A few weeks ago, before Abe and I ventured to Christchurch, we stopped off in Dunedin--the southern most city on the South Island. I did not want to write about the city until now because I felt conflicted. I spent almost a week in Dunedin and loved the city, but I felt a bit guilty when I thought about why. Because I think the reason I liked it so much is because it reminded me of Brooklyn or of the blocks surrounding University of Columbia in New York.
The first time I went to Brooklyn to visit my friend Ashley, I absolutely fell in love with it because of the stores and restaurants. I got a wonderful feeling I’d never had before: like a future déjà vu. When I would pop into a restaurant or store, I would think “This is the exact restaurant that I want to own!” or “everything I would ever buy is all in one place”. I felt the joy of being surrounded by strangers who must be kindred spirits. Store and cafe owners who liked the things I liked, and maybe in another life we’d great friends. Brooklyn and New York have felt to me like a kind of home to me, even though I’ve never lived there, because they house some of my favourite things in the world all in one place: independently-owned unique cafes, artsy shops, and loungy spots to see live music. These are all of the things I loved about Dunedin too, but I feel it’s unfair because I loved them about New York first.
In Dunedin, there were cafes and coffee spots on every corner, and each morning I felt overwhelmed at all of the terrific options for breakfast. Café and bar names were short and sleek like: Governor’s, Good Oil, The Fix, Ra, or Craic. The décor in almost all of the shops and restaurants were either modern and artistic—some even had university student work on the walls and most places had art for sale—or beautiful old buildings with stained glass windows, high arched ceilings, or exposed brick walls.
Since Dunedin is the host of the annual New Zealand Fashion Week, Dunedin does house some more expensive shops, but after about two blocks of those, you’re again passing “funk shops,” three second-hand bookstores piled floor to ceiling with beautiful old books, and a handful of pure Brooklyn shops. The stores that sell gorgeous, unique jewelry, art, home decorations, and knickknacks, a lot of which is handmade. The girls working in these shops are always helpful and artistic and sometimes mention asking the artists themselves if you have a question about a particular item.
My first day in Dunedin I got breakfast at Governor’s, a place recommended to me by my awesome co-worker, Rosie, who is from the city. She was actually so excited that I was visiting her town that she typed me up a list of things I needed to do. Governor's was one of the premier mentions on the list: “Their breakfast is AMAZING,” she gushed, and man, she wasn’t lying. While I was eating, I looked at the art bulletin board that covered one wall of the café, full of napkin art customers tacked up, and flyers advertising events. I leafed through the Otago Daily Times newspaper that was sitting on a nearby table and found out that a beatboxing champion was hosting a show at one of the bars that night. Uh oh, I was in love.
When Abe and I walked around that evening, we found that not only was a beatboxer playing at one bar, but almost every other bar featured live music at least one night a week, and most had it more than one. The center of Dunedin is an octagon of stores and bars, and when we passed through it all of the bars had a different live band: some playing fantastic covers and others playing original music, but all of them had some people dancing. Other people were sitting on couches over coffees or cocktails, appearing deep in happy and stimulating conversations with friends.
The entire city had a romantic feel to it: the center of the city was in a small valley on the coast with the small hills lit up with houses surrounding it. My hostel was on one of these hills and it was in a tall, charming old building overlooking a stone cathedral, and it was named after the school in Harry Potter (Hogwartz). So clearly I have some kindred spirits in Dunedin too. Even though Brooklyn and New York City were where I had my first, “I want to drop everything and move here and make friends with all of MY people” experience, it does not mean I cannot have that experience again in a new city in a slightly different way.
My newfound love for Dunedin will not cheapen my love of New York; I’ve decided not to be monogamous in my affairs with cities. I want to collect little homes all around the world where I can feel the joy of a few things I love most all in one place.
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