Downtown’s First Friday (Sept. 2)

Art walks are more often about people watching and shenanigans and less about the actual art. We’re here to guide you through both. Presenting our very own Field Guide — an evolving guide to art walks around town.From time to time, we’ll introduce some of our favorite spots and dish out some…

Jasmine Jarrett’s Vintage Ventures

Jasmine Jarrett’s been collecting and selling vintage wears since 2006, but her love for fashion wasn’t always something that showed. “When I was going through school, I was very much into sports and being low-maintenance,” she says. “But I always had an opinion about fashion and what I liked and what…

Al Page’s Hip Hop and Indie Rock Thriftiness

Life’s pretty good if you happen to be Al Page. Not only does the fly and friendly photographer, hip-hop promoter, and turntable fiend put on a few of the hippest (and most popular) nightlife events in the Valley every week at CenPho’s Hidden House, he gets plenty of free clothing and…

Five Places to Spoil Your Pet in Metro Phoenix

One thing we love even more than hanging out with our pets? Spoiling them. There are a bunch of generic pet stores to shop for toys, accessories, and food, but a few of our favorite, locally owned shops have kicked it up a notch. From selections of gourmet, baked treats to handmade…

Back to ASU Pool Party: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Block 1949 got rocked by a wet and wild flock of Arizona State University students on Saturday. The Back to ASU Pool Party extended Summer into the new school year with a barrage of beers, bikinis and board shorts. Like any good pool party, this one had more than its…

MacAlpine’s Hosts Vintage Estate Sale (and Soda Cool-Off) This Weekend

Vintage fiends be warned: Downtown’s MacAlpine’s is clearing out storage and gathering treasures for a blowout estate sale this weekend. The retail and soda shop’s owner, Monica Heizenrader, says she’s been eyeing a few of the smaller mid-century items and furniture pieces, artwork, clothing and collectables that haven’t seen the front…

Back to School Essentials from Five Shops in Phoenix

​School is back in session and along with all of the pencils, pens, binders, and calculators (not to mention textbooks), you might need a few accessories. A few of our local sources on all things fashionable and fun have a couple recommendations for the fall. Take a hint from the creatives…

Banding Hendrix’s Paint-Splattered Simplicity

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Banding Hendrix is an artist. The 20something’s pants are usually covered with splashes of paint — partially out of necessity (since the splattered pigment is a hazard of his medium), but also partially out of his choice of fashion. Hendrix digs on…

Vintage Shop Sweet Salvage Opens in Downtown Phoenix

Vintage market Sweet Salvage opened its doors last Thursday  at 4809 North 7th Avenue. But don’t drop by just any old day. Sweet Salvage is a vintage “occasion sale,” meaning it’s only open on the third Thursday of every month through the following Sunday (for a total of four days each month)…

Goods from Grand Avenue

  Hours may be limited, but some local grand dames are keeping busy this summer, making and selling wares out of Grand Avenue studios and shops — thanks in large part to the wonders of etsy.com. See what Beatrice Moore of Kooky Krafts, Kate Benjamin of Moderncat Studio and the…

Babs O’Matic’s Attention-Grabbing Outfits

All the world’s a stage for local dancer/performance artist Babs O’Matic. The 36-year-old typically sports plenty of glittery, flashy and eye-catching outfits both onstage (when performing Strange Family Circus or belly dancing at events like the annual Rites of Spring Ball at the Alwun House) and off. Most nights you can…

Street Fighter II Tournament at Cade Gallery: Portraits of Fighters

Downtown Phoenix’s Cade Gallery followed up last month’s Mortal Kombat II tournament with a new challenge in the form of the ultimate fighter of the 16-bit era; Street Fighter II. Ten contestants fought to the K.O. for the title of Street Fighter II champion. Every fight counted in the tournament’s…

The Unauthorized Guide to ASU Downtown

​The ability to navigate the back alleys of Mill Avenue is as much engrained in an ASU student as an ID number or the importance of board shorts and flip flops.  The university’s Tempe campus has been around for a while and its students have grown accustomed to the square…

SPLASH Pool Party: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Splash, the self-proclaimed “coolest weekly pool party” in Downtown Phoenix, dove into the rather cozy pool at The Lexington Hotel on Saturday night. The splish splashin’ soiree included performances by Ladylike, Strange Young Things and Sun Ghost. The event also included some quintessentially correct fashion choices and other, more questionable, ones.The Good’s above,…

Phoenix Fashion Week Moves to Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale

The organizers of Phoenix  Fashion Week announced yesterday that they’ll be taking their runway to a different corner of Scottsdale for 2011’s weekend of local fashion.According to Brian Hill, Phoenix Fashion Week’s executive director, the event will take place at the Talking Stick Resort on the Salt River Pima Indian Community, because it’s…

Janet de Berge Lange’s Creative Climate

Janet de Berge Lange works in a studio of collections.  In her sprawling studio, hidden behind a small,1904 house in the Van Buren neighborhood, visitors can find almost anything from dried birds to tin cans that have all inspired her artwork. Lange bought the property in 2000, and she and her…

The antigirl Handbook

Looks like antigirl’s finally spilling a few of her own crafty secrets. The local street artist and graphic designer insists that she’s “never not working” — and after seeing her countless murals, wheat pastes, paintings, and collages, we believe her. Now, she says, it’s our turn. Enter “handbook”, a very…

Lisa Jacobs’ Handmade Funky Fashion

Lisa Jacobs doesn’t consider herself to be a fashion designer. Sure, the 30-something artist (aka Sticker Club Girl) is famous for her funky and fashionable garments, jewelry, and wearable art, but she’d rather be referred to as a “clothing maker.” To do so otherwise, she says, might be a wee…

New J Bella Loft Boutique Is Like Being a Designer’s Friend — With Benefits

Interior designers have a pretty sweet gig. Not only are they encouraged to be creative in their job, they also get to work with gorgeous, magazine-worthy furniture and accessories that most of us would need a lottery windfall to own — perhaps a sleek leather couch from from Austrian modernist Manfred Wakolbinger, or Katharina Styren’s cool leaning…