The top trends, openings, and exciting developments we’re eager to watch around the West this year
The West has seen a few waves of Mission tile fever. First, in the 1920s and '30s, and then again in the '60s and '70s. Now, the lines are a little bit cleaner, and the gold a little less garish. But one thing hasn’t changed: These tiles are a colorful antidote to vanilla spaces.
After ten years of bursting at the seams in their L.A. Atwater Village location, Potted is celebrating a decade by nearly doubling in size. “Obviously we’re known for our pots, but now we’re able to offer all of the accoutrements for outdoor living,” says co-owner Annette Gutierrez. Expect much more selection in furniture, outdoor rugs, and of course, the best selection in containers this side of the Mississippi. 3158 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles; pottedstore.com
European-style food halls have started to pop up in cities all over the West, and we're especially excited about China Live, one of the four new food halls hitting San Francisco: it's scheduled to open in June 2015. The 30,000-square-foot, multi-story space will have a tea and pastry shop, a market restaurant with five exhibition kitchens (noodle bar, dim sum and dumplings, charcuterie and barbecue, seafood and raw bar, and a rice table), a grocery store (with kitchenware), a fancy eight-table restaurant, and much more.
Next winter will bring the opening of the brand new Scottsdale Museum of the West (www.scottsdalemuseumwest.org). Part history museum, part performing arts venue, the museum will celebrate the American West in every way— from regional art exhibits to interactive tech displays and historical reenactments. It’s slated to open right before Scottsdale hosts the Super Bowl.
Mecca for succulent lovers takes place in summer at Succulent Gardens in Castroville, CA (sgplants.com). See demonstration gardens of landscaping with succulents, learn everything you need to care for a succulent garden, and most importantly, shop till you drop!
Top chefs start pouring their creativity into a beloved street food, transforming the humble taco into an object of national obsession. Look for new tacos and better tacos to pop up everywhere.
In May, 2015, Las Vegas is going to get even more raucous. That’s when the brand new, 33-acre, open-air City of Rock concert venue is set to host its inaugural concert, called Rock in Rio. MGM Resorts International has invested $20 million to build the venue, which, when finished, will have five stages and be able to accommodate up to 300,000 people. It’s being built near Circus Circus and Sahara Avenue. The Rock in Rio show (rockinrio.com/usa) will feature No Doubt and Metallica during its first “rock” weekend (May 8-9) and Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars during its second “pop” weekend (May 15-16). Tickets go on sale in January.
We in the West are quick to pick up trends from across the Pacific (remember when we spotlighted Japanese food on last year’s list?). Now that influence is extending to what the food is served on. Minimalist Japanese ceramic plates and bowls give gorgeous simplicity to dishes. And shibori, the indigo tye dying technique that’s easy to DIY, is showing up on napkins.
Dry is the new normal. Topping our hot list this year is continuing to garden with less water. Take a workshop on how to lose the lawn, convert to a drip system, and keep mulching. saveourh2o.org
San Francisco’s booming mid-Market neighborhood is known as a hotbed of tech (Twitter and Square are HQ-ed here), and this year its cultural cred will expand, too. In spring, A.C.T.’s Strand Theater will open its door for its first season in this location. The Strand, which opened in 1917, went through various incarnations before being shuttered in 2003. In 2012, the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) bought it, and in 2015 the non-profit theater company will use the stage as its new permanent home.
A wildly ambitious attempt to be as energy-efficient and low-waste as possible while still making great food, The Perennial restaurant will have an onsite aquaponic greenhouse—which saves both space and water compared to conventional farms—to raise both fish and vegetables for the menu; breads made from soil-sustaining perennial grains; and meats raised without the high carbon emissions typical of ranching. This is way beyond farm-to-table. This is save-the-planet cooking. theperennialsf.com