Girl Gone Globetrotting
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Speaking of different body shapes. These are all basically peak human bodies.
How come 99% of them don’t conform to what the...
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If grandmothers around the world...
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Near the Ngorongoro crater there is a Masaai village about 30 minutes away. One morning on our way to the serengeti we stopped to visit. They showed...
Though the past week in Boston has been incredibly troubling and disorienting, and at the same time uplifting and touching, a couple of weeks ago, these were my main thoughts on Boston.
- I went to my first Celtics game at the TD Garden. The Garden has a silly rule that if you’re under 25 you need a state ID (aka a passport or military ID) to buy alcohol. It’s a ridiculous product of the 80 colleges and millions of under-age undergrads that try to buy beer illegally.
- Finally, I went to Bukowski’s Tavern in Back Bay after walking past it for more than a year. This tiny place has tons of personality, its menu features a section for today’s “fucking” specials.
- It still has yet to warm up to my Arizona girl standards. (I need 70 to be warm outside.) But it warmed up to 65 one day, and Bostonians couldn’t help but sun themselves.
Photography by me. April 2013.
Hotel Congress
Almost a month ago I went back to one of my favorite cities in America: Tucson, Ariz. I went to college here. It’s the site of many poor decisions (only a few of which I regret), as well as some of the best decisions of my life (attending nearly every home UA basketball game). But that’s neither here nor there…
The weekend of March 9th all of my college girlfriends reunited for a wedding. The very first of us was getting married and we had to celebrate BIG.
One of our favorite places in Tucson is The Hotel Congress, it’s a spot with deep roots in history, the arts, and (above all) fun. My girlfriends and I spent many a late night dancing in the hotel’s Optimus Club.
This weekend there was some of that dancing into the wee hours, but there was also gaining a bigger appreciation for the hotel that we had only really seen under the cover of darkness.
When we were booking our trip, we knew we had to stay at Hotel Congress, there was no other place to stay (despite the nearly dozen hotel spas in the area). We had to see what was up the stairs in the actual hotel since we’d never been allowed up there before.
The hotel’s lobby is always abuzz with life. It doesn’t hurt that the lobby is home to one of the five hotel bars. Copper-colored saltillo tile covers the floors, Southwestern motifs painted on the walls, and local artwork is hung up, ready for purchase. This round of artwork was a mash-up of Dia de los Muertos skulls and traditional Southwestern cowboys and cowgirls.
We enjoyed exploring the hotel as guests, and not as annoying undergrads who flock to the hotel for cheap, and delicious drinks. (Side note: My NYC-based friend and I were shocked at how many drinks we could buy in Tucson for $20. Shocked!)
Many rounds of Bloody Mary’s and mimosas were drank in the hotel’s Cup Cafe, followed by Southwestern-themed breakfasts like “The Deposition” and the “Gunpowder.”
I would recommend staying a Hotel Congress if you enjoy a lively scene of college students and hip, artsy Tucson locals mingling in a nearly 100-year-old hotel, which once was home to noted criminal John Dillinger (and the site of his capture).
Where to find it:
311 E. Congress St.
Tucson, Ariz. 85701
(520) 622-8848
Photography by me. March 2013.
Pork fat popcorn and beer from Spitzer’s Corner in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Basically bacon-flavored popcorn. Nothing could be better!
Photography by me. January 2013.
My dear friend, who introduced me to the delish Tom Collins cocktail, took me to mecca for gin lovers, Gin Palace, while I was in NYC for work.
Though the name seems to proclaim a gin-only menu, I was shocked to discover that they serve beer. The bar redeemed itself when I realized that they serve gin and tonics on tap. Can you believe it?!
I can’t remember what drink I ordered (I know, bad journalist!), but I do remember it was strong with a capital S.
The decor was a mix of industrial and Art Deco. But the main decoration is the wall of gin behind the bar. I didn’t even know they made that many different kinds.
Photograph by me. January 2013.
Two bars I ventured out to while in NYC were quite different.
