The Sunday Society

Cute! cute! and more cute!

 

Speeding by this Culver City delicacy on the eve of its opening, I vowed I would return for possibly a closer look, but I had no idea what frenzy and fare awaited me of the Royal T. On this Sunday afternoon however I did keep my promise and take in a lazy afternoon's tea and bites, a tiered tray with cakes and cookies complimented with a signature milk tea to wash it all down . . . yum! The wait staff wore matching harajuku costumes, japanese art lined the walls and on this day it was especially special!, a Blyth doll pop-up store, patrons attended with their dolls dressed to match for the occasion. 

 

Royal T is split up into 5 sections; 

- The Gallery on the right hand side full of the owner, Susan Hancock's personal collection and rotating from a warehouse full each month.

- A store to the right with everything from books to those cute cupcake hats.

- Then a space for pop-up stores to engage their merch to their die-hard fans.

- In the middle, the diner offering every kind of cute eatbles you could possibly imagine.

 

- Anime viewing room and larger gallery spaces at back, separated by glass panes.

 www.royal-t.org

Among other cute dessert places that top my list of fancy feasting between Los Angeles and London, would also be:

Te-a-tea in Paddington, London 

Rococo divine, shelfs of books, comfy wing backs, glass jeweled chandeliers, checkered floor and  a piano player sunday afternoons, I found my sweet tooth again after all these years.

Lark Cakeshop in Silverlake, Los Angeles

Looks like an exaggeration of my grandma's living room, the color scheme inspired by the bowl of pillow mints she kept on her coffee table. www.larkcakeshop.com

Tea Palace in Kensington, London

A vanity in violet and a little more of grown-up version of the cake shops galore.

www.teapalace.co.uk 

Jin Patisserie, Abbot Kinney, Los Angeles

Enclosed Japanese courtyard and tea house with yummy little cakes all made by the owner and chef.

www.jinpatisserie.com

Orangery, Kensignton Palace, London

18th century cafe of a Babar quality.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/kensingtonpalace/cafesandrestaurants.aspx

Angelyne, Angelyne . . . the billboard queen

Angelyne is a notion of what modern Hollywood is perceived to be by the rest of the world; blonde hair and big fake boobs, she is a stereotypical representative proving the pre-conceived ideals are right. But aside from the ideas of pool side film parties, well liquored and scantily clad, Hollywood is a very hollow place where runaways get lost rather than found. 

 

Over-run with tourism and Scientology at Hollywood & Vine, the billboard queen Angelyne perches sensually in photos re-used from her more youthful days and known to be funded by her male callers. A meloncholy example betrayed by her own undeniable youth, I am apathetic to her but sympathetic to her realities. The same way I felt when seeing Dita Von Tesse live in London at the Coco, much more recognized on a international level, she too however sang a sad song whose tune that got caught in my head. Each note representing a temporary lover, a lusting viewer, I was sad for her sake that time would not be so ruthless, but knowing full well this was part of her lure. 

 

Like five stars of luxury for your Head!

'Saw this and thought of you...' began an early day email accompanied with a link to my favorite and most
expensive habit since I got my moto license; the helmut epidemic. But I had never
owned anything like these, they call her Ruby and after seeing her mutli-toned and patterned
siblings propped pleasantly at Fred Segal, the Ducati dealer and Glory, I had to at least try one on.  Snug and
comfy, but firm like a bomb shelter, it was like wearing a five star hotel on your head! 
Offered in so many colors I preferred the most common in a taste-y resemblance of different hued peppermints,
the stripped hardshell wonder helmut herself, yum! 

Now only if I could justify spending half as much money on my helmut as I did on my bike, then Ruby, I

would sacrifice my hair style every day just to have you near. 

http://www.boutiqueruby.com/

Let there be light at Showstudio

Live streaming webcam documents the final day of a 3 day shoot for V magazine's Feb 2009 issue, entitled Let There Be Light. 

Nick Knight on camera, styling by Jonathan Kaye, and an array of talented people on set, hair and make-up hover around Lily Donaldson, making sure the model is clean and content. 

If you have no interest in seeing the 6-foot blonde flip her hair emotionlessly back and forth from every camera angle, I suggest watching Alex Fury explain a Balenciaga dress in pure poetry or sitting down for an informal brief by Mr. Knight himself.

 http://www.showstudio.com/project/lettherebelight/

emphatic over Estrada

  Sitting on the second tier of a double-decker bus weaving through the narrow streets of Kensington in London, I was introduced to Paul Smith; a small boutique store located on the east side tower of an Edwardian style housing complex, one of many in the city.

