Category Archives: Whut Glamour!

by | 2 October 2012 · 9:46 pm

My So-Called Barber

Dear Self,

Are you ever like “Hey, this is the worst day of my life and I feel like a moldy thrown-away tortilla on Seis De Mayo”? Well there is one sure-fire way to cheer yourself up on days like these. All you have to do is go to the nearest barber or hair salon and ask them to chop of all of your hair. There is nothing more therapeutic than running into a chic salon and screaming “CUT IT OFF ME!!!!” with tears streaming down your withered face, bony face.

The other day I was feeling like an ugly Rumpelstiltskin. The best thing to do when you feel like a disgusting hogface is to get a haircut. I guarantee it will always make you feel better. If you have the right stylist that is. If not it will ruin your life. This is why I go to Shane at The Cut By Barbershop. He looks like this:

The Cut By Barbershop is kind of like a speakeasy. There is no sign outside. When you make an appointment you are given the top secret location. Then when you get there you’re like “where am I?” Then you walk in the door and you’re like “What? How is this amazing barbershop still such a secret?” And then you feel super cool for knowing about a place that is so secret even the owner hardly knows it exists.

The exposed beam ceiling is pretty cool. Shane has added a lot of lighting to this place to make sure you can see your perfect new haircut and dazzling white teeth.

Have you ever been like “I want a giant mirror!” and then you look for giant mirrors and realize they cost more than a brand new Mercedes? Mirrors are ridiculously expensive. Which is why I love this totally clever idea Shane implemented in his shop. He used vintage brass closet doors as mirrors. It not only looks industrial chic, it also gets points for being so inventive.

I love this vintage Mobil Pegasus. His actually lights up. And that dog is so adorable I want to put it in a glass cage and stare at it forever.

The shop is filled with cool object, including these horns.

Percentage of times I’ve had a drink whilst getting a haircut: 0%
Percentage of times I’ve wanted a drink whilst getting a haircut: 100%

I love the design of these Hudson Whiskey labels. I like whiskey, but seeing that bottle makes me like it ever more.

One time when I was little our next door neighbor used to wear a helmet while she raked the yard. She did this because she was scared an acorn would fall from high above and end her life. Her fear of acorns did not stop me and my siblings from making fun of her every day. Fast forward to me seeing this helmet at Shane’s shop. Would it be weird if I started wearing a motorcycle helmet, even though I don’t ride a motorcycle? I hope not because I want to wear this one every day. To the gym, to the movies. To your wedding. Everywhere!

There is nothing more American than barbershops, so I was happy to see this American flag on the wall.

Why do I not own this speaker and/or fully understand what it is? It is so beautiful.

If you find yourself in Hollywood and look up to see this sign in a window, run inside immediately and get a haircut. Hurry!

A strange truth about this place is that as soon as I started going I found out all my stupid friends go there too but never told me about it. It was like some weird secret society that no one invited me to. Meanwhile I was outside laying on he pavement eating a whole cake by myself. Not really. But I felt so left out of this barberglamour. Which is why I am telling you about it now. Because I am such a good person.

Look how cool this mid-century barber chair is. Looks kinda like an Eames chair…

I’m pretty sure Shane has a trunk hoarding problem, because there are a lot of trunks at The Cut By.

That damn speaker again. Mine.

And here’s me with a fresh new haircut. No longer a moldy tortilla, I feel like a hot tamale!

Thanks for the glamourtimez, Shane. I’ll be back soon.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Beauty, Bodytimez, California, Hollywoodtimez, Men's Grooming, Whut Glamour!

by | 27 September 2012 · 4:51 pm

Whut Glamour: Union Station

Dear Diary,

I’ve always loved Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Recently I snapped some pictures there and I’d like to share them with you. The building’s style is Mission Revival and it opened in 1939. It’s has a ton of history and (GASP!) is an actual functioning train station where you can catch the train to go down south to Long Beach or up north to San Francisco. If you’ve never taken the train in California, you must! The train tracks take you along agricultural fields and grand, golden California vistas. As for Union Station, it looks like this:

Union Station even inspired this photo by Chris Camargo, who has an excellent Photo Blog:

So whatever you’re doing. It’s not important. Go to Union Station immediately and bask in the glamour of one of our nation’s most beautiful old train stations.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under California, Design, Hollywood Diary, I Love LA, Whut Glamour!

by | 13 June 2012 · 3:39 pm

Whut Glamour: Tham & Videgård

Dear Swedish Architecture Firm Tham & Videgård,

I discovered you a few weeks back when I was researching tree houses. You made this awesome treehouse:

Not only do you design glamourous tree houses, you also design modern, exciting homes for lucky, beautiful rich people. Below are a selection of my favorites.

