This is going to be a different kind of thread. Not about our dreams, but about something I found in the waking world.
Has anyone heard of Janusz Zielinski?
He was a Polish-American filmmaker who made surrealist/experimental films in the 1970s and early 80s. Most of his work is pretty obscure - you can find a few things on VHS if you dig, but he never had mainstream success.
I tracked down three of his films after someone mentioned him in an old dream forum thread from 2001. I've now watched all of them multiple times.
The city is in his films.
"The Sleeper's Map" (1973)
A 45-minute experimental film, mostly black and white with occasional color sequences. The narrative (such as it is) follows a woman who falls asleep and explores a dream city.
The city in the film is our city. White buildings on a mountainside. The spiral fountain. The library-cathedral. There's even a brief shot of what looks like the statue - a figure emerging from a shell.
"Passages" (1977)
Darker, more abstract. Much of it takes place in underground corridors - tunnels that shift and change. The architecture is impossible, Escher-like. A man is searching for something, or fleeing from something.
Near the end, he emerges from the tunnels into... the central plaza. You only see it for a few seconds, but it's unmistakable.
"The Amber Hours" (1981)
His most "normal" film - almost has a plot. A woman receives a package containing a strange amber sphere. When she looks into it, she sees another world. She becomes obsessed with entering that world.
The world in the amber is, again, our city. But shown in more detail than the other films. Extended sequences of the market district, the coastal areas, the smaller plaza up the mountain that dreamweaver mentioned.
What This Means
Zielinski was dreaming of the city in the 1970s. At least.
This predates all of us. This predates the internet. This is independent confirmation that the city has been accessible to dreamers for decades, maybe longer.
I'm trying to find out more about Zielinski himself. He died in 1998, but he has surviving family. If anyone has connections to the experimental film community, please reach out.