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Home to Toledo’s only drip brew, Bleak House Coffee has brought a slice of Americana to downtown’s Spitzer Building. Melding the vintage and the trendy, this up and coming coffee haven has the perfect fusion of downtown class and uptown swank. Showcasing an uncomplicated menu, local bakeries and an allergen and ecofriendly atmosphere, Bleak House is quickly turning into downtown’s favorite coffeehouse.

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Stephanie Wandtke, part-owner, fulltime barista and the brains behind Bleak House’s vibe and décor was very pleased to give me a tour of the coffeeshop. Walking me through the renovation, which started last October through their opening on Wednesday, May 23, Stephanie was very proud of the final product.

Stephanie, along with her co-owners, Lauren Bernard, Chad Gensler and Scott Ciolek have created an oasis in a historical location. Bleak House was named for the Charles Dickens novel by the same name. The story, about a lawsuit bankrupting everyone involved, all while making the lawyers very rich, spoke to owner Scott Ciolek. He found many parallels of the story and the site of the coffee shop, a building currently in foreclosure with many lawyers and firms housed in it. A copy of the novel can be found in the coffee shop, as well as elements bought from a now defunct Border’s in Ann Arbor.

Fritz Byers, a regular at Bleak House was very impressed with the new shop. “Stephanie is a great barista,” he raves, “and they have the best cappuccino in Toledo and one of the best in the United States.” Part of the Third Wave Coffee movement, Bleak House serves Intelligentsia Coffee in two flavors, Jamaican Blue Mountain and Sumatra. They also serve more conventional espresso drinks, like lattes, chai teas, and Americano.

Pleased with the successes thus far, the Bleak House staff is looking at their very bright future. Hiring another barista as soon as August, they will be open on weekends, and will be serving iced drinks. Their opening party was so successful the Spitzer Building and Bleak House are looking to partner in monthly events showcasing local wares, arts, and music.

Located at on the first floor of 520 Madison, come enjoy really good coffee, great staff and a sense of community you won’t get anywhere else. For more information on Bleak House Coffee, like them on Facebook, visit their website and stop in for an unforgettable experience.

Kate from Drollhouse Magazine who did a dot holding up the map of YAH.

This week, all eyes in the Art Community were on the launch of the Arts Commission’s You Are Here Project. The project, inspired by the ‘You Are Here’ Dots found on mall directories. Jenn Stucker, president of AIGA Toledo was the mastermind behind this year’s summer project. Jenn was impressed with “explosion of art” from the many talented artists who entered their portfolios. 218 artists submitted work, and 100 were chosen and randomly selected a venue. The Glass Arts Society Conference has created a need for a summer arts project to showcase our great city. Funded by Toledo’s ‘1% for Arts,’ the project joins a list of citywide summer projects, like the Downtown Windows and The Urban Forest Project. Toledo’s Art Commission has created citywide art destinations to showcase local artists, important Toledo locales, and create urban interest. The project was officially launched at the Valentine Theatre, Tuesday night. Event coordinators, media outlets, art enthusiasts, and most of the 100 artists involved in the project came out to support You Are Here.

The concept of the project is uncomplicated and crowd-friendly. 100 dots, created by 100 artists from around the Toledo area, are located at 100 venues in the Toledo city limits, showcasing tourist, historical, and artistic buildings. Each dot is an artwork inspired by the site, along with a corresponding website link and QR Code. With the You Are Here app (downloaded from iTunes or Google Market), you can explore the city, collect the dots by scanning the QR code. When scanned, the QR Code will give an artist’s statement, a history of the building, and To jumpstart the project, the first 100 people to collect 25 dots receive a limited edition poster showcasing all of the dots.

