Thinking ahead of where to travel next, we've been wondering where the most AT readers are (outside of NY and LA). We've received emails from readers in many different places saying they'd like to have a site of their own. Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is.
Here's a survey. We will use the results to help us determine where to launch next (and while you're voting, if you know of a REALLY GREAT writer/interiors guru in your city who wants the job, please let us know).
Philadelphia
Phoenix, AZ
If you plan on a trip soon I'd say New England for the fall foliage. If not, then my vote goes to San Francisco/Sausalito.
As much as I would love to see parts of Canada I'm putting that off until they stop the slaughter of baby seals. Nothing Canandian until then.
toronto...canada...
seattle
boston is so close ... and we promise lovely hibernation tips when you come to visit.
Hey Maxwell,
You need to bone up on taste. I just read your comments on Stuart Pivar's apartment in a 2004 article. You haven't got a clue. First of all, Renaissance furniture has become rare and when you do find it, it is prohibitively expensive. Stuart's apartment is an exercise in exquisite taste, some of which you need to partake in. Please learn a few things before commenting on a subject you know nothing about.
Tel Aviv
Denver, Colorado.
Boston Boston Boston. I can write about lofts and color-changing lights ;)
Seattle is often overshadowed but is well-deserving.
Ooooh, I was just thinking this weekend how cool it would be if Apartment Therapy opened up a Chicago branch. There's lots of great shopping in the Windy City. We're not all fannypacks and sequined holiday sweaters, I promise.
Mumbai, India! The dwell scene here is very hot...Lots of talented designers and architects!
Okay, A Henson, you did it. You drew me out of the sleepy revery of posting... The article you are referring to
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/main/archives/000992.html
was in House and Home and the WRITER (quoting S. Pivar) of that article said that Renaissance furniture was cheaper and easier to collect AND we did think it was creepy, but if you read AT daily, you know we love eccentric styles - even creepy ones. Welcome! Read a little more, and don't worry, there's room here for all of us.
birmingham, alabama ... you inspire our development and architecture work daily ... would love a regional south edition
D.C.
Tokyo. I would LOVE to see what they do with small apartments - particularly families. I want to know about their products, design, everything.
Funky and fun Austin, Texas (recently transplanted from funky and cold Madison, Wisconsin). There is a great design culture here.
You must, must, must do Chicago. Both coasts are represented, now the fly-over zone needs some love.
They have the only CB2. Doesn't that tell you something dammit? ;^)
Another vote for Austin. We've reached a critical mass with the design community and it's starting to hop down here.
I would have said the obvious- Chicago, land of great design, but since I'm in Dallas I'll say Dallas. This city needs help.
Boston! It's an incredible, charming city with tons of history, loads of creative students, and a completely unique character. However, it's way behind New York, LA, Seattle, and San Fran in terms of design resources. In short, Boston NEEDS Apartment Therapy to breathe some life into it! Come to BOSTON!
Baltimore - DC
Chicago Chicago Chicago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do love seeing other people's apartments. I'm in Vancouver, Canada, but for the time being I can get my west coast fix on la at. I vote for Tokyo, too.
Seattle/Vancouver BC
Albuquerque, NM...I know it's a long shot.
Seattle
Fort Collins, Colorado--1 hour north of Denver.
Toronto! Or Vancouver, or Montreal (local bias, so they're admittedly at a distant second). It's interesting to look at all the American design resources, but they don't all ship across the border, and there aren't many good Canadian design magazines. We need help!
Washington DC!
Puh-LEASE consider Charlotte, NC.
This little city is growing at light speed and, the small living space comunity along with it! There are new apartments, condos and small houses going up all over the place! We even have million dollar condos now! Don't laugh. That was unheard of 10 yrs ago (I'm a native. I know). Besides, the old southern sensibility was, "If you have the means, why not buy a house?" With so many new transplants from all over being imported everyday; the apartment/condo way of life has become en vogue along with the gutting/restoration of houses from the turn of the century and mid-century.
Come on down! We'll be glad to have you!
TORONTO!
Washington, DC!
washington dc please
Philadelphia please!
