The Transit Guy

The Transit Guy

Where We Vacation Reveals What We’ve Lost

What a Fake Town in a Florida Theme Park Tells Us About the Real Ones We’ve Made Impossible

Hayden Clarkin's avatar
Hayden Clarkin
Jul 21, 2025
∙ Paid

We flock to charming, historic main streets for weekend dinners. We admire the piazzas and alleyways of Europe. We happily walk miles through Disney World’s Main Street, USA, a fantasy modeled after the small-town America we’ve nearly zoned out of existence.

The irony? These spaces feel novel not because they’re rare in the world, but because we’ve made …

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