Jake Berman
@lostsubways.com
Lawyer, historian, mapmaker. Transport + housing nerd. Californian living in New York.
Wrote and illustrated "The Lost Subways of North America". Order the book at: http://lostsubways.com
Wrote and illustrated "The Lost Subways of North America". Order the book at: http://lostsubways.com
New blog post: California has done the big, difficult stuff to fix the housing crisis. Now it's time to start sweating the details.
California has done the big stuff to fix the housing crisis. What comes next?
There's been a lot of progress to fix California's housing crisis, because the State Legislature has finally decided to fix things. Credit where credit is due. There's going to be two parts to this ...
53studio.com
December 27, 2025 at 12:42 AM
New blog post: California has done the big, difficult stuff to fix the housing crisis. Now it's time to start sweating the details.
Solid article by @idothethinking.bsky.social. I criticize the way California does things a lot on here - but it's because my home state has a real good thing going, and it's worth fighting for.
The American Beauty of the East Bay
Americanism is facing its biggest challenge from extremism. The people of the Bay Area show why its worth fighting for.
darrellowens.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Solid article by @idothethinking.bsky.social. I criticize the way California does things a lot on here - but it's because my home state has a real good thing going, and it's worth fighting for.
@stano.bsky.social captures a dynamic that I've been thinking about for a long time but never quite been able to articulate. The feeling of social disorder in California is just as important as the crime statistics.
Our Cities are a Billboard for the Democratic Party
We ignore urban disorder at our peril
everyoneiswelcome.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:53 PM
@stano.bsky.social captures a dynamic that I've been thinking about for a long time but never quite been able to articulate. The feeling of social disorder in California is just as important as the crime statistics.
merry xmas from nira t. cat, esq., who is contemplating her chinese food order
December 25, 2025 at 8:29 PM
merry xmas from nira t. cat, esq., who is contemplating her chinese food order
Go Bears.
Today's Bowl Menu!
It just isn't Christmas Eve without the...
Hawai'i Bowl🌺🌴🏄♂️
Cal @ Hawaii
8PM ET — ESPN
It just isn't Christmas Eve without the...
Hawai'i Bowl🌺🌴🏄♂️
Cal @ Hawaii
8PM ET — ESPN
December 25, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Go Bears.
A very good discussion of what makes a neighborhood work aesthetically, why we don't build those neighborhoods any more, and how neighborhoods get preserved in amber.
MNTO member Hana Suckstorff has penned a reflective piece over a small apartment proposal that lost at CoA and is now being appealed at TLAB.
On the nature of "neighbourhood character", and what is lost when we apply it only to built-form.
hsuckstorff.substack.com/p/saving-the...
On the nature of "neighbourhood character", and what is lost when we apply it only to built-form.
hsuckstorff.substack.com/p/saving-the...
December 24, 2025 at 12:53 PM
A very good discussion of what makes a neighborhood work aesthetically, why we don't build those neighborhoods any more, and how neighborhoods get preserved in amber.
Reposted by Jake Berman
Every time a bowl game takes place in the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, like the Frisco Bowl, I’m reminded that, bafflingly, this iconic fight happened outside that space.
December 24, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Every time a bowl game takes place in the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, like the Frisco Bowl, I’m reminded that, bafflingly, this iconic fight happened outside that space.
Reposted by Jake Berman
Also, it's an excuse to reup my Vital City piece about how Albany politics sabotaged decades of attempts to reform work rules at the MTA: "Albany treats the MTA like a jobs program that provides transit, instead of a transit agency that provides jobs."
-- www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/why...
-- www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/why...
Vital City | The Cost Containment Conundrum
Want to know why transit expenses are so high? Look at the history of politics in New York.
www.vitalcitynyc.org
December 24, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Also, it's an excuse to reup my Vital City piece about how Albany politics sabotaged decades of attempts to reform work rules at the MTA: "Albany treats the MTA like a jobs program that provides transit, instead of a transit agency that provides jobs."
-- www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/why...
-- www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/why...
What if Mario, but it's a triple-A action RPG?
December 23, 2025 at 5:50 PM
What if Mario, but it's a triple-A action RPG?
"So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold."
The race for an AI Jesus is on
A chatbot offers personalised counsel on faith
www.economist.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:10 AM
"So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold."
I keep thinking of a line a Venezuelan friend said to me many years ago - "el inmigrante is comerciante". Translated, it means "The immigrant is a businessman."
It's one of the few constants across a couple centuries of immigration to America.
It's one of the few constants across a couple centuries of immigration to America.
December 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I keep thinking of a line a Venezuelan friend said to me many years ago - "el inmigrante is comerciante". Translated, it means "The immigrant is a businessman."
It's one of the few constants across a couple centuries of immigration to America.