Patrice Spitzer, forewoman of the Spitzer Building was pleased with the work of Nathan Daulbaugh, whose dot featured the highs and lows of the building’s architecture. Nathan was inspired by the building’s tenants and the clients they served. The Spitzer Building, which has long served as a host to many firms, where Nathan felt “when people visit a lawyer, they are either at a high point or a low point in their life and that really spoke to me.” I was able to speak to them briefly, and they were incredibly impressed with You Are Here and the support they were given from the Arts Commission and the locals.

The project will be up until mid-October and be promoted at the Glass Arts Society Conference and around the city throughout the summer. To find out more information about the You Are Here Project, visit their website and like them on Facebook. 

If you didn’t make it out to see any local bands this weekend, you missed great shows all of the Toledo area. My Friday and Saturday nights were packed with good music, great friends and plenty of drinks. 

Friday night, armed with my +1 Sara, we hit bars in Sylvania, Southwyck, and Byrnedale. A great day to be out, everywhere we went was packed to capacity. Everyone was in great spirits and Toledo was bustling in all corners of the city. 

The local rock band MAS FiNA was at Bar Louis in Perrysburg. Covering artists like Adele, Calvin Harris and Flo Rida, the rock trio played to a full house. Although the members hails from Sylvania and Detroit, the band is based out of Toledo and has won The Blade’s Battle of the Bands competition and also been featured as Toledo City Paper’s Best Cover Band. Their performance featured all three members on vocals, which was both refreshing and gave the band depth in their covers. Playing Top 40 favorites, they seemed the perfect match for the Levis Commons clientele. 

Down at Perryburg’s Swig, Kyle White had the bar patrons reliving blasts from the past with her Southern candor. Throughout the night, she took requests from the audience covering everything from the 1960’s to now. A regular at Swig, she took to the audience, telling stories of her childhood and laughing and interacting with the crowd. A much more intimate feel, Swig felt like a home away from home complete with good music, good stories and plenty of alcohol. 

The night ended in Trilby at R House. Complimentary burgers, courtesy of Joe, Grill Master Extraordinaire, were served to help kickoff the Blackout Blacklight Party. The event was hosted to reopen their patio bar for Summer. Glowing body paint was available to everyone and in the bar, the blacklights brought the most in everyone. 

Saturday’s events were just as exciting. Sticking around Franklin Park and Deveaux, Club Soda and Bar 145° had excellent shows that had the venues rocking. In Deveaux, Homewreckers took over the stage to a mixed crowd. A Toledo music staple, led by Steven Athanas, more than impressed the crowd with covers from The Emotions, Four Tops, as well as the Jackson 5 and more. Energetic and suave, Steven and the gang wooed people off their chairs and onto the dancefloor. The band, complete with trumpet and saxophone gives a jazzy soul to the classic songs that leads the mind to a different era. Some well received jokes peppered the evening making it a most satisfying evening. 

Over at Bar 145°, Jaime Mills & Ty Lee opened the night out on the patio, with fan favorite covers. Jaime, along with his guitar gave the perfect mood music on such a beautiful day. I was able to speak to Jaime after his set and he was pleased to announce he was just signed with Ervin Anne Publishing. A regular around the Toledo area, you can find him at Nick & Jimmy’s, Potbelly’s and other venues around town. 

Empire Drift, the late night attraction at Bar 145° filled the house. The local band who cites Vampire Weekend and Led Zeppelin as influences impressed with spirited covers from The Killers, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, and The Cranberries in their arsenal. I managed to snag a setlist, and their repertoire is very extensive. Their sound was made for the venue, reminding me of Panic! at the Disco, or the cuter version of Lifehouse. The group of best friends has an album under their belt and one on the way. (I hopefully talked them into a summer release, but they did not commit one way or another. They have yet to release an album name or date.) While they cite Toledo as “home”, their members are scattered across Ohio, and their tour dates reflect it. They regularly play at Roundhouse in Put-In-Bay, but hopefully with successes at venues like Bar 145°, local shows will be more frequent. 