Numero uno is The Darby, a celeb hotspot in Manhattan, though it was devoid of them that night. What it lacks in affordable drinks (I begrudgingly spent $17 on a gin and tonic), it made up for in amazing decor and atmosphere. The DJ bumped great music like ’90s classics. The beehive decor scheme was dead on from the benches to the honeycomb metal ceiling tiles.
Numero dos is Full Circle Bar, a Brooklyn skee-ball bar. Yes, I said skee-ball. We walked in, played a few rounds and were about to depart when it started to pour. So we stayed and had a few more beers. Some of the skee-ball aficionados whose “baseball” cards grace the walls are Skeebron James and Great Gatskee.
Polar opposites, but both quite fun.
Photography by me. July 2012.
I’m all about kitschy gimmicks to get people into your establishment. At Saddle Ranch you can ride a mechanical bull, fall off, then stumble your way to a bar. Yep, I’ve been there. The waiters at Dick’s Last Resort all act like, well, dicks. Experienced that, too. So when my friend told me about Carousel Bar, a bar which spins around like a carousel as you sip refreshing alcoholic beverages, I was in.
Though the carousel was ornate and beautiful, the 3D paintings of women were the most surprising and wonderful part. By 3D I mean the women’s jewelry was actual beads on the painting, not that you wore those red and blue paper glasses to look at them.
Photography by me. May 2012.
My friends and I took to Bourbon Street one evening for a stroll and some drinks. I’m happy to say I only got hit on the head with beads once. We walked all the way past the packed parts of Bourbon to find Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop and Bar. The 1720s/1730s shop is reputed to be the oldest establishment in the U.S. used as a bar, according to its website. I believe it.
The bar has remained relatively unchanged over the centuries, there are no lights inside and since it was after midnight when we arrived, the bar was pretty dark. Votives (and light from outside) were the only source of light. Sitting there I could imagine all of the unseemly and rebellious conversations that took place in the dark corners of Lafitte’s.
Photography by me. May 2012.
Adult camping is usually code for let’s go get drunk in the woods. In Brooklyn it means going to a bar that lets you make s’mores and play board games inside an establishment that looks like the camp from Parent Trap. That cozy little spot is Camp.
We roasted marshmallows for the s’mores right at our table with little teeny fire in the middle of our chip ‘n’ dip bowl that held our s’mores goodies. Of course the bar’s previous patrons had adultified Jenga and made it Truth or Dare Jenga.
We added our own “dares,” but we really liked this Rihanna-inspired one.
We also played Bananagrams and danced to ’80s and ’90s music all night long.
Photos by me, taken with Instagram for iPhone. April 2012.
Not necessarily the most creative name, the bar’s on Harvard Street and the exterior of the building is stone, but the interior is a mix of dungeon (not in the S&M or creepy ways), nautical, go-go dancers and hipsters. Quite a strange cocktail.
Harvard & Stone offers live music, but there isn’t a cover (score!). The band was so-so but the music the bar played when the band took breaks was much better, especially since the band played so loud it was difficult to carry on a conversation.
I ordered the delicious Frequency Fizz, a concoction of gin, lime and black currant juices, sugar and ginger ale that was worth the $11.
However, if you’re ordering at the bar, watch out for the go-go dancers who tend to appear out of nowhere, take over the bar and accidentally kick you as you’re paying for your expensive drinks. True story.
Photograph by me. December 2011.
There’s this little bar called Giligin’s.
It’s not what you’d expect from Scottsdale. It’s not ritzy, jewel-encrusted, cheetah-print adorned or full of faux tanned, bleached blondes and dude bros in Affliction shirts. Giligan’s is basically the antithesis of all that.
It’s full of strange bar games: giant Jenga, a makeshift make the ring onto the hook game, flip cup, a boxing video game, and plenty of wheels o’ drinks to spin. They even have a $2 Cougar-You-Call-Its on Wednesdays for ladies over 35 and on the prowl.
It’s pretty raunchy and tasteless, but that’s what makes it awesome. I always find myself ending up here when I’m out with friends in Old Town. It’s just the easiest place to be since, as you can expect, this place has no dress code and a lack of creepers.
Where:
4251 N. Winfield Scott Plaza
Scottsdale, Ariz. 85251
