An article in the latest issue of The New Yorker details the move by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux from its fabled offices on Union Square to digs in the Flatiron Building--birthplace of the phrase "23 skidoo". The writeup focusses on how outdated yet charming the old digs were. If there's computer or debt collection department in FSG, you wouldn't know it from The New Yorker. All is sweetness and light, happiness, elbow patches, and teabags.
What you won't learn is that FSG is moving to be closer to the other publishers in Holtzbrinck Publishers, the U.S. subsidiary of German media giant Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, of which it is a part. Back in 2005, when Holtzbrink started moving folks into the unified offices, folks at FSG weren't so thrilled as they are reported to be now. Said the New York Observer, "For those toiling away at F.S.G., the idea of leaving the company's Union Square enclave triggers shivers of horror. 'A lot of people would be very upset,' said one F.S.G. staffer who requested anonymity, referring to the possibility of a move. 'It's kind of unfathomable.'"
How quickly we forget.--David E
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