Neighbor Guy

City People. Urban Living. Other Stuff.

One City. Five Senses. (Yours.)

There are many ways to know your city -- through its restaurants or its sports teams, its monuments or its parks.

Depending on what part of town you're in, you might know your city through its distinct -- and not always flattering -- scent.

Some of the best ways to know your city are not always the most obvious. It could be that a pristine community garden smack dab in the middle of an otherwise gritty urban block impresses you more than 75,000 screaming football fans clad in a familiar shade of blue.

You are in the minority, dear horticulture lover, but you are not a freak.

That is the beauty of city life: Know thy city as you know thyself.

You might know your city from a friendly 24-hour diner situated on a once sleepy stretch of an industrial boulevard that only recently has shown signs of revival. You happened to happen across the diner at 3am, and it happened to serve up the finest, greasiest cheeseburger you have ever tasted.

Maybe music is how you know your city. Maybe it's in the jaunty strains of a narcocorrido emanating from a nightclub across the street from your favorite burrito joint.

The fact is you probably have no business knowing what a narcocorrido is. You have your city to thank for this precious bit of music insight.

It's the musicians you should tip, however.

A zigzagging 3-mile bike loop that runs through the heart of town, a self-serving cadre of politicians and their hilariously egregious excesses, a brewpub that serves a golden elixir modeled after a 2,000-year-old recipe unearthed in a royal Turkish tomb... These could all be ways to know your city.

And if they all happen to be in the same city, well, consider yourself one lucky urban dweller.

Knowing your city doesn't require a guide or a guidebook or a guide dog, although a guide dog would definitely be cool, particularly if his name is Giacomo.

Knowing your city simply takes your five senses and a willingness to use them. Alas, you may occasionally need to hold your nose.

City life is all around you, but only if you look.