This classic William Claxton photograph of starlet Natalie Wood in Manhattan will always have me longing to move back to the city that never sleeps. Isn’t she positively radiant? It was images like this and stories like Joan Didion’s Goodbye To All That that helped convinced me to move from San Francisco to Manhattan two years ago. Now I miss both cities dearly and can’t wait to see where we end up next…!
What about you my lovelies—which city do you dream of someday calling home? Are you longing for the bustling streets of Manhattan or to keep it weird in Austin? The foggy bay of San Francisco or the romance and grandeur of Parisian boulevards? Do tell. I so love getting to know you.
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i have this fantasy of living on an island in a big bungalow cottage like india hicks with 5 kids, amazing hubby, and lots of puppies! but my little abode in mill valley, is pretty amazing..everytime i head through the rainbow tunnels it feels like home!
Ahhhh Catherine I love this!!! I’m coming to visit you wherever you end up. I’ll bring my five babies and we’ll have a big ole party!!
ha! I posted this same pic on my blog awhile back – awesome. :) It incorporates two of my favorite things: New York and Natalie Wood.
While I love living in a small town and being able to walk to the ocean, if I ever were to become a city girl it would have to be Paris. It is my absolute favorite city in the world!
Oh boy…how much space do I have? :) I’ve always dreamed of living by the ocean, someplace warm – perhaps an island or Hawaii or even someplace like North Carolina. Or in Greece along the ocean. But then I have another dream of living in a foreign country and learning to speak the language and get to know the culture. I think that would be fascinating. And finally, we just went to Australia last year and fell in LOVE with Sydney and Bondi Beach….so while I’m dreaming here, we would love to one day live there :)
wow. this is such a beautiful photograph. i hail from Austin, Tx and spent my entire youth soaking up the hippiness that is Austin. (such a beautiful feeling)
so i want to combine that love of relaxation + my love of the ocean…i dream of one day living in monte carlo…..
sigh
Mariel — Clearly we have a lot of favorites in common : ) Natalie is so breathtakingly beautiful, I’ve always adored this image as well!
Pink Champagne — Paris is magical isn’t it?! Every time I go it always takes my breath away. I approve my dear, I approve!
Ashlina — Monte Carlo, wowie!! Living large my friend—love Monaco. The cliffs and the views and the harbor—insanely beautiful. Maybe you’ll be the next Princess Grace : )
Piper — I’ve never been to Australia and am dying to visit—someday soon! Greece is fantastic though and North Carolina so charming. I applaud you for your many options!! XO
What a wonderful photo! I lived in Manhattan one summer, and I would love to live there again. Doing so would make me look like Natalie Wood, obviously.
I fell hard for London as a young kid and finally lived there for awhile a few years back. I still consider it my second home. It has everything, history, literary giants, castles, rolling hills, big city life, theater, museums, the sea, etc. And to top it off, you’re remarkably close to the rest of Europe. What else could you possibly want?
Abbie — Obviously!
Melissa — Ohhh I just adore London too! The accents, the museums, the royal family! It would keep me endlessly entertained. Perhaps you’ll move back someday and I’ll come to visit! Yes, I just invited myself….hope you don’t mind too terribly much : )
Great post! She is STUNNING! Lately, I have been fixated on moving to NYC, but a big part of me yearns to live in North or South Carolina or maybe someday move out to California – the pace of life there is so appealing!
Emily — I understand completely. The sunshine and leisure of the Carolinas and California are super appealing to me as well. West Virginia, where I am now, is a bit too leisurely for my pace is you know what I mean! XO
What a fabulous shot. She really had that something, didn’t she? I have the best of all worlds – I get to live very close to NYC, and travel to lots of interesting places. If I ever left NY behind, it would be for a sunny isle, Charleston, Paris, or London, I think … but I’m not going to go! lol!
oh this is such a great picture of her! I’d love to live in NYC but I know that probably won’t happen. I’m stuck on the west coast haha
My heart will forever belong to London. I lived there for six months five years ago, and I still miss it terribly. I’m an Anglophile through and through. San Francisco is probably my favorite American city (and a lot like London; it was Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite US city, too). I love that both cities have a sense of expansiveness and are not at all claustrophobic like other places (read: NYC). I love that both London and SF are steeped in history, are dotted with gorgeous Victorian-era buildings, have green parks everywhere and a cooler, foggy climate, and a prevailing laid-back attitude (unlike NY!).
Though I must say, where I live in Santa Monica, CA, isn’t too shabby. At all.
Stephanie — The best of both worlds indeed! Care to trade? XO
Mara — I wouldn’t mind being stuck on the west coast one bit!!! You’re a lucky gal…
Joanna — I loooove Santa Moncica, not shabby at all is right! And your sweet comment has me yearning for San Francisco. Hopefully soon! XO
Oh, you know I’m dying to be in NYC…and photos as lovely as this only spur my nostalgia for the city! xoxo
Funny, I have been having this conversation with so many of my friends and my fiance as of late. We’re planning on moving at some point soon. Most of our friends are bailing out of Chicago, and I want to do the same. If I could live anywhere, oh boy, I just don’t know how I would decide. But as for the states, I’m dreaming of San Francisco or Portland. I want a little bit of everything in the place I call home, and those two cities seem to have what I desire!
