Dear Chris Camargo,
I love the beautiful images of Los Angeles you kindly share on your photo blog. You capture our city the way only somebody who truly loves it could. If you’re having a bad day, hating the smog, plastic surgery, and superficiality that gives this city a bad rap, take a look at these pretty pictures:
These pictures make me happy.
Love,
Orlando
PS: Check out Chris Camargo’s professional site for more fashion and commercial photographs.
Filed under California, Californiatimez, I Love LA, Images I Love, Uncategorized
By Contributing Food Editor Jared Levan
To All the Cake Lovers,
Yes–that was a Kylie reference.
It’s been quite a long time since my last post, but in honor of an upcoming Hommemaker birthday (July 5th), I decided Orlando needed a post dedicated entire to cake. There are probably some of you who would prefer something on pie, pastry or pudding…but we’ll get to you and yours another time.
For the big 3-0, Orlando has decided on a “rustic/woodland” themed extravaganza. Now you may be asking yourself, what does a rustic/woodland cake look like? That’s a good question. I had to do a little bit of digging, but I managed to find some awesome examples of manly, rough-around-the-edges (yet still delicious and fun to look at) cakes that would be perfect for the occasion.
Apple Lumberjack Cake by Manna From Heaven (Sydney, Australia)
It should come as no surprise that the words “rustic” and “woodland” invoke thoughts of lumberjacks, chopping down trees all day long. Now there’s a mental image–all your guests in flannel and real or marker-drawn beards. This cake may look anything but special for an event like a 30th birthday, but it looks (and sounds) delicious, doesn’t it?
Woodland Cake Pops by Cristy Cross
I mean, could a cake pop look any more woodland? Maybe. The fact that these guys look like edible (and far less hallucinogenic) “Fly agaric” mushrooms that grow near pine trees makes them even cooler. The bed of moss in which they are mounted is just icing on the cake pop.
Forest Faux Cake by Brookelynn Morris
This one’s not edible, I just thought it was really cool. Tablescape for the party maybe?
In closing, I’d like to with Orlando a happy 30th birthday party! Cheers!
Love,
Jared
Jared Levan
Filed under Uncategorized
Dear You,
See this painting? I hope so, it’s right in front of your face.
But guess what? It’s not a painting. It’s a bulletin board. Would you like to know how I made it? Me neither. But I’ll tell you anyway. First, I went to the art supply store where scary artist sales associate helped me find canvas. It costs about $7 a yard. I got mine from Dick Blick.
I used acrylic paint I had leftover from a previous project. It’s a very pretty color of navy blue.
I watered the paint down to give it a tie-dye look. This caused a beautiful watercolor effect, which made me happy.
Now, a word to the wise. Never, under any circumstances, attempt to use this item:
It’s a miter box for a saw that I was trying to use to make a frame. And it’s the hardest thing in the world to use. I tried to use this one, sweating and crying for 45 minutes before I gave up and went over to my friend’s house to have him cut the stupid wood on his chop saw. For the frame of the bulletin board, I used 3/4″ x 3″ pine. And so should you. After cutting the frame I glued the canvas painting onto the bulletin board (which I’d painted blue before in a failed attempt to make it look pretty). I used school glue. Which you can pretty much use for anything.
I mixed the glue with water to thin it down and make an even coat on the bulletin board.
I used wood glue on the back to secure the canvas around the bulletin board.
When everything was dry, I glued the bulletin board into the frame I’d made (I don’t really want to talk about how I made the frame because it’s boring. Basically just screw four pieces of wood together). To attach the frame to the bulletin board I used wood glue, which is incredibly strong even though it smells just like white glue.
Then, I painted the frame white. With flat house paint. I wanted the look to be more matte, so I didn’t use semi-gloss or gloss like I normally would have. Flat paint scuffs up more though, so be ready to maniacally clean if you, too, choose flat paint.
This is what the final product looks like. It’s like a painting, but you can pin things to it. If you’ve ever fantasized about stabbing pins into pieces of art (and who hasn’t?), this is the bulletin board for you. My problem with most bulletin boards is that they are ugly and the cork is a gross color. This bulletin board solves all those problems and then some. So are you sold? Are you making yours yet? Hurry!
Here is the bulletin board with a few things on it. The one I made is actually for a client so the things on it aren’t mine. It still needs much more stuff on it but I thought it would be weird to fill someone else’s bulletin board for them so I left some blank space.
Up close, you can really see how pretty an watery the paint is. Glamour.
And here it is in the office it now calls home.
I hope you all go out and make a bulletin board disguised as a painting now. It’s much more interesting than one that just looks like an ugly old bulletin board.