House K

This one is pretty minimal, cold, and scary from the outside, but looks modern and delightful from the inside.

Nora

I’ve always dreamed of living in a little box like this one.

Garden House

This house is genius because it takes something kinda depressing (lattice), blows up the scale, and turns it into an unexpected design element.

House Karlsson

This is the little barn I’ve always wanted except way smarter. I love the red and all the fun skylights.

Archipelago House

This is their best house by far. It’s a way sleeker version of that Sonoma County House I really want.

Anyway, I’ll take one of each. Thanks so much.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Architecture, Design, Gimme, Real Estate, Whut Glamour!

by | 15 May 2012 · 5:27 pm

Whut Glamour: New York

Dear New York,

It was a whirlwind trip visiting you for the first two weeks of May. But I must say I saw a ton of pretty things (and I managed to take a picture of a few of them). Here is a pictorial recap of my trip.

We stayed in an adorable part of Brooklyn (Carroll Gardens) in our friend Ian’s apartment. If I ever move back to New York I think I’ll live in Brooklyn. I’ve never lived there before but it’s way more mellow than Manhattan.

Our first night there we took a little walk in Dumbo. Did you know that “DUMBO” stands for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”? I didn’t.

We shopped the Meeker Avenue Antique and Vintage Market in Williamsburg. We didn’t find anything but it’s always fun to peruse their offerings. Sometimes it’s garbage, sometimes it’s filled with fun finds. This visit was mostly garbagey.

No trip to New York is complete without a trip to Central Park. It’s just classic. Also, it’s the only place in Manhattan you can walk freely without feeling like you’re in a mosh pit of people screaming into their cell phones about what their evening plans are.

On the way to dinner one night I passed this film set. I have no idea what they are filming but it felt like a little slice of home, Hollywood invading the Big Apple.

This was a lovely dinner my friend Misako made for me and some of my old friends from college. Misako is a talented graphic designer who makes glamorous custom invitations, stationery, and business cards. We’ve been friends since grad school and she always makes me feel at home in New York.

She made the most delicious salmon, quinoa, and avocado salad.

New York definitely has more interesting coffee options than Los Angeles. And most of them have really adorable cups like they have at Joe.

I love Fishs Eddy because it reminds me of my mother, who loves it because it reminds her of her grandparents house in Long Eddy, New York. They sell wonderful dinnerware and home goods.

We saw this adorable mirror at an Organic Modern pop up shop in Chelsea.

This was a poem posted in a subway train. I love it a lot.

A trendy Lower East Side pub with a trendy menu with a trendy typeface.

My friend Faris’ fire escape herb garden.

The disco ball DJ booth at David Barton Gym at Astor Place. Because every gym needs a disco ball DJ booth.

A mural on the Lower East Side.

My old apartment in Chelsea, where I went to a dinner with my former roommate and close friend Meaghan.

A ridiculously buttery and delicious French dessert, made by Meaghan.

The view from the Lake House, in Upstate New York.

The adorable Lake House. As someone who fantasizes about living in a barn, it was hard to leave this place. I’m still considering traveling back to squat there illegally, hiding in the basement every time the homeowners come up from the city.

Neon workout gear at Michaels Arts and Crafts store. Whenever I see colors like this my eyes turn into spirals and I can’t turn away. Must. Resist. The. Bright. Colors.

The best Old Fashioned I’ve ever had. Served at Bar Tabac. I drink these because they remind me of someone special. And so can you!

Cute cups at The City Bakery, where the food is “meh!” but the graphic design is “me gusta.”

This image might as well be a scan of my brain, because this is exactly what my internal dialogue looks like.

Schiller’s, Lower East Side. Did you ever notice how waiters in New York are totally mean? Our waiter hated us and made sure we knew it. That being said it was the best dinner I’ve ever eaten in my life (I had the steak frites, smothered in butter. My arteries haven’t been the same since).

I had to take multiple pictures of the sign, because I love the scripty font so much.

Meanwhile, in Sonoma County, California, my niece was doing a cute baby thing by crawling into a basket. I know this is completely unrelated to my New York trip, but it’s totally relevant because she’s the cutest baby in the world. And she’s in a basket. So get into it.

