense pricing power in their developments.
The growing family office sector, guided by smart incentives and conviction rather than overly-risk averse bureaucratic investment committees, can move faster and more effectively. These capital sources seem to be primely suited to capture this opportunity. In addition to the long-term compounding opportunities outlined above, being responsible for popular, new landmarks can serve as a massive halo effect (much needed in a world where economic populism is firmly on the rise).
Classical architecture isn’t nostalgia—it’s proven urban technology refined over millennia. It restores dignity and desirability while delivering economic, social, and cultural returns. In an era skeptical of failed modernist experiments, the timing is exceptional. Developers who deliver beauty aligned with human nature will reap substantial arbitrage as markets reward places worth caring about.
Build ugly and feed decline. Build beautifully and compound value for generations. The data, anecdotes, history, and shifting preferences all point the same direction.
Invest in places worth caring about.

Hampton Prescott can be found on Twitter/X at @HamptonPrezcott

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 st!

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 11:01 AM (bFu5X)

2 The Others have been summoned.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 11:02 AM (bFu5X)

3 Postwar planning and modernist dogma treated cities as machines for efficiency rather than places for human flourishing.

Because that's what you do when you also see people as machines or simple cogs in the machine.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:03 AM (Riz8t)

4 The Others have been summoned.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState

Which is not the same as being served.

Ask me how I know. . .

Posted by: Tonypete at June 15, 2026 11:04 AM (SKC9R)

5 Keir Starmer today is going to pass a law that will put severe restrictions on under-16's using social media (but not Bluesky, oddly enough).

The point of doing this, of course, is that if you put restrictions on what under-16s can view on the internet, then you need to have a mechanism so people can prove that they are over 16.

In other words, the end of anonymity on the internet.

Arrests and bank account seizures to follow...

How long do you think it will be before the UK bans VPNs?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at June 15, 2026 11:05 AM (aD4fx)

6 Postwar planning and modernist dogma treated cities as machines for efficiency rather than places for human flourishing.

Because that's what you do when you also see people as machines or simple cogs in the machine.
Posted by: Archimedes

As much as we hated the commies, it sure seems like we tried to emulate them.

Posted by: rickb223 at June 15, 2026 11:05 AM (mXUgp)

7 I think the Left want to build a lot of Peach Tree Towers.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:05 AM (GseMx)

8 I always thought Charlotte, NC -down town anyways - was beautiful. Nice architecture. Awesome skyline, especially when the moon is visible above the football stadium. Yet the city has turned to crap since the locusts (democrats) took over.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at June 15, 2026 11:06 AM (N39Ws)

9 I know Houston is building a number of 'City Centers'. I thought they were going to turn the Astrodome into one.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:07 AM (GseMx)

10 Urban decay is an intentional choice. They use it to "urban renewal" (i.e., the wrecking ball) the beauty away.

The pictures of buildings that used to exist are amazing. Especially the various "temporary" building from old World's Fairs.

Posted by: t-bird at June 15, 2026 11:07 AM (aZ9eR)

11 I think the Left want to build a lot of Peach Tree Towers.

What they want is to build a lot of concrete rabbit warrens, a la 1960s Russia. After that, they'll break ground on the concentration camps.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:08 AM (Riz8t)

12 Everything is a box. Condos? Boxes. Fast food restaurants? Boxes.

It’s like that’s all they teach in architecture school.

Posted by: Heroq at June 15, 2026 11:08 AM (xg+/D)

13 As frustrating as the decline of urban areas is, we cannot simply wish their problems away, or completely walk away from them.

The problem I see is that you can pretty a place up and then the natives will trash it. And if you bring in enough people to maintain it, you get complaints about "gentrification."

That being said, I hope things can turn around.

Posted by: NR Pax at June 15, 2026 11:09 AM (jjoN6)

14 Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:08 AM (Riz8t)

Peach Tree Towers was the building in Dredd so yes as you posted.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:09 AM (GseMx)

15 "In addition to the long-term compounding opportunities outlined above, being responsible for popular, new landmarks can serve as a massive halo effect (much needed in a world where economic populism is firmly on the rise)."

So you better have a good story to go with a good plan. I don't love that. It shouldn't matter but Human Nature exists. If you ignore that, you might as well go chase the hairy armpit chicks with the Marxists.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Innocent Souls, I'm starvin' over here at June 15, 2026 11:10 AM (w/O5Q)

16 How long do you think it will be before the UK bans VPNs?

Posted by: The ARC of History! at June 15, 2026 11:05 AM (aD4fx)

The better question is when do the Brits play machine gun pinata with their leaders like the Italians did with Mussolini.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at June 15, 2026 11:10 AM (snZF9)

17 The point of doing this, of course, is that if you put restrictions on what under-16s can view on the internet, then you need to have a mechanism so people can prove that they are over 16.

Well, it's more to create lists of kids who are under 16, with pictures and addresses, that would never, EVER be leaked.

Posted by: t-bird at June 15, 2026 11:10 AM (n9XW8)

18 8 I always thought Charlotte, NC -down town anyways - was beautiful. Nice architecture. Awesome skyline, especially when the moon is visible above the football stadium. Yet the city has turned to crap since the locusts (democrats) took over.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at June 15, 2026 11:06 AM (N39Ws)

Democrat-run cities and states have become locked-into a race to the bottom. To the bottom by every public metric.

Posted by: Gref at June 15, 2026 11:11 AM (5rh/l)

19 The point of doing this, of course, is that if you put restrictions on what under-16s can view on the internet, then you need to have a mechanism so people can prove that they are over 16.

Well, it's more to create lists of kids who are under 16, with pictures and addresses, that would never, EVER be leaked.

I need a hug.

Posted by: The Power of And at June 15, 2026 11:11 AM (Riz8t)

20 Take a look at Red Hook in NYC. That's Soviet style accommodations.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:11 AM (GseMx)

21 Is that Hampton Prescott the 3rd, or the 4th? Is he of the Charleston Prescotts?

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:12 AM (Gqar8)

22 Everything is a box. Condos? Boxes. Fast food restaurants? Boxes.

It’s like that’s all they teach in architecture school.

Posted by: Heroq at June 15, 2026 11:08 AM (xg+/D)

Step ONE: Put your d in a box!

Posted by: Washington Nearsider: Gotterdammerung, DURING PRIDE MONTH IS EVIL! at June 15, 2026 11:12 AM (rii+a)

23 Does anyone know what the two buildings up top are?

Posted by: Bulg at June 15, 2026 11:12 AM (77rzZ)

24 The sameness of communism.

Example:
You used to know a Taco Bell, a Pizza Hut, a McDonalds merely by seeing the building.
Now?
Other than the signage, they're all almost the same--all shades of grey and sharp lines.
The whimsy and colors are gone.

It's leftists. They ruin everything.

But a small bit of generational jab, reflection of the target customer; when they had children, it was bright colors and playgrounds.
Now that the nest is empty, it's dull serious and adult.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at June 15, 2026 11:13 AM (73/SM)

25 We need a Michael Graves for this century. Graves understood very well how stultifying so-called "modern" architecture was. His buildings were playful and paid homage to traditional designs

Posted by: Michael at June 15, 2026 11:13 AM (0HuyM)

26 Does anyone know what the two buildings up top are?

Probably places where people live or work, but that's not important right now.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM (Riz8t)

27 I lived for many years in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The left did their best to destroy Boston by instituting rent control with entirely predictable results. Once it was repealed property values on generations old buildings skyrocketed. And it was safe as kittens. Cities aren't magically more violent, it's a choice.

The most frustrating thing about leftists is everything they know is completely wrong.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM (viF8m)

28 “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
—Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Posted by: SMOD at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM (RHGPo)

29 I have to admit that developers did build some cool looking apartment buildings in NYC in last couple of decades but you needed at least a million to get into one.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM (GseMx)

30 Well, it's more to create lists of kids who are under 16, with pictures and addresses, that would never, EVER be leaked.
Posted by: t-bird at June 15, 2026 11:10 AM (n9XW

Great opportunity for groomers (one of Starmer's big support resources) to set up "Internet viewing rooms" for teens and tweens.

"Gee, Mr. Ali, it's warm in here." "I know, honey. Maybe you'd be more comfortable if you took your shirt off?"