It's one of the few constants across a couple centuries of immigration to America.
Reposted by Jake Berman
We occupy a very specific niche when it comes to the public discussion of history, and that niche is serious answers to the question of how bamboozled Hitler would have been by big chungus memes.
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
From the AskHistorians community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the AskHistorians community
www.reddit.com
December 21, 2025 at 9:19 AM
We occupy a very specific niche when it comes to the public discussion of history, and that niche is serious answers to the question of how bamboozled Hitler would have been by big chungus memes.
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
The housing figures are brutal but not surprising. @governor.ny.gov has to start moving state legislation to break the logjam. Long Island and Westchester will have to be dragged into the future kicking and screaming. (Her failed housing plan was good, btw.)
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
December 21, 2025 at 1:53 AM
The housing figures are brutal but not surprising. @governor.ny.gov has to start moving state legislation to break the logjam. Long Island and Westchester will have to be dragged into the future kicking and screaming. (Her failed housing plan was good, btw.)
every time i see a christmas car commercial i think of this fantastic snl skit
December to Remember Car Commercial - SNL
YouTube video by Saturday Night Live
www.youtube.com
December 20, 2025 at 11:59 PM
every time i see a christmas car commercial i think of this fantastic snl skit
Reposted by Jake Berman
French hotel with prefab bathroom pods, common in Euro hotels and other repetitive typologies. Great example of off-site construction as a spectrum: advanced forms (panelization, volumetric modular) come from all-around regulatory hygiene, not pro-modular policy in an otherwise crap code environment
December 20, 2025 at 8:02 PM
French hotel with prefab bathroom pods, common in Euro hotels and other repetitive typologies. Great example of off-site construction as a spectrum: advanced forms (panelization, volumetric modular) come from all-around regulatory hygiene, not pro-modular policy in an otherwise crap code environment
Reposted by Jake Berman
A touchdown? In this economy?
December 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
A touchdown? In this economy?
gotta say the umiami-a&m game is one of the best bad games of football i've ever seen
December 20, 2025 at 8:30 PM
gotta say the umiami-a&m game is one of the best bad games of football i've ever seen
If your religion encourages traditional marriage and large families, NIMBYism is a great way to discourage that.
The irony is that by suppressing housing production, they're making a "traditional" (married/kids) life *harder.* More housing is good for everyone.
December 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
If your religion encourages traditional marriage and large families, NIMBYism is a great way to discourage that.
Good. Two-man subway crews are an anachronism. Chicago switched to one-person operations decades ago; SF and DC have never used two-man crews.
December 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Good. Two-man subway crews are an anachronism. Chicago switched to one-person operations decades ago; SF and DC have never used two-man crews.
Reposted by Jake Berman
also, as is tradition, we will be soliciting some unsolicited solicited duck pics on Tues 6 Jan for next year's #InternationalUnsolicitedDuckPicDay. so, see you then. if you give a duck
December 19, 2025 at 4:37 PM
also, as is tradition, we will be soliciting some unsolicited solicited duck pics on Tues 6 Jan for next year's #InternationalUnsolicitedDuckPicDay. so, see you then. if you give a duck
I bought a copy of SimCity 2000 to see if it still held up, and the game is just as charming and addictive as it was 30 years ago. It really is the Platonic ideal of city simulator as a game.
December 18, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I bought a copy of SimCity 2000 to see if it still held up, and the game is just as charming and addictive as it was 30 years ago. It really is the Platonic ideal of city simulator as a game.
The state should call the Bears' bluff. If billionaires want a new stadium they should pay for it themselves.
The Chicago Bears are considering a move to northwest Indiana amid growing concerns that Illinois lawmakers will not approve the financial incentives needed to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, a top team official told the Tribune.
Chicago Bears say they’re looking into building a new stadium in northwest Indiana
In 1995, the Chicago Bears threatened to move to northwest Indiana if the team didn’t get money for a new stadium. They’re doing it again.
www.chicagotribune.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:46 AM
The state should call the Bears' bluff. If billionaires want a new stadium they should pay for it themselves.
Reposted by Jake Berman
Vital City has just published a massive issue on how best to tackle the homelessness and mental health crises underground with an eye towards getting everyone in the system into housing and treatment. It's well worth a read: www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/wha...
December 18, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Vital City has just published a massive issue on how best to tackle the homelessness and mental health crises underground with an eye towards getting everyone in the system into housing and treatment. It's well worth a read: www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/wha...
Reposted by Jake Berman
They understood this in 1912
It's taken a concerted effort to get people to un-learn that speed matters
It's taken a concerted effort to get people to un-learn that speed matters
December 17, 2025 at 4:10 AM
They understood this in 1912
It's taken a concerted effort to get people to un-learn that speed matters
It's taken a concerted effort to get people to un-learn that speed matters