There’s a new party in Salt Lake City. Utah liquor laws were normalized in 2009 for the first time since 1935, allowing patrons simply to walk into a bar and order a drink, as if they were in any other city.
Named after the patron saint of music, Hotel Saint Cecilia is already a favorite of big-name musicians who swing into town to play on the city’s countless stages.
“Lots of people in San Francisco make their own hooch,” says Melinda Stone, a part-time farmer. “Alcohol is often the gateway to urban homesteading.” Adds Todd Champagne, owner of Happy Girl Kitchen: “There’s an enduring quality to these skills. Once you get a taste of your own pickles, it’s hard to go back.”
Kyoto, the former imperial capital of Japan, is a vibrant mash-up, an ancient city electrified by the breathtakingly new.
If you spy a dark-haired woman gliding down Mission Street, past the taquerias and bodegas, in a white, head-to-toe bee suit — picture a hazmat suit crossed with a fencing mask — chances are it’s Cameo Wood, en route to a beehive.
The city’s unofficial motto, “Keep Austin Weird,” blares from bumper stickers on BMWs and jalopies alike, on T-shirts worn by joggers along Lady Bird Lake and in the windows of independently owned shops and restaurants. It’s an exhortation for a city that clings to eccentricity, even in the face of rapid development.
Art is popping up all across this vineyard-rich valley, from agricultural barns that used to house hay and livestock feed to private, museum-worthy collections secreted in the rolling hills. “There’s an extraordinary range of art available, if you know where to look,” says Michelle Williams, executive director of the Arts Council Napa Valley. “You could go to an art opening or event every weekend, if you wanted.”
A day in San Francisco, done two ways: on a $250 budget and a $1,000 budget.
The Good Hotel, which opened last November, claims to be the first “hotel with a conscience.” Anthropomorphizing aside, the hotel does have many admirable qualities: low prices, eco-friendly touches, and a philanthropic streak.
With its architectural mishmash of storybook English cottages and Swiss Alpine chalets, the small town of Carmel-by-the-Sea in Northern California resembles a Disneyland version of Europe. But walk a few blocks to Carmel’s steep, sandy beach and the view is pure California: a rugged Pacific coastline spangled with rocky outcroppings and ghostly cypress trees.