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:15 AM (1z8ji)

31 What to make of Obama's lair... the comms center for his shadow government or "library" as the case may be?

It's hideous.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 15, 2026 11:15 AM (jehhT)

32 Art Deco. Like the Empire State building.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:15 AM (Gqar8)

33 Thanks Hampton good essay. You describe what is happening around here pretty well.

"Utilitarianism"

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2026 11:16 AM (RIvkX)

34 So, the Pole Barn school of architecture.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:16 AM (Gqar8)

35
Classical buildings are demolished with deep regret.

Brutalist buildings are demolished with relish.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2026 11:16 AM (O0L8i)

36 I love dormers. Especially wall dormers. And I think one day I want a house or even just a shed with an eyebrow dormer.
Just because.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at June 15, 2026 11:17 AM (HQCKG)

37
Add the word "public" to just about anything and it becomes shorthand for "shithole with drug addicts and gang graffiti"

Public Restroom
Public Library
Public Housing
Public School

etc

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at June 15, 2026 11:17 AM (y9nCu)

38 Shouses are somewhat of a Thing around here.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:18 AM (Gqar8)

39 Albany's Capitol and its surrounding office buildings are hideous. It's my understanding that is Nelson Rockefeller's fault .

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:18 AM (GseMx)

40 What to make of Obama's lair... the comms center for his shadow government or "library" as the case may be?

It's hideous.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 15, 2026 11:15 AM (jehhT)

I wonder if we could drape a giant pink condom over it?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (1z8ji)

41 Mr. Brutalist, Corbusier, said that the purpose of such architecture was to overawe the people with the power of the state. I can see no way this could go wrong.

Le Corbusier's Brutalist state architecture was designed to project civic strength while embodying radical, modern social ambitions.

tl:dr
Get in your hole, pleb!

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (Riz8t)

42 I haven't personally seen it but I understand Oklahoma City did a major rework of the downtown. They did create more liveable space.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (7T8ei)

43 Random thoughts: I don't like either of those buildings in the photos, but agree classical architecture is classic for a reason. The cubicle was the worse office edition ever. Building anything non-rectangular makes building expense skyrocket. There is not a population of craftsman to build character in buildings like the early 20th century.

Oh and missing the morning thread, that deal to make a deal with Iran is a total loser. Sad!

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (n5tGW)

44 The most frustrating thing about leftists is everything they know is completely wrong.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM (viF8m)

Also how they want to kill everyone who disagrees with them.

Then everyone who only agrees with them 90% of the time.

Then 95%. Then 99%.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (gr4k7)

45 That looks more like Jenga than Tetris to me, but I am not an architect.

Posted by: far cry at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (wBRco)

46 Art Deco. Like the Empire State building.
Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:15 AM (Gqar

The Chrysler Building is my favorite.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (GseMx)

47 Add the word "public" to just about anything and it becomes shorthand for "shithole with drug addicts and gang graffiti"

Public Restroom
Public Library
Public Housing
Public School

etc

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at June 15, 2026 11:17 AM (y9nCu)

Healthcare
Radio

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:20 AM (gr4k7)

48 Look at how angry the left is over the horrible, evil, awful, sinful act of Trump merely restoring the fountains and parks in D.C.

How could you be so spitefully angry over that?

Bringing beauty, light, softness, inspiration and art back to the city.
And I have never seen such a full-court, constant stream of hate and lies and denigration.
"it'll never work; it was fine before; what a waste of money; no one wanted this; we could have better spent that money on social programs; it's taking too long"
And on and on and on

just ugly, ugly people inside and out who only want to see ugly from sea to sea.

Because public places the public pays for that the public wants to use because the public likes it is a direct and devastating assault on their entire philosophy:
Government should work for you.
Not them.
And it doesn't have to be like this--decline is a choice.
But it's the only choice the left offers.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at June 15, 2026 11:20 AM (73/SM)

49 I wonder if we could drape a giant pink condom over it?

That might just be the best idea I hear this year. You could have it unspool from an armada of drones.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:20 AM (Riz8t)

50 Hey Bulg: The two buildings are The Maclellsn Building in Chattanooga and some Tetris abomination that I believe is in NY.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at June 15, 2026 11:21 AM (C6fCV)

51 —Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Posted by: SMOD at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM (RHGPo)

People are deathly afraid of being wrong. Or admitting it.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:21 AM (gr4k7)

52 The left hates beauty. Period.

Posted by: Bulg at June 15, 2026 11:22 AM (77rzZ)

53 They still have the Dakota in NYC .

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:22 AM (GseMx)

54 That might just be the best idea I hear this year. You could have it unspool from an armada of drones.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:20 AM (Riz8t)

The control software for those Chinese "fireworks" drones might be applicable for that.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:22 AM (1z8ji)

55 They're not public schools. They're government schools.
Were they public you could walk in anytime you wanted, sit down and watch them teach.
Warning: don't try it.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at June 15, 2026 11:22 AM (izy1S)

56 Keir Starmer today is going to pass a law that will put severe restrictions on under-16's using social media"

The interwebz, how does it wurk?

/well, that's probably how his brain sounds...

Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:23 AM (XuXeR)

57 5 Keir Starmer today is going to pass a law that will put severe restrictions on under-16's using social media (but not Bluesky, oddly enough).

The point of doing this, of course, is that if you put restrictions on what under-16s can view on the internet, then you need to have a mechanism so people can prove that they are over 16.

In other words, the end of anonymity on the internet.

Arrests and bank account seizures to follow...

How long do you think it will be before the UK bans VPNs?
Posted by: The ARC of History! at June 15, 2026 11:05 AM (aD4fx)

Pixy posted a TechCrunch article on this (here in an archive link):

https://archive.is/WduLh

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:23 AM (6wpGE)

58 The left hates beauty. Period.

Posted by: Bulg at June 15, 2026 11:22 AM (77rzZ)

Beauty is proof of God.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:23 AM (gr4k7)

59 The left hates beauty. Period.

No, they just have a different idea about what comprises beauty. Watching over thousands of starving people laboring in the gold fields is like a trip to the National Gallery for them.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (Riz8t)

60 we could have better spent that money on social programs;"

Whitey's on the Moon...

Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (XuXeR)

61 This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: The Obama Flak Tower at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (izy1S)

62 Well said. So many of the apartments seen being built or newly are all the same, no matter the state. I have moved several times and love the regional or state differences. I don’t want a house in Tulsa to look the same as one on the eastern shore of Md. It what bids the area to its history. I wish builders would sometimes look at older houses. My parents 2 story colonial had more storage and perhaps same sq footage as today but less storage, creativity. Think that having rooms rather than all open allows one to add storage and add places to display art. I see in interior design trends going toward the look my parents had(cozy, color, patterns, wallcoverings) as opposed to white box.

Posted by: Hyacinth at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (TJh+t)

63 50 Thank you, Buck.

Posted by: Bulg at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (77rzZ)

64 The Obama Flak Tower"

Ack ack....

Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (XuXeR)

65 TechCrunch

Government sources told the Guardian that the U.K. ban will cover a similar range of social platforms as Australia, where TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, X, Threads, Snapchat, Twitch, and Kick are all banned for users under 16.

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:25 AM (6wpGE)

66 I loathe modern house styles too. Really sharp angles everywhere. 10 years from these things will be the shag carpet of housing.

Posted by: Heroq at June 15, 2026 11:25 AM (xg+/D)

67 I'll admit that if I was rich enough and lived in hurricane or Tornado territory the house I would build would be a concrete monstrosity. I'd try to pretty it up but it would withstand a nuclear hit.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:25 AM (GseMx)

68
Look at how angry the left is over the horrible, evil, awful, sinful act of Trump merely restoring the fountains and parks in D.C.

How could you be so spitefully angry over that?

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at June 15, 2026 11:20 AM (73/SM)

New Yawkers hated Giuliani's guts for cleaning up Manhattan and Times Square. Bitched mercilessly about how the hookers, drug dealers and adult theaters were forced out of Times Square, killing the city's "vibrant nature" in favor of "Disneyfiing" the city.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at June 15, 2026 11:25 AM (y9nCu)

69 OT: the [step-]prince of Norway just got convicted. Of rape.

Posted by: gKWVE at June 15, 2026 11:26 AM (gKWVE)

70 I lived for many years in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The left did their best to destroy Boston by instituting rent control with entirely predictable results. Once it was repealed property values on generations old buildings skyrocketed. And it was safe as kittens. Cities aren't magically more violent, it's a choice.

The most frustrating thing about leftists is everything they know is completely wrong.
Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:14 AM

Yup. Aesthetically, I love Boston. It's the actual leftist Bostonians I can't stand.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 11:26 AM (bFu5X)

71 New Yawkers hated Giuliani's guts for cleaning up Manhattan and Times Square"

The illiterati hated...

/FIFY

Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:26 AM (XuXeR)

72 That Jenga apartment block on the right at least has a degree of whimsy going for it. Beats the old Soviet brutalist designs, anyway.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:26 AM (1z8ji)

73 The capitol city used to be very pretty. For a couple years I worked and lived in Alexandria, VA but mostly did business inside D.C. Yea, back in the 80's it was beginning to deteriorate, but the monuments and parks were for the most part still really beautiful.

