hilton's tent city -a visit and limited release note

I love me some self-depreciating humor. Hilton's Tent City in Boston bill themselves as "Simply the best camping store on Friend Street". No one can argue with that statement. HTC are practically the only store on Friend Street (even Hooters couldn't hack it there...)

Damn me though if this place isn't 4 floors of duck, gore, wool and waxed cotton goodness. Stocking: you guessed it, tents, stoves, boots and backpacks to workpants and shirts -men's and women's. The 4 floors are not massive but the stuff is crammed in there like you want it to be, not sparse. For the fenceposters they carry Filson (huge collection of the bags), Barbour, Carhartt, Vasque, Merrel and Pointer. Usual suspects?? Take an already low price and take 25% off it (10% if buying online). Run, don't walk.


Jason McKenzie has been steering the buying at HTC for about 3 years (Jason's mum owns McKenzie Gear in Lincoln, NH) and was good enough to give me the nickel tour. Yes he was eating granola when I went in... this place is legit.


As well as slowly introducing the store's warehoused made in USA backstock to augment many of today's brands' modern production, they are creating some store/brand collaborations; of note the recent Bailey Works for Friend St. One more nugget at the end of this post...

The Baileyworks x Friend St. bags just in.

Spotted this old poster for Eureka tents;
(the tent material used for the Baileyworks x Friend St. bags).

Perfect, basic, out of production, wooden chairs from Byer of Maine. A Japanese collector bought a few hundred when Jason found them stashed in the attic.

HTC has had a continuous account with Woolrich for over 50 years. Very very tough to get that cool WWM/Blue Label stuff... but they are actually trying.


Crazy stockroom finds; like the below White Bear snurfer?? Never seen such a thing. Deerskin brand shirts with great hangtags... ok getting out of the way and the pics can talk.








Still with me? Ok, this is the new release part. HTC are working with Pointer (criminally underrepresented generally) to produce a simple pair of shorts, like their PS1 (painter short) but in hickory stripe, minus the tool pocket and hammer loop. 10" inseam. Backstory tidbit; Pointer have stepped in generally as Carhartt has cut back it's production of bib-front-nailpouch carrying dungarees... That sounds a little niche but union carpenters buy these by the handful. Ironically Pointer's low price point makes them sort of a tough sell but Jason and HTC are using this collab to champion the brand and their interest in union made and made in USA garments generally.



Love the material of the painters pants, you can practically see the stems and cotton seeds in there. A fresh box of them has a serious raw smell I guess.

Ok, big post. Huge. Thanks to Jason for having me over. The Pointer x Friend St. shorts should be available in a few weeks; same bat channel. Or follow his twitter feed now (@scriboscribere) and be first in line when he unearths that box of Centennial Carhartt...

the outsiders -mikey burton

From Mikey Burton. Again. No, it doesn't get old...

roll with the gods

Nick at ATimeToGet posted about this odd/cool skateboarding movie Macho Taildrop forever ago and I figured since it had been at the Toronto Film Festival and was produced by FuelTV it would soon be all over the place and old news... but the filmmakers seem to be doing it 1993/94 style and taking it around filmhouses themselves, awesome. Have not seen had a chance to catch it myself yet, but abstraction and suspension of belief seem key. Comments like "if you enjoy watching The Prisoner" or "if a skate movie done by Terry Gilliam" are rife. Or just stick with "trippy". MTD recently had it's UK premiere (June 3rd) check their facespace for more dates.


The re-blog-worthy part is that photog Benji Wagner tipped me off to MTD's co-directors' previous effort, Harvey Spannos (2006)... I had not heard of it, and maybe if you aren't a huge film festival/skateboarder/Canadian you may have missed it too... a mellower story (though still some bite) of a skateboarder's son looking for direction.

bombs bursting in air

...In 1804 (English inventer William Congreve) realized that rockets exert no reactive force -- none of the "kick" of a cannon. That especially suited them to use at sea.

After failed tests against French shore installations, Congreve managed to burn most of the city of Copenhagen -- a hapless bystander in the Napoleonic Wars. From then on, English rockets played an important part in war against the French.

But, in the War of 1812, England turned the full fury of Congreve's rockets on us -- from Bangor, Maine, all the way to New Orleans. It was Congreve's rockets that burned Washington in 1814...

The English also tried to take Baltimore, but they failed when their rockets couldn't take out Fort McHenry, guarding the city.
-via John H. Lienhard -University of Houston

The lyric bombs bursting in air comes from Defence of Fort McHenry, a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Chesapeake Bay by the British Royal Navy during the War of 1812 (1812-1815).

Key had come to Baltimore to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes, a civilian prisoner of war, and witnessed the bombardment from a nearby truce ship. From 7 am. of September 13, 1814 more than 1,800 bombs, cannonballs, and the new Congreve rockets had lit the sky. Key had observed that the fort’s smaller 'storm flag' continued to fly, but once the shell and Congreve rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. By then, the storm flag had been lowered and a larger flag had been raised. (An oversized American flag, 40’x30’ had been sewn in anticipation of the British attack on the fort.)

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort, infact so moved as to write a poem using the back of a letter he had in his pocket. He later completed the poem and entitled it Defence of Fort McHenry. This would be renamed The Star-Spangled Banner.

why $1.40?

