A couple weeks ago, I got a chance to catch up with an old friend of mine. We got on the topic of healthcare—a few years back, he’d dealt with the sudden, earth-shattering appearance of testicular cancer in his life. I’m happy to say that he’s healthy today, but, as he pointed out, that’s thanks largely to the relatively generous healthcare coverage he enjoyed at the time due to his corporate employment. We talked about that for a little while and reflected on how mind-boggling it is to us that some of our mutual friends feel it unpatriotic or unfair or what have you to work to offer that kind of life-saving healthcare to the general population, corporate job or no corporate job.

How can it be unpatriotic to try your very best to take care of your citizens? Longest-possible-term thinking, doesn’t that make for the healthiest, most functional society possible? Imagine if we were able to prioritize the health of Americans over all else and every single citizen of these United States no longer had to worry about any of that. Imagine everything we could get done, putting that energy elsewhere.

As we all know, though, that’s not at all the case. For many of us, sadly, we experience that reality first-hand.

Like our friend, Pam.

We met Pam years back in Brooklyn. She ran an Atlantic Street boutique called the Banquet with another friend of ours, Miranda Bennett, both of whom we did some branding work for back in the day. Last year, Pam moved out to California to be closer to her family and move her jewelry line, PLUME, to its next stages of development.

But shortly after arriving on the west coast, Pam was diagnosed with B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Leukemia. A little while ago, Pam found a bone marrow match + donor. That fact, and the fact that she has a broad, dedicated support network make Pam luckier than most. But she’s since been hospital-bound for six months and her healthcare is only partially footing the massive, massive bill.

Cue dedicated support network—our mutual friend, Allison Tray, owner of Boerum Hill’s Tres Belle Petite Medi-Spa, is hosting The Pam Give-a-Damn, an evening of light fare, wine, and awesome gift bags worth $500 each, all to benefit Pam. As Allison puts it:

“100% of monies raised will go directly to Pam. Busy that night? Not feeling social? Out of town guests?That’s fine, buy a ticket to help Pam and we’ll drink your wine.”

The event takes place Wednesday, July 23 from 6 – 9 PM at Tres Belle—105 Bond Street Brooklyn, NY. But, like Allison wrote, you don’t need to be present to win the raffle bags—winners will be announced by email on July 22 and each ticket you buy automatically enters you to win one of twelve bags.

Visit the event site Allison set up to see details and see the impressive list of raffle bag donors. But, clearly, we’re doing this for bigger reasons than gift bags, those are just a nice side effect of giving a damn.

Whether you know Pam or not, trust us, she’s good people and she’s in need. If you can’t afford a ticket ($45), please give what you can. And thank you so much.

Another new find for Katie, myself, and our dear Pacific northwest traveling companions, Cheryl, Justin, and tiny Winston last week was Astoria, Oregon, a seminal, now sleepy port town at the mouth of the Colombia River that boasts a rich history and thriving current-day downtown scene.

Astoria sits near the northern-most tip of Oregon, staring up at the piney southern shore of Washington state across a massively wide expanse of river, serving not only as its county’s seat but also as the site of the first permanent US settlement on the Pacific coast, settled in 1810.

Fast forward 204 or so years from the founding of Astoria, skipping over the preeminence of Portland + Seattle as northern Pacific ports, and you’ll find what we did—a charming, aggreably slow-paced water-side town with lovely terraced residential neighborhoods towering over what seems like a vibrant, inordinately large downtown. But unlike DUMBO or Red Hook back in Brooklyn, for instance, Astoria seems to be balancing actual current-day working port-based commerce with tourism and business that caters to the younger generations (read: craft breweries and quality coffee houses).

Plus Goonies was shot there, man.

We originally planned on stopping through the town on our way to what we assumed would be more exciting sites, but ended up staying the lion’s share of the day, enjoying locally made beer and excellent food, watching glass-blowers at work and the goings on at the port, talking to vendors as they set up for the farmers market, and meeting fellow visitors equally dumfounded by the charm the little town held over us.

I take some small comfort in the fact that I feel relatively few people read these pages regularly, otherwise I’d be slightly remiss in giving away what would otherwise be such a tightly held secret. So, instead, I’ll say to any of you that’ve read this far and have any desire to visit the Pacific northwest—make Astoria a must-see on your list.