Reef
Whoops- I thought the question was, where were we. Now I see it's where should you open up next. I said DC, but I meant I am in DC, not that you should open up in DC. I think you should do San Francisco. Or, nowhere, and just continue with two cities for a while.
Anything in the Philadelphia or Washington, DC/Baltimore markets would be great!
I'm in St. Louis, but think Chicago is the next logical step.
Montreal Canada
Chicago.... I thought it odd when the CB2 banner ads came along when their only retail locations are in Chicago. Chicago is filled with apartment dwellers living in cramped quarters. My 520 sq ft could sure use the help.
PHILADELPHIA!
Another vote for Philadelphia!
I would love to become apart of AT especially with the begining construction of so many codo's.
OMAHA,NE
I'm not opposed to these other cities being represented regularly on a main AT site (actually, I'd love it.. contributed by semi-regular "city editors")... but I still wonder whether decentralization of AT is the way to go.
I mean, isn't much of the stuff universal? Aren't regional sources able to be accessed from other places? Does it matter where an interior design or clutter-busting solution comes from, for it to be inspiring?
Please do Chicago. There is so much to offer in design and there are pleanty of cramped apartments to feature.
Please do Chicago. There is so much to offer in design and there are plenty of cramped apartments to feature.
I'd love an AT - Manchester, NH, but I'm quite sure I'll never see it. Ever. I suppose Boston is close enough, so my vote goes there.
Washington, DC! DC needs design!!! Although, I kinda agree with the other Patrick's decentralization thing...I enjoy hearing and seeing everyone's design advice. However, it would be nice to hear about stores and actually be able to GO to them (aside from my semi-annual trips to NYC). I'd vote Philly a close second, even though I don't live there anymore....it's always trying to be like NYC anyway. :)
I grew up in philly, and think it would be a great place for you to launch. However, I live in boston now, and it really needs alot of help in the the style/ingenuity/design categories.
ps- I am also a professional product designer/director/developer of housewares. if you need a position filled once you launch in boston!
I'm with Patrick (the other one) on this. I'm not sure that there would be enough GOOD material to sustain individual place sites for any length of time.
Perhaps have regional "guest" cities within the LA and NY sites?
I'm in Nashville, so coverage in the Southeast would be much appreciated. Most of the "big culture" here is in Atlanta, but Nashville isn't so far behind. It's not as redneck as you think... ;)
I'm with P(too) as well - I'd rather read it all on one site
but if you must triangulate
my vote is for Tokyo or London
I'm with Christy. Both coasts are represented and now the flyover zone needs some love. Definitely Chicago... if you want to keep this in the States.
Austin!
Atlanta! It could also be the hub for AT of the South.
Chicago--not only do we have the only CB2, but we've got a Merchandise Mart filled with furniture, Nate Berkus, and happening Bucktown.
To be honest, I would just be happy to see some Chicago apartments and more Chicago coverage on the regular AT site. (Nothing beats seeing New Yorkers work wonders with a 300 to 500 sq. foot apartment.)
Washington, DC! Please please please!
I agree with P(too), I like one-stop shopping.
grand rapids, MI
Pittsburgh, PA
OK, I'm convinced. I like the idea of one site with guest cities, too. The NYC base doesn't matter. AT is plenty inspiring even though hopping over to Pearl Paint is impossible for me.
btw, like the new slogan. What keeps going through my head, though, is something you said yourselves - "because community is what AT is all about." Too many sites might weaken that. Dwell mag's boards are really city specific, and as a result traffic is very, very light.
But I'd still be very keen on seeing some teeny-tiny Tokyo apartments, if you start doing field trips.
What a can of worms you've opened. I think it would be great to get regular contributors from various cities around the country, regional design trends and sources, but I tend to agree with P(too) that this could easily end up getting too splintered rather than dealing with more universal apartment design problems.
Dallas!
Help the terminally un-hip.
Washington, DC! Please please please!
I'll add a couple of pleases and throw in a beg, if necessary.