If the weekend was any comparison to what the summer has in store, Toledo has a great lineup of amazing bars, fantastic music and plenty to do all over our great city. For more information on any of the bars or artists featured, check out their links I embedded. It will take you the various websites and Facebook pages. You can also visit my Facebook page and check them out in my Likes.

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Toledo’s GLBT community and supporters went all out on Friday night to celebrate PRIDE weekend, coming this August. The city’s gay and lesbian bars opened their doors for Toledo PRIDE Pub Crawl Fundraiser. Tickets were sold out days before the event, and on the Pub Crawl’s event page, people RSVP-ed ‘yes’ up until the night’s festivities. 

Party buses and patrons in handmade tee shirts made their way around the city sharing their PRIDE at 5 venues of the city. outSKIRTS, Blush, RipCord, Bretz Nightclub, and R House welcomed all the party goers with flowing alcohol and great entertainment. Everyone was in great spirits and the organizers couldn’t have been more pleased. 

During the festivities, I met Emily Hickey, head of PRIDE’s marketing and she was very impressed with the night’s events and was very excited to tell me PRIDE will be extended to a whole weekend this year. From August 10th to the 12th, it will be the biggest PRIDE Toledo has ever seen.

If Friday night was any comparison to this summer, Toledo is in for a PRIDE celebration that will rock this city. For more information on Toledo PRIDE, visit their website, like them on Facebook, and follow them on twitter.

Thursday Night was a beautiful night in Downtown Toledo, perfect weather for the annual Art Walk hosted by The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Now in their 5th Season, ACGT will be hosting the Art Walk the 2nd Friday of June and every 2nd Thursday from July to September. 

I arrived on St. Clair, the heart of the Art Walk to see people milling about. A good turnout for the first date of the season, I ran into some familiar faces. Glass Wear’s Tim & Brandon were out, and I talked with them. They seemed to be enjoying the weather and the mood of the night. 

I stopped into an open-doored Fine Things Bistro, serving cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. A lively and supportive staff, I was able to meet owners Ken & Darryl along with three of their servers. Plied with a margarita, and a tart to die for, I semi-reluctantly left the bistro to explore more of the Art Walk. I hope to be back during regular business hours to try the food, and talk with the staff more in more depth about their gem downtown. 

Right across the street, The Art Supply Depō, was busy with customers and a charity event for Food For Thought Toledo. Each person was able to decorate a paper bag for charity. By the looks of all the bags that were decorated they had a very good turn out. Creativity and goodwill was abound where ever you looked. You are able to find some of the decorated bags showcased on FFTToledo’s Facebook and tumblr pages. 

Down the street, work was being shown in the office of Paul Sullivan, famed Toledo architect. I spoke to the mind behind Packo’s at the Park briefly and he did report he is currently working on Hannon Block and Registry Bistro, both opening “soon.” His office, usually covered in sketches and designs of buildings were replaced for one night of the artwork of Scott Zigler aka Hunter Wolf Artist, and Richard Reed. Scott, pictured below with my favourite piece of the night Girl on a Bus, was gracious enough to walk through his pieces with me. Focusing on a paint medium, his artwork has a very urban understanding which spoke to me. 

Richard Reed, a well-known Toledo painter showed departure pieces at the Art Walk. While a few sketches were shown, most of the pieces in his collection were kilned pottery exploring shapes in whimsical proportions. 

20 North Gallery was my last stop of the night where I met with Condessa Croninger, who was very pleased with the night’s outcome which included a full house and a few sales. Her enthusiasm for the arts is infectious, and she was pleased to announce the 20th Anniversary Party. Hosted by 20 North, May 25th from 6 to 9, “Be Our Guest” and come celebrate the gallery and the commission portraiture of David J Eichenberg. 

I hope everyone else had as amazing time as I did. Next month, the Art Walk will be the 2nd Friday of June in conjunction of the Gallery Hop. For more information on the Art Walk, visit ACGT’s website.

