Writing, reviews, interviews, photography.

Weekend Adventures Vol. 2: Wittmore & Self Edge

Posted on June 4, 2013

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It’s getting hotter here in Los Angeles and while I’ve been cordoned mainly to the Santa Monica area for the past few weeks, there was some pretty rad stuff happening in the rest of the city that I couldn’t pass up. Kinfolk Magazine was hosting dinner parties (which I didn’t attend, sadly), plenty of great shows were happening around town, Wittmore had their popup shop near West Hollywood and it was high time to pay our friends at Self Edge a visit. I had a ratty pair of Left Field NYCs with a thinning crotch region and some nasty holes around the ankles as well as two matching blown out pockets (those bandanas don’t function nearly as spiffily as they look). Self Edge has a great deal at all locations where you bring in your wrecked (but clean) pair and for $40 flat they take care of fixing it up. I’ll report back once the repairs have been completed.

I’ve admired Wittmore’s online shop for some time as they always have a great selection of the a-typical when compared to plenty of other dude-focused web retailers. They’ve also got a great little feature that lets you search by geographic region of manufacture. Want shorts made in USA? No problem. Two clicks. Scarves made in England? Same story. It’s cool to see the similarities between products based upon region as you navigate through. It gives you a great perspective on regional manufacturing techniques and design principles. I heard they were doing their first brick-and-mortar pop-up in Los Angeles, of all places, and given that they’re headquartered in NYC, I figured the opportunity to meet and greet and check the wares in person wouldn’t present it self again soon. Click here to read the full article.

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Playlist: Summer Begins

Posted on June 4, 2013

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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the very first American Classic playlist. I’m sure there’s a host of you expecting a smattering of classic tracks containing nothing newer than 1970 but you won’t find that here. No, instead what we’ve done is compiled our favorite tracks we’re listening to right now and stuck them into a Spotify playlist for your listening pleasure. We like Spotify because it’s flexible and makes things super easy for us to share things with you. If you want to shell out a little extra cash each month, you can get it’s incredible service on your mobile device and get rid of those ads. That being said, you’re still getting a pretty great deal by coping with the occasional Daft Punk ad in exchange for our playlist.

Not all of us live in Southern California and can have incredible beach weather all of the time. Steve (who designed this kick ass masthead, by the way) lives back in Philly and from what I can tell from speaking with him, it sounds like the rest of the country is getting a little bit warmer day by day. This might not be the playlist for the incredibly sticky days where your shirt sticks to you even in air conditioning and your dog literally refuses to move because it’s so hot, but this is to start easing you into the mindset of tequila, IPAs, ice cream, cool shade, lazy days, beater shoes, and ocean blues. For those of you who live outside of our weird and freakishly sunny paradise here in Los Angeles, here’s a little taste of summer that’s just around the corner. Click here to listen to the playlist.

Field Trip: Rising Sun & Co.

Posted on May 20, 2013

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I’ve known about Rising Sun for a surprising amount of time to have never visited them in person. I’ve spent years traveling across the country working on jobs in LA temporarily and noticed them when I used to visit friends in Pasadena and how incredible their shop looked. The American Classic wasn’t what it is now back then and I was lacking the confidence to galavant into a store, camera in tow, and start shooting. Rising Sun invited me out to their incredible workshop/retail space which has now moved to Eagle Rock, CA (not far from Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles) and I was more than happy to make the trek. Click here to read the full article.

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The Standard Relay: Los Angeles Bicycle Superhighway, LouFest 2013, Secret Forts visits ICA Boston, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Posted on May 6, 2013

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Los Angeles Bicycle Superhighway

This should have happened already…

I’ve been saying it forever, we need something exactly like this here in LA. Granted, my idea involves high-speed conveyor belts and a sorting system for people who are really good at riding bikes vs. people who actually don’t know how to ride one. A bicycle superhighway that connects portions of Los Angeles once almost actually happened. Found this via A Continuous Lean, though the original article is published on Vice.

LouFest 2013

Cool shit from my hometown

Look, I’m not a big festival go-er. There was a time and place where I went to Lollapalooza every year for a few years but those years are long gone. No festival until now has tempted me even for a moment to go back and relive hot, sweaty, and extraordinarily painful days of unwillingly rubbing body parts with other hot, sweaty humans. LouFest has been around for a few years in some form or another and this year the lineup is actually kick ass. Plus it’s in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. which I rarely have a good reason to visit (aside from family). Some of the highlights (for me) include Wilco, The National, Alabama Shakes, Jim James, Trampled by Turtles, and one of my personal favorites: J. Roddy Walston & the Business. Tickets are cheap, $95 for 2 days or if you’re rich and like free booze/food, $250 for 2 days. Check. It. Out. As an additional note, I don’t think any festival allows this aside from maybe Bonnaroo or more likely ROMP Bluegrass but Gear Patrol has just released a list of “festival must-haves”, so-to-speak. Worth it if you like gearing up for events.

Secret Forts ICA Field Trip

Neat photos with Hickoree’s

James Wilson from Secret Forts took a trip w/ the dudes from Hickoree’s/The Hill-Side on their delivery of a special run of The Hill-Side goods to the ICA in Boston. Cool photos ensued.

Adobe Axes the Creative Suite

Looks like we’re turning to the clouds…

We use Adobe on a daily basis for literally everything. They announced today that there will be no CS7 which is really huge news in tons of ways. Think about it; traditionally this heavyweight software suite which is catastrophically taxing on your bank account has suddenly become available for a monthly fee and can be downloaded. What?! Jesus. Half of our team is already using it. Now to get the other half moving…Includes regular updates to all software and all future versions in your monthly fee.

In Support of Hank USA

Posted on April 17, 2013

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Hank USA is trying to make our job easier. They’re a brand new web shop peddling only American-made goods with killer curating tactics, collaborations, and good photography. What does that mean for literally everyone who reads this site? A better experience in finding the best stuff made in the USA all in one spot. They’re starting small with some very carefully curated items, a few collaborations and a couple of original products. They’ve separated their shop into three general categories: originals, collaborations, and brands they love. Couldn’t be simpler. Click here to read our interview and see all of the photos.

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