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I didn’t know they even made this stuff anymore!

If you’re under 30, chances are you’ve never heard of Vitalis. It’s an old-school hair product called hair tonic, and it provides a little hold, a lot of shine, and a scent that you’ll either love or hate (it’s a sort of antiseptic, aftershave-y smell). If you’re cosplaying as Archer or Don Draper, you’ll want to get some of this in your hair.

As for Aqua Velva, I think of it more as something that desperate winos drink rather than aftershave.

Recommended reading:

• The Dapper Society’s article on Vitalis
• The Art of Manliness on old-school men’s hair care products, including Vitalis
• Birchbox on Vitalis
• Geeky Gentleman on Vitalis
• Video review of Vitalis
• An article on Aqua Velva’s “reformulation”

 

On Monday, July 24th, I will assume my new role as Lead Product Manager at Tampa-based software development company Sourcetoad.

Here’s what Sourcetoad does:

Here’s who Sourcetoad are (minus me, naturally), You can learn all about them on our Team page:

Here’s a local TV news story featuring Sourcetoad:

Here’s another local news story profiling Sourcetoad: Talent, innovation, smarts, tenacity drive growth of tech company in Tampa.

I’ll be providing Sourcetoad with technical, strategic, and customer management leadership as we enter a growth phase. We’re currently in the process of expanding the business, the customer base, and the office — and yes, our headcount too — as we move into some interesting and promising markets. My job will be to shepherd all our products (which I’ll talk about a little later) through their development lifecycle, from the moment when we first sit down with the customer and find out what they need, all the way to the maintenance and upkeep of happy customers’ working software.

The sample size is small, but our Glassdoor rating’s quite good!

The desk at the home office.

In the meantime, I’ll have a little over a week to finish some freelance projects for friends and associates at the home office before I report for my first day at the office. It’s a short drive — in fact, a bikeable distance — from home, and it’s in a pretty nice spot, too! Here’s a view from Sourcetoad’s front door:

I’m quite pleased with the way things have worked out!

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

Wynwood Walls

Photo by Luis Gomez. Click to see the source.

After dinner with our friends Bob and JR at KYU (see the previous post in this series), we followed their recommendation and walked around the corner to get a look at the Wynwood Walls, a gorgeous collection of murals created by graffiti and street artists.

Here’s what the official site has to say about the Wynwood Walls:

The Wynwood Walls was conceived by the renowned community revitalizer and placemaker, the late Tony Goldman in 2009. He was looking for something big to transform the warehouse district of Wynwood, and he arrived at a simple idea: “Wynwood’s large stock of warehouse buildings, all with no windows, would be my giant canvases to bring to them the greatest street art ever seen in one place.” Starting with the 25th–26th Street complex of six separate buildings, his goal was to create a center where people could gravitate to and explore, and to develop the area’s pedestrian potential.

The Wynwood Walls became a major art statement with Tony’s commitment to graffiti and street art, a genre that he believed was under appreciated and not respected historically. He wanted to give the movement more attention and more respect: “By presenting it in a way that has not been done before, I was able to expose the public to something they had only seen peripherally.” In 2010, building on the momentum of the year before, Goldman Properties added 10 more artists to their roster of Walls. They opened the Wynwood Doors, Tony Goldman’s nod to traditional portrait galleries and expanded the mural program outside the Walls.

The Wynwood Walls has brought the world’s greatest artists working in the graffiti and street art genre to Miami. Jeffrey Deitch co-curated the first successful year of the project in 2009, collaborating with Tony before his appointment as museum director of MOCA Los Angeles. “We have strived for a diverse representation of both American and international artists that encompasses everything from the old school graffiti artists to the newest work being created around the world. The project has truly evolved into what my friend Jeffrey Deitch calls a Museum of the Streets,” Tony had summarized.

This mural commemorates Tony and his work:

Photo from Midtown Miami Magazine. Click to see the source.

We wandered through the murals, taking in the art, as well as a lot of photos…

There are also a couple of indoor galleries, which we checked out:

Further reading:

• Wynwood Walls’ official site
• Wynwood Walls’ Facebook page
• Yelp’s Wynwood Walls page
• Tony Goldman’s obituary in the New York Times. Not only did he help revive Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood in the 2000s; he also renewed New York’s SoHo in the 1970s and Miami’s South Beach in the 1980s.
• Video: Art Miami — Wynwood Walls
• Video: A Day at Wynwood Walls

Whiskey

After taking in the art, we made our way back to South Beach and headed straight for Mac’s Club Deuce, Miami’s oldest bar. Mac Klein, who was born in 1914, had owned the bar since 1964, and was running it even at the age of 101 (alas, he passed away last year). After seeing him and his bar featured in the Miami episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, we had to stop by for a drink.

What did I have, you ask? A basic boilermaker:

We took in the vibe, which was provided by a mixed crowd: a couple of people who were just getting off their shifts, some older locals nursing their cocktails, a handful of twentysomethings shooting pool and shotgunning Mich Ultras, and a few sports fans watching the Manny Pacquiao biography on TV before his July 2 match in Australia against Jeff Horn. Of course I watched my kababayan’s bio.

