Comments on: Portland

By: Are

Are — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:30:25 +0000

Hi Tonx!

I’m looking for an email adress to reach you on regarding the possibilities to use some of your excellent photos. Please contact me so I can send you a short mail.

Regards from Norway

By: t o n x

t o n x — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:01:32 +0000

Hi Jessica! :D

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:48:58 +0000

I miss Portland. I even kind of miss the Willamette Week.

On the subject of press, though, Tonx, guess who is coming to Grumpy today (other than Doug Z and Nick C and Tim W)? Martha Stewart Freakin Living Magazine.

Also: Jessica says hello!

By: TopoTail

TopoTail — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 03:05:39 +0000

I’ve been pitching editors of foodie mags on articles about what’s going on in the coffee world for years and have found this bizarre reluctance to take coffee seriously. The cuture is becoming food obsessed, yet coffee rarely figures into the equation. But slowly, slowly I sense the beginnings of change, and occasionally I find articles about coffee that I can read without cringing.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:31:14 +0000

I feel privileged to live so close what quality “3rd wave” coffee experiences I’ve got. With Andy Barnett of Ecco Café and the Flying Goat in Santa Rosa, Giya at the Blackbird Café at the Marin County, CA farmers market who uses Andy’s beans (and makes a killer cup) to Blue Bottle in San Francisco, I am thankful that I have what I have as close as it is. Which really isn’t all that close. But I’ll go far for a good beans, espresso and cappucino.

I think the aversion to quality may be an affinity for convenience and familiarity above all else. Starbucks is now a household name but it was not always so. Their quality has decreased inversely to their level of convenience.

L.A…..wooof. I feel for ya. My girlfriend’s grandparents live there, though, and I understand you are there to set up a cafe? Does this mean I will have someplace to go for my cappucino when we make that god-awful journey down I-5 to visit family?

By: duane

duane — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 02:23:58 +0000

for what?

By: t o n x

t o n x — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 02:05:26 +0000

as long as it takes. ;)

By: duane

duane — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 01:39:48 +0000

how long you going to be in LA?

By: karl

karl — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:47:14 +0000

Welcome to Los Angeles! It is a challenging place to learn to drive. I know several non-Angelenos who’ve done it though.

If you’re feeling discouraged, try getting up early on Sunday morning and driving around. It’s a good time to learn the freeways. And you can explore without getting stuck in traffic — a much freer and more enjoyable experience than during traffic hours.

SoCal must have been a great place to drive several decades ago…

By: t o n x

t o n x — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 01:20:12 +0000

Gabe -

I’m not surprised that people take it for granted… I think there is some invisible cultural aversion to thinking about quality - some abstract egalitarian ethos that puts shit and shinola on the same playing field and questions the authenticity of separating them. The tide may never shift for most people but I’m sure there are a ton of folks out there ready to become converts.

LA is a strange place… and a strange place to learn to drive. I miss the PNW climate, but hopefully I’ll encounter some precipitation when we fly up for coffeefest.