The "security" madness after 9-11 really screwed up the place.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 15, 2026 11:27 AM (jehhT)

74 The Obama Flak Tower"

Ack ack....
Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM

Missed a great Bill the Cat sock opportunity, there.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 11:27 AM (bFu5X)

75 72 That Jenga apartment block on the right at least has a degree of whimsy going for it. Beats the old Soviet brutalist designs, anyway.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:26 AM (1z8ji)

Agreed.

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:27 AM (6wpGE)

76 In order to be enforce age restrictions you have to stomped on the rights of the of age users by making them prove they are of age.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (GseMx)

77 Uh, Seaside on 30A is the most sterile, soulless, uncanny valley place I've ever been. It's so fucking weird they filmed The Truman Show there. I'm not sure I would use that hellscape as a positive example of a great community.

Posted by: ballistic at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (oqH4h)

78 In my burg the most sought after homes are the oldest. Traditional architecture, traditional kitchens.

The new stuff - putting aside the quality - is ugly as fuck. Seriously what the fuck is wrong with architects these days? Is it millenails? Are they just straight up regarded? Must be.

Posted by: Heroq at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (xg+/D)

79 We have age verification in my state for porn websites. A person wanting access has to Prove, to TPTB, that they are of legal age to be able to look at porn. So Horde, is this good, bad, indifferent?

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (Gqar8)

80 Miserable people are far easier to manipulate.

Happy people don't want to hear your horseshit. Things working and looking nice make leftards irrelevant.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:29 AM (gr4k7)

81 Not to be a downer but this reminds me of the Richard Florida decade long scam about the creative class bullshit that a lot of cities tried to emulate and failed leaving a lot of debt and problems behind.

Cities used to be centers for retail goods, industry with its jobs, and trade. That part is defunct so the remaining jobs in finance, government, corporate hq, and service industries like hospitality are not enough to cause a revival of them. And until the public schools and crime are fixed, you won't get families with children returning.

American cities are dead in many ways because they concentrate dysfunction and rely on a few well heeled taxpayers within them plus statewide redistributions to keep going. Suburbs and exurbs have taken most of the new jobs and have better roads, less crime, and better schools even though aesthetes would mock their architecture and mores.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:29 AM (E4rtv)

82 You really need to read Wolfe's "From Bauhaus to Our House" to understand the condescending contempt the Brutes had for "The Workers". One of the designers -- Corbu? -- mandated that blinds could only be drawn fully up, midway, or all the way down to preserve the aesthetics to passersby.

Of course the peasants soon began hanging laundry out windows and cooking cabbage in their new tenement, damn them.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 15, 2026 11:30 AM (kpS4V)

83 Zillow:

the-dakota-new-york-ny
This building may have units for rent or for sale.
2 bd. 3+ bd. $2,950,000.

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:30 AM (6wpGE)

84 In other words, the end of anonymity on the internet.

Arrests and bank account seizures to follow...
---
Late-stage socialism, as each step of their dreams fail:
They killed all beauty.
They killed all art.
They killed all industry.
All that's left to kill is the people.

England is becoming every bit the totalitarian police state that Orwell wrote about.

The only saving facet is, these are terribly, terribly stupid people.

The entirety of their power is brute force. It is not clever plans with 2nd and 3rd order contingencies.
It's a club of raw wood.
And if that don't work, they'll determine the flaw is the club wasn't big enough.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at June 15, 2026 11:30 AM (73/SM)

85 Our most common sort of house around here is a walkout basement style dwelling. The terrain is the determining factor.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:31 AM (Gqar8)

86
I'll admit that if I was rich enough and lived in hurricane or Tornado territory the house I would build would be a concrete monstrosity. I'd try to pretty it up but it would withstand a nuclear hit.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:25 AM (GseMx)

The grenade loop fake vent holes would be pretty amusing with gargoyle or dragon heads.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at June 15, 2026 11:31 AM (y9nCu)

87 "Build ugly and feed decline. Build beautifully and compound value for generations. The data, anecdotes, history, and shifting preferences all point the same direction."

The prog powers that be, of course, don't "build ugly" for their own mansions, private islands, etc. This just goes back to the way their success has depended so much on their opponents failing to understand them.

The rulers always live in nice digs, and they mean to rule; destroying things for everyone else is just a way to acquire and cement power.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:31 AM (N28JN)

88 Ack ack....
Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM

Missed a great Bill the Cat sock opportunity, there.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 11:27 AM (bFu5X)

Or Billy Joel

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:31 AM (gr4k7)

89 80 Miserable people are far easier to manipulate.

Happy people don't want to hear your horseshit.
Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:29 AM (gr4k7)

Yes!

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:31 AM (6wpGE)

90 58 The left hates beauty. Period.

Posted by: Bulg at June 15, 2026 11:22 AM (77rzZ)

Beauty is proof of God.
Posted by: ...

If you can't see the beauty of a 6'3" hairy trans woman, it says a lot more about you than "her"!!! Especially during Pride month!!!

Posted by: Admiral Ackbar at June 15, 2026 11:32 AM (JCZqz)

91 Government sources told the Guardian that the U.K. ban will cover a similar range of social platforms as Australia, where TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, X, Threads, Snapchat, Twitch, and Kick are all banned for users under 16.

Nigel Farage has figured out that the BBC and their kin don't like him very much and will always look for a 10 second clip they can use out of context to paint him in the worst possible way. He's now putting long form posts on Substack. Yes, we figured that out some time ago, but better late than never. He gets pretty salty - certainly more than he could do with legacy Brit media.

The Unmediated Word
Nigel Farage has gone to Substack. The medium is the message, and the message is that the gatekeepers are out of a job

https://tinyurl.com/yju4zunr

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:32 AM (Riz8t)

92 Ack ack....
Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM (XuXeR)

Over Calais. He jumped clean, but his parachute didn't open.

Posted by: zombie Richard Burton at June 15, 2026 11:32 AM (wBRco)

93 John Lautner called them "packers" and "murder factories".

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at June 15, 2026 11:33 AM (Kt19C)

94 >>Albany's Capitol and its surrounding office buildings are hideous. It's my understanding that is Nelson Rockefeller's fault .

My parents had a farm in South Woodstock, Vermont. If you want a step back in time to gorgeous small town America you couldn't do much better than Woodstock. Absolutely beautiful place.

And it has stayed that way largely thanks to the generosity of one guy, Nelson's brother Laurence. Might be the one guy most responsible for perserving the natural beauty of this country that nobody knows about.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:33 AM (viF8m)

95 79 We have age verification in my state for porn websites. A person wanting access has to Prove, to TPTB, that they are of legal age to be able to look at porn. So Horde, is this good, bad, indifferent?
Posted by: tubal
=========
And I would imagine every teen that wants to view it can and do with a simple search. Same with the rather stupid online merchants of firearms and stuff requiring a click through that one is 18 or older and with cameras on phones, the yutes will simply exchange amateur pron with each other as seen countless times.

Well-intentioned laws trying to replace parents is far too common in our systems and federalism means we get a double dose of stupidity sometimes with localities getting into the act, triple doses. The politicians pose with their shiny new bill, the problem remains unsolved, but the media goes on to the next new shiny thing.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:35 AM (E4rtv)

96 Cities literally drive people crazy.

We need to adopt anti-urban policies to try and break them up, both to stop driving people crazy and also to try and isolate the feral beasts.

And really, there is no need for cities anymore anyway - what are in cities?

The very rich, the very poor, high end entertainment and few jobs. Just implementing better policing would meet the needs of the very rich (even if they are mostly on the defund the police bandwagon) but...that's not a long term fix.

Posted by: 18-1 at June 15, 2026 11:35 AM (sKqQm)

97 Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:33 AM (viF8m)

Albany's capitol buildings house a number of Rothko's. They fit right in.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:36 AM (GseMx)

98 Is There in Truth No Beauty?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 15, 2026 11:36 AM (Cqx++)

99 88 Ack ack....
Posted by: man at June 15, 2026 11:24 AM

Missed a great Bill the Cat sock opportunity, there.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 11:27 AM (bFu5X)

Or Billy Joel
Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:31 AM (gr4k7)

Or Slim Whitman.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2026 11:36 AM (8XeQo)

100 Britain is about to get a reprise of "The Troubles" starting in Ireland.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at June 15, 2026 11:37 AM (+EHgv)

101 "American cities are dead in many ways because they concentrate dysfunction and rely on a few well heeled taxpayers within them plus statewide redistributions to keep going. Suburbs and exurbs have taken most of the new jobs and have better roads, less crime, and better schools even though aesthetes would mock their architecture and mores.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:29 AM (E4rtv)"

This is especially blatant if you go look at the nicer Chinese cities. Sure, everything is made of chinesium, but you can actually walk around at night through miles and miles of nicer areas without worrying about bums, criminals, etc.

And don't even get me started on the contrast with Japan. "Oh, but they're all racist and have intense pressure to conform!" Yeah, and it's fucking awesome. Results talk.

