What's London's message?

Apparently cities transmit messages to their residents. Daniel Rubin made a suitably miserable and half hearted attempt to work out Philadelphia's message. In the original essay that tipped off Dan's jibes, Paul Graham wrote that he thinks London sends both the fading message to be more aristocratic and also gives the impression that it admires hipness. The hipness, I totally agree with and intend to take some surreptitious photos of hipsters this weekend so you'll probably see what I mean. Yes, people like to have a mooch around boutiques and be first to get the latest and London is a fashion and arts mecca for the world's youths and kids do tend to be self interested and shallow. Pair the youthful traits with the enormous cost of living in London, I would definitely say there is a message to make lot's of money whatever way possible, but to make sure you look good in the process. I don't think that I can figure out a single message though. I think London, like most big cities, is difficult to call. Like Mr. Rubin, I can only think of obnoxious messages like "Interpersonal space boundaries are no longer relevant".

Unlike Rubin, I can think of a Philly message that's pretty loud - Go get some eats! With pretzel guys selling up and down medians, food trucks aplenty, pizza places, delis, and cheap diners throughout the city - you gotta get some food.Photo of the Dining Car from the Bridge and Tunnel Club - click to see the rest in the series. (If you don't see a picture, click here.)

I loved the Dining Car. I used to drool while staring at it from afar when my Mom used to take me with her to Pathmark for groceries. With shining chrome and neon signs, it looked like the best place in the world. I didn't really even go there until my late teens when I had a few friends that worked there and I'd sit drinking coffee and eating pie until their shift was done. It was full of old people (who are probably my age now) and really old people (the ones with grey hair), but they sure did have great pie.