ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore some of the symbolism of urban appreciation. The ordinary citizen may not often pause to look at his own city with the eye of a visitor bent solely upon pleasure, nor regard its streets and institutions with true holiday spirit; still, he too must often be something of a tourist. The imagery which appears in such reputable magazines as Holiday is eminently respectable, appealing to publicly sanctioned motives; but, of course, there is also an imagery of enjoyable sin, passed mainly by word of mouth, which attracts visitors to certain cities. Some cities are so colorful, so picturesque, and so different that such demands probably are not needed. But when an author or a friend wishes to communicate some "essential" quality of a city once visited, a quality which he feels is not immediately apparent to a visitor, he is likely to use the prescriptive form.
