AWESOME: Viennese Cafe Society

AWESOME: So, during a few days here in Vienna, I have had the opportunity to try a few of the amazing cafes that Vienna is famous for. This missive comes from Cafe Central, a place that I have made my second home here in Vienna. Sure, it is a bit touristy as compared to some of the others... but the location and free wifi make it a winner.

This is what dinner looks like.

This is what dessert looks like:

I was also introduced to an awesome cafe called Phil by Jeremy, and also got to try out Cafe Diglas (est 1875)  - a place that actually takes over a chunk of street for outdoor seating. Brilliant really.

Screw you, Mr Traffic Engineer. The cars can just deal with the fact that we reclaimed a chunk of your street for more useful endeavours. Ha!

I'll leave this post with a pic of the dessert counter.... my sugar count went into shock just LOOKING at it.

PS: I did visit the home of the Sacher Torte - but the Viennese poo-poo the place as not so good. I had home made Sacher Torte at Ivanna's house last night.... OMFG yum.

AWESOME: The Ubahn & SBahn

So, for 52€ a month I can go anywhere in Berlin from my home station (above) that I want. How awesome is that? I have noticed that the air smells just like the air in other subway systems I have traveled on. I find it oddly comforting. Kudos to the tagger who was able to stay within the lines.

The trains here really do run on time.

Reading the history of these systems, I learned the Ubahn was originally run by West Berlin, and the Sbahn by the East. When the communists built the wall, that changed of course, and the East also installed a big system of street trams that I have yet to use - but I'm sure that they will rock as much as the ones in Prague.

In the Alexanderplatz station I ran across these images in a connecting hallway. We met Robin van Arsdale back in the 90s - he was selling (through a gallerist friend) some of his collection of Keith Haring subway chalk drawings and my sister bought one. My parents purchased a piece of Robin's at that event. So it was interesting to randomly come across these two murals from 2003. Notice that many others decided to add to the murals.

I guess it is only fitting that taggers should deface the mural of a guy that started as a graffiti artist....

Lots of cyclists in the subway, and lots of crazy tile colors. I couldn't figure out if these were giant concrete block size tiles, or concrete blocks with glazed sides. Assuming that tile is cheaper and easier to make, I'm going to go with tile - but they are suspiciously the exact size of a block - and those curved corners are suspiciously block like. 

Does Bono get a royalty for this line?

AWESOME: Berlin Street Food - Been a while since I posted here...

So, I've been here about a week now and finally over the jet lag. Continental seems to have sucked the life out of the better experience of overseas travel. The seats were no larger than domestic, the food was awful and the drinks are no longer free. *sigh* I miss the old ways.

Oh, and the jackasses charged me an extra 50 bucks for my over weight bag (by 6 lbs). Hrumph. Needless to say, I will check two lighter bags on the way home and they can suck it.

First up on the yummy parade... pomme frites with mayonaise. I cannot explain it - but mayo here is a delight. At home, I cannot fathom the idea of placing our mayo on fries... but these fries are better and this mayo is made with amazing eggs... so there you have it. Damn these are good.

Second stop on the German street food course was the doner kebab. MMmmmmm. Similar to a gyro, but different enough to say I like it better. Heresy, I know. The meat is gamier - probably from being actual lamb, where in the US its mostly beef - the veggies (salat complex) is different (I will eschew the cabbage in the future) and the yogurt sauce too sparing.  (mehr joghurt-sauce next time).

Last up was the currywurst. A fried schweinfleish wurst with tomato sauce and curry powder. I have no explanation for this combination of food products on my plate, but I can report that it was delish. The fries were excellent too. Coca-Cola LIGHT baby. Oh, and every plastic bottle and can has a deposit included and you take them back to big automated machines to get a credit slip at the local markets. Pretty cool system I think. Americans would hate it.

AWESOME: Promoting Mid Century Architcture & Preservation

The Georgia State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has issued guidelines in evaluating ranch houses. The preservation community has actually been pretty slow to figure out that so many of those atomic age houses are now eligible for preservation status, and seem to not know what to do with them.

Of course, there are those who are on top of things, like Atomic Ranch Magazine. If you are not a subscriber, you should check them out. One of my fave things to get in the mail.

The state of Michigan SHPO has introduced an initiative called Michigan Modern that seeks to preserve and promote the buildings left behind by the industrial explosion that happened in Michigan in the 20th century.

