Get : venue:Grand

Tiki Party | November 14

Scott Kearnan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Okay, bleeding hearts: if you want to spend your time trying to save the bald eagles, cheetahs, or manatees from imminent extinction, we applaud you. But some of us are a little more concerned about our beloved cocktails, and luckily the ladies in the Boston chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) are watching out for us on that front. They'll host a '50s-style Tiki Party tonight at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts (85 West Newton Street, Boston, 617.927.1737) as a fundraiser for On the Rise, a Cambridge non-profit for women in crisis. The vintage libations, light fare, era-apropos live music, and other entertainments - including cocktail demos and burlesque performances - will get underway at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance, $45 at the door, or $50 with inclusion of the VIP After Party; get yours at Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429) or grandthestore.com.

Light-bulb lamp or Field Notes?

John Ross — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:51:00 GMT

Get this...

Mid-winter blahs make innovative ideas hard to come by. If the proverbial light bulb floating above your head is in dire need of a wattage boost, this light-bulb lamp ($120) might be the mothership you’ve been waiting for. Its fusion of style-and-substance energy casts a clever glow on functional design. Offered by London-based design collective, Suck UK, and available at Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429), this oversized wooden bulb is the brainchild of acclaimed designer Barend Hemmes, the creative mind behind numerous furniture and interior-arts projects, and a ridiculously sexy, custom motorcycle for Jaguar. It’s made of laser-cut strips of reclaimed plywood meticulously pieced together to reate a curvaceous grid and eerily web-like shadows, depending on where you place it. Huge (by lamp standards, anyway), but surprisingly lightweight, this bulb can be suspended from the ceiling as a pendant, hung from a wall hook, or casually propped in a corner. Try simply resting it on a flat, elevated surface where it will work double duty as table lamp and décor — an objet d’art to inspire conversation and contemplation. How’s that for a bright idea?

...or that

Once those creative juices are flowing, jettison that iPhone notes tool and go retro by recording your precious nuggets on good oldfashioned parchment. Field Notes are pocketsized, slim volumes, with 48 pages of grid-patterned paper waiting to be scribbled on with dreams and doodles. These little books, with Futura typeface and a circa 1920s format, look like they were unearthed in grandpa’s workshop, and they’ve garnered a dedicated following. Feeling especially inspired? Field Notes are sold in handy packs of three. Pick up a set ($10) at Grand.

What's in store? A new guide helps indie shoppers find retail Xanadu

Liza Weisstuch — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:00:00 GMT

40 South

We’re always on the hunt for that which seems unfindable — or just plain unlikely: brooches, hats, and handbags from the 1940s, drink trays from the 1950s, sunglasses from the ’60s, thigh-high white boots from the ’70s, and anything fluorescent from the 1980s. We trawl the cluttered Internet aplenty, but sometimes we want to touch and try, too. The question is, where do we go?

Answer: lots of places. The city is well-colonized with little retail joints that specialize in all things quirky, curious, retro, or repurposed. You just have to look a little harder to find them. Until now. As you already know, small business owners are defined by their get-up-and-go energy, uncompromising creativity, and obsessions bordering on the clinical (in a good way). Turns out that collectively they comprise a network that’s something of a looser version of the Skull & Bones society, a casual confederation of members who talk one another up and help one another out. And now this crew appears to have a skipper. Brooks Morris, who owns Buckaroo’s Mercantile (5 Brookline Street, Cambridge, 617.492.4792), a mecca of retro curios, has published The Eclectic Shopper’s Guide, a nifty pamphlet with a lowkey, attitude-free, DIY look to help the intrepid consumer navigate the side streets and retail carnivals of Boston and beyond. Best part? It’s free! Find it at your local idiosyncratic outpost.

We sat down and talked with Morris about Boston’s underground, overthetop retail culture, and thanked him for reminding us that amid the clamor of corporations, it’s the small businesses that can make the biggest impressions.

Salmagundi

Q: Small businesses can be like a one-man variety show. You’re so busy dashing about to antique fairs and running your own business. What made you decide to take on this project?
A: I actually did one about eight years ago and want to do it again for the same reasons now. When I first moved to Boston, I was like, “Where do I go?” And people told me really stupid places, all these places I had no interest in going to. Twelve years ago, I was visiting a friend in Seattle and someone had done something similar. With that guide, I was able to just walk around to 12 different stores in a day. When I run into folks who own Magpie in Davis Square, we always talk about how we all have similar issues with people finding us. I send people there all the time and vice-versa. We’re all in the same situation. We’re trying to stay afloat and draw new customers. Sure, all the funky little stores get the funky little people, but there are a lot of people who don’t go out of their neighborhood very much, and that’s one reason. If you have something in front of you on paper as opposed to someone saying, “Go here,” that’s more of an incentive — or even just a reminder — to go there.

