Cafe Du Monde

Established in 1862, this has been a perennial, twenty four hour destination for any and all visitors to New Orleans. On the edge of the infamous French Quarter, hugging one of the circuitous bends in the mighty Mississippi, Café Du Monde stands as almost a lighthouse – a beacon perhaps. A point of reference. Defiantly, into the night, beignets can be consumed here. Coffee with the distinct additive of chicory – a vestigial flavor left over from rationing during the Civil War.

Bawdy crowds festooned with beads and drenched in a mélange of sweat and metabolized alcohol, plowing through the raucous cacophony of plastic hand grenade drink glasses wrought over the pavement might stop in for a coffee. To take the edge off. The outdoor seating under the canopy is evocative of an old central market place, or a bingo hall at a church festival. Tourists and locals consume gallons of coffee, and great blizzards of beignets.

Hurricane Katrina closed Café Du Monde for a couple of months in 2005, affording opportunity for much needed updates and remodels.

Story, Billy Comparetto

Scout Books

Call it art within art.

When the folks at Pinball Publishing were brainstorming ideas for the following new year, a culmination of many lifetimes of production moxie and print design expertise led way to a novel concept. Scout Book was created.

Fully recycled and as green as grass, locally harvested and exclusively domestic, Scout Book takes the art of its consumers and collaborates on a DIY project; notebooks, with saddle stitched binding, pads with vegetable based inks. Like a tailor, but for words and expression. Whether the cover might be for a young Bohemian striving to notate his life experience for the next great American novel or streamlined as informative business-speak for a global conglomerate, Scout Book provides the canvas for whatever masterpiece is forthcoming.

The teenaged days of doodling on a composition notepad just got serious.

Story, JMA

Vise Grips

William Petersen, Danish blacksmith, tinkerer, and inventor, living and working in the small town of DeWitt, Nebraska, revolutionized pliers use with the invention of the little honey known as Vise Grips. The locking mechanism enables the user to crunch down. Hold tight. Let go. Hands free, he can comport about an engine compartment. Squeeze that hose shut. Crimp a flange. Or flambé a pipe joint held in place in the turgid jaws. A sort of hemostat for the serious do it yourselfer home and auto repairer.

The US Patent Office issued Petersen a patent for the locking jaw mechanism in 1924. The idea came upon a conflation of the locking features of a vise, and the maneuverability of pliers. With the advent of the War Effort during America’s involvement in WWII, Vise Grips saw new uses and applications. Welders found that a series of Vise Grip pliers down the spines and ribs of a ship served as excellent tacking devices during the fabrication of the metal hulls. WWII era ships had thousands of Vise Grips welded permanently into their substrates and structures. No doubt, giving archaeologists of the future pause and wonder.

The Vise Grip was a featured device in the first ever National Hardware Show in 1945, and held favor with a cohort of new and soon to be homeowners.

Story, Billy Comparetto

David Hart & Co.

There is a shifting of the Earth’s core in 2012; traditional winds are swirling in the opposite direction. No, the Mayan prophecies have not obliterated our planet. The change has come within the confines of men’s fashion.

Case in point: Not even a decade ago, hip hop culture was spilling into every facet of society, from clothing to mindset. Look at the NBA, where the greatest basketball players in the world were doing their part of bringing this way of life to the mainstream via ESPN, the only appropriate four letter word in a man’s vocabulary. It was a fresh and crisp aesthetic, certainly not a passing fancy, but at the time, no one could imagine a pocket square would ever be an essential piece of the post-game interview. Then it happened, the perfect storm of old school panache, modern day swagger and future time sensibility. A world where Kanye West and a seasoned Wall Street legend might share the same Scottish Tartan, where the hand crafted men’s accoutrements of centuries-old Italy find their way to the pages of GQ draped on the body of a hardcourt icon from the Southern tip of Chicago.

We can thank the maestro David Hart.

Hart, namesake of David Hart & Co., personally hand crafts neckties from his NYC base. Using the finest linens, wool, cotton and luxury silk, all immaculately detailed pieces are hand slip-stitched and tailored for the distinguished gentleman of any background. Whether the vibrant and rich colors of the Scotsman, the cool factor of a genuine Japanese selvedge denim tie or the effortlessly timeless John Drake bow tie, Hart has provided the men’s couture landscape with items that are simply essential, regardless if the wearer listens to Wiz Khalifa on an iPod, the Rolling Stones on cassette or Sinatra on vinyl.

Exquisite taste is a universal thing.

New Balance

Sneakers, gym shoes, athletic footwear-whatever you prefer to call them, have not been around for too long. In the annals of time, their mere existence is a blip at best. So it is both surprising and refreshing to learn that New Balance has been manufacturing their kicks since 1906.

The New Balance culture is a bit different from that of their competition. Fabricated stateside, the company tends to eschew the mass media advertising campaigns that run amok in this day and age, relying on a loyal base of followers and their word of mouth. Granted, it is hardly a difficult task, as New Balance, in the fitness realm, has earned a reputation over the years as one of the premier shoes for the active lifestyle. One of the innovators to offer width options, a much needed demand amongst athletes everywhere, the company is also known for labeling their shoes in a traditional “1”, “2”, and so forth. The affront to the tradition of hype and fancy marketing for a particular pair is not accidental; it gels with the company philosophy.

At the end of the day, New Balance just wants to focus on providing an essential tool for their clientele’s health and wellness, and maybe offer a lifestyle. A simple enough concept, and one that makes us want to take a lap right now.