In Paris it is possible to eat in restaurants frequented by Voltaire and have an espresso or something stronger in cafes once patronised by Joyce and Hemingway. You could say the same about New York where pride is taken in places frequented by famous personalities.
Even in Glasgow, which has suffered much more damage to its urban fabric than Dublin, Irish architects attending their annual conference there last weekend could dine out in Rogano's, with its art deco front and interior still intact after more than five decades.
Dublin has no equivalent. The legendary Jammet's closed down 30 years ago, as did the Red Bank in D'Olier Street. Their buildings are now occupied, respectively, by Lillie's Bordello and a budget hostel which took the place of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
Virtually none of Dublin's present range of restaurants, with the exception of Nico's, Bernardo's and the Trocadero, has a provenance extending back more than 30 years. Most of them, indeed, are very recent creations, with uncertain long-term prospects.
Dublin is in a constant state of flux, more so now than ever before, as the demise of Read's the cutlers, one of Dublin's oldest shops, now illustrates. The city's new bourgeoisie have no loyalty; they flit about like butterflies from place to place, always seeking out the "trendiest" establishment in town.
Change for the sake of change has become the byword of this boomtown. Bewley's of Grafton Street - immortalised as the "legendary, lofty, clattery cafe" and surely one of Dublin's real icons - is to be radically overhauled, inside and out, for the 21st century.
Other imminent casualties of "Boomtown Dublin" mentioned by Michael Smith, chairman of the city's branch of An Taisce, include St Mary's Church, in Mary Street, which is to be turned into a "theme pub"; it is already a painting and decorating shop.
Another is one of Dublin's most famous Victorian pubs, Doheny and Nesbitt's of Lower Baggot Street, which will become "bloated" by a planned extension into the adjoining AIB branch "with the inevitable loss of character we see all over town when that happens".
Of the 12 original Victorian pubs left in Dublin at the beginning of this year, Regan's on the corner of Tara Street and Townsend Street was demolished some months ago, while the once Dutch-gabled White Horse on Burgh Quay has been reduced to a single-storey bar.
Mr Smith also noted that George Webb's book and print shop on Crampton Quay, the last on the Liffeyside with outside bookstalls, had "mysteriously closed down without as much as a whimper" some months ago, though all of its stock is still inside.
"A few years ago, we lost the earliest Catholic church in Dublin - St Michael and St John's - to a Viking Adventure and Feast, which as we predicted has provided no useful service and now looks set to close down, even though £6 million was spent on it."
The losses are almost relentless. Some months ago a very important, though derelict, Georgian house on Cuckoo Lane in the Markets area, which had been targeted by the Dublin Civic Trust for restoration, went on fire and was demolished by apartment developers.
According to Michael Smith, everything is "up for grabs and nothing is sacred". People in Dublin cannot assume that some of their favourite haunts are going to be there next year, or even next month; they are all falling like ninepins in the path of the "Celtic Tiger".