One City Forgets, Another Tries to Remember

“Los Angeles is such a rapidly evolving city,” said Joel Kotkin, an urban historian who has lived [there] for 30 years. “There is an enormous turnover of people here,” Mr. Klotkin said. “You talk to people here about the ‘80s here, and it’s like you are talking about the Conquistadors. It is a place where people go on with their lives. O.J. was part of the L.A. shtick, and now it is gone.” (About the fading imprint of O.J. Simpson on the city, New York Times).

“A city is like a human being,” said [Vietnamese architect Nguyen Van] Tat. “It needs to have a past. There is a saying in Vietnam that even if the pages are frayed, a book must still have its spine.” (Article on booming development in Ho Chi Minh City, New York Times).