A year later, flipping through the book 'Fashion Unfolding' I was reunited with Paul Smith, but under the spell of alluring illustrations by Catalina Estrada. A nice change from the original color-coded stripes that is the essence of Paul Smith, Catalina Estrada graced shirts, blouses, ties, tee's, and other items with whimsical depictions of London's historic scenery. 

 

Searching relentlessly for this collection I found it was only ever released in Japan for a season, selling out quickly to excited patrons, but never to be purchased again, my heart sank. I yearned for her work, google-ing her name for anything that resembled her, I found she was Columbian born in 1965, living in Barcelona for the last decade, illustrating for many companies large and small including Anunciacao boutique in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

  

Having no online store to order such goods from, I contacted their generic info email supplied on the website regarding the limited edition printed platforms with leather strapping. Within a week I was politely responded by Ana, clever manager and corresponding representative of the boutique. After weeks of delightful emails I was able to purchase the Estrada shoes and learn a bit about South America, convinced its as bright and enchanting as Catalina Estrada's pretty pictures.

 

www.anunciacao.com

www.catalinaestrada.com  

Election Rally 2008 - Go-Bama!

If I had a shot of whisky for every time I heard the word Historic whilst waiting in line at the Hyatt Regency for the Obama 08' Rally, I would have been hospitalized for alcohol poisoning,(thats if my health insurance allowed for it). But it definitely was the right word to explain such an evening, people screamed with joy from the hotel balcony's and in the streets as the polls favored Obama over McCain, state by state. "WE WON!" a hotel patron from the 5th story balcony yelled, followed by a wave of loud cheering and fist saluting.

As we pushed our way in the buildings doors by lucky implication, we found ourselves in the Lobby with several other supporters, huddled around two tv screens. People stood on chairs, tables, anything they could find to watch Barrack Obama's acceptance speech, everyone cheered loudly, hugged and kissed each other as it came to a close, the most gripping victory had been achieved; Change IS possible. 

Chants calling YES WE DID! rang harmoniously through out the Lobby and into the other rooms as we made our way down to the grand ballroom. Thousands of people drank and danced to the music and speeches given by dj's, the mayor of LA and other such acts. Fire marshals controlled the crowds and even got a bit gitty themselves, and the men-in-black-politicians were all too ecsatic at the nights wins.

Bear and I had our picture taken numerous times for our 'P' for patriotic efforts to pull together outfits in support of the Red, White and Blue, I even received several hugs from other attendees for I'm sure the love of America! . . . I almost forgot I was a import from Canada on a visa, all I could think about was, 'shit I'm glad proud to be in America today!"

The Sunday Society was there at the Official Democratic Rally for Presidential candidate, now President Barrack Obama, November 4th, 2008.

what we did on Halloween . . .

Ever since I moved to LA I felt I've ventured back into the thought process of high-school, immense insecurities; who's cooler than anti-cool in Silverlake, who smells bad Downtown, who's popularly famous at Fred Segal, who's the new kid from the mid-west, rich kids don't leave the Pacific Pallisades . . . ever! and I feel like I'm the goodie good art girl writing a student newspaper entry in a after-school-special, . . . so lets make this short before I have to hit up the lunch room for a council meeting, heh. 

Halloween is a chance for most to put all differences aside and commune in raging house parties and street festivals giving individuals the chance to show their true colors and average girls to show as much skin as possible in a scandally clad get-up that was purchased in a Hollywood sex-shop. 

However, when this city gets it right on such occassions, there is much more treat than trick to be had in one evening. In this case, Bear and I took part in a jont-back-in-time to view the black and white silent film, The Phantom of the Opera, accompanied by organist, Clark Wilson at The Disney Concert Hall. If you know the story, then your aware of the Phantom; a masked man making due in the 5th cellar of a re-created Paris opera house only to be beaten down by its patrons for kidnapping his beautiful muse. But we also learnt Universal had the biggest order of lumber in the history of film to create the decadent set and Lon Chaney used fish hooks to pull his eyelids back to embody the strong goul-like face structure of the Phantom. Regardless we loved all those cute but scared ballerina's.