I am not aware of *any* US city over ~50k population that isn't a shithole. Anywhere. In any state. They're all run by people tolerant of bums, crime, and foreign invaders, and the schools are full of freaks indoctrinating kids into a new generation of freaks.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:38 AM (N28JN)

102 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is a truism.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:38 AM (GseMx)

103 Big cities are more a hassle than fun. Crowds, crime, traffic, and expensive. And run by assholes governments. You can have more fun spending a day at a lake or a park away from the cities. Hell I've had more fun watching Little League baseball games than watching the pro's.

Posted by: Case at June 15, 2026 11:38 AM (+zXtV)

104 Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:38 AM (N28JN)

I greatly dislike the Japanese Borg like culture.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:39 AM (GseMx)

105 "79 We have age verification in my state for porn websites. A person wanting access has to Prove, to TPTB, that they are of legal age to be able to look at porn. So Horde, is this good, bad, indifferent?
Posted by: tubal"

They don't have to prove anything. Those controls are trivial to bypass.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:39 AM (N28JN)

106 I am not aware of *any* US city over ~50k population that isn't a shithole. Anywhere. In any state. They're all run by people tolerant of bums, crime, and foreign invaders, and the schools are full of freaks indoctrinating kids into a new generation of freaks.
Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:38 AM (N28JN)

You need to get out more.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:40 AM (GseMx)

107 Bwahahahaha!

Every anti-Trump counter-programming effort always looks like a talent show at a senior center - but with a little bit less energy.

https://tinyurl.com/hkp3freh

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:40 AM (Riz8t)

108 Case, don't forget the speeding cameras. Go into town and get a fine in your mail the next week from a robot.

Posted by: gKWVE at June 15, 2026 11:41 AM (gKWVE)

109 I greatly dislike the Japanese Borg like culture.

Especially when it decides the empire needs more room and resources.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:41 AM (Riz8t)

110 @94 JackStraw, yup old Nelson wanted his monument. Tore up a lot of houses in neighborhoods which he claimed had horrible poverty and infant mortality in order to build the plaza. There is a great documentary about the BS that was used to justify the Plaza being built The buildings are ugly and not that functional. The Dewey building which is across from the Plaza is 15 stories and contains more office space than the 43 story tower in the Plaza.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 15, 2026 11:41 AM (ufO5q)

111 5 Keir Starmer today is going to pass a law that will put severe restrictions on under-16's using social media (but not Bluesky, oddly enough).

----

Weird how under 16s are still allowed on the MAP/groomer platform?

Posted by: Lemmiwinks at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (O60C/)

112 The point of doing this, of course, is that if you put restrictions on what under-16s can view on the internet, then you need to have a mechanism so people can prove that they are over 16.

Well, it's more to create lists of kids who are under 16, with pictures and addresses, that would never, EVER be leaked.

I need a hug.
Posted by: The Power of And at June 15, 2026 11:11 AM (Riz8t)

16... 16... I wonder what the age of consent is in the UK.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (ExV1e)

113 Especially when it decides the empire needs more room and resources.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:41 AM (Riz8t)

I worked for Tokyo Marine for 8 years so I've got some first hand experience which further shaped my opinion.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (GseMx)

114 Suburbs and exurbs have taken most of the new jobs and have better roads, less crime, and better schools even though aesthetes would mock their architecture and mores.

-------

"Little boxes, on the hillside..."

Posted by: Old Commie Hag at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (+zlOu)

115 Tokio stupid autocorrect.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:43 AM (GseMx)

116 King Charles may be a twit but his comment about modern architecture " say what you will about to he Luftwaffe, but they left nothing more offensive than a pile of rubble" is spot on.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 15, 2026 11:43 AM (ufO5q)

117 The advantage of building boxes for retail space is that when one business fails, the next can move in with minimal trouble.

The reason why most office buildings are boxes is because that gives you the maximum square footage for your money. And when one office fail, you can move the next one in with minimal adjustment and expense.

That said, you can have any building of any size in any style you want, if you're willing to pay for it.

Most people aren't.

They'll happily demand Cartier quality on a Temu budget, however.

Posted by: FeatherBlade at June 15, 2026 11:44 AM (vJrRc)

118 I...kinda like both buildings. The 'Tetris Chic' is better than a generic high rise. I prefer Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern but it is hard to find most places.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 11:44 AM (xcxpd)

119 "104 Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:38 AM (N28JN)

I greatly dislike the Japanese Borg like culture.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:39 AM (GseMx)"

As I said, results speak for themselves. I won't get butthurt about their casual anti-western attitudes and can follow a long list of arbitrary rules if it means I can walk down the street at night without being accosted by bums, muggers, or random barbarians.

I have long held that we've gone way too far in the US in removing pressure to conform. You need a certain amount for society to function.

The two biggest problems the Japanese have are that they still aren't promoting childbirth quite hard enough, and that the institutional level they're too prone to hiding mistakes (though unlike, say, the Chinese they actually feel real shame about fucking up).

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:45 AM (N28JN)

120 Every anti-Trump counter-programming effort always looks like a talent show at a senior center - but with a little bit less energy.

https://tinyurl.com/hkp3freh
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:40 AM (Riz8t)

And yet Bette Midler will go home and sleep soundly knowing that a Trump Administration operative will not kick her door in at 2am and drag her away to a Konzentrationslager.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2026 11:45 AM (8XeQo)

121 >>Albany's capitol buildings house a number of Rothko's. They fit right in.

You know what you won't see when visiting Woodstock? Utility poles.

Laurence thought they detracted from the looks of the town so he paid to have utiility cables buried. 100 % out of his pocket. It's like walking around Mayberry but better food and skiing.

Urban decay and crime is a choice. It's not something in the air. Anyone saying anthing different has never lived in a city.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:46 AM (viF8m)

122

Build another Bradbury Building

https://shorturl.ly/p8oEx

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 15, 2026 11:46 AM (Cqx++)

123 I haven't personally seen it but I understand Oklahoma City did a major rework of the downtown. They did create more liveable space.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 15, 2026 11:19 AM (7T8ei)

We did and it works well. The only bad spot that I see is they built a couple of blocks of very Soviet style apartments just east of downtown. It's really plain and monotonous shit.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at June 15, 2026 11:46 AM (g8Ew8)

124 Posted by: FeatherBlade at June 15, 2026 11:44 AM (vJrRc)

I loved the new businesses that took over the Taco Bell or Pizza Hut buildings. You knew they were mom and pop trying to get something going.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:46 AM (GseMx)

125
"Little boxes, on the hillside..."
Posted by: Old Commie Hag at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (+zlOu)

Funny thing is, the suburbs that commie hag railed about had real houses in them, that mostly did not all look alike. Go into any new suburb in any city now, and the damned houses are all exactly the same, or are of two or three patterns, endlessly repeated, and all the same color, with HOA's that will murder you if you paint your house another color.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:47 AM (1z8ji)

126 It is difficult to foster an ethos of things that make you think "This is Bigger Than Me", when the very thought of anything being Bigger Than Me is anathema.

You are all that matters. Your every want is a Need, and your every need must be fulfilled, through no action or investment of your own (perish the thought).

Of course, that's all a lie. Not a Big Lie. A silent, undetectable, omnipresent lie. Everything actually is bigger than you. You are nothing. You exist to serve The State, and it's only in service to your State that you have any meaning whatsoever. But, you know, if that State can't meet your every want and need immediately (both in the sense of in this very instant, and without any mediation), then, well, blame the Hoarders and Wreckers.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 15, 2026 11:48 AM (Ot/FD)

127 Well-intentioned laws trying to replace parents is far too common in our systems and federalism means we get a double dose of stupidity sometimes with localities getting into the act, triple doses. The politicians pose with their shiny new bill, the problem remains unsolved, but the media goes on to the next new shiny thing.
Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:35 AM (E4rtv)

I agree. I’m not “against” those laws, but I think they are woefully ineffective. They serve mainly to allow lawmakers to say “well we did something!” when in actual fact, they haven’t.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2026 11:48 AM (cx1bp)

128 This is especially blatant if you go look at the nicer Chinese cities. Sure, everything is made of chinesium, but you can actually walk around at night through miles and miles of nicer areas without worrying about bums, criminals, etc.

And don't even get me started on the contrast with Japan. "Oh, but they're all racist and have intense pressure to conform!" Yeah, and it's fucking awesome. Results talk.

I am not aware of *any* US city over ~50k population that isn't a shithole. Anywhere. In any state. They're all run by people tolerant of bums, crime, and foreign invaders, and the schools are full of freaks indoctrinating kids into a new generation of freaks.
Posted by: heya
=======
There are some exceptions to the rule because America is a big place but Democrats bring dysfunction wherever they are in charge of government. And if a place is functional, then they promptly have tried to dispatch illegals and refugees to destroy such places under Biden.

