Fire Escapes

Despite my long-harbored penchant for fire escapes, I have yet to have one right outside my bedroom window. However, I keep an especial eye out for them to appreciate wherever I go! I admire fire escapes for their visually-pleasing linear designs. When perceiving fire escapes from afar, they seem so sparse and delicate against the solid block of the their attached building. I imagine sitting out on a fire escape on insufferably hot summer nights, drinking cool beverages and listening to the noise of the street below. A fire escape is also handy to bring some green to your daily living by using it as a gardening palette to plant all those flowers and vegetables that city real estate doesn't normally allow.

Despite their industrial, austere construct, fire escapes suggest passion and melodrama, being the sites of great romantic moments such as the scene between Edward and Vivian in Pretty Woman or, dare I mention yet another reference to my favorite musical, the scene with Tony and Maria in West Side Story. How charming would it be to have a dashing young gentleman, your main squeeze or someone on whom you have the flitterings of a crush, meet you on a fire escape for a late night tête-à-tête?! Oh, the possibilities of a fire escape!




Image found here, here, here, and here.