Far From Home
Circumstances over the weekend brought into my hands something that I never expected to read, a copy of Bust Magazine. Bust is a women's magazine that caters to a 20-something hipster urban demographic. Flipping through I was surprised to find a travel article about Savannah, GA, my home town. These articles are always weird to me, it's so odd seeing a place that I knew some intimately described the way that travel writers often do. For Instance I doubt any local would ever describe Forsyth Park as a "vast green space."
All of the articles end up covering the same stuff... Bonaventure Cemetery, River Street, the Juliette Gordon Low House, etc. etc... not surprisingly given the aim of this magazine they included some things that I don't normally see like Club 1 (the local gay bar), a plug for the Savannah Derby Devils rollerderby team, and E. Shaver, the best bookstore in the city. But it also includes some stuff that is just downright bewildering... like suggesting the Thunderbird Inn as a "cheeky 60's alternative" to the more expensive hotels downtown. Now... unless things have changed drastically since I was last home the Thunderbird Inn is barely a step up from a crack den. It is (was?) a highly rundown motor lodge on the edge of town that would rent rooms by the hour if you asked the right questions at the desk. Though, I'll admit that it's been the better part of a decade since I was in that section of town, so maybe it cleaned up its act. The other real stunner was Joker Novelties, which they list as a "clean, well-lit place for adult toys, run by a mother/daughter team." Joker Novelty is just outside the Army Airforce base in town, and in my memory leaned much more towards the Spencer's Gifts style of party store novelties than "adult toys" and never really struck me as the type of place that I'd send a tourist.
All this really did though was make me the tiniest bit homesick. It's been more than a year and a half since I've been to Savannah, and I really do miss some parts of it. Maybe it's time to start planning a trip for spring?
All of the articles end up covering the same stuff... Bonaventure Cemetery, River Street, the Juliette Gordon Low House, etc. etc... not surprisingly given the aim of this magazine they included some things that I don't normally see like Club 1 (the local gay bar), a plug for the Savannah Derby Devils rollerderby team, and E. Shaver, the best bookstore in the city. But it also includes some stuff that is just downright bewildering... like suggesting the Thunderbird Inn as a "cheeky 60's alternative" to the more expensive hotels downtown. Now... unless things have changed drastically since I was last home the Thunderbird Inn is barely a step up from a crack den. It is (was?) a highly rundown motor lodge on the edge of town that would rent rooms by the hour if you asked the right questions at the desk. Though, I'll admit that it's been the better part of a decade since I was in that section of town, so maybe it cleaned up its act. The other real stunner was Joker Novelties, which they list as a "clean, well-lit place for adult toys, run by a mother/daughter team." Joker Novelty is just outside the Army Airforce base in town, and in my memory leaned much more towards the Spencer's Gifts style of party store novelties than "adult toys" and never really struck me as the type of place that I'd send a tourist.
All this really did though was make me the tiniest bit homesick. It's been more than a year and a half since I've been to Savannah, and I really do miss some parts of it. Maybe it's time to start planning a trip for spring?
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