The blocks of Valencia Street between 14th and 24th constitute one of America’s finest strolling, shopping, eating, and people watching zones. It’s a boutiquey slightly freaky wonderland that no visitor to the city should miss. But I’ll admit to being slightly shocked when, on a post-prandial stroll last week, it dawned on me that people actual live in the midst of this scene. Sweet people, it turns out, people interested in contributing the the giddiness of their immediate surroundings and concerned about the larger environment. People with a topiary dinosaur named Trixie. Learn all about it, here.

Trixie, the mascot of ‘Deepistan