In short
Guy Trebay discusses his “treat” of walking everywhere—using it as a way to participate in city life and as a journalistic method for observing politics and aesthetics of style.
Guest background
Guy Trebay is a writer known for charting politics and aesthetics of style, worked at The New York Times, and authored the memoir Do Something.
Key claims
walking with no plan is his durable joy; he does it in every city, even Los Angeles where car culture dominates; walking provides rich, on-the-ground insight.
Notable examples
taking the M4 bus up Madison Avenue in Manhattan, then walking home; in Los Angeles walking down Sunset where Tom Ford calls out from a car; his current Los Angeles focus on the Courtyard Historic District; comparisons to Paris retail and walking in Delhi.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOThe Joy of Walking in Cities
0:26 to 2:14
Guy Trebay shares his experiences of walking in various cities, including L.A.
“This is Guy Trebay, and this is The Treat.”
Walking Around the World
2:14 to 3:00
Guy discusses the differences in walking experiences across cities like New York, Paris, and Delhi.
“And it's just that feeling of being part of the world and in the life of the city, however anomalous you may be in the setting, it's always been important to me, and it's been very rich for me as a journalist.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00I'm Elvis Mitchell. This is The Treat. Writer Guy Trebay has made a sterling reputation charting the politics and aesthetics of style at places such as the New York Times and in his memoir, Do Something. For his treat, he does something, getting his feet on the ground in every city he visits, no matter how peculiar.
0:26This is Guy Trebay, and this is The Treat.
0:35The treat for me, the great joy for me in a very durable way is walking.
0:47And I do it in every city and I do it in my own city. And very customarily, I will get on the M4 bus that goes up Madison Avenue in Manhattan and then take it until I feel like jumping off and then walk home with no plan, with no particular aim in mind other than to participate in the life of the city and to take it in. And this is something that I've done everywhere I go. And right now I'm in Los Angeles and I've been walking in the city, which I know is very heretical. And I was walking down Sunset, in fact, and someone called out my name from a car window and I thought, what the hell is this?
1:22And it was Tom Ford, as it happens, just to name drop. and Tom said, what are you doing walking in L.A.? And I said, that's what I do. I walk in L.A.
1:38And I've discovered all kinds of stuff here. The Courtyard Historic District is my latest mania. And it just is my way of being in the world. I understand that in Los Angeles, everybody wants to be in a car and has to. But for me, the most reliably pleasurable thing and the biggest treat in life is, A, to have the ability to walk and then to set out with no goal in mind on foot.
2:13center city manhattan you know the sort of 96th street south to i guess 14th street it's a little bit harder for me to be excited by walking because there's only so much joy i can get from a duane reed window you know in paris there's tons of small-scale retail and when i'm in india i walk I go to India quite a bit, and I walk a lot, in Delhi in particular. And it's just that feeling of being part of the world and in the life of the city, however anomalous you may be in the setting, it's always been important to me, and it's been very rich for me as a journalist.
2:59New York Times style writer Guy Trebet on walking the mean streets of many cities, including the unpopulated ones of Los Angeles. The Treat is produced by Rebecca Mooney and mixed by Katie Gilchrist. These boots are made for The Treat. I'm Elvis Mitchell. Thank you.
3:47Thank you.
From the publisher
Style writer Guy Trebay has spent decades documenting the trends of culture, art and fashion for The New York Times. His 2024 memoir, Do Something: Coming of Age Amid the Glitter and Doom of ‘70s New York, tells of his early years in a troubled family and how he found refuge in the gritty beauty of New York City. For his treat, he explains why walking in a city (including LA) is his happiest place.