Philadelphia, PA
What about something like one main site with shopping "channels" for different cities that you can click into? Actually, I've never really liked having a second site, since it feels like a community splitter, although I completely understand why people would want a separate site. Guess it's partly about what you most like the site for. I guess if I was in NY or LA, I might run out to some of the shopping venues cited, but I don't really care that much that I can't (being in DC), since I'm more interested in the online exchanges, the contests, the photos of people's places, and the more general design info.
Seattle!!!
(although Mumbai would be really cool too)
This New Yorker votes for Second City!!! I agree with the others who mentioned that both coasts are represented, so we need a little heartland. And Chicago has a style all it's own with heavy emphasis on beautiful architecture.
Yet another vote for Austin. There are some amazing opportunities down here!
I live in Norfolk, VA but I would vote for DC/Baltimore!
Another long-shot vote for Albuquerque!
Austin, Texas, perhaps?
I vote for the DC region!
San Francisco!
I'm with P(TOO) -- I'm not in NY but am plenty inspired by AT as is. I think the occasional guest post or alternate city suggestion would be plenty. Especially if one of the occasional posts could be about DC :D (Tho I'm also a big fan of the Mumbai suggestion -- don't you LOVE Atmosphere?!)
washington DC!
austin, texas!
Seattle.
And I think dividing up the site is a poorly thought out idea. I'd venture that most of your readers are from neither NYC or LA.
One site. One front page. World wide inspiration.
Clicking back and forth between the sites is a chore. And I often don't bother.
go for it.
I'm in Minneapolis, but I'm voting for Chicago.
SEATTLE!!!
What a wild thread!
(this is special, for Patrick) On the franchising question, just wanted you to know that were not getting all mogully here at this dishevelled office, rather we were just thinking ahead and seeing what makes sense. In order to support ourselves we need to have more cities eventually (for advertising) and I have always envisioned AT as a local site, listing local sources that help people locally. True alot of our blogging is "everywhere" but at least two things a day are specifically local for the Guide....
Columbus, Ohio here...
and Patrick (the other one) is right. Why water down your AT brand by scattering your readers to a variety of sites? Feature cities and highlight their particular style just like you currently do with your local apartments.
There's very little that is posted about NYC that doesn't also apply to or interest me here in Columbus, Ohio.
I love the site and it's entertaining reading. It's on my list of regular House Porn.(design/decorating that it is fun to watch but I wouldn't necessarily do)
sjv
how about doing a weekly city focus? or do a different city focus every month? then people can continue to respond to posts in other places.
it would be inspiring and refreshing to see design from other regions, like the northwest (portland and seattle); and then another time the middle (chicago, minneapolis) etc. i think it would add a whole other dimension. we in los angeles and new york have so much accessible to us and tend to see things in terms of the two coasts (at least i am guilty of that) so it would be great to be exposed to design ideas elsewhere, too.
Seattle!
Minneapolis, but also voting for Chicago (we have a chicago avenue and it's only 6 hours away. Minneapolis doesn't deserve much more than a parasitic relationship anyway)
CANADA!
C'mon, anywhere in Canada, we don't care. Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, Iqaluit...
I know I'm not the only one here...I've told a lot of Canadian peeps about AT.
:)
CANADA! 'Cause our beer is stronger!
Another voice from Columbus, Ohio . . . (Hello, sjv!). As so many others have, I echo P(Too)'s sentiments. So much of what's posted is as inspiring and encouraging to me here in the midwest as if I was living in New York. Plus, generally, the unique and specific NYC resources that I can't match locally are but a phone call or mouse-click away.
Another vote for Seattle!
I'm with Patrick. AT would be better undiluted. I'd love to here about all the great design in one place, as opposed to going through heaps of sub city sites. Guest city months/weeks sounds fab. Especially as I'm guessing there will never be an AT for my dear city - Auckland , New Zealand!
Canada, most definitely Canada.
Montreal, Canada
Could you still support yourself with advertising by having a "shopping" page for each city, plus a daily local open topic on the same page, so there is constant local traffic? Just wondering. I fear that all the wisdom and sharing will get fragmented otherwise.