We used to have places that were poor but functional with low crime, decent if not stellar schools, and bums/perverts/etc. in hidden pockets. The caring class of gubmint and the awful ngos have ruined a lot of those.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:48 AM (E4rtv)

129 I'll admit that if I was rich enough and lived in hurricane or Tornado territory the house I would build would be a concrete monstrosity. I'd try to pretty it up but it would withstand a nuclear hit.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:25 AM (GseMx)
----
Hobbit holes FTW!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 15, 2026 11:48 AM (gnNyN)

130 Speaking of architecture, waiting for material delivery since I been here today

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2026 11:48 AM (sgkY8)

131 3br 1ba 1250sf no garage upscale middle flat, excellent walking and transit
$1.295 million taxes $1,200/mo HOA $250/mo

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2026 11:49 AM (RIvkX)

132 That silent movie Metropolis was a prediction

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (sgkY8)

133 And yet Bette Midler will go home and sleep soundly knowing that a Trump Administration operative will not kick her door in at 2am and drag her away to a Konzentrationslager.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2026 11:45 AM (8XeQo)

Time and its agent, the Reaper, will do it for us soon enough.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (cx1bp)

134 Bent County Courthouse in Colorado is gorgeous.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KrUKMqAWZA8&ra=m

Posted by: Emmie at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (FMtrg)

135 120 Every anti-Trump counter-programming effort always looks like a talent show at a senior center - but with a little bit less energy.

https://tinyurl.com/hkp3freh
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:40 AM (Riz8t)

And yet Bette Midler will go home and sleep soundly knowing that a Trump Administration operative will not kick her door in at 2am and drag her away to a Konzentrationslager.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2026 11:45 AM (8XeQo)

"Rise Up In Gout"?

The hell kind of name for a festival is that?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (Ot/FD)

136 131 3br 1ba 1250sf no garage upscale middle flat, excellent walking and transit
$1.295 million taxes $1,200/mo HOA $250/mo
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2026 11:49 AM (RIvkX)

That is disturbing.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (Gqar8)

137 "I worked for Tokyo Marine for 8 years so I've got some first hand experience which further shaped my opinion.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (GseMx)"

I work for one of the largest Japanese companies in the world. I know what people are complaining about and have decided it's worth the price of admission, so to speak.

If you can pay attention and understand what their beef is, and put effort into understanding and following basic rules, it's not hard to avoid conflict.

I think some of the rules are dumb and don't really do any good, but it's not like they're onerous either.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (N28JN)

138 Laurence thought they detracted from the looks of the town so he paid to have utiility cables buried. 100 % out of his pocket. It's like walking around Mayberry but better food and skiing.

Urban decay and crime is a choice. It's not something in the air. Anyone saying anthing different has never lived in a city.
Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 11:46 AM (viF8m)

I don't mind utility poles. They are visible sign of material progress. I expect Mayberry has them.

Why yes, it does:

https://tinyurl.com/4vrbshe5

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 15, 2026 11:51 AM (1z8ji)

139 br 1ba 1250sf no garage upscale middle flat, excellent walking and transit
$1.295 million taxes $1,200/mo HOA $250/mo

Trailer's for sale or rent
Rooms to let, 50 cents
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes
Ah, but, two hours of pushin' broom
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:51 AM (Riz8t)

140 The Woodlands TX has a population of 125k . It's pretty nice. For now. I think the black magic number is 200k.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:51 AM (GseMx)

141 Trailer's for sale or rent

I did NOT put the apostrophe in there. It was that way at the site.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:52 AM (Riz8t)

142 I agree. I’m not “against” those laws, but I think they are woefully ineffective. They serve mainly to allow lawmakers to say “well we did something!” when in actual fact, they haven’t.
Posted by: Tom Servo
=====
If we can't prevent kids from using phones to buy drugs, take pron pix and videos of each other, and to congregate for teen takeover bullshit, I don't think slapping an age limit around the entire state will do much good--the next will be to regulate vpns, and then like CA is trying to do, operating systems.

And that is because of the stupid idea that restricting supply is the way to do it rather than change the demand side. Government always goes for the 'easy' but incompetent solution trying to address the supply side but rarely if ever, the demand side.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:52 AM (E4rtv)

143 "We used to have places that were poor but functional with low crime, decent if not stellar schools, and bums/perverts/etc. in hidden pockets. The caring class of gubmint and the awful ngos have ruined a lot of those.
Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:48 AM (E4rtv)"

I think the places that were holdouts all fizzled out by the late 70's. Most were toast by the 60's. It's really only small/medium towns left and even those are hard to find.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 11:53 AM (N28JN)

144 141 Trailer's for sale or rent

I did NOT put the apostrophe in there. It was that way at the site.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:52 AM (Riz8t)

It's not the trailer that's for rent.

It's what's in the trailer.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 15, 2026 11:53 AM (Ot/FD)

145 It will sell, for cash, this week, for about $1.5million.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2026 11:54 AM (RIvkX)

146 144 141 Trailer's for sale or rent

I did NOT put the apostrophe in there. It was that way at the site.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:52 AM (Riz8t)

It's not the trailer that's for rent.

It's what's in the trailer.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 15, 2026 11:53 AM (Ot/FD)

James Carville nods.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:54 AM (Gqar8)

147 We have age verification in my state for porn websites. A person wanting access has to Prove, to TPTB, that they are of legal age to be able to look at porn. So Horde, is this good, bad, indifferent?
Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (Gqar

Presumably the chirrens just go to reddit for their porn, where age verification is not required.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at June 15, 2026 11:55 AM (ExV1e)

148 I think the places that were holdouts all fizzled out by the late 70's. Most were toast by the 60's. It's really only small/medium towns left and even those are hard to find.
Posted by: heya
======
You may be correct. I don't travel near as much as I used to because of ill health. But I do know the 90's seemed far better than what we have today and more so the 80's.

Unchecked immigration under the end of Clinton, GWB, Obama, and Biden ruined it.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:55 AM (E4rtv)

149 James Carville nods.

And puts another $100 bill on his fishing pole.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 11:55 AM (Riz8t)

150 145 It will sell, for cash, this week, for about $1.5million.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2026 11:54 AM (RIvkX)

Fool and his money, something, something

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:55 AM (Gqar8)

151 131 3br 1ba 1250sf no garage upscale middle flat, excellent walking and transit
$1.295 million taxes $1,200/mo HOA $250/mo
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2026 11:49 AM (RIvkX)

1,200 x 12 = 14,400 yikes

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:55 AM (6wpGE)

152 Or Slim Whitman

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2026 11:36 AM (8XeQo)

Or Good and Pretti

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:56 AM (gr4k7)

153 Bent County Courthouse in Colorado is gorgeous.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KrUKMqAWZA8&ra=m
Posted by: Emmie at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (FMtrg)

I'm not allowed to watch that.

Posted by: 15-year old Australian at June 15, 2026 11:56 AM (wBRco)

154
I am not aware of *any* US city over ~50k population that isn't a shithole. Anywhere. In any state. They're all run by people tolerant of bums, crime, and foreign invaders, and the schools are full of freaks indoctrinating kids into a new generation of freaks.
Posted by: heya

Bukele has proven that dysfunction and disorder on city streets is a choice, not an inevitability.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2026 11:56 AM (cx1bp)

155 If I wanted to spend that much money to be told what I can't do, I'd get married.

Posted by: Warai-otoko is happily married but just needed the punchline to work at June 15, 2026 11:57 AM (Ot/FD)

156 The demographics have a lot to do with how nice an urban city will be or not. Also it's political make up which almost makes a single circle in a Venn diagram.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:57 AM (GseMx)

157 The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering, a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons, a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting, three hundred million people all with the same face. The reality was decaying, dingy cities where underfed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in patched-up nineteenth-century houses that smelt always of cabbage and bad lavatories.

Posted by: The Truth at June 15, 2026 11:57 AM (ZR74N)

158 Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 11:52 AM (E4rtv)

In some or many cases they just want the control.

Hell you think libs give a shit about exposing kids to porn? It's in the curriculum already. They just don't want kids getting the wrong ideas.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:58 AM (gr4k7)

159 Any place with a huge Education or Medical complex sitting astraddle of it will have Leftist Woke issues. It is inherent.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:58 AM (Gqar8)

160 153 Bent County Courthouse in Colorado is gorgeous.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KrUKMqAWZA8&ra=m
Posted by: Emmie at June 15, 2026 11:50 AM (FMtrg)

I'm not allowed to watch that.
Posted by: 15-year old Australian at June 15, 2026 11:56 AM (wBRco)

True, 'cause it's youtube!

Posted by: m at June 15, 2026 11:59 AM (6wpGE)

161 American cities are dead in many ways because they concentrate dysfunction and rely on a few well heeled taxpayers within them plus statewide redistributions to keep going. Suburbs and exurbs have taken most of the new jobs and have better roads, less crime, and better schools even though aesthetes would mock their architecture and mores.

