Ari Takata-Vasquez's experience of disorientation while living bicoastally highlights a growing trend among younger workers traveling between California and New York. These individuals, often freelance artists or small business owners, navigate two distinct communities and markets. The pandemic has accelerated this phenomenon, as more people embrace remote work, with an emphasis on creative connections. Individuals like Chelsea Calalay exemplify this trend, seeking to establish a presence in both locales to better serve their customers and foster their careers, despite the personal challenges posed by constant relocation.
Ari Takata-Vasquez often wakes up in her bed not knowing where she is. In May, she arose to what she believed to be the sound of an Oakland Police officer blasting a message from a cruiser outside her downtown apartment and thought to herself, "They're always doing too much." But she wasn't in Oakland. She was in New York, hearing the loudspeaker announcements from the school across from her Brooklyn apartment.
To be sure, wealthy people who can afford multiple homes have been living on both American coasts for decades, but these folks don't have the resources for that. They're often freelance artists or creatives who run small businesses.
Since the pandemic, the number of people who live over 50 miles from their place of work has more than doubled, said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford and an expert on remote work - which Bloom said is here to stay. But this is something different - not just rich tech workers taking advantage of work from home options but creatives who feel tied to both places for careers and community.
"I would like to stay in New York for six months at a time and then come back to the Bay," said Chelsea Calalay, 30, an Oakland jeweler who's actively looking to sublet in New York for next year. "I feel like I have to chase where my customers are."
Collection
[
|
...
]