Would Kerouac Be a Nuppie?

Designers making it easier for nomadic urban professionals to get on the road
By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff
Posted May 25, 2008 2:53 PM CDT
Would Kerouac Be a Nuppie?
Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" protagonists might well be fans of the nuppie %u2014 nomadic urban professional %u2014 lifestyle outlined by Greg Beato in Reason.   (Magnum Photos)

The evolving lifestyle of nuppies—nomadic urban professionals—and upscale designers' efforts to outfit them catch the attention of Greg Beato, writing in Reason. Casulo, a trunk "crammed with enough stylish furniture to outfit a studio apartment," is one such easily transported option; a pair of mobile homes intends to take things further (and, ahem, farther).

Kerouac's On The Road protagonists, Beato writes, "remain so committed to constant movement … because the accommodations are so squalid whenever they actually arrive anywhere." Enter the $50,000 Design Within Reach Airstream Trailer, "with an interior suitable for a Dwell centerfold," and GMC's Pad, complete with satellite TV and Kohler fixings— "the liberating mobility of the Beats with the liberating autonomy of having a simple, Walden-like shelter even Martha Stewart might envy." (More nuppie stories.)

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