2013 will live in your memory as the year you ziplined over Venice Beach, swam with sharks and crawled inside of a human freezer for a good coat. Or at least briefly considered doing some of those things. Here’s a fond look back at the year that was.
Downtown was already a good area for bratwurst and elaborate cocktails. This year, it was also where you’d find an industrial coffee table (West Mitchell), vintage Playboys (Hammer and Spear) and the occasional ’59 Fiat (Alchemy Works) in the middle of a shop. Parking is still pretty tough.
Closet-sized fitting rooms are so old-fashioned. These days, you’re climbing into a massive freezer to test your winter jacket against seven-degree chills and using 3D cameras to build insanely comfortable suits and custom shoes. Yes, your big toe has a good side.
Going to a café to finish yet another rewrite: not exactly unprecedented. Then along came the Coffitivity website, bringing you the inspirational sounds of steaming milk and banter between unemployed models—even if you were still at home. To maintain continuity, you occasionally overcharged yourself for a latte.
Ah, Palm Springs. Suddenly you could rent a vintage trailer from Airstream 2 Go—or gun it in a rented Ferrari from Club Sportiva—and end up at a beautiful new farmhouse hotel with horse troughs for bathtubs. You’d been saying Palm Springs needed more horse troughs.
They say life is all about balance. Naturally, someone took this to mean that we should all start doing karate on paddleboards in the middle of the marina. It might seem like an impractical form of exercise. Until the water zombies arrive.
When the weather got hot, some types of people dipped a toe in the water at the beach. Other types thought nothing of climbing into a giant cage to meet some sharks or renting a cottage to cool down in a private outdoor shower. You were... one of those types.
Defying gravity: it’s just a casual hobby, really. Hovering 34,000 feet over Los Angeles in an airplane or whizzing above the Venice Boardwalk, um, scenery on the beach’s first zipline—both were more effective forms of transportation than the 405.