But seriously, don’t move there and drive up the real estate market just incase we decide we can deal with the relative lack of sun/dryness long term.

Seriously.

Below, one of our new favorite breweries, Fort George; a somewhat crazily worded monument to Fort Astoria, the original settlement that became the town of Astoria; a panorama of the Washington shore across the river from Astoria (click on that to see it large-scale); two goats sheep about to make out, right in the middle of downtown; what seems to be the first ever JC Penny; blueberries growing in a community garden; yes, the Goonies house (MY BIKE MY BIKE); and nearby Cannon Beach, site of “They’ll be no more signing today or ever again!” (cue guy throwing way too much paper in the air).

Oh, those Goonies.

The cultural window between something being cool and something being a clichéd commodification of cool is very, very brief. And, of course, it’s all a matter of opinion.

In this age of über-quick, Internet-powered popular culture, the window’s only gotten smaller, to the point that trends hardly even matter any more in many senses and contexts. Remember how long cupcakes were the cool new culinary trend that no one could get enough of? The pie trend came after but couldn’t enjoy nearly as much time basking in the warm glow of near-universal, Hey-Ya-esque societal approval before being deemed too cool to be cool (ice cold?). The internet—admittedly a beacon of light in many ways for a world seeking to open up communication and, hopefully, through that opening, understanding—makes us all jaded bastards.

But it’s nice, every now and then, to open one’s self up to the merits of coolness, even when we all know full well we’re boarding a hipster boat that’s long been sinking. Who says we can’t strike up the band and enjoy the ride all the same? They did it on the Titanic!

Case in point, our recent stay at Ace Hotel Portland. Yes, it unabashedly hits all the primary hipster notes; yes, it’s leaning heavily on a bygone era for its visual cues; yes, it was directly parodied in a Portlandia sketch, during which ultra-hipster staff hands out complimentary turntables and antique typewriters to guests.

But I like old typewriters and turntables; I like fashionably dressed, friendly staff; I like a hotel that doesn’t lift its visual aesthetic from some faux-granite-covered version of ancient Greece or a cheaply made Victorian era England; I like harkening back to a time when things were built to last. If I just decided that I don’t like that stuff simply because the overall artisan hipster Gestalt is made fun of or just more pervasive than it used to be, wouldn’t that be disingenuous? Any trend or genre or…anything, really, can go over the top and some would argue that the whole creative culture has gone there and then some, but that doesn’t mean we like the things we like for bad reasons.

Also, I guarantee Fred Armisen + Carrie Brownstein have stayed at the Ace and I bet they totally liked it. We certainly did.

The Portland hotel was the second to open, after the inaugural Ace in Seattle, opened in old Salvation Army halfway house in 1999 by friends Alex Calderwood, Wade Weigel, and Doug Herrick. The Portland hotel—opened second in 2007 with the help of Jack Barron—now serves as headquarters for Ace, who has outposts in Palm Springs, New York, Panama, London, and LA, the latter of which opened at the start of this year.

I’d describe the overall aesthetic as WWII military-industrial-speakeasy. Which, correct, makes very little sense. But, if a post-humous idea board were made for the Ace Portland, it’d definitely include heavy wooden sliding doors and window guards; accents of industrial hardware; army blankets and army green upholstery; dog tags; colonial libraries with roller ladders; witty signage wrought in old world fanciful fonts; random nautical nods; and yes—turntables and typewriters.

Below, all that stuff.

We’re just coming off of a week-long trip in the Pacific northwest, capped off by the wedding of our good friend, Patrick, to the absolutely wonderful Amy, who’s we’ve only just met but are already huge fans of.

We count ourselves lucky to have such good, life-loving friends and to have had the opportunity to explore eastern Oregon + Washington, a part of the country also mostly new to us but of which we’re huge fans now.

We thought we’d share a few finds from last week on the journal in the next few days—awesome food eaten, beautiful sights seen, and some of the more impressive places that played the part of our temporary homes along the way. Stay tuned.

Below, us, posing with far-flung friends, shot by one of our oldest + dearest mutual friends, Cheryl.

Happy birthday, America.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone.

