Tag: new

Hannah Wilson

Bringing Paris to my Hometown Coffee Shop

2 Comments Art, Diary

 

Just like most humans, I enjoy coffee, and just like tons of people my age, I LOVE coffee shops. A coffee shop is almost like a second home; a place where you go to spend hours studying or catching up with friends. We all have our favorite haunts, and for me, that was Sagebrush Café. It was the first coffee shop I ever visited before finding other favorites in other cities. Sagebrush is my coffee home.

I always had it in the back of my mind that I would love to show my photographs at Sagebrush – they’ve been featuring the work of local artists on their walls pretty much since they opened 7 years ago, and I’ve been interested in photography since high school. They’re part of a new culture that has arisen in the Antelope Valley, a refreshing and uplifting change that was much-needed in this sprawling desert suburb. Within the last few years, an art museum and community of local creatives has sprung up. The Antelope Valley is the kind of place that every high school kid wants to escape, to run away from the moment graduation is over. I was one of those kids, but I find myself drawn back not only because of my family who still live there, but also because of establishments like Sagebrush Café.

When they approached me, asking if I’d like to show some of my travel photographs, I immediately said yes.

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Shakespeare & Company Cafe
Hannah Wilson

Shakespeare & Company Now Has a Cafe!

Comments See & Do

The best thing to ever happen to Paris has happened: Shakespeare & Company, the famous English bookstore that has kept the literary-artistic spirit alive in Paris for 64 years, has opened a coffee shop! I’m only exaggerating a little when I say this is the best thing in Paris right now. Bookstores and coffee shops go together like wine and cheese, or peanut butter and jelly, whichever cultural food reference you prefer. My first thought was – why didn’t they do this sooner?! I visited the brand new cafe as soon as I heard it was opening, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The interior is lined with bookshelves and the rough-around-the-edges décor echoes the interior of the main bookshop perfectly. There’s a collection of fun books and gifts to the right of the main door, and above the glass food case is a menu in Franglais.

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Hannah Wilson

Unique Parisian Restaurants: Floyd’s

Comments See & Do

One of my favourite things to do is try out new, unique estaurants in Paris.  Yes, the food is certainly an important factor, but I actually tend to get more excited about the interior design, to be honest!  Especially when you walk into a fresh, empty dining room, before anyone else has arrived – I was able to photograph this place without interference!  Like my own personal showroom.

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Hannah Wilson

Visual Diary: Early Summer Blur

2 Comments Diary

It’s been a long time since my last Visual Diary, so I think it’s time for an update. These type of posts really help me to understand my current state of mind and get a new perspective on the state of my life. Sometimes it’s easy to become wrapped up in whatever thoughts or worries you have at the moment, and you forget that you’re actually living a pretty decent life.

The past couple months I’ve been preoccupied with a babysitting job that left me feeling tired and sometimes stressed out every weekend. I tried to get out and do things, which certainly helped my mood, but didn’t yield very much good blog content.  Time has almost felt non-existent, like a blur, like I was only half-awake through May and June.  Leaving my last day of baby-sitting, I almost felt like a kid leaving school for summer vacation again, except that it was cold and rainy that day. Is it summer yet??

I did manage, however, to spend some time with a couple California friends who were travelling through Paris.  I also managed to share some lovely meals out at restaurants, sprawl out in the grass under the sun with my sweetheart, explore the gardens and smaller palaces of Versailles, and have a few walkabouts through Paris.  It hasn’t been the most exciting couple months, but I really needed a break in the monotony of unemployment I was wallowing in before.

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Hannah Wilson

AntiCafé: A Fresh take on the Coffee Shop

Comments Paris, See & Do

One of my favourite things to do when I was at college in Long Beach, California, was to sit at a coffee shop for hours, either talking with a friend or studying.  I particularly loved Portfolio CoffeeHouse;  They used to have this old, heavy desk, full of drawers.  It was the perfect place to plop down with a stack of Art History and theory books from the library and write my research papers, which inevitably, were left until the last minute.  I was a good student.  :p

I’ve always felt like there was a serious lack of these kinds of places in Paris – communal living rooms where one can have a capp, nibble a scone, and relax.  Yes, Paris is rife with cafés, the kind of cafés with little round tables and rows of wicker chairs facing the street.  These are great, but they just don’t have the same purpose, vibe, or possibilities of a coffee house.

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Restaurants, cafes, coffee shops in Canal Saint Martin, Paris, 11th arrondissement
Hannah Wilson

Something’s Brewing in Canal Saint Martin

Comments Paris, See & Do

The 10th Arrondissement has long been a forgotten neighbourhood of Paris, overshadowed by the romance of Montmartre above, and the cool vibe of the Marais below. Although it has always boasted the Canal Saint Martin, a favorite summertime picnic spot of young hip thangs from that side of town, the rest of the surrounding streets are home to multicultural establishments: African, Indian, East European, Turkish, Italian, Asian, and probably any other non-French influence you can think of has staked a claim here.

Over the past few years, the 10th has become increasingly more gentrified, and although I dislike this word and phenomenon for many reasons, you can’t deny the perks that come with such an economic shift. Now bear with me, I have zero actual knowledge of economic systems, but here are my thoughts: On one hand, property values increase, driving the poorer community out, bringing in more tourists, and eventually spoiling what had made the area charming in the first place. I don’t believe this has happened yet – the neighbourhood does not bring in a ton of tourists, but I will say it attracts a lot of young foreign residents. Lots of international students, bloggers, and people who work in the arts, and those are my kind of people!

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