Through July, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. celebrates the vast Autopias and Plains of Id of Los Angeles with programs and exhibits like Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990 at the J. Paul Getty Museum. We’ll be around, soaking it all in, meeting some of our new neighbors, and sharing what we see and learn right here.
Monocle EIC Tyler Brûlé was kind enough to show us around the not-yet-open Monocle Café in Marylebone — the London counterpart to Monocle’s Tokyo café and shop in the Hankyu Men’s department store in Chiyoda-ku. Espresso, homemade muesli and symphonic salads will make a great introduction to desserts by Japanese chef Masayuki Hara — we’re particularly looking forward to the macarons, green-tea roll-cake and strawberry gateau from Hara’s own shop, Lanka. “We wanted to create a relaxed space for a morning coffee meeting, a lengthy weekend lunch with the papers, and a glass of prosecco after work too,” Tyler says. Stay tuned to this channel for recipes and more from the Monocle team — they cut the ribbon this coming Monday.
Fractal Projections is a play on the idea of the cube broken in space to create an interlocking grid system that follows a linear deformation, allowing them to break from the normal grid behavior into a family of fractal surfaces.
Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles hangs its shingle later this year, and we couldn’t be happier to share a neighborhood with one of our almae matres, SCI-Arc. This Thursday, we’re looking forward to circling like sharks around Evelina Sausina and Eugene Kosgoron’s installation — the winner of SCI-Arc’s 40/40 competition — at the Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank building for the Downtown LA Artwalk. 40/40 pays homage to architecture and how SCI-Arc alumni have transformed the school over the preceding four decades. Hats off, neighbors.
Our neighbors on West 29th, the Coates Wyllie gallery, are hosting an opening party for their latest show, Character Saturation, which includes a few friends. If you’re in the neighborhood check it out — let them know you’re coming here.
Last minute gift ideas at Project No. 8, the little travel shop made for people who dog-ear passports like an old copy of The Catcher in the Rye. In the starring role — 365, a calendrical notebook printed on Munken Pure thread-stitched with snow white yarn and bound in Berlin in a limited, hand-numbered edition for 500 fortunate souls.
Our fair Gotham took a few hits recently but New York can get down without ever being out. As New Yorkers go, we can’t complain. Our extended Ace Hotel New York family came through the way they always do for each other and so did our guests and friends. Not all of New York was so fortunate though. Some New Yorkers could use a hand to get back their NYC swagger and keep keeping on.
We’re donating 10% of all proceeds on the online shop to New York Cares for the next week starting now. In the meanwhile, we’re working on some special wares to benefit recovery efforts with some artists we know and our in-house design team. Until all of NYC is back on its feet, we’re just going to act like this whole archipelago is one big borough and we’ll be looking out for ways to help those in need and ways our friends around here and around the world can plug in to volunteer their time, donations and creativity. We’ll keep you posted.
Rudy’s is our newest neighbor at Ace NYC. They’ve only been here a few weeks and it’s already fireworks and balloon drops every day. We love Rudy’s. Remember — if you’re staying with us, you get priority real estate at the guillotine and a friendly deal on cuts, products and everything else.
Some cool things happened in the Ace Hotel Portland neighborhood last week. The much-celebrated Hung Far Low sign — which for many decades hung over the best place in town to get completely trashed on cheap Mai Tais, but is much more valuable as a place marker for Portland’s once and future thriving Chinatown (something you should read up on) — was finally resurrected as a result of the ne’er-ceasing fundraising efforts of some of our closest friends. We love seeing it once again hanging low, and returned to its original glory.
We’re also happy that Portland’s legendary Hamburger Mary’s is being brought back to life. Having enjoyed several decades as a meeting place for gays, straights, freaks, non-freaks, and everyone in between. Some of us on the Ace team spent the Saturdays of our formative years eating hamburgers under the wagon wheels, broken violins, and Miss Leather ‘83 portraits that graced Mary’s walls and ceilings, so we were awash with nostalgia when we went down to meet the crew and take some pictures yesterday. We’ll go have lunch when they’re open and tell you more about it.
Photos by Michael Bunsen and Hunter Gatherer