One of the best thing about our work is our clients. We don’t necessarily always get to chose who we work with and—don’t get me wrong—we’ve had our fare share of headaches over the years, but, when you grow very deliberately at a measured pace like we have, you get the benefit of refining your client base and purposely cultivating the projects you take on. Which is part of why we’re so proud of the people we do work with over the years, from small businesses in New York and LA and across the country to national and international non-profit agencies to the United Nations.

One small business that we’ve enjoyed working with for a good while now is Garfield Realty, a boutique Brooklyn-based realty firm that specializes in Brownstone Brooklyn. Run by Elizabeth Kohen and Pual Paglia, the two have been a joy to work with as we walked them through a rebranding of company messaging and given them a new take on their firm’s visuals and public persona. They even included Owen in an ad campaign!

Garfield recently started the non-profit, Dream Cases, in an effort to provide luggage and donated gifts to children entering foster care. As they explain on their Web site:

“When children are suddenly removed from their homes, they often carry their belongings or mementos in trash bags, either barely filled or bursting at the seams. Carrying personal treasures in trash bags makes children feel disposable too. To make their transition more dignified and hopeful, we give children a safe place to store and transport objects that hold meaning in their lives. For some, the gifts we provide are all they have to call their own.”

Elizabeth explains further:

“Some kids enter foster care with nothing to call their own. Many carry their belongings in trash bags that are sometimes thrown away by mistake, in spite of them going to great lengths to protect what little they have. These kids all need an anchor. As my husband and I are exploring foster parenting, I realized this is a concrete issue that we could tackle with other people’s interest and support–and so the idea for Dream Cases was born. I’m hopeful that Dream Cases can give foster kids pride and ownership over something in their lives.”

You can read more form Elizabeth on Dream Cases’ About page.

Looking for a (fun) way to chip in? Dream Cases is currently running an online fundraiser with a goal of $5,000 to help fund Dream Cases through the year. Tickets are cheap—$5 for a single; $10 for three, with a free ticket for every six bought—and the Brooklyn-centric prizes are pretty great, featuring the likes of classes from Area Yoga, gift cards from local restaurants, a pie from Brooklyn favorites Four and Twenty Blackbirds, advice from development pro and raven + crow co-colaborator, Pel, a gift card from our friends at Tres Belle, and a ton more.

You can see the full list of raffle items and securely buy tickets on the Dream Cases site. But hurry—the raffle ends at noon next Wednesday, July 2.

Dream Cases artwork by illustrator Deborah Marcero.

Below—stuff you can win.

Though I’ve never been of those ‘good ole days’ guys who reminisces about a Golden Collegiate Age never to be seen again, I absolutely loved my college years. Not only did I meet Katie, my wife + partner there, I had a ton of fun, learned first-hand the value of social activism, received a pretty great education, and met people who have remained my closest friends to this day.

And I’ve been proud of my alma mater—James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia—ever since. Defensively so in our New York years, when we found ourselves surrounded by northerners, many of whom considered only private school educations to be true educations.

And now that pride’s gone, to be replaced by a very sad disgust and disappointment.

As many may have already read via various social media platform, the Huffington Post this week broke a story of a student being sexually assaulted by three fellow students. Making a terrible experience worse, the three men who allegedly assaulted the woman—Sarah Butters—videoed the assault and then proceeded to distribute the video to their frat brothers and friends. Worse than all of that, perhaps, is JMU’s administrative response to all of this being brought to light.

From the HuffPo article, by Tyler Kingkade:

“The school found the men responsible for sexual assault and harassment in the spring break 2013 attack on Sarah Butters, and determined that they shared the video widely with others on the JMU campus in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The unusual “expulsion after graduation” sanction allowed two of the men to graduate on time in May. The third plans to remain on campus for his senior year in 2014-15.”

As our friend, comedian + writer, Eliza Skinner, states: “‘EXPULSION AFTER GRADUATION.’ I’m pretty sure that’s just called ‘GRADUATION’. The victim, on the other hand, has lost her financial aid, and had to withdraw from the university as a result of the ordeal and pressing charges.”

Sexual assault and the massive imbalance between the rights of women and those of men were clearly issues in our day—our dean was accused of running  prostitution ring, after all—but it saddens me greatly to think of how unsafe this administrative ruling must make the women of James Madison feel today. The culture of misogyny that continues to rule the collegiate establishment and set the tone for its students and teachers years after I left that campus is shocking and deeply, deeply disappointing.

