27 Comments
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tadzio dlugolecki's avatar

joe, you are a certified genius for this one.

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Joe Hovde's avatar

My man!

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OF THE MOMENT's avatar

as a fellow data analyst, love this so much 🩵

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Aw I’m glad!!

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Torsten Walbaum's avatar

Nice and timely post! Might be hard to glean from the data, but I'd be interested to know which places are good for a) watching people pass by vs. b) watching interesting people IN the bar / restaurant. Outdoor seating is a rough proxy, but you can also people watch busy squares / streets from window seats.

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Justin Yang's avatar

This analysis is really insightful. It could be interesting to see what would happen if you ran it on other non-food related parts of the restaurant experience. For example, solo dining.

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Thanks! I looked at solo dining a little - Balthazar was mentioned a lot there (I think they bring you free champagne)?

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Bob Gilbreath's avatar

I miss my access to the White Horse when I lived in the village 22 years ago! Glad it’s still making lists.

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Kate Whalen's avatar

Guilty of doing bar research simply for “vibes”. Not that I’m typing that word into Google, but I def am calling the shots based on what photos/tiktoks I find on them. Another great read, Joe! Love it.

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Joe Hovde's avatar

we all are!!

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Brian W's avatar

I love these data and food/lifestyle mashups and applaud the analysis... but perhaps you have a statistical outlier with the model grabbing Pret a Manger?

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Joe Hovde's avatar

I think it’s a different form of people watching than I normally think of but it seems like tourists sitting at the counter by the wind and watching people go by! They’re in busy places usually, I kinda get it

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Brian W's avatar

Well as we know, models only work based on the data given. Also had a chuckle that someone would have included “vibes” in a Google review for Westfields 😳

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Alexandra Bosworth's avatar

The scatter plot of vibes against people watching mentions is truly artful

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Joe Hovde's avatar

I am glad u appreciate!!

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ANU's avatar

This is absolutely incredible, thank you for your service. Alex Turner stans unite! (but I've been a fan since 2007 💅🏽)

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Wow the gangly teenage years!! Respect

Glad you liked it :)

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Matt Huang's avatar

3% is quite specific! my heuristic is say hi if they meet some combo of "is this a person only New Yorkers would know?" and "are they bigger on the internet than legacy media?"

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Would you say hi to Alison Roman?

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Matt Huang's avatar

Probably!

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Lena Tavitian's avatar

Loved this. People-watching is my favorite pastime. I want to do a similar analysis for LA!

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Amy's avatar

Reading this when I have the day off, but it’s rainy and crappy outside :(

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Joe Hovde's avatar

ooh not ideal but some of the places are inside! you could go have a glass of wine at balthazar and see what happens there

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Eden's avatar

When I saw Pret on that first data set I really thought I was in for a completely different post in which you convince me that Pret is the place to be. Kind of glad that didn't happen though 😂

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Okay I get it tho! They’re in busy areas and have big glass windows and counters there usually

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Ben Winter's avatar

I left NYC years ago and these articles give me great joy. Like reading a nerdy NY Mag article. Good stuff.

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Joe Hovde's avatar

Thanks so much Ben! Glad you enjoyed :)

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