A scarf seller in Namdaemun Market became an online celebrity this autumn by asking customers why they were buying scarves they would never wear. He jokes that they are wasting their money. It is an unusual sales pitch. Much of its charm lies in the conversation. Then success got in the way. The proprietor explained that the crowds were making conversation difficult and inconveniencing neighboring merchants. He asked people to drop in when visiting the market, rather than rush over just to see him. The attention was crowding out the encounters that had drawn it. His predicament raises a question for Seoul’s rediscovered neighborhoods: What turns a first visit into a lasting relationship? Drawing a crowd and becoming part of someone’s life are not the same thing. When I was a child, my parents and grandparents sometimes took me to Jongno and Euljiro. I remember wandering through Pimatgol’s narrow alleys behind Jongno’s main road and browsing the electronics shops of Sewoon Sangga with them. A bowl of "naengmyeon," or Korean cold noodles, in Euljiro is part of those memories, too.