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These are my first pair of 3sixteen jeans that I’ve really worn in. Prior to this, I had another pair of SL-100x that were starting to break in nicely until they fell victim to my chainstitching mishaps. I figured what better jeans to learn to hem than my own, so I tried a few times, messed up, cut the jeans shorter, etc. until I ended up with highwaters. It’s not unlike trying to salvage a haircut you are giving to a friend.

I started on these in May of 2010, right when I headed out to San Francisco with Lily for a short vacation. They were my daily wearers throughout that summer but then sat idle through the wintertime. I broke them out again this spring and have had them on just about every day since then. I’d say they have just over 1 year of effective wear, and unlike my other raw jeans, I gave this pair consistent hand washes every 2-3 months.

This batch of denim was sourced from Kaihara, before we started developing our own exclusive denim with Kuroki. One thing I liked about this denim was that it gives a pretty contrasty fade and  yields more vertical streakiness than I expected.

Love that roping effect that our Union Special 43200g gives.

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.

During my last trip to LA, Johan and I stopped by the nascent headquarters of Handsome Coffee Roasters. Founded by Tyler Wells, Chris Owens and Michael Phillips, who met during their tenure at the coffee juggernaut known as Intelligentsia, Handsome is poised to be the first major LA-based third wave coffee roaster. When we visited the space it was still quite raw, but you could sense the excitement the team had for the future.

The Handsome coffee van brings the team to various events where they serve coffee and espresso via a mobile setup.

One unique experience they seek to offer is the elimination of terminology and frills when it comes to ordering drinks. Some new wave coffee shops offer brewed coffee 5 ways, which takes the barista 10 minutes to explain to someone who’s unfamiliar with the different processes. Handsome chooses one method of preparation and allows the coffee to be the center of the discussion. Similarly, with espresso, all you have to do is choose whether you want it with milk or not, and what size you’d like. I’ve visited my fair share of cafes and know that the bevy of choices offered can be intimidating to customers, and sometimes people are made to feel stupid if they don’t know what a macchiato is. I really like Handsome’s approach to making an artisinal approach to coffee accessible to everyone.

This vintage Probat 3 barrel roaster just arrived and Chris, the partner who oversees roasting, was about to get it set up and running. Because it can roast three small batches at a time, this machine is commonly used as a sample roaster as the team tries out new beans and decides which to buy in bulk. They’re still awaiting the arrival of their larger Probat roaster; it’s currently getting rebuilt in Europe and will soon ship over. I found it interesting that in seemingly disparate industries like denim and coffee, such a high value is placed on old machines that were built tougher and still do the job better than their modern counterparts.

Since our visit, Handsome has made additional progress on their space and look to be on track for their target of opening their doors to the public by the end of the year. Eater LA visited them last week and it looks like their concrete floors have been poured, which is pretty exciting (they were dirt before). Between now and their open date, you can find them in their truck around LA serving coffee at various events. Also, if you decide to stop by their space that’s still under construction, you just might find a small coffee bar in the back serving up samples in the morning. As Tyler put it, they were just too anxious to wait until the space was finished to start making their coffee.

Handsome Coffee Roasters
582 Mateo Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
handsomecoffee.com