ABSTRACT
It’s January of 2001, and I’m being given a tour by Michael Weinberg, a self-proclaimed “retro-futurist” and founder of the Internet firm Buzzbait, which occupies the Coyote’s sixth floor. “It’s not a very high-tech building,” he says of its decaying amenities. Likewise, several of the old industrial lofts scattered throughout the neighborhood are now home to design firms, many of which exploit the cutting-edge technologies of the informational economy in their contribution to the contemporary deluge of signs. Buzzbait is a boutique firm specializing in interactive web design for a small but impressive roster of corporate clients, including the local Tribune Corporation.1 This same view graced the cover of that month’s issue of the Industry Standard, an Internet trade publication, which announced that the neighborhood has become “the best new place for media companies”2 like this one.