New York was crazy, crazy busy, and crazy fun. Hopefully next time I’ll get to stop and see more sights (my one regret is not seeing The Whitney Biennial). But it felt good to get back to California, back to family, and back to work. The end.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under New York, Whut Glamour!, Worktimez

by | 10 March 2012 · 7:54 pm

Orlando’s Obsession / New Canaan Moderns

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

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Filed under Northeastern Glamour, Orlando's Obsession, Uncategorized, Whut Glamour!

by | 14 February 2012 · 5:50 pm

Whut Glamour – Richard Haines Fashion Illustrations

Dear Artist & Illustrator Richard Haines,

I was perusing the style section of the NYT recently when I came across some of your fashion illustrations. They reminded me of how much I love your work and how much joy I get from looking at the drawings you create. Seeing them makes me want to be transported into a cartoon world where everything is as gorgeous and appealing as it is in your work. The line quality, the casual yet refined rendering style, the lovely washes of color. It all makes me so happy. Thanks for making such pretty illustrations. Thanks also for your delightful blog, What I Saw Today.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Fashiontimez, Fashonz, The Artz, Whut Glamour!

by | 21 November 2011 · 6:44 pm

Whut Glamour: Hedi Slimane Exhibit

Dear Hedi Slimane,

I tried to see your exhibit California Song on its opening night, but it was so swamped with glamourmodels and celebs like Kirsten Dunst that I couldn’t even get in the building. Thus, I’ve been dying to feast my eyes on it since I heard it was coming to MOCA PDC. I visited the exhibit Saturday and I must say it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen in my whole stupid life.

Here is the banner on the outside of MOCA PDC (sidenote: am I the only one who thinks the Pacific Design Center is the most amazing, 90z ‘Saved By The Bell’ building in the whole world?).

While California Song was the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life, the first section of it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life. There were some major issues with the first floor gallery. I found the installation completely disappointing. Here are these absolutely stunning, gorgeous images, glued to dumb plywood and placed only at heights (too high or too low) where any intimacy with them was entirely impossible. It looked like something a first-semester architecture student would put together to showcase his final project. And the mirrors at waist-height? Who cares?!? I don’t want to stare at my own crotch I want to stare at you photographs! I would have preferred to see four photographs, simply framed, just hanging on the wall. The installation completely distracted from the power of the images.

As you know, I completely love your images, Hedi, so seeing them displayed in this studenty manner felt like a complete desecration.

The good news is that the exhibit redeems itself 500% once you reach the gallery on the second floor. It features a giant cube with rotating images on three sides, surrounded by a complex and beautiful speaker situation.

The speaker system plays sound installations by Ariel Pink and No Age. It’s basically just entrancing music that sets a mellow mood, causing you to get lost in these gorgeous, large scale projections. The soundtrack allows you to enter wholeheartedly into HediWorld, a place where everything is beautiful, interesting, edgy, soulful, and sensuous.

I love the Gore Vidal portraits. I also loved standing where I could see two sides of the cube at once, seeing how the meaning of the images changed when they were juxtaposed against one another.

Just for good measure, and because I love them so hard, I have included two Hedi video treats (unrelated to the exhibit):

In conclusion, Mr. Slimane, your exhibit is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life and it actually brought me to tears because it was so awesome. If scientists ever figure out how to make it possible for me to enter into an alternate universe, I’ll choose HediWorld for sure.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under California, Californiatimez, Hedi Slimane, Hollywood Diary, I Love LA, The Artz, The Golden State, Whut Glamour!

by | 30 August 2011 · 9:11 pm

The Golden Campuses

Dear Diary,

If I could do one thing over again, it would be to go to college again. But this time, instead of just going to one college, I’d go to every single college in America for just one day. College campuses fascinate me because they become design museums of sorts. Most older universities are a collection of beautiful old buildings, starkly modern mid-century buildings, enthrallingly ugly 80s buildings, and 90s buildings (that always look like they are made from Legos). Colleges campus designs are meant to reflect the values of higher education: learning, community, safety, history, romance, and so on. When I was looking at colleges, I barely even considered California’s wonderful universities. Now that I’m back on the West Coast, I’ve gained an appreciation for the beautiful, green, sprawling nature of California’s campuses. So here are some pictures to get you in the mood for learning:

Here is one of my favorite UC Campuses, Berkeley. It’s my parents’ alma mater, so I’ve been there a lot.

