Short fiction and proper nouns

Justin Taylor story in current New Yorker has the appealing title of After Ellen; I'd considered using a similar title to something I was working on, but now won't (won't use that title and probably won't work on it either). Taylor's story is one of those New Yorker gut-checks on what's going on with "youth today," in other words, in the generation least likely to read the New Yorker I suspect. Story is about a guy (Scott?) who leaves the eponymous Ellen suddenly and without real reason or explanation: they're recent college grads living together in Portland (Oregon) with appropriately edgy "jobs" as a party DJ (him) and intern at a video company (her). Story begins with his packing his belongings and writing her a brief breakup note and heading off for his sister's place in LA, but he never gets there, stops in SF and eventually rents a place there and settles in, a bit. Not really that much to the story, and, as with so many NYer stories it ends suddenly and unsatisfactorily: I understand that it's been OK for about 100 years (since Dubliners?) to write stories that don't conclude on the level of plot, but if that's the case the story should end with a defined mood or image. This doesn't, which makes me think it's not a story but a clip for a longer piece? And would I read the longer piece? Maybe, but there are some issues: first of all, Scott is a dick, a thoroughly unlikable guy who for some reason is pretty lucky with girls. He's brutally cruel in his breakup with Ellen (whom we never actually see), entirely self-centered, and completely dependent on dad's $: for ex., on way to LA he decides to hole up at an expensive downtown hotel, using dad's credit card, and running up the room service and mini-bar bills fiercely over the course of a week. In a longer piece, he might grow and change or else get his come-uppance, and I'd probably read that. Taylor is a good writer but is victimized by the brand-name shorthand that has plagued young American writers for 30 years or so: he's careful to name check all sorts of things and places, such as Scott's car (Jetta), the hotel and motel he stays at (Omni, Econolodge). Story comes with its soundtrack (and actually in this area Taylor could have done more, given that his protag is a DJ) and lots of place names: Portland and SF are obviously the generational meccas, and we get the names of various neighborhoods and even SF landmarks (Dolores park) - but these names become the stand-ins for actually describing these places, how they look and feel: the ones I know, I can picture, but when Scott ventures to a neighborhood I don't know, I have no image in my mind at all, just a place name. Compare this to the way, say, an Updike would describe resettling in a new city. Proper nouns become the shorthand for descriptive, lyrical, evocative writing.