Yes, Our Library Is Pretty, Please Give It Back Now

I knew something was up as I pedaled up Fourth Avenue Sunday morning. A motorcycle cop sat staunchly in the middle of the bike lane and one of those new police cars nicely took up the next lane over.

The whole block surrounding the Central Public Library was eerily empty as went to lock my bike in front of the building.

"Kshhshk- biker in front-kshksh," went a man's walkie-talkie as he approached me. They were filming a Hyundai commercial around the library, he explained, and would only need five more minutes.

Maybe he expected me to pedal away in disgust, angry that my precious public resource had been co-opted by gas-guzzling Hyundais. But instead, dear readers, I made lemonade.

It was quite surreal to see the tech guys reattach the signs we citizens take for permanent everyday, as if our lives were the "set," not the other way around.

There was also a stand of potted plants on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Madison Street, which were then loaded carefully into a moving truck. The mind boggles at how potted plants could play into a car advertisement, but marketing guys are tricky these days.

As it was a public space, I brazenly took photos wherever I wanted — I mean, they should understand, being in the film industry and all.

People clustered around a video camera set up on the back end of a minivan, labeled "B-Cam," on the south side of the library.

A friendly man with a French-sounding accent complimented the aesthetics of the library when I ventured near. Yes we love it too, I agreed.

Click.

So folks, if you watch TV, keep an eye out for a Hyundai commercial with a large, pointy building.
It could be your city!