I’ve been meaning to go and see the Best Made Co. offices for at least the past two years. Communication flew back and forth, I just never seemed to make it over there, and not for lack of desire to check it out. Further confusing the whole situation was the fact that I basically walked by the place on my daily walk for years. I have no excuses. Well, it now seems that my procrastination has paid off, because by the time I found myself on White Street in NYC the studio had morphed into the first full-blown Best Made Co. shop that opens its doors today.

Housed in a quintessentially skylighted TriBeCa space —which was previously used by it’s former tenant for crafting fine art— the handsome well-designed nook of outdoorsy-ness occupies most of the space with a new loft and catwalk in the back that will still serve as the Best Made Co. offices. The front of the store is open to the public during the week, with a larger offering opening up for the weekends. The store offers everything that’s available on the e-commerce shop including a strong selection of painted axes (which judging from my Instagram can be quite polarizing), the Lightweight Cruiser, mugs, prints, knives and all sorts of other interesting stuff. And the brand doesn’t wholesale, so if you want it you have to order from them directly online or stop by this new outpost.

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• How to eat in Rome like an expat. [The New York Times]
• Five years later, Leffot still sets the standard. [OM]
• In 1897 a Pasadena to Downtown L.A. bike path was planned. [Vice] [Pictured]
• McDonalds Theory. [Medium]
• Archival ACL: The truest Americana. [The Kodachrome Archive]
• Portraits of those who value craft, style and well made things. [The Experts] [Sponsored]

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The Boston Public Library has a massive and impressive digital photo archive, which is open for all to enjoy via Flickr. The collection has yielded other interesting ACL posts in the past, and an image search recently led to this collection of old Georgia post cards from roughly 1930-1945.

I’ve spent the past few days in Southeast Georgia (Jekyll, St. Simons & Sea Island) and it got me looking around for old pictures and along came these nearly 600 great old postcards from all over the state of Georgia. Nice stuff here from the BPL as usual.

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Master of her domaine: Carla Rzeszewski in The John Dory. Photo by: Lauren Mowery

This is the first in a series about people working in the wine trade.

Carla Rzeszewski is the wine director across April Bloomfield’s irreverent restaurant empire: The Spotted Pig, The John Dory and The Breslin. Those are disparate restaurants require a wine guru who fits their impressive profile. Indeed, in addition to being, at various times, an actress, a bartender and a nude model. Rzeszewski is sharp, capable, profane, and a strong advocate of sherry. We spoke recently over a beer, of all things, at her local in the East Village.

David Coggins: It’s funny that you suggested meeting at a bar specializing in beer. Does that mean that when you’re not working you’re a beer drinker?

Carla Rzeszewski: When I’m not working or if I’m just relaxing with a book, it’s always with a beer, i’s never with a glass of wine.

DC: So you’re a believer in wine with food.

CR: For sure. They historically have gone together, and they’ve been nurtured together.

DC: So when wine is tasted officially and there’s no food—

CR: It’s a joke. Quiet wines, wallflower wines have a beauty and complexity all their own. They don’t stand out in a huge lineup. Other wines have a broader structure and bully their way to the front.

DC: Then how do you, as a director of a wine program, introduce people to these quieter wines, especially if they haven’t heard of them before?

CR: Well the Dory serves more delicate food. Whites, for the most part, and light, low-tannin reds. A lot of those whites are too acidic on their own and yet with the food it works perfectly. Like the razor clam ceviche works very well alongside a Pigato, or even a Sherry. They need food and when they have food they begin to sing. The other day at the Dory I had this clam I’d never seen before. It’s got excess levels of hemoglobin so it’s bloody. It’s pretty but sinister. Alongside this basic Chablis, you put them together and it’s awesome. But the Chablis on its own isn’t as exciting—it needs the food to wake up a bit.

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• The story of Ghurka. American made since 1975. [Ghurka] [Pictured]
• In case you were ever wondering about my 10 Essentials. [GQ]
• Amurican made PK Grills. [The William Brown Project]
• There is a such thing as the International Biscuit Festival and it is awesome. [Biscuit Fest]
• Archival ACL: The beauty of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. [Jazz on a Summer's Day]

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The good people of Garrett Leight recently produced a campaign video that focuses on The Harding, one of the California opticians most popular styles. The frame design and the accompanying video was inspired by the stylish playwright Arthur Miller, a man who possessed stellar taste in both eye-wear and women. As a company, Garrett Leight has been doing good things of late. It seems to be a bit of an anomaly in the eye-wear world as one of the few little guys around. The frames themselves have always been intriguing to me, especially the U.S. made collaboration glasses it did with my good friend Mark McNairy.

A while back I happened to be in LA the same week the company’s shop on La Brea opened and I really like how the brand is expressed at retail. It all feels very unique and I have to say that to me it feels like almost everything Garrett Leight touches is impressively done. I had a chance to catch up with Garrett himself and talk to him about Arthur Miller, their shared appreciation of handsome glasses and this new series of short campaign videos. The full conversation is after the jump.

ACL: What was the inspiration behind these spots?

Garrett Leight: Funny enough, I am actually answering this last because it took me a while to think about it. But the true answer is Steve Jobs. That book and further research after reading that book changed me. Yes I’m a designer, but more than that I want to change the world. And even if its just through creating an eyewear brand for now, its important that people know how passionate I am about our designs, our quality, and our business in general. Our whole team is very inspired, so this is just the beginning in terms of showing what kind of people inspire us, specifically in regards to frame design in this case. Furthermore, I was a journalism major, so I love using my words, and I just feel like a video in some ways is more powerful than the photography in our look books, especially with today’s average attention span.

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• Rent an Airstream and then tow it across the American West. [Wall Street Journal]
• Apparently a lot of people buy bespoke boxer shorts. [Bloomberg]
• Logistics! Inside one of Amazon’s massive fulfillment centers. [It's Nice That]
• It’s strange to say, but the world needs more hand writing. [Handwriting by Dunhill]
• Weekend bags for all possible adventures. [Kempt]
• Selections for employment with the TVA at Stiner’s store c.1933. [Shorpy] [Pictured]

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