Uli Nasibova and her husband Ryan Vaillancourt moved to Downtown LA in 2008, when the renaissance was beginning to really flower around them. Uli noticed that among the new crop of businesses and revitalized housing, the neighborhood still lacked a gelato shop, or really any kind of delicious frozen treat distribution. What started as a […]

  On Friday the 13th of August in 1993, Incognito Tattoo was born. It was birthed of Mister Jason Schroder, otherwise known as Mr. Incognito, a Clarkliving client and friend. Incognito first opened its doors on Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, and it thrived in that spot for more than fifteen years. About six years ago, […]

Here’s a spoiler that will become evident almost immediately: this isn’t Steve typing. There are a few things you should know about me (Allie) so that you can better frame my experience at Panty Raid with the shop’s co-owner, Jessica Hlavac: I am frugal, large chested, and stubborn. Hlavac, a Clarkliving friend and client, is […]

If you find yourself drawn to highly curated environments filled with an eclectic array of influences and intoxicating scents, you’ll be in hog heaven at Spitfire Girl. If you live in Los Angeles, you’ve probably already been there. With two storefronts, a thriving online presence, and a wide range of made-in-house goods that get shipped […]

Belle Arte is an unsuspecting paradise for artists, designers, and art collectors. I happened upon Belle Arte by accident one day after taking a few wrong turns in Lincoln Heights. I was welcomed in by co-owner Lanna Borom, who excitedly led me around the warehouse space that seemed to stretch on and on and house […]

  Artisanal LA’s Spring 2016 show is happening next weekend, April 9th & 10th, at The Reef in Downtown LA. Artisanal LA represents a collection of over 150 vendors, cookers, bakers, picklers, and other assorted makers. Many of these local businesses and micro-businesses aren’t yet selling their wares in retails environments, and some of them […]

  Luisa Fabbri, the owner of Contessa Collections on S. Lake Avenue in Pasadena, left her corporate job in her hometown of Florence, Italy and landed in California twenty years ago. When I went to meet with her to discuss the two shops she owns and operates, I unknowingly walked into an impromptu classroom where […]

If you’ve been—like I’ve been—lurking around Pasadena for long enough, you know that Jones Coffee Roasters isn’t new. You know that Jones has roots all around this city because your eyes light up whenever you see that familiar logo in a restaurant, store, or cafe. Because you’ve been hungrily watching that space inside Vromans’ for […]

Designer Sidonie Loiseleux did a project on origami fighter jets for her MFA thesis at Cal Arts. Loiseleux was fascinated by origami and loved the paradox of creating a representation of something incredibly powerful and violent with something as delicate as paper. She was equally entranced by the contrast in scale between the reality and […]

I was sitting in the lobby of The Warren Custom Tattoo Shop on Sunset Blvd when a man completely uninterested in tattoos walked in. “This is a tattoo shop? This doesn’t look like any tattoo shop I’ve ever seen. You mind if I take some photos? Wow.” His reaction wasn’t singular, and that’s kind of […]