When is this bullshit world going to make a change for the better and stop punishing women for being women?

Rather start to devolve into a gigantic rant, I urge any readers to do three things:
Read the original article in full;
Read Eliza’s eloquent disowning of JMU; and
Sign this change.org petition.

I know, I know—you’re already, inundated as we all are, with requests to sign change.org petitions and aren’t even sure how effective they are, but still, do it. On Facebook or Twitter? Hastag #JMUsucks and #StandWithButters and share this story.

Above, Eliza (center), myself (second from the left), and friends celebrate—with cake and terrible haircuts—our graduation from what we thought at the time was an awesome, progressive university. Way to break my heart, you asshole school.

In the midst of all of our recent professional craziness—and busy times for the studio in general—we seek respite in the World Cup.

Specifically, we seek respite in this awesomeness from Belgium’s Dries Mertens today.

I guess that’s his relieved face?

Congratulations on your win, Belgium; congratulations on your fish face, Fish Face.

So, crazy news: After months of scouting out neighborhoods and possible retail locations with friends and longtime clients, Erica + Sara Kubersky of NYC’s MooShoes, Katie + I are officially announcing that we will be helping them to open their first ever expansion—MooShoes Los Angeles.

The space is in the Silver Lake neighborhood in a historic building with a little bit of a New York feel and a lot of excellent light and high ceilings. We’ll be designing the space and working with our local contractor to bring our ideas to fruition, hiring staff, ordering lines for the store—some of which will overlap with New York City’s merchandise, some of which will be exclusive to LA—and then managing operations once we’re open, later this year.

Before you ask, YES, we will be continuing to run raven + crow studio and expect little difference in terms of our delivering projects for our design clients…we’ll just be sleeping a lot less. But who needs sleep, right?

To learn more, download the full press release—also included in-line below. But, clearly, expect to hear more about everything in this space in the months to come.

_____________________________________________

CONTACT:
Neysha Melissa Vázquez
Brand Manager
MooShoes
212.254.6512
neysha@mooshoes.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NYC Vegan Shoe Store to Open Second Location in LA

New York City, NY (June 16, 2014): After nearly 13 years in New York City, first-of-its-kind vegan shoe store MooShoes, plans to open a second location in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Originally founded in 2001 by sisters and Queens natives, Erica and Sara Kubersky, MooShoes is a vegan-owned store specializing in cruelty-free footwear, bags, apparel, and accessories. Located at 78 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the store currently functions as the company’s sole retail location, complemented by what has grown into a robust online storefront.

The sisters have now partnered with long-time graphic designers, Katie Frichtel and Troy Farmer of Los Angeles-based raven + crow studio to open MooShoes LA at 3116 Sunset Boulevard in the popular Silver Lake neighborhood. Though the sisters have long explored the idea of expanding beyond New York, this is the first opportunity they both considered feasible.

“LA has such a strong vegan community now, it really just makes sense for us to be as present there as we can,” said Erica Kubersky. “We just never felt comfortable having people we didn’t know well representing something we’d created from the ground up—it’s always been a really personal business for Sara and me.”

Though MooShoes claims humble beginnings in a defunct butcher shop near Gramercy Park, the company saw a near 10% increase in sales annually for their first 9 years of business, growing steadily to meet the demand. With a strong online presence and a well-known location on the Lower East Side that’s become a destination for many New York visitors and a hub for vegan-centric events, the sisters feel that the next step in their growth is a Los Angeles location. Putting it in the hands of long-time business partners and friends only seemed natural to the Kuberskys.

“We met Katie and Troy in 2003, not long after we started our store and right around when they were starting their own business. We clicked right away, both in terms of work and personally. They’ve been defining how we present ourselves ever since, creating our brand, ads, Web sites, signage, and designing our stores. When they told us they were moving things from Brooklyn to California last year, we immediately thought of this.”

Husband-and-wife design and marketing team, Frichtel and Farmer, started raven + crow studio officially in 2006 after years of freelancing. The studio specializes in corporate branding, print, and Web design, working primarily with non-profit agencies, small businesses, and relief agencies like the United Nations. Long-time vegans, the two hold in common with the Kubersky sisters their mutual interest in animal welfare.