Once again, all of the world’s best and brightest made it out to one of the most important nights in fashion. The Met Gala, an event that is made possible in no small part to Anna Wintour, Editor in Cheif of Vogue Magazine. Wintour, dressed in white Prada with gold accents, may have been an homage to the night’s theme: Chiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations. 

For the first time ever, Vogue hosted a livestream of the carpet, complete with interviews, backstage scoop, and previous years’ recaps. Though the picture quality, and the overall feed was a little shaky, the idea was sound and renewed interest in the Met Gala for those even outside NYC. Conversations on twitter, tumblr, and other social media sites were buzzing with questions for the celebrities, fan favourites, and social media savvy attendees posted pictures, comments and video from inside the event. 

As per tradition, the fashion was worth the wait. Celebrities like Debra Messing, James Franco, Dakota Fanning, Jessica Chastain, and Carey Mulligan were stunning but tasteful gathering media attention. Designers like Tom Ford, Vera Wang, Jason Wu, and Marc Jacobs (who arrived in a lace gown) took part in the event very excited to honour the great artists for the night.

Bold sillouettes and metallics ruled the carpet. White, gold and bright colours walked through the flashing bulbs causing a show. Some of my personal favourite standouts included Jessica Alba in a metallic Michael Kors, Ginnifer Goodwin in a bold coloured Monique Lhuillier, Elizabeth Cordry, and Dianna Agron in a green Carolina Herrera.

Jessica Alba

Ginnifer Goodwin

Elizabeth Cordry

Dianna Agron

Some less successful looks were peppered throughout the night. Usually one for dapper and polished red carpets, Glee’s Darren Criss looked a bit like the love child of Snooki and a Mattel Ken Doll. I’m not sure if the lights made him look slightly plastic, or if he secretly was given botox, but his skin was extra waxy, and his hair who has seen a makeover from his Starkid days, was neither lazy Harry Potter, nor Grease Lightning. Dressed in Calvin Klein, the suit was beautifully made, but unfortunately made him look slightly ill-proportioned. After bumbling through his interview with the Vogue Correspondent, I wonder if Lea Michele would be willing to give him a few pointers about how things are done in the New York fashion scene. 

As for the ladies, while there were very many successes among the Red Carpet, my biggest disappointment was with Leslie Mann. Her Nina Ricci gown was neither bold in design or color, and the design was very distracting. The dress, a soft pale pink was a yawn to wear at one of the biggest fashion events of the season. Instead of keeping with the trend of clean lines and smart accessories, Leslie chose a gown showing straps (which I am still not sure is part of the dress or part of her bra), and covered in tulle in varying degrees of length. Her accessories did not save her look in the slightest, but instead made it very distracting. Instead of pairing her busy dress with simple pumps, which would have been my direction, she chose to wear a strapped peep toe that did nothing for her legs and her clutch after the dress is almost an after thought. 

In the future, I hope she comes to the Met Gala, in a simple but bold dress, killer heels and jewelry that screams “Pay Attention To Leslie” because sadly, she was lost in the kerfuffle, and I know she can do so much better.

After looking through all the fashion from the night, hundreds of dresses, thousands of pictures, only one dress stood out to me time and time again. Media darling Beyonce’s little sister (who after a baby and a successful career is no longer should be titled as such) stole my heart. Her bright yellow Rachel Roy gown turned heads, and the ever trendy peplum silhouette was rivaled by none. Her hair, naturally wavy gave her the signature Solange style we all have grown to know and adore. Her Edie Parker clutch flirted the flashblubs and won me over as Best Dressed. Solange Knowles may not be as big as her sister in Tinsel Town, but she was the It Girl of New York last night. 

Overall, the success of this year’s Met Gala was well received and we can hope as Vogue, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other affiliates strengthen their grasp on social media, next year’s Gala will be a life changing event for not only those who attend via the Red Carpet, but also for those who experience it online.

(Photo rights belong to Styleite & Pop Sugar)

(Source: theglassphoenix)