I’m imagining a conversation between two developers going something like this:

Developer 1: Ahhh, South Beach. What a treasure trove of art deco architecture!

Developer 2: Mmm-hmm. Y’know, we could do something really great with one of these buildings. Fix it up, bring it back to its jazz era grandeur, put our mark on South Beach and make something really…special!

Developer 1: Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Developers 1 and 2 in unison: Señor Frog’s!

We skipped Señor Frog’s and opted for Kill Your Idol instead. Here’s the view of the bar from their interior balcony…

…and I had to compliment the DJ on his excellent T-shirt, which references this scene from Snatch:

Further reading:

• Mac’s Club Deuce official site
• Video: Mac’s Club Deuce
• Miami New Times’ oral history of Mac’s Club Deuce
• Miami Herald: Mac’s Club Deuce owner Mac Klein dies at 101
• Miami New Times’ piece on Kill Your Idol
• Yelp’s page for Kill Your Idol

Previous articles in this series

• Scenes from our vacation, part 1: Going to Miami
• Scenes from our vacation, part 2: Skunk apes, swamp photos, South Beach, and supper

Skunk apes

From lunch at Joanie’s Blue Crab Café (seen in the last post in this series), we continued down the Tamiami Trail to our next stop: Skunk Ape Research Headquarters.

Those of you not from Florida may be asking: “What’s a Skunk Ape”?

Simply put, it’s Florida’s answer to the creature of popular legend known in other places as Bigfoot, the Yeti, or Sasquatch. It’s described as a large ape-like creature with glowing eyes and a strong, unpleasant, skunk-like stink. Skeptics have said that it’s probably a misidentified creature, possibly a black bear or an escaped orangutan.

But not Dave Shealy, who’s behind Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. He says that when he was ten years old, he had his first of three confirmed sightings of the creature, and for the past 30 years, he’s been researching these mysterious creatures.

Depending on your point of view, Skunk Ape Research Headquarters is either an amusing sideshow tucked into the Everglades or an overlooked center of serious research. If you’re having trouble deciding between the two, ask yourself this question: how many places of serious research have a gift shop as their lobby?

The place also has a reptile and exotic bird exhibit, but we simply opted to stick to the gift shop, where I made this purchase:

I thought I might need it for a second line of work when this “computers” fad blows over.

More on Skunk Ape Research Headquarters:

• Skunk Ape Research Headquarters’ official site
• Atlas Obscura’s writeup of Skunk Ape Research Headquarters
• Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s video interview with Dave Shealy on the skunk ape
• Sasquatch Chronicles’ short documentary on the skunk ape
• Discovery Channel Canada’s Daily Planet on the skunk ape

Swamp photos

Another unexpected gem in the swamp is the gallery of photographer Clyde Butcher, who’s famous for his large-format black-and-white photos of the Florida landscape. If you’re ever going down the Tamami Trail, make sure to stop by the gallery and get a look at his gorgeous, giant photos that so wonderfully capture the beauty in this state.

We talked with the people at the gallery and learned that Butcher recently suffered a stroke. The told us that he’s resting, recuperating, and raring to get back to what he loves and does best as soon as possible.

This is a gallery in a swamp in Florida, so they’re entitled to a little swap humor in their gift shop. Perhaps I should’ve bought this T-shirt:

Further reading:

• Clyde Butcher’s Wikipedia entry
• Fine Art America’s selection of Clyde Butcher prints
• How to Do Florida’s “How to Do a Swamp Walk with Photographer Clyde Butcher” video
• Miami Herald: Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher in rehab after stroke
• Naples News: Photographer Clyde Butcher, recovering from stroke, set to head home

South Beach

The Tamiami trail evaporated into Miami’s suburbs, and soon after that, we were on the bridge to Miami Beach, where we arrived at our hotel, the Cavalier:

The Cavalier is one of the art deco buildings on Miami’s South Beach, and it’s gorgeous not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Here’s its lobby…

…and here are a couple of shots of our room:

The Cavalier doesn’t have its own parking, so we had to put the car in a lot a couple of blocks away, which gave us a chance to quickly explore the neighborhood…

…but we couldn’t do it for long, because we had a dinner appointment.

Find out more:

• The Cavalier’s official site
• A video tour of the Cavalier
• TripAdvisor’s page on the Cavalier
• Expedia’s page on the Cavalier

Supper

We caught up with our local friends Bob and JR for dinner at the “wood fired, Asian inspired” restaurant KYU in Miami’s arts/hipster district, Wynwood.
KYU is one of the hottest restaurants in Miami; Miami New Times has said that it’s quite tricky to get a reservation between 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at the place, no matter what day it is. Luckily for us, Bob and JR are pretty well-connected, and landed a table for the four of us at 7:15 on a Saturday night.

