This time last year I stayed with Ali in NYC. Now she lives in LA with her mister, Cam. Two weeks back they were lovely enough to let me stay a few days in their little Silverlake house. Meanwhile, Ali’s fashion photography game is super strong…check it.
This cold, windy Saturday afternoon is all about laying low and staying warm. Now I just need to be back at this cabin in Winthrop, Washington wrapped in a blanket, reading by the light of the crackling fire while the river rushes by just outside the door.
Banoffee is on repeat right now:
Said you wanted to grow your hair long
Then you cut the sides off
I don’t think I know you at all
…
When I look at you I see this
Picture of how we could be
‘Cause I know what you got
I got I got I got it I got it
I know you know I got it
This place has my heart. If you’ve seen me lately then this statement will come as no surprise. Yep, I’m that annoying girl who won’t shut up about a city she visited on her vacation. As if I’m the first person to have ever been enamoured by the combination of pastel coloured houses and crisp, sunny days and water views and light filled cafes and impossibly steep hills and the fog and towering pines and the best tacos and new friends and late nights and intoxicating possibilities and taking the long way back, hesitant towards home. I’m insufferable right now, I know. The sighs, the wistful looks off into the middle distance, the refusal to share certain details of my trip or recount certain stories, burying them in my journal or typing some note and storing it in the depths of my phone for fear that once it’s spoken, it’s gone. Your fault, San Francisco. Your fault.
1// Ex-Sydney gal Chloe was my SF spirit guide and made my visit oh so special xx. Seriously, someone should pay her to show hip young thangs around the city. 2// Sightglass in the Mission District was my coffee/cafe of choice 4// I’m no good at taking photos of landmarks, landscapes or vistas. I only took one shot of the Golden Gate Bridge and it was lacklustre at best so you’ll probably never see it. Do a Google Image search instead! 7// Camera Obscura! My friend Jake pointed me in the right direction but for some reason it was closed that day. Boo. 11// I got a little ink from Candi Kinyobi at Tuesday Tattoo and was so so impressed by her skill, professionalism and manner. She was warm and gentle and explained every step of the process. If you’re in SF and want a tattoo, take a trip to Outer Sunset and track her down! 12-13-14// While you’re on Judah Street, check out the General Store, get a coffee at Trouble and eat at Outerlands. Mmm, what a combo. Take me back. 15-16-17// I find the best way to explore a new city is on foot. Just wander. Turn down any street that takes your fancy. You never know, you might find a guy selling watermelon from the back of a truck. 20// Chloe used to work for Aesop and her room is just littered with beautiful brown bottles and jars of face and body product perfection.
Special thanks to the lovely miss Jasmine Holm for many wonderful SF tips, too ❤
All photos developed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab in Hollywood, CA
I’m in LA right now and I’ll be flying back to Australia in just over 24 hours. I feel as though something is slipping through my fingers despite my best efforts to hold on to it. I feel like I’m in that not asleep/not awake state, trying to prolong a delicious dream. No no no, not yet. Don’t go, not yet.
One of my favourite things to do in the US is buy the Sunday New York Times and spend a few hours reading it in a cafe (or two). Of course, I could hang out in any Sydney cafe and read it online but that just ain’t the same. Last Sunday I was in San Francisco and struggled to find the Sunday NYT. I picked up a copy from a bookstore on Monday and slowly worked my way through it over the course of this last week. These photos were taken at (top) Heart and (bottom) Stumptown in Portland, OR. a few weeks ago.
It was hot, so hot, dry and dusty. It was the kind of dust that gets caught in the back of your throat, becomes grit between your teeth. The streets were quiet, still, empty. But I didn’t care. I’d just arrived in the US. I caught a Greyhound Bus from LA, my nose glued to the window all the way out to Palm Springs. The sunrise pulled back the night and I was up, riding a bike around, exploring. I craned my neck to look up up up at the towering mountains hemming me in. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and went to the city for the first time: I couldn’t believe how tall the skyscrapers were. I pedalled through the streets in the heat of the day intent on finding a health food store to buy a juice and nuts and chocolate covered goji berries. A man working there asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Palm Springs. I told him and he called me an adventurous little thing. I was secretly pleased. I rode back to the hotel and said hello to no one; the searing streets abandoned.
There’s a person in one of these photos – can you spot him?
All photos developed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab in Hollywood, CA
olive and oak 