---

City living used to be necessary 200, 100 and even 40 years ago. The country folks didn't have TV signals, newspapers, access to a lot of things. Now everyone, everywhere in the US has good internet, delivery by Amazon.... the advantages of the city don't exist anymore.

Posted by: Lemmiwinks at June 15, 2026 11:59 AM (O60C/)

162 Hell you think libs give a shit about exposing kids to porn? It's in the curriculum already. They just don't want kids getting the wrong ideas.
Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:58 AM

Like heterosexuality?

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 12:00 PM (bFu5X)

163 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:00 PM (CfKHZ)

164 Hell you think libs give a shit about exposing kids to porn? It's in the curriculum already. They just don't want kids getting the wrong ideas.

"You keep looking for pictures and videos of "hot Latinas". Have you considered some "hot LatinOs?"

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:00 PM (Riz8t)

165 Any place with a huge Education or Medical complex sitting astraddle of it will have Leftist Woke issues. It is inherent.
Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 11:58 AM

*waves from Boston*

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 12:00 PM (bFu5X)

166
"You keep looking for pictures and videos of "hot Latinas". Have you considered some "hot LatinOs?"
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:00 PM (Riz8t)

LATINX you bigot.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (CfKHZ)

167 "You need to get out more.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 11:40 AM (GseMx)"

I get out plenty and have probably drawn a firearm more than the entire rest of the horde combined, aside from any working in law enforcement. And I have probably lived more places in the US than 95% of those here. I am intimately familiar with how our country is broken.

I stand by my words. There are no cities in the US over ~50k that aren't dysfunctional shitholes, whether openly or just under the surface, and they are that way because the gov't functionary class has made them that way.

I can think of a few cities that are trying, hard, but I think what would be required to actually clean up the best prospects would be running 10-15k people right out of the city entirely. Progs ruin everything.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (N28JN)

168 Everyone I've ever met that extols how great it is to live in a big city sounds like they're recording a hostage video under threat of death every time they start running off at the mouth about it.

Posted by: ballistic at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (oqH4h)

169 I did watch Dredd a few days ago. It holds up really well. It's a shame they never did a sequel .

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (GseMx)

170 Like heterosexuality?

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at June 15, 2026 12:00 PM (bFu5X)

There it is.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (gr4k7)

171 "You keep looking for pictures and videos of "hot Latinas". Have you considered some "hot LatinOs?"

No? Well, here they are anyway.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (Riz8t)

172 Hell you think libs give a shit about exposing kids to porn? It's in the curriculum already. They just don't want kids getting the wrong ideas.
Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 11:58 AM

They want to f*ck your kids. In the head AND the ass.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (CfKHZ)

173 In my survey career I have laid out many ugly ass buildings.

Posted by: connected and litigious at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (cS1cw)

174 Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (GseMx)

Olivia Thirlby makes me think devastating mind thoughts of great and terrible things.

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (gr4k7)

175 I would like see more architecture similar to the downtown Los Angeles city hall.

Posted by: Pete Buttigieg at June 15, 2026 12:02 PM (HjaZ4)

176
"Little boxes, on the hillside..."
Posted by: Old Commie Hag at June 15, 2026 11:42 AM (+zlOu)

___________

Old Commie Hag would be delighted to have families shoved into 200 square foot communal apartments.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2026 12:03 PM (O0L8i)

177 I lived in NYC, Atlanta and Houston . I'd be lying if I didn't say I liked the suburbs of those cities much better.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:03 PM (GseMx)

178 It's funny how Miss Thirlby seems to have gone through this astonishing super cute phase and then just kind of splat

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 12:04 PM (gr4k7)

179 In some or many cases they just want the control.

Hell you think libs give a shit about exposing kids to porn? It's in the curriculum already. They just don't want kids getting the wrong ideas.
Posted by: ...

======
Some do but this happens in conservative jurisdictions too. Performative art means a lot of useless unenforceable laws done to claim problems are solved. And moral problems require a revival of morals in society rather than laws to be ignored.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:04 PM (E4rtv)

180

Fox Corporation on Monday announced it is acquiring Roku, Inc. for $160.00 per share in a deal valued at an enterprise value of $22 billion.

The combination pairs FOX's live entertainment, news and sports portfolios — including The Tubi service, the NFL, MLB and FOX News Media — with the top television streaming platform in the U.S. by hours streamed, accelerating the company's expansion into connected TV advertising.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 15, 2026 12:04 PM (Cqx++)

181 Tyler Texas is building a new courthouse. The one being torn down was a hideous brutalist monstrosity form the 50’s, no one is sorry to see it go. I would describe the new one as a 21st century design with a 19th century inspiration. It’s got a huge copper dome and will completely dominate the rather small downtown area.

It’s costing a fortune, of course. But it’s mostly up and is quite impressive.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2026 12:06 PM (cx1bp)

182
Old Commie Hag would be delighted to have families shoved into 200 square foot communal apartments.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

Fifteen minute cities for all.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 15, 2026 12:06 PM (Cqx++)

183 178 It's funny how Miss Thirlby seems to have gone through this astonishing super cute phase and then just kind of splat
Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 12:04 PM (gr4k7)

Did she hit the wall?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

184 Fox Corporation on Monday announced it is acquiring Roku, Inc. for $160.00 per share in a deal valued at an enterprise value of $22 billion.

For how is that possible? I thought they were bankrupt after courts corruptly decided they owed Dominion all the money for correctly stating their voting machines were illegally tampered with and allowed the Biden 81 million ballot cheat.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:07 PM (CfKHZ)

185 "City living used to be necessary 200, 100 and even 40 years ago. The country folks didn't have TV signals, newspapers, access to a lot of things. Now everyone, everywhere in the US has good internet, delivery by Amazon.... the advantages of the city don't exist anymore.
Posted by: Lemmiwinks at June 15, 2026 11:59 AM (O60C/)"

I would disagree. I'm not fundamentally a city person but... it's really fucking nice to go out on the town for night, whether shopping or bar hopping or whatever.

But that kind of city experience doesn't exist in the US anymore; if you want it, you're going to be on a plane for hours.

North America is all bums and shit and criminals and invaders. We are way out here only because we got tired of literally fighting for our lives and for our property on a weekly or monthly basis. Carjackings get old and we refuse to play soros-DA-roulette just to get home alive.

Posted by: heya at June 15, 2026 12:07 PM (N28JN)

186 Just retired. I plan to do a lot of traveling, but never go into the downtown of a major city again.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at June 15, 2026 12:07 PM (izy1S)

187 This post reminds me the scene in Idiocracy where the view from St. God’s hospital shows one building tied to another so it won’t fall over.

Posted by: Unkaren at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (MaRK8)

188 I blame Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs went from aesthetic to stacked boxes.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (5P5DO)

189 Did she hit the wall?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

As everyone knows, the wall is undefeated.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (CfKHZ)

190 169 I did watch Dredd a few days ago. It holds up really well. It's a shame they never did a sequel .
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:01 PM (GseMx)

+1 for Truth

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (xcxpd)

191 179 In some or many cases they just want the control.

Hell you think libs give a shit about exposing kids to porn? It's in the curriculum already. They just don't want kids getting the wrong ideas.
Posted by: ...

======
Some do but this happens in conservative jurisdictions too. Performative art means a lot of useless unenforceable laws done to claim problems are solved. And moral problems require a revival of morals in society rather than laws to be ignored.
Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:04 PM (E4rtv)

In my state we got a new AG. She is extremely proud of pushing through the Age Verification law. She let everyone know. I do not frequent porn sites. I have a bit of a problem with involving the state with information gathering on individuals, especially in matters that could be used as a cudgel against them.

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (Gqar8)

192 I blame Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs went from aesthetic to stacked boxes.
Posted by: Ben Had at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (5P5DO)

I stayed in Copenhagen Arena last time I was in Denmark. They had buildings that looked like blocks that were of all different kinds just randomly stacked on each other, some times, uncomfortably offset.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:09 PM (CfKHZ)

193 Just retired. I plan to do a lot of traveling, but never go into the downtown of a major city again.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at June 15, 2026 12:07 PM (izy1S)

Congrats!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:09 PM (CfKHZ)

194 77 Uh, Seaside on 30A is the most sterile, soulless, uncanny valley place I've ever been. It's so fucking weird they filmed The Truman Show there. I'm not sure I would use that hellscape as a positive example of a great community.
Posted by: ballistic at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (oqH4h

Where are you from? I am convinced some of this is regional. I like 30A. I like Alys Beach, even if it is all white. At least Seaside has a little color going on. But I also love the little town I live in and the older sections of Mobile that aren’t scary and the epitome of cute.