KYU gets its name from both the English word barbecue and its Japanese equivalent, yakuniku (it literally means “meat on the grill”). They have a lot of great food here — we ordered plenty and shared it family-style — but what I was interested in was the Thai fried rice. Here’s Miami New Times’ description:

A signature dish at Kyu is Thai fried rice, which pairs well with any of the barbecued meats (duck, brisket, baby-back ribs, and short ribs). Lewis didn’t want to fry the rice in a wok, so he took a cue from the Korean favorite bibimbap and decided to prepare it in a stone pot — then have all the ingredients mixed tableside. The result is crispy and crunchy rice with a lovely element of creaminess. Guests can enhance the dish with king crab or pork sausage, though the latter was devoid of any interesting flavor.

We had the king crab version, and it was amazing.

If you want to know how good the food at KYU is, take a look at these happy diners’ faces:

Bob, Anitra, JR, and me.

Bob, Anitra, me, JR.

Recommended reading:

• KYU’s official site
• Miami New Times: Wynwood’s KYU delivers fresh Asian Chow
• The Daily Meal: KYU: A Miami Hotspot That’s Living Up to the Hype
• CBS Miami’s video: Taste Of The Town: Asian Barbecue With A Twist At KYU
• Yelp’s KYU page
• TripAdvisor’s KYU page

Previous articles in this series

• Scenes from our vacation, part 1: Going to Miami

If you need fourteen minutes of funny/poignant time today — or if you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to grow up with brown skin in America (and I can vouch that yes, it’s applicable in Canada too) — check out this bit from Hasan Minhaj’s stand-up routine:

For the record, my Dad was cooler than Hasan’s. Dating was fine, as were movies (he took me to see Star Wars back in 1977 when I was 10, and wouldn’t stop doing Darth Vader impressions for a month), but his expectations were as high as Hasan’s dad otherwise. And both dads were amazingly wise.

But the story about the parents who were concerned about their daughter taking a brown boy to prom? That I know well. At my prom, I barely got one foot out of the limo when my date pushed me back inside so that her parents wouldn’t get a good look at me.

Go watch the video, and if anyone sees you near the end, just tell them: “I’m not crying! You’re crying!”

If you want to know whatever became of “Bethany Reed” (real person, fake name), watch his Netflix show, Homecoming King. It is a happy ending.

Before the vacation: The Blind Tiger Café in Ybor City

A day before our vacation began, I went down to Ybor City to meet with Roberto Torres, owner of iconic Tampa businesses Blind Tiger Café, Black & Denim Clothing Company, and Cowork Ybor, for lunch. We had lunch at La Tropicana Café and talked about all sorts of things, including opportunities to collaborate.

I met Roberto at the first Tampa Company Culture Meetup and later at a Dali Museum workshop where I and a number of local creatives helped brainstorm ideas for a local business. If there’s something happening in town that involves making Tampa Bay’s urban areas better places to work, live, and play (such as the recent Millennial Impact Forum, which he MC’d), chances are that he’s involved, and I want to get involved too.

If you’re in Ybor City or Seminole Heights (Toronto friends: imagine Parkdale just before the Drake Hotel opened, but with a nearby palm tree-lined river), make sure to visit Blind Tiger Café — I recommend the nitro cold brew. If you’re in South Tampa (Toronto friends: imagine a cross of Yorkville and College West), a branch will be opening there soon.

On our way: Traipsing down the Tamami Trail

We packed up the car and started out for Miami on the morning of Saturday, July 1st. The photo above is of us filling up near Naples, where our course changed from southward to eastward.

In southern Florida, the fast way to shoot between the west and east coasts is to take that part of Interstate 75 called “Alligator Alley”, which connects Naples to Fort Lauderdale. It crosses the everglades and offers little to see except swamp, swamp, and more swamp, and is meant to simply be traveled through as quickly as possible.

Then there’s the Tamami Trail, a two-lane highway built in 1928. This two-lane highway doesn’t offer Alligator Alley’s speed, but as a designated National Scenic Byway, it makes up for it in scenery and quirky roadside stops.

Among these quirky stops is the smallest post office in the U.S., located in Ochopee:

It may also be the post office in the U.S. with the most laid-back office hours:

We had lunch at Joanie’s Blue Crab Café, a local legend, and deservedly so. This place is known for its delicious down-home cooking and extremely friendly service, both of which we experienced there:

Anitra had the blackened catfish salad, while I had the soft-shell crab sandwich:

Joanie’s Blue Crab Café offers more than a feast for the mouth, but for the eyes as well:

Don’t worry, they also have toilets indoors. In fact, the men’s room is an art gallery in and of itself, featuring a delightful gallery of nude and motorcycle photos.

If you pass through this area, don’t hesitate to stop at Joanie’s Blue Crab Café — it’s worth it!

Here are the reviews:

• Yelp (4 stars)
• TripAdvisor (4 stars)
• Facebook (4.5 stars)
• Miami New Times
• Fodor’s