Too bad the SHPO in Florida has done nothing like this. I saw the new director at a talk at the Harn Museum last semester and he seemed to have no clue at all about the subject. Director Scott Stroh gave one of the worst powerpoint presentations of all time. He yammered on about policy and procedure - and if I had been playing buzzword bingo, would have won by about his 4th slide. Truly, absolutely clueless. Sad really, given the wealth of mid-century gems scattered across Florida.

AWESOME: Gainesville North Main St. & 4th Ave

AWESOME: Main Street in Gainesville FL is undergoing a "road diet" - a process that makes terrible roads into Complete Streets. A photo of the improved roadway shows two lanes instead of four, a center shared turn lane, bike and parking lanes. This process started on North Main, and will, over the next year, continue South to Depot Ave - all the way through Downtown to the soon to be built Cade Museum.

So, why choose this particular corner for some AWESOME? Well - its simple really - this corner features one of the Downtown area's simplest and most elegant mid-century buildings: Rip's Cleaners. Its a simple arrangement of angles, post and bean construction, and plate glass. Classic late 50s roadside drive thru design and a nifty angular steel sign combine to make a corner that many wouldn't ever notice, but there it is.

And what else makes this corner rock? Well, the NW corner features the Williams-Thomas funeral home. Nothing special there... and yet....

..... look at THAT! Some history minded business person decided to honor the horse drawn past of their trade, and built this little glass box to house the old hearse. How cool is that? A late 19th c. horse drawn wagon and a late 1950s dry cleaners building on the same corner... on a road that was just given a 2010 road diet makeover. That, my friends, is an intersection of eras that makes cities great places.

AWESOME: Sarasota Public Art

So, I was lucky enough to have been in Sarasota for a conference last week, and as I was departing came upon this public art:

Awesome. Turns out this gigantic sculpture after the famous photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt is entitled "Unconditional Surrender, and has caused quite a controversy in Sarasota. Seems the Art in Public places people simply do not approve of art that the public actually likes. Typical of tin-eared ivory tower types who aren't smart enough to leverage a popular piece to promote newer forms.

Newsflash: Art in public spaces is a program that requires public support. Once in a while its really smart to go with that which builds support for your program, even if its not 'pure art' by your cloistered academic definition.

PS: There was a big lump of something next to it that was undoubtedly an 'approved' piece of public art - no one was taking pix of that, and I'm probably the only one who noticed it going unnoticed.

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AWESOME: Kitch in the ATL

Drive-Ins are an endangered species for a lot of reasons, so its nice to see this awesome pylon of neon advertising SIX, yes SIX screens of celluloid goodness. The stars blink and the glow of the tubes warms my heart. I took a lot of shots of this spot, but this was my fave - the world needs more great neon signs.

Up on Ponce de Leon is this fading sign, a victim of the digital camera that was used to capture its faded glory. Signs used to be works of art, and I'd love to capture this chunk of metal for Rocky Bridges to create with - knowing that its time here is most likely finite. Signs today are just those terrible vacu-form things with fluorescent tubes inside. I love a good roadside sign and this one makes me smile.

Astounding find of the trip: The press on Tshirt shop is BACK! Looks like plastisol transfers have improved, and yet some of those designs are ones I remember pressing on Tee Shirts at Foxy's in the Tampa Bay Mall during the 1981 Christmas season... Of course, this new/old bastion of hipsterness is in Little Five Points - Somewhere I know RM has a box of glitter photo transfers with zodiac signs on them!

AWESOME & AWFUL - Marriott Marquis Atlanta

BOTH: The Marriott Marquis Atlanta has a lot of positive things going for it - absolutely non of them at ground level. Three sides of this block sized development are simply as inhospitable as one can make a blank wall of concrete. I even had a hard time finding the egress on the east side (facing the Hyatt) and only  stumbled upon it by accident.

So, on the AWFUL scale this hotel provides 3 block faces with 2 - 3 stories (depending on the elevation) of blank concrete and a total disconnect from any pedestrian realm. It was so bad I didn't even bother taking any pictures. Add to this the multiple skybridges and lack of obvious ways to find the street, and you have the usual Brutalism era hatred of the ground level, save access for automobiles and trucks.

The auto entry itself is pretty cool (see pic just below) but even this space is a bit oppressive for the average pedestrian.

