CDMX: The City Observed

The simple pleasures of street signs, building facades, bus stops, and benches…

Vibrant colors at every turn. The CDMX cityscape is a visual feast.

I love an interesting doorknob. And the way utility wires crisscross above a city street. 

I pause to admire an ornate park bench. And always take note of a city’s street signs.

I stop to study the patterns on manhole covers—and believe a motley panel of door buzzers is a beautiful thing.  

So much of travel is about observing. Noticing. Being present. Appreciating the smallest details that give a place its character.

Such a cool bench. I’ve never seen anything like it in any other city.

Cities are true marvels, and I revel in exploring them. In every city I visit, I am fascinated by the built environment: the things that give a place its look, feel, identity, and rhythm—from intimate details to serious infrastructure. 

CDMX is a case in point. Mexico City is a chaotic, fever-pitch, layered smorgasbord of urban awesomeness—and man, did I feast during my trip this year.

Everything about this is fabulous. The gate, the dramatic red arch, the mosaic, and the patch of light and shadow on the inner door.

Let’s start with the doors. 

I’m obsessed with them: doors, doorways, door frames, doorknobs, door knockers… I could barely walk a block without stopping to admire a beautiful, unusual, or downright dramatic door. 

Gated, grimy, gorgeous, inviting, off-putting, mysterious… In great cities, the doors we pass through but also pass by are an essential part of the urban experience.

Parque Mexico. A circular barrier around each tree, a geometric delight for me.

I walk as much as possible when I travel. I observe, take note, and collect—in my mind and through my camera.

I want to know how a city functions and feels. I want to understand how people get around and what their day-to-day world looks like. How does it differ from mine?

Here’s something new and awesome. A dog height chart, at a CDMX dog run.

What matters most? 

Everything.

Traffic signals, street signs (all signs, actually), bus shelters, bike racks, subway stations, subway maps, lampposts, mailboxes, curbsides, parking meters, fire hydrants, trash cans, park benches, pavement stones, antennas, apartment buzzers, and, of course, buildings.

Not the grand and glorious, but the quotidian: the everyday architecture that defines public space and the streetscape.

Electrical wires over an intersection. Precarious perhaps, but quite a sight.

Traveling abroad makes you notice what you take for granted back home—the things you walk by every day without a thought.

It makes you think: Wow, that’s different here. Why did they do that? Why didn’t we think of that? And, of course, sometimes: WTF were they thinking? 

“Danger: Falling Objects.” The way cities and cultures communicate through text and graphics fascinates me. CDMX abounds with great signage.

Emergency Exit signs are everywhere in this city of high seismic activity and a history of devastating earthquakes.

When I travel, the mundane becomes marvelous.

“The real, lived-in city. Here it is!”

The bold front door to my Art Deco Airbnb building in Condesa—unlike any door I’ve used before. To exit, push the red button. It unlocks with a loud, sharp “CLICK!”

It’s “eyes open, all the time” when I’m in a new place.

In CDMX, often the smallest, oddest, most unexpected things stopped me in my tracks.

An emergency exit sign. A Walk signal. A dog-run height chart. A water cistern. Utility wires. A WiFi sign.

A street sign can be such a beautiful thing.

To understand a city, you need to appreciate how locals live their daily lives. The famous sights matter, of course. But so do the everyday features that make a place what it is.

A city’s bike racks and parking meters, its subway turnstiles and fare payment systems, even the patterns imprinted on its manhole covers—these are sources of endless joy and discovery when I travel.

Apartment door buzzers. A building’s history and so many stories, right here.

The City Seen: More Things Worth Noticing

I love everything about this building I just happened upon. It reminds me of New York City's Flatiron Building.

Extraordinary design. Follow the lines. Seen on a stroll in San Miguel Chapultepec.

Street sweeper’s cart and broom.

At night, there’s a whole new city to observe.

Nocturnal study in green.

Park bench. The mundane can be marvelous.

Underfoot. Look down, too.

CDMX has brilliantly built bus platforms in the middle of its avenues. I was impressed by the design, the huge red buses, and how frequently they came.

So many shops in Mexico City have signs painted right on their facades. I love this human touch.

Water tanks and cisterns are ubiquitous in CDMX. Many are on rooftops. These two are in a store parking lot. There was even a “small” one in the entryway to my apartment building.

There’s a lot happening here.

Walk, walk, walk. Get lost. Look around. Lose yourself.

“Eco-friendly waterless urinal.”

Hasta luego!