Sample sale info for Steven Alan NYC in Los Feliz.

It’s dangerously close to home for me and way less a pain than going downtown and having to hunt for parking.

Just when I should be thinking of others for the holidays, and not myself. I can literally go right after pilates next week at 8:30 am.

Thanks to my cousin, Joyce, for the tip and she doesn’t even live in LA!

Whitney Smith’s organic inspired items to adorn the table and home are warm and modern, which is no small design challenge. I first discovered this ceramic artist’s beautiful vessels and platters at Miette in San Francisco at the Ferry Building location and wanted to learn more about her. They have hints of Bauer and Japanese ceramics but are also completely unique with a cool antique vibe.

A couple years ago I was obsessed with hunting for vintage Indiana milk glass cake platters on ebay. They come in the common white, not-so-common black, and a few other milky colors, like light green and pink. These are borderline kitschy and part of a sensibility that is quite “grandma chic”. 

Whitney Smith’s cake stands are anything but, though you could gift one to a grandma and she would be the coolest grandma ever.

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This valuable information found it’s way to wallFlour, via the founder and brainchild behind UNIQUE Los Angeles, Sonja Rasula. 

After checking out the site, It is my moral consumer and design junkie duty to spread the word about UNIQUE Los Angeles. Just in time for the holidays, the big sale event will be held the weekend of December 13th and 14th in downtown LA. The event is sponsored by Etsy, but feels less “crafty” and more urban than I would assume of the Renegade Craft Fair that first started in Chicago, IL. And less Readymade Magazine too. Crafts are making a huge come back but are less rough around the edges than they used to be. Being crafty today means letter pressing your own stationery and gift tags and making your own clothes that are runway ready.

Here’s a blurb about the sale to peak your interest and a sneak peek at some vendors that have already signed up to sell their goods. If you are an interested vendor, applications are due November 2nd, so hurry! 

“UNIQUE LOS ANGELES is an exciting two-day shopping event that showcases independent design talent at great prices. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the event brings together over 150 of the best designers, artists and merchants. We believe in supporting the community, we thrive on individualism, and we hope to introduce independent design to the masses. Whether you’re a hipster, a soccer mom or a tween, at UNIQUE LOS ANGELES  there truly is something for everyone!Clothing & Accessories • Stationery • Jewelry • Housewares • Artwork • CeramicsGourmet Edibles • Plush Toys • Books • Photography • Screenprints • Plus more! “

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liver and cream cheese spread with a pear champagne cocktail at Shoto-Club

One doesn’t immediately associate cocktails with Japan, but as I quickly witnessed and learned first hand, the Japanese are champions of perfecting everything in their own country’s traditions as well as preserving and amplifying traditions of other cultures in regard to food, fashion, and design. Basically, they are obsessive perfectionists and I loved every minute I was there. There was an eight page article in Bon Appetit’s September Issue about the Cocktail Revolution in Tokyo, which the author claims surpasses that of New York City and London. This, of course, sounded enticing, yet not surprising.

Men in Plaid at Shoto-Club 

I had never been to Asia, let alone Tokyo, and had no idea what I was in for in terms of navigating through the city. It’s not the kind of city where you jump in a cab every two blocks to go bar hopping, unless paying $40 a cab ride sounds like fun. The cabs all have automatic doors, meaning they open and close them for you, but the price is high since the subway closes at midnight every night. Tokyo is much like a virtual 4D maze of office buildings and sky rises and non existent or incomprehensible addresses.

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My pilates partner, Susann, tipped me off on a YSL retrospective show she saw in Montréal a couple months ago. Pilates has been one of the few forms of exercise I manage to stick to year after year. An added benefit of these sessions is learning about new things and top secret sources for taking good care of yourself, like the best facialists and restaurants to go to. I wanted to get my paws on the exhibit catalog, but could not stomach the international shipping fee off of the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts site, about $20 bucks a book.  eek.  I happened to find the book on Amazon and what a deal it was.  

After some online research, I could not find any information about the show traveling to other cities and in my head I knew there was no museum in Los Angeles that would house the exhibit. 

Good news! The exhibit is coming to the West Coast at the Deyoung Museum in San Francisco, that also had the exhibit about a year ago of Vivienne Westwood. Another incentive to visit this gastronomical city again in the next couple months. In a perfect world, I would be attending the opening night gala event.

The YSL exhibit will be on display for its stateside debut November 1, 2008- April 5, 2009.  It is the luxury house’s 40th anniversary and its first show in 25 years, since the one from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, only retrospective show of a living designer back in 1983.  

DeYoung Museum

50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118

The show is put together in collaboration with the designer’s former partner, the Pierre Bergé Foundation.  Yves St Laurent passed away June 1, 2008, earlier this year. Please see my tribute to him in a previous entry.

As if I don’t talk enough about my own el bulli, Guinness, this is the most appropriate time to include a photo of him since I just scored a signed copy of the elBulli Book, “A Day at El Bulli”, which is a day in the life of head chef, Ferran Adria and the entire restaurant.

First things first, the restaurant uses an icon of the Frenchie as it’s logo.  I didn’t know that ‘el bulli’ actually meant French bulldog until very recently. The original owners names the restaurant after their beloved bulldogs and there’s a spread in the book about them. 

My good friends, Jen Hluska and David Capon, were nice enough to tip me off on the book signing at The Cook’s Library on Third Street in Hollywood. Not only did they tip me off, they got me my own signed copy with a personal dedication. It was held in two sessions and there were tons of people waiting in line. People in front and behind them were overheard as being sent as agents for the likes of Suzanne Goin and other well known LA chefs. Everyone wanted a piece of the action, even if they couldn’t leave their demanding posts to do so. This is exciting for me and instills hope that LA will continue to better its gastronomical choices.

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