Nick’s 356 Speedster

It’s a fake. A replica, an impostor and I don’t care, it’s fucking cool. So is Nick.

Mr. Maggio aka Mr. A Time to Get stopped by my office in Beverly Hills (it’s actually my business partner Ali’s office) while I was working out that way last week. Eventually the conversation turned to cars and Nick told me about his Speedster. Growing up in Ohio there was a guy down the street from me that had a white Porsche 356 replica built on a Volkswagen chassis that I always loved. Nick’s car was custom built on an original 1956 VW frame by the guys at Automotive Legends in California, who also make reproduction versions of the Porsche 550 Spyder and a 550 Coupe. Speaking of the 550 Mr. Maggio says, “[I] test drove the 550 Spyder and it was crazy FAST.”

The Look & Lore | Apolis Activism

The gents from the Los Angeles based brand Apolis Activism and I got together during my recent trip to the west coast to shoot the shit, drink German beer and hang out at their studio. Much has been said about Apolis in the press as of late, with the company garnering much praise for their collaborations with Filson, and more recently with vintage boardshorts maker Kanvas by Katin.

Walking into the company’s loft like offices (complete with bunk beds, kitchen and a bathtub full of surf boards) you almost start to feel jealous that you haven’t been invited to hang out sooner. The brothers Raan, Stenn and Shea (not the one pictured below, that is the other Shea) Parton were drawn to the industrial style office space in downtown LA’s “arts district” because of the fact that it is live / work facility. This unique set-up enabled the guys to keep the overhead relatively low while they worked on developing the burgeoning company.

Left to right: Apolis intern Kevin, Shea, plus brothers Stenn and Raan.

Industrial Shelter | Cleveland Art

I’m a sucker for that whole industrial salvage furniture look. The guys from Billykirk have it going on in their design studio. Tons of crazy old tools and machines salvaged mostly from factories in Los Angeles. If I lived out in LA I would be all over Sonrisa, Retro Office and especially a recent discovery, Cleveland Art. I know what you are thinking, why the hell is it named Cleveland Art when it is based in LA?

ACL Maps | LA Drinking & Dining

The Maps & Intel page has been updated again, this time with Los Angeles bars and restaurants. This map is a whopper, the most comprehensive to date. The gastro-guide is a partnership with the excellent Kitsune Noir who contributed (along with his best friend Max; thank you Max) heavily to this. Happy dining!

ACL Maps | Los Angeles Shopping

I recently updated the Maps & Intel page with a handy guide to Los Angeles shopping. While the New York map has been on the site for a while, its LA centered counterpart has been long overdue. LA is one of my favorite places to shop and this map is a good starting point for anyone interested in doing their thing, materialistically. Please do send on suggestions and additions, this is only the beginning. Also, many thanks to Meagan for doing a lot of the legwork on the map. LA drinking and dining to follow.

Los Angeles Shopping Map (Men’s):

First Look | Aether

One good thing about living in the greater Los Angeles area is the easy access to sun, surf, mountains and powder. This accessibility makes LA much more of an outdoors focused place than my Manhattan home base. With outdoor adventures comes the need for appropriate gear. Enter LA based Aether, a new line of stylish yet technical men’s apparel from two film producer friends, Palmer West and Jonas Smith. The new collection — which will be in stores for the first time this spring— aims to fill the void left by the outdoor companies that put out very little cool looking performance apparel.

Workwear in the LA Times

Three makes a trend. Isn’t that what people say? Booth Moore has a nice article in the LA Times about the rise in popularity of workwear. This comes on the heels of both The Observer and The New York Times devoting space to the topic. I was excited to see that ACL was included in the article (thanks to Ricky Swallow for spreading the good word) along with two of my favorites Reference Library and Archival Clothing, not to mention many of my most-liked labels. The full article can be seen here.

The Real Life NAVY-ism | Mister Freedom

A few months ago I dedicated a week’s worth of coverage to “The NAVY-ism” issue of the ingenious Japanese magazine Free & Easy. Along the way (and with help from a friend in LA) I discovered Mister Freedom. The vintage military inspired collection is the brainchild of designer Christophe Loiron, who is clearly operating on a higher level. In addition to designing and manufacturing a line of Navy inspired men’s clothing, Mister Freedom is also a well edited vintage military clothing store. The premise behind the brand is to create “historically plausible clothing”, which basically means that the items in the Mister Freedom collection might not have been documented exactly as such, but the details and elements that make up the garments are things that historically existed during the era. The attention to detail, from the hardware to the fabrics, is on a level that I have never seen. In a word, amazing!

The Stronghold

As far as a brand concepts go, it doesn’t get much better for me than the Los Angeles based Stonghold. The company was founded in Los Angeles in 1895 as the area’s first denim manufacturer, and operated continuously until its closure in 1949. Fast forward to 2004 when Michael Paradise and Michael Cassell revived the defunct work wear label as a contemporary brand with every bit of authenticity as the original.

Living the Life at Coachella

I’m dumb. Why didn’t I go to Coachella? The Indie rock festival was this past weekend near Palm Springs and I am getting all sorts of reports of amazingness — which is prompting me to resentment, jealously and loathing. My biz partner Ali was lucky enough smart enough to go and she said the festival was stellar per usual. She also said that The National was “one of the best performances at Coachella.” She sure does love those guys from The National. A Medium Format was also out there and took some great pictures.

UPDATE: The people at Anthem tipped me off to pictures from their Coachella party, aptly dubbed La Fiesta de Fiestas.

Vampire Weekend | Photo via JMaloney