I mean, I can’t with that view.

Sather Gate (then).

Sather Gate (now).

The oft-maligned UC Riverside campus has some striking architectural features, like this lovely cartoony corridor.

Meanwhile, CalTech in glamourous Pasadena looks like an English garden.

This is a crazy auditorium at CalTech that looks like a circus tent.

Our gorgeous local UCLA campus. So grandiose and idyllic.

California’s answer to the elite liberal arts colleges of the Northeast.

The University of the Pacific. Small school, pretty campus.

The Stanford campus has never been one of my favorites, mainly because I feel it uses the Califonia Mission style in an inappropriate scale (way too big). That being said, it’s still a glorious and warm campus.

UC Santa Cruz is another one of my favorites. Mainly because it’s built into a coastal forest. It has a very California 1960s vibe, as exemplified by the lovely arboretum (below).


UC San Diego has some exciting modern architecture.


And their own pier. Beat that, Ivy League!

So, in conclusion, if you are a high school senior you should consider coming out to the Golden State to luxuriate on one of our gorgeous campuses.

You’re Welcome,
Orlando

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Filed under California, Californiatimez, Whut Glamour!

by | 24 August 2011 · 6:06 am

Whut Glamour: Floor-to-Ceiling Shelving

Dear College,

I hate to admit it, but lately I’ve turned into one of those people who thinks about my college days a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not yearning for parties or lusting after a life of carefree fun. What I miss most about college is the library, where I spent my free time in lieu of having a social life. I was lucky enough to study at some of the prettiest libraries in America. This is my favorite library from my undergraduate years (Cornell’s Uris Library):

And this is my favorite library from my years in graduate school (The University of Pennsylvania’s Fisher Fine Arts Library):

And, just for good measure, here is a picture of Joan Didion with her husband, John Dunne, and their daughter, Quintana Roo sitting in a library. If that isn’t the epitome of glamour I don’t know what is.

So what does all this have to do with design and Hommemaking? Well I’ve developed a bit of an obsession with library-style floor-to-ceiling shelving. I was reminded of this obsession as I dined with my parents this evening and my mother was complaining about her book storage issues (“There’s never enough room for all of them!”). Books are comforting because they remind us that there are all these ideas sitting there waiting to be discovered. Anyway, enough about books, let’s look at some shelves:

I like this whole setup, but where did they get that HIDEOUS fake fireplace? Gross.

Do I hate these chairs? Or are they awesome? I think I hate them? Or I hate myself for hating them? Life is so hard!

I want  to eat dinner in this room. So elegant and inviting.

These aren’t bookshelves, but wouldn’t you die to cook in this kitchen? It looks like these people are getting ready to boil a nice tasty puppy (to the right of the stove). Don’t do it!

After seeing this image, I realized I need all of these dishes. But I never want to use them.

So, in conclusion, I really want some enormous shelves and 75,517 books. Stat.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Whut Glamour!

by | 16 August 2011 · 5:13 am

Whut Glamour: Salon Walls

Dear Diary,

The other day I was perusing Apartment Therapy when I came across something so delightful that it filled me with desire, jealousy, and bitterness. It was this photograph of a home in Hollywood:

The home is owned by these three hunks:

Seeing their awesome salon style living room made me want an entire salon style house. For those of you not familiar with salon style galleries, this is where artwork is hung all the way to the ceiling, in order to fit the most art possible into a space. Graduates of art school are familiar with this style because many of our undergraduate shows are exhibited like this. I’ve always kind of hated salon style hanging because it takes a little bit of importance away from each piece by crowding it. But who wouldn’t want to live in a house that was so chock full of art that there was always something new to see? Here are some other glamourous examples of salon style walls:

I suppose one technique to creating a successful salon wall is to choose a theme for your collection. Like here where it’s mainly portraits of gentlemen. Completely random collections can work, too.

I’m pretty sure this is an actual museum, but that’s cool with me because I’ve always wanted to live in a pristine white museum surrounded by beautiful and/or weird art.

I’m such a sucker for bright white room. Especially when it allows the art to provide the pattern and color.

Everyone needs a grand staircase with a picture wall behind it.

In conclusion, I want to hang art on my walls until the buckle under the pressure and fall down. I want to suffocate in my art collection. Now I guess I have some art shopping to do…

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Interiors, My Likey, Whut Glamour!