We find all the cool places that no one writes about… Wandrlust seeks interesting restaurants, architecture, and hidden locales that no one else has discovered.
We were supposed to be in Cleveland for a film festival, the Indie Gathering to be specific. A film I helped shoot, Mouth of Caddo , was in the festival so myself, along with one of the films producers and the director, decided to blow so money and take the pilgrimage to Cleveland. $1200 dollars and four days later it was very apparent that we caught a pretty bad case of debauchulism (a sickness derived from debauchery) coupled by the fact that we only graced the film festival with our presence for a combined hour and a half during our 4 day stay.
Some people love donuts. Cops for example are stereotypically associated with the donut. Maybe they do love donuts as much as they are portrayed to, but I have a theory, one that comes down to the donut shop. See, the majority of representations we see of officers of the law come from film and television, most of these shows take place in Los Angeles, even if the setting isn’t LA, generally they are shot here. Of all the places I have ever been to, I have never seen a city so filled with donut shops (that and places that serve pastrami all over shit) as LA. Yelp has around 465 donuts listed in LA County - although I think its much more than that even. My point is, with the hours cops have and the surprising lack of places that are open 24 hours a day, donut shops are sort of the default establishment for cops. Or maybe cops just love donuts. Continue reading ‘The Donut Hole - La Puente, CA’
I knew it was coming. Roughly 8 hours into the drive I finally saw it. Nowhere seems less appropriate for the haute couture of Prada, but there it sat, in the distance, light spilling onto the barren highway floor. A 15×25 adobe box structure, interior lit to display the brand’s high-end handbags and shoes, but the door is always locked.
Prada Marfa is not a store but one of the most widely recognized sculptural works of the 21st century. The contrast between the expansive, arid landscape of the West Texas high desert and a store that is more commonly found on Rodeo Dr. or 5thAve. is just as bewildering as it sounds. Continue reading ‘Prada Marfa - Valentine, TX’
For even the layperson, Omaha has a reputation for its great steaks (a reputation that is more subconsciously based as the frozen mail order steaks of Omaha Steaks are probably laying somewhere in your cerebral cortex). When you are an asshole who thought he could get some sleep on a flight from LA to Omaha that left at 12:50 am and arrived at 11:30 am with connections – you hope that the meal you have been starving for after attempting to gorge yourself with pretzels, will be one that will satisfy that starvation and make you forget a sleepless flight of refusing to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.
That being said, I went straight from the airport to Johnny’s Café. The only thing I knew about Johnny’s was that it was the “oldest steakhouse in Omaha” , Established in 1922, but what I didn’t know is that I was about to be blown the fuck away. Continue reading ‘Johnny’s Cafe - Omaha, NE’
This here video, The Oakridge Estate, is Wandrlust’s inaugural post for what should be a myriad of pleasant video content that will be found exclusively here at Wandrlust … through You Tube…(cough)
You know what I love? I love spending all this time editing some HD footage so I can turn around and make it look like absolute ass on You Tube. That isn’t to say that this inaugural video for this here Wandrlust doesn’t have it’s own share of flaws within its hopefully brisk 5 minutes and 41 seconds.
The video above can be enjoyed without context (hopefully), but instead of making it 2 minutes longer and less interesting, I will provide the context within these texts. I will also provide some links here that will give a very thorough overview of the contentious situation regarding the Oakridge Estate. For those of you who are not as thoroughly invested I will summarize:
Phoenix, as a city, suffers from it’s youth. In 1914, Arizona was last of the 48 contiguous states to be included into the union. Because of this, Phoenix lacks a clear sense of history and an aimless sense of progress which is more in line with developers then it is with building a cohesive city. Although recent projects like Phoenix’s new light rail are beacons of hope attempting to spearhead progress and unity within its sprawling mass, the majority of the city is marred by homogenous development and the eradication of the few monuments the city has to offer.
As of now, if the building wasn’t built today, a developer is looking to level it for a condominium project with imaginary wrought iron windows. This is best represented in the recent demolition of Washburn Piano to make way for a poorly stuccoed AT&T strip-mall or the planned development of the Chase Bank property on 44th and Camelback which, thankfully for now, has been denied by the city. Continue reading ‘Mystery Castle - Phoenix, AZ’