Amanda — I don’t think I’ll ever stop being nostalgic about New York…it never lets go, does it? XO
Meagan — Go to San Francisco! Then (assuming we do too) we’ll double date! XO
I adore New York, Paris, and New Orleans but my heart will always be with Austin…perfect combination of vitality, creativity and liveability!!
Michelle — I’m dying to visit Austin! My fiance raves about it and it’s definitely on our list of places we’d like to live someday. Sounds like the perfect combination of things! XO Katie
I just got back from my second trip to Austin. I like it a lot down there, but I’m curious to know what it’s like without all the mayhem from SXSW taking place!
florence…hands down. with lost of vacays to paris, new york and san fran.
Sherry — Ohhh I like all those vacays thrown in : )
Living in the city makes you feel safe and there’s always something to do, and the fashion is soooo great!
xox
gr
http://gingerroxy.blogspot.com
I love NYC but can’t stay here forever, I adored living in London but would prefer Paris. But my real dream is to end up back in Chapel Hill where I went to school – being born and raised in North Carolina, I can attest that it truly is incredibly beautiful, the perfect place to have a family and call home.
That is a absolutely radiant photo.
I know it is cliche but New York or Paris. There are no better. I do want to visit Buenos Aires one day. I have heard it is the Paris of the Southern Hemisphere.
Amazing shot! It is having the same effect on me (I love NYC!), although were I to pack up and move right now I’d have to say Prague or my hometown, Basalt, CO would be the two dream destinations I’d be torn between. Polar opposites yes, but both are truly magical in their own unique ways…. Sigh.
Lovely post : ) as always darling.
Ginger — So true about the fashion in the city, great for people watching!
Lauren — I’ve yet to visit Chapel Hill, but have heard of its charms. I too would love to someday return to my hometown to someday raise a family, in my case on the central coast of California. We’ll see where fate takes us!
Style Chronicle — I’m eager to visit Buenos Aires as well. We hope to someday eventually honeymoon there though we haven’t saved a penny for the wedding let alone the honeymoon thereafter! And NY and Paris are classics I think, you can’t go wrong.
Haley — Love that you have two varied places. I’ve never been to CO, but I did love Prague (though I was there in early march and it was FREEZING). Magical indeed! XO
What a beautiful photograph. I miss NYC so very much. I honestly don’t know where I’d like to live — NYC, DC, maybe San Fran. For me, all that matters is that I have a job I love and that the person I love is with me. If I end up in Science and Policy, I guess I better start to get to know DC better. But NYC will always be dearest to me.
Such a beautiful picture! I lived in NYC for 6 years, and I miss it every day! I moved back to my home state of Texas last year, but NY feels more like home to me. The only other I place I have dreamed of living in London. Maybe one day… :)
Brandi — I like your attitude. Living in WV this year has certainly proven to me that I can be happy anywhere as long as I’m doing something I love (this!!) and with someone I love (John…and Alfie!). XO
Kelly — So many cool Texans on here! I have a feeling you’ll end up in London someday, dream big!!! XO
When it comes to cities, I’ll always love NYC the most!
London, possibly Kew, in a lovely semi-detatched house close to a farmers market and tea shop and a private garden.
I adore this photo.
If I could live anywhere in the United States it would be in a small village in Maine or in Denver, CO. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would have to be Paris or somewhere exotic in South America. Totally random mixture, but there are so many fabulous places!
Hamptontoes — Gotta love a die hard : )
Erin — You win the originality award. Love farmers’ markets, sounds like perfection to me.
Merritt — Love that you love Maine! That’s where my fiance grew up so we have an excuse to drive up the coast and visit every year. Such a gem!
I think you can already guess some of mine! Obviously, an apartment in NYC, preferably with a terrace and lots of windows. A beach house in Southampton. A pied a terre in the 6th in Paris. And now definitely a bungalow in Beverly Hills or Brentwood! Oh, and a private jet to shuttle me between them all!
moving back to london is my dream right now… sigh… one day.
xoxo
http://bibliochicshop.blogspot.com/
p.s. love the picture!! natalie wood is one of my idols.
xoxo
http://bibliochicshop.blogspot.com/
I dream of someday going back to DC. I only lived there a year, but have longing to move back ever since I left. And Natalie. Sigh. She was something!
I loved Paris when i was there… and seriously think that I could live there forever. So many picture opportunities, the freedom to eat as much cheese/bred/red wine as I’d like…
Oh. I love that picture! And I can’t tell you how much I love Joan Didion. :)
I don’t think that I could ever commit to one city … I would have to have a piece of several obvi New York, Charleston, SC, London, and Rome. That would be a great collection for me. Ha. xo
My ultimate dream would to live somewhere like Florence. But as far as the U.S. cities go….D.C., Boston, or Seattle. :)
I’d love to have the chance to live in Manhattan. But I would love to move back to Santa Monica or Monterey, two California cities I once lived in and would love to go back!
Cashmere Librarian — Get out! I used to live in Monterey, California as well! Went to boarding school there—such a beautiful place : )