The first thing you see in a place is never the thing that matters most. It is the easiest to photograph, to describe, to sell — and for that very reason, the most misleading.
Reading a context well begins with asking what changes depending on the hour and the day — then distinguishing those who live there every day from those who merely pass through; noticing what is absent; and, finally, weighing the narrative told about a place against the experience of actually moving through it.