“Katie and I have always made a concerted effort to work with clients we think are making the world a better place, one way or the other,” said Farmer. “We really love what we do day-to-day, but that’s what keeps us going—knowing that we’re promoting something bigger and better than our work. For all of us, this isn’t about selling shoes, it’s about not killing cows; it’s about providing a great, cruelty-free product that also pushes a message that it’s easy for us all to make a difference for the better.”

MooShoes Los Angeles promises to continue the tradition of bringing together the vegan and animal rights communities, acting as both a store and a community event space.

“It’s so awesome that the vegans of LA no longer have to go barefoot!” said celebrated vegan cookbook author, chef, and restaurateur  Isa Chandra Moskowitz. “Let me state the obvious by saying that MooShoes has great shoes that will satisfy your every desire. But more than that, they’ve also been a pillar of the vegan community for over a decade. From book signings to bake sales the MooShoes girls and their fabulous staff have been there, bringing people together and making sure we look fabulous (and comfortable!)”

“MooShoes has been a pioneer in footwear since they were founded in 2001,” said New York vegan menswear designer and Brave GentleMan founder, Joshua Katcher. “They’re a palpable driving force in future-footwear innovation and provide a rare and crucial space for emerging designers with rigorous ethical standards to develop, test and showcase their work. MooShoes is a destination, a hub and a beacon in an industry that is otherwise known for ruthlessness. Without them, Brave GentleMan would never have succeeded. Their success and expansion to Los Angeles is not surprising, but it is exciting.”

Celebrity vegan chef and Cooking Channel TV Host, Jason Wrobel agrees—”MooShoes is THE bastion of fashion-forward ethical footwear,” said Wrobel. “I’ve been to many vegan boutiques around the world and nobody comes close in terms of stylish, quality-made footwear. My closet is peppered with incredible pairs of boots and sneakers that I’ve purchased from their NYC location since I first set foot there in 2005. And now my vegan shoe fetish is about to reach a new crescendo—MooShoes is FINALLY coming to Los Angeles. Can you hear the whooshing noise as I backflip with delight? Good. Now get me to the opening party, stat.”

“MooShoes is the first place I visit when I go to NYC and now LA—how exciting to have stores on the West and East coast that stock quality vegan shoes for all occasions,” said Sarah Kramer, author of How It All Vegan.

Frichtel and Farmer will be continuing to run their design business as they take on this new role with MooShoes, managing operations for the LA store once open, planning in-store events, acting as west coast points of contact, and overseeing design of the new space, set to open fall 2014.

For more information on the new Los Angeles store and press inquiries, please contact MooShoes Brand Manager, Neysha Melissa Vázquez at neysha@mooshoes.com.

Last week, California-based high-end home furnishings company, Restoration Hardware, delivered 17 pounds of glossy, full-color catalogs—largely unsolicited—all around LA. As far as we can tell, nearly all of these catalogs were then promptly delivered to everyone’s respective big blue recycling bins.

Really, Restoration Hardware? Well-done fighting the whole ‘print is dead’ concept tooth + nail, and I’m sure the printer you used is thrilled, along with UPS, who must have seen a massive spike in profits last week thanks to you, but, really? 17 pounds. 13 books. 100 pages just on leather. Just leather. All straight into the recycling bin.

Robbie Vorhaus of HuffPo explains further:
“Over the past couple weeks Restoration Hardware began mailing 13 unsolicited bundled ‘Source Books,’ a collection of ‘4 Lifestyle Books,’ and ‘9 Category Books,’ which they tout as ‘Over 3,300 Pages of Curated & Inspired Design.’ Further, as part of the immense mailing, Restoration Hardware includes a separate printed sheet titled, ‘Our Source Book Sustainability Initiative,’ which informs ‘1. Our Collection of Source Books is Mailed Once a Year. 2. Our Paper is Forest Certified, 3. We Are The Founding Sponsor of The Verso Forest Certification Grant Program,’ and ‘4. Our Shipping Is Carbon Neutral.'”

Oh, well at least you’re offsetting your shipping by purchasing carbon neutral tokens. Yay.

What the fuck, Restoration Hardware? Ever heard of the internet? Look it up in your encyclopedia, why don’t you.