Now, on the AWESOME side of the equation, we consider the soaring interior spaces the architect created... One cannot help but be impressed with the volume, the tapering balconies and the glass roof, 48 stories above. 1663 rooms and suites ensure a population guaranteed to fill the cantilevered Pulse Loft bar and the sail-like Pulse lobby bar. It obvious the interior decor has been tastefully and expensively updated in the recent past. If only the architect and the planners involved had given the same love to the ground level surrounding the hotel, this building would be long regarded as one of the best in Atlanta.

Sadly, the era in which this was constructed dictated that it was not to be so.

More photos on their website.

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AWESOME: David Williams, Painter

One of my favorite artists is David Williams of St. Petersburg. David recycles commercial and graphic images from the past and present to create a whole new dialogue with the world today. His website shows a variety of work from current and past shows. The one thing you cannot appreciate online are the wonderful surface textures he includes in every work. And he just keeps getting better with each new set of work.

© 2006 David Williams 48" x 60" Sirens:Bahama Shores Drive, acrylic on canvas.

Remember, buy art because it moves you, and if it clashes with the couch, get a new couch.

AWESOME: The view from the 72nd Floor of the Westin Peachtree in Atlanta

Looking West - L to R: Georgia Dome, CNN Center, Georgia World Congress Center and Olympic Centennial Park. Georgia Aquarium sneaking in at top right. Bottom left is the Tabernacle - a fantastic old chruch turned civic auditorium. Notice all the surface parking lot space - what a waste of land.

Looking North - The W Hotel seems to be the terminus of 75/85 as it comes into downtown from the North. I like the cantilevered pool halfway up the right tower.

Looking ENE: An economy of architectural effort and creativity - 6 towers almost exactly the same, and every one a horror for the pedestrian. The two at the Marriott Marquis were better at ground level due to the hotel entry between them - the others shield a mall from passers by - yes, Peachtree Center is on the 2nd floor and is primarily accessible to office tower workers through sky bridges. The city is excluded as much as possible from this hermetically sealed environment. Awful streetscapes.

I keep meaning to go into the Hyatt and go up in that little spaceship bar that landed on top but I never do. Note that through the sky bridges, you can go from the Hilton at top right all the way to Centennial Park without ever touching a sidewalk. Great way to kill your downtown.

AWESOME: Complete Streets

While at CNU18, the phrase 'complete streets' kept wandering into the conversation. Somehow I missed that couplet along the way, all the while having been a fan of the ideas inherent in the concept. No idea how that happened...

There is a great FAQ on the Complete Streets Coalition's website for those who'd like to review the concepts involved. The main key to to realize that we need 'streets' not 'roads' in our cities. Streets serve people first and cars second. Roads serve cars exclusively. Roads exist to get people from one point of civilization to another, but tend to destroy that civilization when they run through it.

Below is a pic from the Complete Streets Flickr feed - notice: 2 lanes, center shared turn lane that allows through traffic to move freely, bike lanes, on street parking offers traffic calming and a shield for pedestrians, urban trees as appropriate. This can move as much traffic as a 4 lane road with no center turn lane, and do it in a safer manner for all. Added benefit: Increased property values benefit neighborhoods and the city's ad valorem base.

AWESOME. New Brendan Perry Album "Ark"

AWESOME. The inimitable Brendan Perry (half of Dead Can Dance for those of you who don't know...) will be on tour and I just listened to his sparkling new album Ark. Hopefully his tour will cross Berlin while I'm there this fall *fingers crossed*
Ark is the sort of album you'd expect from Mr. Perry. Babylon is fill of the horns and timpani drums that inhabit his creations - with his lush baritone mixed in at just the right level. The standout track for me (so far) is The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, although it appears Utopia (below) is the 'single' for the album. Not a bad track if you are a fan, and a great place to start if you weren't already!~

AWESOME. Depeche Mode - Fly On The Windscreen

AWESOME. Thought I'd post the video for this song for those of you who might not know it. Its probably my favorite Depeche Mode song of all time.

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AWESOME: University Lutheran Church, Gainesville Florida

AWESOME: Gainesville FL has a variety of architectural gems, but the mid-century modern stuff has been overlooked by the local preservation people. This AWESOME building does not seem to be in any danger but it does sit on a prime piece of land across from the stadium - one beautiful church on this strip was lost in the bubble, and rebuilt recently in a far less attractive form. The good news is, with the current slump in development, there is the opportunity for the Preservation folks to get ahead of the next wave of development. As far as I can tell, this is the only example of Polynesian Modern anywhere in the 'ville.

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