Ever hosted an outdoor dinner party?  How about one smack in the middle of your sidewalk or street?  Well, this article in today’s New York Times Home and Garden section says that many New Yorkers have literally taken their entertaining to the streets, hosting everything from “backyard” barbecues to lavish dinners on 18th century tables in what New Urbanists (hence, we at the I’On Group) call the outdoor room: those public spaces in our communities bounded by streets, buildings, and hopefully a good number of trees, in which the buildings form the walls and the trees provide a natural roof. 

Of course, outdoor rooms vary as much as their indoor cousins, especially in a city as diverse as New York.  A couple of guys hold a casual dinner party at the Manhattan-side tower of the Brooklyn Bridge; one woman regularly converts the loading dock in front of her apartment building (a former warehouse) into a front porch with chairs, her laptop, and a dog bed for her pooch; the owner of an antique shop remembers hosting elaborate hibachi dinners on the sidwalk outside his shop, complete with antique tables, chairs, and golden torcheres.  As this elegant entertainer, Mr. Maurice Margules, says so, well, elegantly, “the streets are your own fantasy.” 

What an extraordinary concept for most places!  Can you imagine a group of people sitting at a card table brought out for the occasion, eating together, on a sidewalk in downtown Charleston?  Now, in New York as in everywhere else, gatherings such as these can’t interfere with other citizens’ use of the public space - but, as long as people can still make their way around, use of the streets and sidewalks is perfectly legal, and is even welcomed by the NYC Dept. of Transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan.  It’s called the “rule of reasonableness.” 

I don’t know whether we have such a rule here (I will find out), but for some reason, I can’t see an outdoor sit-down evening with friends being welcomed by the passers-by, not to mention the law enforcement community, in quite the same way.  Maybe it’s Charleston’s old Southern resistance to anything “unseemly” (in other words, different).  Such a thing would indeed turn heads, and not necessarily in a good way.  But honestly: wouldn’t it be fun? 

Maybe we can put together a streetside meal in Mixson, after our first residents make the big move (starting in August!).  What better way to welcome people home, than by celebrating not only their single houses, but the whole community: its streets, trees, sidewalks, buildings, and most importantly, the Mixsonites themselves.  After all, that’s what makes Mixson, Mixson - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  And I’m not just saying that because it’s an easy cliche that sounds nice.  It’s absolutely true. 

So, next time you decide to host a party, whatever kind, consider thinking outside the house a little - if you live in a pretty place, you might find that a sit-down dinner under the stars is just your thing.  It’s like Critical Mass for food and party lovers - think of it as your way of taking back the streets! 

P.S. Check out this video of Jackson Heights in Queens, which has decided to close down a street for 20 consecutive Sundays for children and families to play in!

 from Streetfilms.org

Filed under: I'On Group, I'On Village, Mixson, Morris Square, Videos & Photos on July 31st, 2008