Posted by: Piper at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (pZEOD)

195 189 Did she hit the wall?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

As everyone knows, the wall is undefeated.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (CfKHZ)

Sad but true, some women fight it well. MILFy yoga instructors, Elizabeth Hurley...

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (xcxpd)

196 8 I blame Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs went from aesthetic to stacked boxes.
Posted by: Ben Had at June 15, 2026 12:08 PM (5P5D

He was not a good person. Or at least what I know about his personal life which was weird.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (GseMx)

197 I stayed in Copenhagen Arena last time I was in Denmark. They had buildings that looked like blocks that were of all different kinds just randomly stacked on each other, some times, uncomfortably offset.

Maybe the architect just sucks at Tetris.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (Riz8t)

198 His designs went from aesthetic to stacked boxes.

Phoney.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (Kt19C)

199 168 Everyone I've ever met that extols how great it is to live in a big city sounds like they're recording a hostage video under threat of death every time they start running off at the mouth about it.
======
Singles often like it because of greater choice in the dating/sex market, same goes for people that like to dabble in drugs, homosexuals, etc. Ditto for creative types willing to live in crappy neighborhoods but congregate in clusters. These are people that feel out of place or judged in smaller cities/towns/or rural areas.

And for the very top crust that can afford to put their kids in ultra exclusive private schools, live in controlled access buildings or enclaves with guards, and like the arts scene plus rubbing elbows with others of their same social class, then cities can work. They are shielded from the day to day reality of such places.

And some cities work better than others like NYC, San Fran, etc. You don't see the same extolling of the virtues of living in downtown Birmingham AL for example or Cleveland to the extent you do of 'international' cities.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (E4rtv)

200 The closest "city" to me probably has 30K residents. Most of it's commercial or medical. The focus has been (lately) on urban planning, or the lack of it. And traffic mitigation using roundabouts.

City Hall is a reclaimed 60's vintage department store. The courthouse is in the center of "old town" and mostly abandoned. It was going to be remodeled as a micro hotel and Bourbon bar, but much bitching canned that. The "hipster" area around it see's weekend night fights among the urban hipsters and the ghetto hipsters.

We don't frequent "downtown."

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 15, 2026 12:11 PM (jehhT)

201
Sad but true, some women fight it well. MILFy yoga instructors, Elizabeth Hurley...

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (xcxpd)

Plastic surgeons. Some do their jobs well. Some should be sued into oblivion.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:11 PM (CfKHZ)

202 As everyone knows, the wall is undefeated.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026

I am fighting that dang wall!

Posted by: Piper at June 15, 2026 12:11 PM (OoFl2)

203 Phoney =:phooey damn autodildo

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at June 15, 2026 12:11 PM (Kt19C)

204 I am fighting that dang wall!

Posted by: Piper at June 15, 2026 12:11 PM (OoFl2)

"Death becomes her."

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:12 PM (CfKHZ)

205 In my state we got a new AG. She is extremely proud of pushing through the Age Verification law. She let everyone know. I do not frequent porn sites. I have a bit of a problem with involving the state with information gathering on individuals, especially in matters that could be used as a cudgel against them.
Posted by: tubal

Not all problems in society are legal problems; many are in fact personal and societal problems better addressed by stronger families and stronger societal norms to correct bad behavior.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:12 PM (E4rtv)

206 204 I am fighting that dang wall!

Posted by: Piper at June 15, 2026 12:11 PM (OoFl2)

"Death becomes her."
Posted by: Sponge
=======
I didn't think ghosts have mass.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:13 PM (E4rtv)

207 Plastic surgeons. Some do their jobs well. Some should be sued into oblivion.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12

My good friend’s husband is a good one. He refuses to do crazy looking stuff.

Posted by: Piper at June 15, 2026 12:13 PM (OoFl2)

208 Some former sex symbols just give in to the wall.

Rachel Ward and Bridget Fonda are two that come to mind. Nothing wrong with that.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:13 PM (GseMx)

209 The pic on the left is the Borg.

Brutalism is a septic sore. It is an architectural version of form following production techniques with no attempt to soften the look.

The only funny one I have seen is the Fundación Santa Fe Hospital in Bogotá Colombia. It looks like the Empire got assimilated by the Borg. Lots of brick buildings in Bogotá

https://tinyurl.com/yd2ehdac

Posted by: Kindltot at June 15, 2026 12:13 PM (rbvCR)

210 One of the shrieking leftist women I know on Facebook is losing it over the MMA fight and why it wasn't free for all to see. Guess she doesn't want the fighters paid

Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 15, 2026 12:14 PM (ufO5q)

211 200 The closest "city" to me probably has 30K residents. Most of it's commercial or medical. The focus has been (lately) on urban planning, or the lack of it. And traffic mitigation using roundabouts.

City Hall is a reclaimed 60's vintage department store. The courthouse is in the center of "old town" and mostly abandoned. It was going to be remodeled as a micro hotel and Bourbon bar, but much bitching canned that. The "hipster" area around it see's weekend night fights among the urban hipsters and the ghetto hipsters.

We don't frequent "downtown."
Posted by: Martini Farmer
=======
A useful data point.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:14 PM (E4rtv)

212 I didn't think ghosts have mass.

We're light, but still have mass.

Posted by: Neutrinos, aka ghost particles at June 15, 2026 12:14 PM (Riz8t)

213 Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging.

Posted by: Anthony Kiedis at June 15, 2026 12:15 PM (wBRco)

214 Williams house.
Beechwood market.
Art supply store on Ventura bl.
Baldwin house.
Bachelor pad w indoor outdoor pool Hollywood hills.

Lautner.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at June 15, 2026 12:15 PM (Kt19C)

215
My good friend’s husband is a good one. He refuses to do crazy looking stuff.
Posted by: Piper at June 15, 2026 12:13 PM (OoFl2)

I have a friend that is a very successful florist. She's made a lot of money over the years. She went full "rich woman" and got herself gutted like a fish, breast implants, botox and lips. The surgeon isn't my idea of good as she now has duck lips.

I've never understood why women insist on doing that to themselves.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:15 PM (CfKHZ)

216 210 One of the shrieking leftist women I know on Facebook is losing it over the MMA fight and why it wasn't free for all to see. Guess she doesn't want the fighters paid
Posted by: Smell the Glove

Heh, smelly leftist commies chicks not welcome at the Thunderdome. She gets Bette Midler yodeling at the counter protest instead. Gatekeeping is a neglected but important task in today's society.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:15 PM (E4rtv)

217 He was not a good person. Or at least what I know about his personal life which was weird.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:10 PM (GseMx)

He wasn't a good architect either. The family he foisted "Falling Waters" on? They had wanted their new house to feature a *view* of the river because it was their favorite picnic spot. He destroyed everything they loved about the property in order to build a maintenance nightmare that one of the children called "Rising Damp".

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 15, 2026 12:16 PM (lFFaq)

218 213 Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging.
Posted by: Anthony Kiedis at June 15, 2026 12:15 PM (wBRco)

That is some Red Hot advice!!!

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 12:16 PM (Gqar8)

219 Massachusetts voted out rent control statewide the year after I graduated BU law. Ted Gullickson, rent control rabble rouser, found himself out of a job and moved to San Francisco where he became a thorn in my side for 15 years until he dropped dead one day.

Posted by: Dark Lixtiquatal at June 15, 2026 12:16 PM (DZ9Lv)

220 208 Some former sex symbols just give in to the wall.

Rachel Ward and Bridget Fonda are two that come to mind. Nothing wrong with that.
Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:13 PM (GseMx)

It makes me sad, like seeing what Janine did to her body.
Beauty should be celebrated.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:16 PM (xcxpd)

221 I've never understood why women insist on doing that to themselves.
Posted by: Sponge

They do it to compete with other women in their social circles. Same as other upper class fads and much of haute couture.

Posted by: whig at June 15, 2026 12:17 PM (E4rtv)

222 One of the shrieking leftist women I know on Facebook is losing it over the MMA fight and why it wasn't free for all to see. Guess she doesn't want the fighters paid
Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 15, 2026 12:14 PM (ufO5q)

My willowed comment.

The Left hold a Transexual celebration party on the White House grounds where a packet of cocaine is discovered.

The Right holds a celebration of martial arts for its 250th with a military flyover and singing patriotic songs.

I think that about sums our political differences.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:17 PM (GseMx)

223 Some former sex symbols just give in to the wall.

Rachel Ward and Bridget Fonda are two that come to mind. Nothing wrong with that.

--

Brooke Shields and Elizabeth McGovern are two others. With all the freak faces in Hollywood, I have to say I admire women like them for leaving their faces alone.

Posted by: Lady in Black at June 15, 2026 12:17 PM (qBdHI)

224
The Left hold a Transexual celebration party on the White House grounds where a packet of cocaine is discovered.

And let's not forget trannies taking off their shirts at the WH to show off their "breasts".