The more I think about it, the more I like the centralized AT. I mean, if you live in an apartment, it really doesn't matter where it is...except for local resources...and those could be featured elsewhere on the site, maybe? Though, if you must spread out, like I said before...DC!
DC, please!!!
I was going to say that it would be ridiculous to do an AT for my area, Columbus, but hey, it seems like we have a presence here. ;) This town has a lot of art people in it, and a lot of lovely arts&crafts bungalows, but also a lot of students with ugly old couches out on their porches. (Maybe we Columbus kids should set up a meet-up of people who are willing to help each other out with home projects?)
I voted for Chicago. Closest to home that is justfiable.
It seems to me that, if diversification is necessary for survival, it might be prudent to do AT for one of TX's major cities. Geographically, because it's both central and southern, and because the cities there are major ones that are often disregarded by northerners. And since FL has its own style (seriously - I lived there from the ages of 11-27), Miami wouldn't hurt either. SF is too close to LA to currently merit its own AT, and ditto Boston (or Philly, or DC) with NYC.
I say Atlanta, but my alter ego down the road in Birmingham has already canceled out my vote.
Seriiously, I've just moved to a great mid-century apt. here in Atlanta (http://www.msmearch.com/academic/emory.html),and am doing a sort of softened early 70s danish modern thing, and would love love love it if someone would tell me where people get great design around these parts.
So far, everything cool I have is from my parents' first purchases of furniture from scandesign Orlando in 1970 and a couch from my grandmother.
So I'm voting Atlanta! I know good design is here, and we just got Ikea, and West Elm is coming so we're moving on up.
Seattle again! And if you do ever decide to open up a branch here, I'd love to contribute.
Fragmentation should definitely be a concern when growing the AT concept... How about this as a suggestion. If multiple city pages were the goal, is there a way to program the "universal" topics to run live simultaneously on the various city pages? That way all comments would hit the same thread, regardless of which city page the poster is on. City-specific topics could be unique to each city page, with the most interesting ones linked to the AT home page. (My frustration with the LA page is seeing the same topics on both sites, but my comments only showing up on one site or another.) But bottom line, I think AT should grow because it is, after all, a business and a source of revenue for our fearless leaders.
Conversely, I think the challenge for Alec and any future city editors is to find engaging local or unique topics to draw visitors from the other city sites, not just repeating topics that were run previously on one of the other sites.
SEATTLE! there's some a great design world here. Come by and i'll give you a tour.
I'm in Sicily but I really doubt there are enough people here who read the site. I also think dividing up the site would make it too convoluted. I obviously don't live in LA or NY but I still read everyday. I really enjoy looking at people's homes and learning about new websites. I like the regional guest section idea. "International" would probably sum up all the overseas readers, rather than trying to make it too specific. I don't think there are enough of us to divide us up further.
There seems to be quite a lot of people from Seattle who enjoy this site - maybe we should get together sometimes? Maybe we could even get Maxwell to fly over and join us? Just a thought.
I live in Atlanta, GA and have several friends I have introduced to the site that read it habitually. It's very addictive! I just bought a loft in midtown and I've gotten many ideas on how to decorate it from here, so thanks very much!
philadelphia!
so many apartments, so few people to fill them.
Washington, DC is most deserving of your attention where a large portion of its population lives in high-density apartment and condo buildings with more being built every day as people chose to move from the MD/VA suburbs into the city.
A city page could be added to your existing report that focuses on local contributors as well as purveyors of goods and services - with a DC editor.
Design is finally coming-of-age in DC, with the 14th Street hip shelter/design shops as well as in Georgetown on M Street where a number of firms, that were previously to-the-trade, have opened up shops for public consumption.
Seattle/Vancouver BC, please!
Another Austin Texas!
do Seattle, PLEASE -- because i am a new yorker who i fear will eventually (and reluctantly) have to move there as it is my husband's home and he is a one-city kind of man and is oh-so tired of new york. AT - help me love seattle!
It'd be nice if there was an Atlanta site - a lot of the city's newer development would lend itself to the advice given here - lots of condos/apts/townhomes.