Breaking news circa 1992; Coleman introduced a line of hard-sided lunch coolers including a 3-quart lunch cooler called LunchPak. Included is an interior coin slot that holds $1.40 in coins... It holds a 12oz can, your sandwich if you smash it in half and room for not much else. The range didn't last. I don't get the choice of $1.40... I could see change of a dollar so in theory you could go to work with bills in your pocket then never have to carry the change as .95c worth of change could be carried home in the slots? $1.40 bought more in 1992 I guess.

Sidenote: straw poll shows workplace fridges are much fuller in the last year than perhaps in years past. More brown-baggers etc. There must be an amusing article out there touching on this... New Yorker?? Anyhow, like how the profile recalls the standard thermos, nice touch.

red cross centennial first aid kit

2010 marks the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of the American Red Cross First Aid Program, and to celebrate, this retro-inspired first aid kit will be available for a limited time. $44.

Solid metal khaki-green case with essential first aid items.
Compartmentalized, like the 1950's versions.
Wall-mountable, with metal handle.
Historical timeline of Red Cross First Aid included.
Full contents here. Actually the Red Cross towel is sort of cool too...



If you just need something, not the whole ball of wax, they have a smaller Field Services canvas kit for $10.

compatriot snowboards

Just found these guys, Compatriot Snowboards, and no prizes for guessing the graphic design brain behind the above... Love how the small companies have fun with all the silly tech... Sure Burton does too (e.g. SNAP, SNot Absorbtion Patch etc...) but Compatriot are taking it to another level. Cowboy core? Knuckle sandwich? Crack up. What sealed the deal was the choice of team glove. Talking my language. Further reading.

Compatriot Snowboards was originally founded in 2002. Noteworthy brand objectives include the Giving Back program, a charitable program where Compatriot Snowboards donates a small portion of annual earnings to organizations that deal with crucial environmental, social, and cultural issues. After a brief pause in operations, the company recommenced in 2009 under new private ownership. With a continued focus on handcrafting performance-based freeride/big-mountain freestyle snowboards in the United States, Compatriot remains an independent brand dedicated to the core snowboarder and snowboard retailer. -via Snowboard-Mag

fridays are tie days -david ogilvy

picnic squares done right

I have a long sleeved picnic gingham shirt that I rely on. May be an old Arrow, or some sort of Sears cruisewear, the tag fell off a few years ago. It is tissue thin. Not afraid of those big squares, me.

This shirt here by Penfield (Saxton) nails it as a short sleeve though. Great gingham and throws in a little bone with the workshirt-ish buttoned-up pocket. Found it via a UK stockist but you can buy it direct from Penfield.


Dont agree w/ the sentiment in the song but nice shirt below. Thx Matt.

cheating

I thought I never would but I've been doing it... It has been going on for a while. Mrs 10e isn't mad though... she usually pays. Some guys are breast men, I prefer legs and thighs. Sure it can be hard to sneak out when the kids are home but it only takes 10 minutes tops... she says I'm usually finished in 5. [ok enough... -ed.]


Those cooked rotisserie chickens are just so damn convenient... You can get a nice organicy bird for $10, handfed by moonlight, all that sort of thing. Then you fancy them up on the grill outside; crisp the skin and bingo. Robert is your mother's brother.

Shake a handful of dry herbs over the coals, mmmm. Those are Johnnie Foodmaster's herbs... btw is that a great name or what.


Do take out the wishbone. Kids get a kick out of those. Is that where lucky break comes from?? Course, a few minutes outside also affords the inalienable right of a swift one as well.

If you dump the coagulated chicken fat (yum) over the pieces while on the grill they stay plenty moist, but a little sauce never hurt either. Crushed tomatoes, soy sauce, vinegar, maple syrup, hot sauce, maybe chili/sesame oil; in descending order. Takes an additional 60 seconds.

compliments cost nothing

The Stranger: I like your style, Dude.
The Dude: Well I dig your style too man... you got the whole cowboy thing going.

teddie peanut butter

Maybe you can buy catering packs of other peanut butters, but this 3 pound tub from local purveyor Teddie Peanut Butter is a slamdunk for the family types. Can get this larger size at Johnny Foodmaster and a select few places -you can get all the other Teddie brands (flaxseed, organic etc) all over New England.

photo via Tyler @ WordEdgeWise
photos via Pierre on flickr

photo via RoadsideArchitecture.com
(daywrecker warning, this site, blog, and Flickr account document Americana "buildings, signs, statues and more".)
The factory building is 2 towns over in Everett, MA; but they don't do tours... kills me. Sesame Street got in there back in the day though.

i want that ice chest

parenting -cotton caboodle

Have a few things from Cotton Caboodle for the boys and can't recommend enough. V soft and the short sleeves are thinner than beefy-T type shirts so great in summer. Can't speak for the girls stuff (looks brighter generally) but bunch of the clothes have a muted nautical grunge (i'm saying this not the maker) vibe that appeals. Tough to find good shots online -just one to watch for parents...

Cotton Caboodle was born [25 years ago] with the idea of offering a tantalizing palette of colors in a wide array of easy-to-layer fashion staples, to be mixed and matched in endless combinations.

Based in Seattle, our all women staff brings enthusiasm and inspiration to Cotton Caboodle, with an ongoing commitment to producing a high quality product, made in the USA. ... Such sturdy little designs are durable and lasting, and hold up their original luster wash after wash. -via CottonCaboodle