In the past two decades, there has been a beer renaissance in the USA. All over the country, craft breweries have started from the ground up to provide their various regions better and fresher beer than the likes of national breweries like Coors, Miller and Budweiser. On the west coast, we grow from our own soil arguably the best beer making ingredients in the world (hops and barley), allowing for a plethora of world class craft breweries to thrive and continue to pop up. In California, North County San Diego and the Bay Area have always been the large craft brewery hubs in the state, with Los Angeles suprisingly being a dead spot for beer makers. But not any longer because in the last 5 years there has been sudden flurry of craft breweries popping up in the greater Los Angeles area such as The Bruery, Craftsmen, Ladyface and Eagle Rock Brewery, with the latest addition to the club being Golden Road Brewing located right in Los Angeles proper just north of Downtown. Now, when you have a craving some fresh local beer you can stop in to get growler filled, buy some of their new 16 oz cans at local bottle shops or stay around at their gastropub on site. People always ask me “what is the best beer?”, and my usual answer is “whatever is local and fresh.” Support your local brewery, and head down to Golden Road today.
The world of pop art has seen some great works over the years, pioneered by Andy Warhol in the mid century, but as of late most new “pop artists” have created works that are just thoughtless derivatives of the originals (i.e. Mr Brainwash). In a very enlightening fashion, Chilean illustrator Fab Ciraolo has taken the theory and process of pop art yet executed his works in his own unique style, placing famous figures of the past like Salvador Dali and Frida in a modern day context. The close attention to detail, and his whimsical style of portraying the characters, give their poses, clothing and attitude an abundance of personality not seen in most pop art. Dali sporting a leopard print vest and Frida rocking a Daft Punk shirt is absolutely brilliant. [CoolHunting]
The January of installment of the monthly Doppelganger Mix spans odd ends of the music spectrum, but comes together nicely as a whole. We start with some funky love songs from italian nu-disco masters Tiger & Woods to an old school jam by Kylmaxx. Next moving to the heavier deep house track Reginald’s groove and closing out with Mark E’s slammin’ disco-house jam R&B Drunkie which takes samples from a Janet Jackson. Whether heavy or mellow, I like to think the progression of tracks in this mix attain a continuous funky groove and open your ears to some very talented artists contributing to the new disco/funk scene.
Tiger & Woods – T&W Lab File #01
Chris Carrier – I’m In Love Today
Klymaxx – Love Bandit
Cosmic Kids – Reginald’s Groove (Classixx Remix)
Cool Million Feat. Leroy Burgess – Cool To Make A Million (Ilija Rudman Dub Mix)
Telonius – Discotec (Moullinex Remix)
Midnight Savari – Rimshots
Mark E – R&B Drunkie
German designers Jirko Bannas and Oliver Seltmann have adapted their proprietary Lightwall technology into a vintage photo format creating the Polaboy, an enlarged representation of a Polaroid photograph. I admire the Polaboy’s uniform LED illumination making for a very authentic presentation of the photos, and it’s multiple functions as art, light source and furniture peice. [SwissMiss]
New web series DRIVE has taken to the task of highlighting the legendary Nurburgring 24 Hour race in it’s first episode, bringing the history and character of the track to those who may not know it very well. The Nurburgring spans 13 miles and 154 turns through the rolling hills of western Germany, and is considered the most unique and difficult racetrack in the world, that all auto manufacturers use as the benchmark for their sports cars. With a multitude of elevation changes and variety of turns, this course is basically like driving on a mountain road but at blistering speeds. Take a moment acquaint yourself with the greatest race in the world, on the greatest track in the world. [AxisOfOversteer]
To see familiar streetscapes and landscapes through the lens of an older era is always fascinating experience. Here is a film taken in New York City in 1938 giving a tour of Manhattan from bottom to top, a glimpse of what life was like back in the day. I really enjoy seeing the buildings, shops, people, cars and clothes of the past in a dynamic form such as film because it gives a very lifelike and intimate connection, especially when they are streets that you have walked first hand. [LikeCool]
Happy New Year America! CXXVI Clothing Co. out of New York City is dedicated to American made products with matching heritage aesthetic. Check out their collection of fine clothing, bags and other accessories.
The World Rally Championship back in the day used to showcase a wider variety of cars than just Subarus, Citroens and Fords as it does now. Unbeknownst to some, seeing a Porsche navigating the dirt, snow and tarmac rally courses of Europe was a common sight in the 1970′s. Here we have a great photograph of a Porsche 911S sliding a slick left hander in the Austrian Alpine Rally. Uber-cool. [Driven]
I just came across this nu-disco jam while searching around for some new tracks this weekend, and holy moly is it groovin’! “Cool Million” is German Danish DJ/Producer tandem making some amazing soul, house and disco tracks, with this track featuring 70′s soul singer Leroy Burgess. Cool To Make A Million has the full the slate of classic disco keyboards guitars and percussion on top of a super funky bass line. I’m always blown away hearing new productions such as this that sound like they are straight out of the disco era.
In honor of the return of College Basketball season, lets take a moment to revel in the outstanding play by play calls of the instant legend Gus Johnson. Here is a compilation of his famous exclamations, conveniently organized on an easy to use soundboard. Rise And Fire!
Long ago are the days when one could easily find a simple and compact rear wheel drive sports car with a manual transmission and above average power. Auto manufacturers these days are making cars larger and heavier, with more unnecessary technological innovations and eliminating manual transmissions as an option, essentially losing touch with what real driving enthusiasts want. In an amazingly refreshing change of face, Toyota has released a modern reincarnation of their legendary Corolla AE86 from the 1980′s, considered one best performing Japanese compact cars of all time, and still used to this day in drift style racing. The new version, the Toyota GT 86, borrows a Subaru boxer 4 cylinder engine, six speed manual transmission and a newly rear wheel drive chassis, to focus on the same well balanced character that is found in the old AE86. These ingredients result in a sports car largely unmatched in its class by any other model on the market today.
There is a growing movement of bag companies that are designing their backpacks and totes in a simple vintage style. Altadena Works is the newest one to add to the list headquartered right here in California, and made in the USA. Their mantra is the bag should be an extension of what you are wearing, with minimal design and slimmer profile. The end result is a sleek design with classic color schemes, a very americana/heritage feel. [LAI'mYours]