"... in DC, with the 14th Street hip shelter/design shops..." When I was a kid, 14th Street was here the men from the burbs would go to pick up hookers. My how things have changed in our Nation's Capitol!
TORONTO!!
Apartment hunting/living in TO may not be as warlike as living in NY, but it's difficult sometimes. We're going through a condo boom and I'm sure folks could use some help personalizing their new spaces.
London of course. Although I'd still like to see all the posts on the same page - I'm sure I'm always missing something interesting.
Yikes!
I live in Montreal. But seriously, I don't see the point of having separate sites for every city. I'd rather there be just one site, so I don't have to check here and there and there and there and there in order to read everything. It could be just one site, but if you could recruit editors in many cities, who could post about local resources and take photos for apartment tours, and add all that to the main site, that would be so great.
have to throw in my vote for dc!
austin please.
puh-leez: Washington, DC, where style and innovation are badly needed.
Or New Orleans...? Could be interesting to help them out from the foundations up.
i second, third, forth the mumbai or tokyo votes... lets see what you can do with ridiculously small apartments and crammed, over-stimulating city living to scare any new yorker.
As much as I'd love an AT-Dallas, I fear that there'd be almost zero content!
I never remember to look at AT-LA.
Love the idea of an AT-USA. (Or AT-World.) Do let me know if you need a voice from Dallas!
Washington DC
I agree with comments that simply doing a non-localized version of the site might be good. Honestly, the NYC-centricity has bugged me from the start, but it's not my site, so I don't expect to be able to dictate the focus. (I only started posting recently, but I've read on and off since the beginning. The "off" times were mostly because of the being-put-off-by-NYC-centricity-factor. I did not, at first, understand that the blog initially tied in with a NYC business.)
For those talking about Tokyo, check out the book Tokyo: A Certain Style by Kyoichi Tsuzuki - it's all about tiny, cluttered apartments and inventive storage solutions, and kitchen and bathroom fittings that do double or triple duty. I don't know that an "AT: Tokyo" would be such a great idea, though, because it would have to essentially be a Japanese site. I think that if someone in Japan wants to do something like this, it should grow organically on their end.
Wash DC!
I've got more than my fair share of Philly pride but realistically I already know a lot about housing/shopping in Philly. Plus Philly is close enough to New York that I feel I already benefit from the NY site as a local.
What I would love to see/read more about is small space living and design in Mumbai and/or Tokyo.
Philadelphia or Chicago would be great areas for a new AT
I like the regional idea. I lived in the SF Bay Area and now live in Portland OR and I think there is a lot to be said for cross fertilization between the East and West Coasts, the Midwest and South. I second the idea of including, perhaps on an occasional basis, areas outside the US--Tokyo, London, Montreal,etc. I may be stepping on toes, but I can't get excited about just adding another city on the East Coast (sorry DC, Boston!)
Another vote for Seattle!!
I vote for San Diego - we may be bankrupt, but we're beautiful! The downtown area is being seriously revitalized and there's alreday a world-class contemporary art museum in town, with two locations!
AUSTIN please!!
Denver, CO!
AUSTIN
Modernism is hot in Austin Texas!!
Come to Austin and visit Austinmodern Vintage while you're here!
East Windsor :)
It sounds like everyone wants Apartment Therapy in their own backyard. I think you have something here :-)
Washington, DC
Lincoln, NE.
We're a college town, so small space living is the norm. There are over 25,000 students here and countless young single professionals. I would be happy to run the blog. As an architecture student with an art minor and training in website design and maintanence, I think I could do a bang up job. With judicious advertising, I think it could quickly become a fad. I also believe between Lincoln and Omaha (50 miles away) we have more than enough infrastructure (shops, artists, home events, etc.) to support a good blog. Just thinking out loud. :-) Have a great day!
Monica Sanford
Lincoln, NE
& Omaha, NE
Vancouver, please!
Ask anyone and they will tell you about how our housing boom has resulted in so many of us living in shoeboxes (or worse yet, on the street) ... We are in dire need of Apartment Therapy!
Pacific NW (Seattle/Portland...maybe even Vancouver).