Photo: Nathaniel Popkin

Here we are at the three month anniversary of the Hidden City Daily. Pete and Thaddeus and I–and our 30 contributors–want to say thank you for inviting us in, for clicking over this way, and for engaging with us as we seek meaning and possibility in this old place.

This is the 279th article we’ve published. By now, you’ve come to expect moving photography, sharp writing, insight, context, and perspective. We’ve broken a good two dozen stories on real estate, architecture, and preservation and we’ve brought you inside places most people never see–indeed so many places demolished within weeks or days of our visit.

We aim to explore, expose, and elevate and we want to keep doing it with you.

We’ve tried to make that easy, by creating various membership levels and packages–for individuals and businesses. This is indeed how we’re funded: your membership helps us match the money granted to us by the Knight Foundation. Each membership means we can draw a little more on that pledge. It means we can offer something no one else can: the delight in exploring a place much larger than perhaps it often seems.

A week from today, we’ll host our second event, “Unsilent Night.” Maybe you’ll say it’s our declaration: we’re here and we plan to make a lot of noise. Really, it’s a chance to do what Hidden City has always done well: reveal and transform space. Become a Hidden City member, come to Unsilent Night, and you’ll be part of a reckless and fun sound sculptural experiment (that part is free for all) and then accompany us to the wonderfully anachronistic Orpheus Club for homemade vintage food. An experience only Hidden City can deliver.

I suppose we’re a little like an experimental theater company: we want your participation. Don’t hide! That’s why we run contests and ask for insight. That’s why we need you to submit your favorite public spaces and why we want you to propose story ideas and write guest editorials. We have a lot of talking to do.