MIAMI IN ISTANBUL

A STRANGENESS IN MY MIND

With thanks to Orhan Pamuk for borrowing the title of his fine book, I had quite the strangeness in my mind last month will walking the backstreets of Beyglu in Istanbul.

I was heading toward the Çukurcuma antiques district when I walked down a steep street past the Marina Cafe.

Something in the corner of my eye looked familiar.

It was the skyline of the Omni District of Miami, circa maybe 30 years ago.

Sure enough, a marina was prominent in the photo.

It's the marina on Biscayne Bay immediately east of the Miami Herald building and a complex of hotel-retail-mixed use.

How on earth a cafe in Istanbul -- which has its share of marinas -- in Turkey -- which has more than its share of marinas -- picked a faded photo of a marina in Miami, who knows.

Had I not been in a rush, I may have stopped in to try to find out.

Then again, my Turkish is pretty lousy and even with the google translate ap, just how would a barkeep understand my interest in a photo he probably doesn't even pay attention to?

Turns out the Miami Herald modernist headquarters building didn't die when it was razed months ago to make way for the future Genting development.

It didn't die, it just went to live, in faded color perpetuity, on Sadri Alisik Sok in Cihangir.