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:19 PM (Riz8t)

225
Went up to NJ last week for a family reunion at the shore. Even though I grew up in PA, after living in Texas for so long I was amazed by the tiny parking lots, tiny stores and tiny streets in the Northeast. Everything was pinched and crabbed. I felt liberated when I got home.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2026 12:19 PM (O0L8i)

226 I love that hotel that Wright designed in Tokyo that’s no longer there.

Posted by: Bulg at June 15, 2026 12:19 PM (77rzZ)

227 I love that hotel that Wright designed in Tokyo that’s no longer there.

FLW is always the name mentioned by people who know absolutely nothing about architecture. As if that makes them one of the cognoscenti.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:20 PM (Riz8t)

228 Recommended read, 'From Our house to Bauhaus'.

Excerpts:

"I once saw the owners of such a place driven to the edge of sensory deprivation by the whiteness & lightness & leanness & cleanness & bareness & spareness of it all."

"Every great law firm in New York moves without a sputter of protest into a glass-box office building with concrete slab floors and seven-foot-ten-inch-high concrete slab ceilings..."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 15, 2026 12:21 PM (XeU6L)

229 I'm an architect too.

Posted by: George Costanza at June 15, 2026 12:22 PM (UjdFS)

230 Did she hit the wall?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 15, 2026 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

At like 28 - some chicks just want to do stuff to their look, I don't get it but to each their own

Posted by: ... at June 15, 2026 12:22 PM (gr4k7)

231 He’s an Architect and He’s okay
He sleeps all night and He works all day

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 12:23 PM (Gqar8)

232 that’s no longer there.

Destroyed for a world fair.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at June 15, 2026 12:23 PM (Kt19C)

233 At BBC: "'Spider-Man of Yemen' dies falling into volcanic crater"

Not to worry: volcano was dormant, not active.

Posted by: gp at June 15, 2026 12:24 PM (Jr5Lq)

234 Here is my to be willowed comment, I like modern architecture. The "classical" had its time and place.

Posted by: runner at June 15, 2026 12:24 PM (GD0B3)

235 But a small bit of generational jab, reflection of the target customer; when they had children, it was bright colors and playgrounds.
Now that the nest is empty, it's dull serious and adult.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at June 15, 2026 11:13 AM (73/SM)

Perhaps. But adulthood has for a long time been modeled as dull, drab, devoid of joy, fun, whimsy, dreams, and imagination. To "grow up" is a form of self-annihilation. Soul-killing monochromes, mind-numbing repetition, and uninspired carbon-copies of carbon-copies of everything else without personality. Why does it have to be that way?

Posted by: The dim light of a dying world at June 15, 2026 12:24 PM (TbWk/)

236 I'm an architect too.
Posted by: George Costanza at June 15, 2026 12:22 PM (UjdFS)

Although in my spare time I sell latex.

Posted by: also George Costanza at June 15, 2026 12:25 PM (wBRco)

237 A bud's son, early 20's, declared the other day that the US is now a fascist nation.

"WHAT!?!?! How do you get that?"

"Trump had a parade to show he's the greatest ever and has the biggest ego."

"That parade was for the MILITARY and gave them the opportunity to show their wares and be appreciated for what they are. Barack Owebama was the most narcissistic f*ck to ever occupy the White House."

"This conversation is over."

"Good to see you have an open mind."

If you look up the history of the word "fascist," it was created to describe Benito Mussolini. If you think Trump is ANYTHING like Benito Mussolini, you're a f*cking dumbass and shouldn't have any conversation about politics ever again.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:25 PM (CfKHZ)

238

So long, Frank Lloyd Wright
I can't believe your song is gone so soon
I barely learned the tune
So soon, so soon

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 15, 2026 12:25 PM (Cqx++)

239 And who thinks to put a glass pyramid in front of the Lourve ?

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:25 PM (GseMx)

240 The two buildings pictured at top? I don't want to live in either one of them. Architect me a ranch house with some space around it. That's good enuf.

Posted by: gp at June 15, 2026 12:26 PM (Jr5Lq)

241
If you look up the history of the word "fascist," it was created to describe Benito Mussolini.

It was coined BY Mussolini.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:26 PM (Riz8t)

242 238 I never laffed so long.

Posted by: gp at June 15, 2026 12:26 PM (Jr5Lq)

243 Terzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, Jørn Utzon. What's not to like.

Posted by: runner at June 15, 2026 12:26 PM (GD0B3)

244 He cuts down trees
To build houses
Where he plants wild flowers

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2026 12:27 PM (sgkY8)

245 Hawaii's Capitol building was designed to resemble a volcano.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:27 PM (GseMx)

246 Soul-killing monochromes, mind-numbing repetition, and uninspired carbon-copies of carbon-copies of everything else without personality. Why does it have to be that way?
Posted by: The dim light of a dying world
-------

It would seem that the understated elegance of Millennial Grey has escaped you.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 15, 2026 12:27 PM (XeU6L)

247
It was coined BY Mussolini.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 15, 2026 12:26 PM (Riz8t)

Thank you for the correction.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:27 PM (CfKHZ)

248
The trick to looking (relatively) young for movie stars appears to be-

1) Eternal exercise and proper dieting

2) Beginning early (30-ish?) start with itty-bitty plastic surgery modifications.

That seems to work much better than "OMG! I'm old now. Quick! I'm 68. Make me look 23 again!!!!"

3) Ozempic et al may be your friend if used early enough.

4) Know when to stop. Sooner or later you'll look like a freak if you keep going.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2026 12:27 PM (iJfKG)

249
It would seem that the understated elegance of Millennial Grey has escaped you.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 15, 2026 12:27 PM (XeU6L)

You just described my house.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:28 PM (GseMx)

250 Taupe delenda est !!!

Posted by: tubal at June 15, 2026 12:28 PM (Gqar8)

251 "I once saw the owners of such a place driven to the edge of sensory deprivation by the whiteness & lightness & leanness & cleanness & bareness & spareness of it all."

As someone who spent a summer working in an underground cubicle office I can attest to the accuracy of such observation.

Posted by: Daylight! Thank God for the daylight! at June 15, 2026 12:29 PM (TbWk/)

252 "'Spider-Man of Yemen' dies falling into volcanic crater"

Millipede Man of Macedonia: 'hold my beer.'

Posted by: gp at June 15, 2026 12:29 PM (Jr5Lq)

253 NOODlum.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:29 PM (CfKHZ)

254 Posted by: Daylight! Thank God for the daylight! at June 15, 2026 12:29 PM (TbWk/)

Joe vs the Volcano

The only part of the movie I liked.

Posted by: polynikes at June 15, 2026 12:30 PM (GseMx)

255 He wasn't a good architect either.
Have heard contractors would tell him "you can't build something that way" ie cantilevers that would fail.

Lautner built a cantilever driveway and proved it by parking loaded gravel along it's length till the inspectors begged him to stop.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at June 15, 2026 12:30 PM (Kt19C)

256 >>Massachusetts voted out rent control statewide the year after I graduated BU law. Ted Gullickson, rent control rabble rouser, found himself out of a job and moved to San Francisco where he became a thorn in my side for 15 years until he dropped dead one day.

Once rent control was abolished, living in Boston was the shnizz for a lot of years. I walked to Fenway, walked to the Garden, walked to work and my customers and of course walked to a huge variety of restaurants and bars. Walked by the museums too but those were mostly for smart people. And for those really long trips the T was cheap and available. Only time I drove was to the boat or the mountains.

Crime was something that happened other places. Never had any issues in the decades I lived in Boston. Cities aren't the problem. Leftists are the problem.

Posted by: JackStraw at June 15, 2026 12:30 PM (viF8m)

257 >>> 237
==
"This conversation is over."
==
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2026 12:25 PM (CfKHZ)

Shows what the ijits mean when they say 'conversation', doesn't it.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at June 15, 2026 12:32 PM (R+iUD)

258 While daylight is important, it can't overcome sterility. Places like this do not strike me as comfortble, homelike places to live.

https://shorturl.at/IIFhK

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 15, 2026 12:34 PM (XeU6L)

259 The new stuff - putting aside the quality - is ugly as fuck. Seriously what the fuck is wrong with architects these days? Is it millenails? Are they just straight up regarded? Must be.
Posted by: Heroq at June 15, 2026 11:28 AM (xg+/D)

Quite well regarded, by themselves.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at June 15, 2026 01:07 PM (ZVgZ4)

260 While daylight is important, it can't overcome sterility. Places like this do not strike me as comfortble, homelike places to live.

https://shorturl.at/IIFhK
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 15, 2026 12:34 PM (XeU6L)

Looks like a wonderful place to have a sad childhood. But first off, where are the curtains?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at June 15, 2026 01:10 PM (ZVgZ4)

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