Love,
Orlando
Filed under D.I. Why?, Design, Do It Yourself!, Interiors, Uncategorized
Dear My Former Professor Ellis Hanson,
One of my favorite classes I took in college was English 276: Desire. That class was awesome, basically just an excuse for you to put on bondage gear and give outrageous lectures about sex. I took this course my senior year so much of my time was spent sitting in the back of the lecture hall talking to my friend Matt about our impending moves to New York City and about how after tiring of city life we’d move to New Canaan, Connecticut to retire and live with our rich husbands and blond children.
I had no idea at the time how many glamourous mid-century modern homes existed in New Canaan, but apparently it’s a hot spot of modern architecture. New Canaan was the home to The Harvard Five, which was basically five fancypants Harvard architects that settled in town and built, like, totally awesome modern homes that changed the face of residential architecture forever.
Lately I’ve had houses on the mind. People keep asking me which style I like which is so hard because I love so many different kinds of homes. I fantasize about living in a cabin in the middle of the woods (like the one I grew up in), I fantasize about living in a cottage on California’s Central Coast (like the one in which John Steinbeck did much of his writing), and I dream about living in a Laurel Canyon treehouse (like the one I imagine Joni Mitchell writing “Blue” in).
Northeastern modern homes will always have a special place in my heart though, because they are so classic, each one their own work of art. As much as I love vintage items and piles of nicknacks everywhere in a home’s interior, when it comes to the exterior of a home I love rectangles and clean lines. Basically, I want to live in something that looks like a white box from the outside, a grandpa’s house from the inside.
Below are a few of my favorite New Canaan Moderns:
John Black Lee, 1952
Elliot Noyes, 1951
Alan Goldberg, 1977
Hugh Smallen, 1964
Hugh Smallen, 1957
Hugh Smallen, 1962
Victor Christ-Janer, 1953
Philip Johnson, 1945
Victor Christ-Janer, 1953
Allan Gelbin, 1969
Evans Woollen III, 1954
You can learn more about the New Canaan Moderns and see more pictures here. You’re welcome.
Love,
Orlando
Filed under Northeastern Glamour, Orlando's Obsession, Uncategorized, Whut Glamour!
Filed under Uncategorized
Dear Travel Journal,
I woke up Sunday morning with a purpose. I packed my car and headed to Yosemite. There was a huge monsoon in Los Angeles and I basically hydroplaned all the way from Southern California to the Northlands. A drive that normally takes 5.5 hours took 7, and by the time I got to the park boundary I was in no mood to find that multiple rockslides and massive amounts of snow had closed all three roads into the park. A sidenote (which I’ll explain in a future post) is that my parents live within Yosemite National Park and I was headed there to visit them. They are now trapped there with no electricity and will probably be forced to eat each other if the power doesn’t come on soon.
Because I’d just driven for 7 hours and I had zero interest in staying in one of the terrifying towns outside of Yosemite, I decided to drive to San Francisco, where my sister and a number of my close friends live. What started off as a harrowing adventure ended up being a totally fun road trip, and now I am in San Francisco working a little bit and playing a little bit.
Highway on the way to San Francisco from Yosemite:
My sister and I ate a quick lunch at The Greens, which is one of the most renowned vegetarian restaurants in the world. A fun fact about this place is that they have a small to-go cafe that opens up for lunch. You can get sandwiches and soups, etc and then go sit in the wonderful dining room. Going to The Greens for dinner is expensive, so if you want to check it out without breaking the bank, lunch is a fun option. Also, at dinnertime when it’s dark out, you can’t see how beautiful the view is, boats and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.
Some of the windows inside The Greens. Thought they made for a pretty photograph.
After lunch my sister and I went for a walk at Chrissy Field, my favorite place in the city. Being that I am missing out on Yosemite, being outdoors was highly appreciated.
I love this bright color of this fun thrift store down the street from my sister’s apartment in the Mission District. The Community Thrift Shop allows customers to donate the proceeds from their purchases to the charity of their choice. Fun idea.
What started out as a much-needed trek into the wilderness has turned into a long overdue trip to the prettiest city in the US. My philosophy about my three favorite American cities is as follows:
My brain lives in New York. My body lives in Los Angeles. My heart lives in San Francisco.
It’s cheesy, I know, but I believe it to be true. There is nowhere that makes me feel as intellectually stimulated as New York. There is nowhere that makes me feel as healthy and able to enjoy my body as warm-weathered Los Angeles. And there is no city that makes me feel as happy and comfortable as San Francisco. I grew up coming here frequently and it’s such a treat to be back.
Love,
Orlando
Filed under Uncategorized, Vacationtimez