Q: The surest way to get someone somewhere is to personally invite them. You had each business owner write up his or her own store. Was that a way to make it more of a personal invitation?
A: I was interested to see what each store owner had to say about their place.

Grand

Q: You feature near-institutions, like Cheapo Records in Central Square and the Garment District, and newer stores, like Salmagundi and 40 South Street in Jamaica Plain and Grand in Union Square. What’s the criteria for the stores you’ve included?
A: There’s really only loose guidelines that I’m looking for: stores that are striving to be different in whatever way that may be. I hate having to define things. Stores that create or fill a niche, like Cheapo Records, have been around forever, one of the last places where you can go and get that old recordstore experience. For better or for worse, you’re subjected to the owner’s personality.

Hot home goods: Anti-Bed-Bath-and-Beyond home stores

webteam — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:09:00 GMT

We like to be different. Chain stores and franchises usually don’t cut it for us (unless we’re shopping for toilet paper and frozen pizza in bulk). So it’s really no surprise that we’ve been forgoing IKEA and Crate & Barrel for a more personalized and unique shopping experience. Don’t get us wrong: we love an occasional “some assembly required” piece of furniture. But stores like Jill Goldberg’s Hudson (312 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, 617.292.0900), which stocks furniture and accessories from Shabby Chic and Oly, as well as Jonathan Adler wallpaper, offer interesting alternatives to the cookie-cutter couches available at big-box stores. Other places to shop if you want to make your house (or tiny studio, or third-floor walk-up) a home include Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429) and Fort Point newcomer Front Home Store (25 Channel Center Street, Boston, 617.670.3782).

How sweet it is

webteam — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:01:00 GMT

Local publicist Dana Zemack is obsessed with chocolate, and we’re reaping the benefits. Zemack, who leads tastings and workshops, and blogs about her chocolate passion at www.thetastyshow.com, has created The Tasty Show Chocolate Tasting Kit for Two ($39), available at Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429) and on her Web site. Each super-cute kit contains a selection of mini gourmet chocolate bars — two each of 12 different types — plus a tasting board, rating cards, and notes on tasting and what to look for in each sample. These are no kiddie-birthday-party treats, either: paired with adult beverages (Zemack suggests a fullbodied red wine or dark beer), the tasting makes for an excellent stay-at-home date night or gossipy evening with friends.

Ain't life Grand: It is at a unique gifts and hardwares shop in Somerville

Heather Bouzan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:33:00 GMT

NESTLED ON an unassuming block in Union Square, Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429) is the kind of shop that tempts us to abandon practically everything we own in favor of its achingly cool design aesthetic. Many of the wares here are either exclusive to the store or tough to find in the area, and the prices are reasonable. The loft-like space, opened in mid-January by Jonathan O’Toole, Wendy Friedman, and Adam Larson, stocks housewares, gifts, apparel, and, in a few weeks, furniture — and O’Toole tells us that they’re open to trying just about anything.

A) Made of heavy-duty paperboard that’s both reusable and recyclable, Rock Scissor Paper’s coasters ($8) add charm to — and prevent watery rings on — any blah coffee table.

B) Re-Surface’s A-Light ($75), its design inspired by dilapidated building façades in New York, possesses both a gritty, urban quality and an unconventional loveliness. Grand also stocks similarly styled pillar candles by the same brand.

C) After an exhaustive search for a stylish-yet-affordable pillow, O’Toole and Co. settled on these cotton twill Thomas Paul pillows ($40) for their vivid, high-impact prints.

D) We picture the perfect hostess offering refreshments from these colorful, pressed-wood Isak trays ($40), which lend style to whatever’s perched atop them.

E) We can’t help but think Alice in Wonderland while admiring Roost’s Branch bone china collection ($17–$58). We love each piece’s idiosyncratic, organic form.

F) The quirky Japanese Tengu ($50) plugs into your USB port, changes expressions when you blow on him, and responds to sound; he’s an ideal companion for bored cubicle dwellers.

G) Screw welcome mats — the SUCKUK Come In/Go Away Doormat ($24) sends the perfect message.

H) One of the shop’s biggest sellers, the SUCKUK Sun Jar ($40), soaks up rays all day, then glows at night. It’s weatherproof, too, making it a perfect addition to your porch. @

[Photos by Kelly Davidson]

Ain't life Grand

Heather Bouzan — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:10:00 GMT

It's an LA lifestyle boutique, only more approachable. It's New York City exclusive, but down home and neighborhood-friendly. Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429), the new retail addition to eclectic, up-and-coming Union Square, is the brainchild of long-time friends (and retail virgins) Jonathan O'Toole, Wendy Friedman, and Adam Larson. The store features a mishmash of products - clothing, shoes, accessories, housewares, and furniture - including hard-to-find brands that rotate on a regular basis. The large space also has room for a community table that the trio will offer up for book clubs, knitting groups, and other neighborhood events - anything to keep locals social and stylish.

[Photo by Melissa Ostrow]