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Two weeks ago, Davi and I spent the morning at Thomas Hooper‘s art studio shooting him for an upcoming 3sixteen Singularities piece. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

Look for the piece to debut on 3sixteen.com in early August.

My friend Steve Opperman (formerly of Temple Bags) and his wife Rebecca have started a new furniture company called Stephen Kenn. Their steel frames are all locally welded in Los Angeles and the cushions are all made of repurposed WWII military fabric. Fans of his former bag collection will see many design similarities carried over into the furniture.

In addition to their furniture collection, Steve and Beks host a neighborhood coffee shop at their workshop/showroom space on weekday mornings from 8-11am. It’s called Backdoor Coffee Club and is open to the public, but if you plan on stopping by it’s best to follow them on Twitter (@backdoor_coffee) to see if they’re closed on any given day. I personally love the idea, as I find the idea of common spaces where like-minded creatives can meet up to build together and encourage one another to be extremely important for rejuvenating a sense of community (especially in larger cities). Apolis hosted a weeklong event last December called Common Table which sought to fulfill similar goals, and I’m guessing that it won’t be the last time they do it.

Stephen Kenn/Backdoor Coffee Club
1250 Long Beach Ave., Suite 120
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Last week I got to grab lunch and catch up with my old intern Shimon. After his stint at 3sixteen, he went on to intern at Unis and is now working at Nepenthes NY. I remember when I first brought him in for an interview; he shared that he  had graduated from college and got a job at an ad agency, only to find that it was not something he was not excited about. He decided to leave the ad world behind and try to gain some experience in fashion to see if it could work out for him. Two years later, I’d say that he made the right choice. Many of our interns really inspire me with the risks that they take to pursue their passions and Shimon is no exception.

Being that I haven’t seen him since I had my son Logan, Shimon came bearing gifts. One of them was a small box of cigars. During his internship, we had taken more than a few afternoon cigar breaks on the red benches at Allen & Stanton to decompress, and so he thought to bring something that would let me take a few “forced breaks” as I like to call them.  These particular cigars are dubbed “The Old Man and the C” – the single cigar is the old man, and there’s a strange bundle of three intertwined cigars to form the sea. I wonder how the bent cigars will smoke, but they came recommended from a customer of his at Nepenthes so I’m sure they’ll be good.

The other gift is a candle from Nepenthes to help burn off any lingering cigar smoke smells. Very thoughtful.

Some long overdue pictures from my trip to Chicago last month. We went to visit longtime friends of mine, two of which had a baby girl quite recently. For those who don’t know, I spent 7+ years in Chicago for both school and work. I love the city and the people there, and wish we could go back more often. Another milestone for the trip was our son’s first airplane ride – he performed admirably and slept the entire way there and back. Like father, like son.

Giordano’s stuffed pizza. While the merits of which Chicago-style pizza joint is best can be debated endlessly, I’ve had many a good spinach stuffed pizza here and have yet to be disappointed.  Call me a creature of habit.

Logan doesn’t like to be teased with food. He’ll grab.

I lived in Chicago’s south side for two years – specifically, in a blue collar neighborhood called Bridgeport, the home of the Chicago White Sox. When I had left, the area was still family-oriented, diverse and relatively ungentrified. I was pleasantly surprised during this last visit to find a small coffeehouse called Bridgeport Coffee Company flourishing, where they serve in house roasted single origin coffees and blends. The espresso was subpar (mostly due to the machine and the preparation) but the made-to-order pourover coffees were excellent. This place serves flavor shots – they’re clearly not trying to be a cool guy shop, but they do roast some good coffee. Right across the street is a bar called Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar; it used to be a neighborhood dive but has been transformed into a bar that serves up craft beers and liquors. Where were these places when I lived there?

Beyond all the good food and drink that Chicago has to offer (and there’s a lot of it), I was especially grateful to be able to reconnect with longtime friends who know me well. It’s also exciting to see us all growing up together and starting families together. Surreal, but exciting.