Coastal Mexican Gets a Contemporary Spin at Bar Tulix, and Other News

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At Bar Tulix, Coastal Mexican Gets a Contemporary Spin 

A triumvirate of New York hospitality veterans is joining forces to open the new coastal Mexican spot Bar Tulix. Chef Justin Bazdarich, who won a Michelin star at Brooklyn’s Oxomoco, and restaurateur John McDonald of Mercer Street Hospitality hatched the idea during the pandemic—a suave seafood-focused spot dedicated to the flavors of the Baja California peninsula.

Next they turned to Meyer Davis Studio, the James Beard Award-winning firm behind projects such as 1 Hotel South Beach and Samos in Mexico City. Green-and-yellow banquettes, 1950s leather bentwood chairs, and nautical–themed photos set the tone for dishes like clam sourdough toast and crab tostada with a vanilla-orange mayo and habañero salsa. The bar program is a highlight for the unexpected mix of small-batch and artisanal tequila, mezcal, and sotol.  

The Shanghai cosmetic store Haydon blends retro design themes with sci-fi accents.

Housed in Shanghai’s neoclassical Meilun building, the city’s exotic old houses inform the aesthetic of the new multi-brand Haydon store. Retro art deco touches such as mosaic tile floorings, gold metal pillars, a wooden spiral staircase, and a two-story atrium that evokes a circular space station from a sci-fi film. In a nod to Old Shanghai’s tramcars, products are displayed on movable, tall, and round-edged silver cabinets. 

Airbnb will start offering free housing for 100,000 Ukrainian refugees across Europe.

As more than one million civilians fled Ukraine in the days following the Russian invasion, Airbnb has announced plans to offer free short-term housing for 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Brian Chesky, CEO of the vacation rental company, announced the program on Twitter, and urged “people who can offer their homes in nearby countries, including Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Romania” to sign up for the program on its website. The UN’s refugee agency predicts the number of refugees—most of which are in Poland—could rise to four million by July. Airbnb launched a similar program when Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York City in 2012, and last year created the Refugee Fund—a $25 million initiative that supports refugees worldwide and last month provided 20,000 Afghan refugees with temporary housing. 

The World Monuments Fund Watch names 25 cultural sites needing preservation.

The World Monuments Fund has released the 2022 edition of the World Monuments Fund Watch, which identifies 25 global sites in urgent need of preservation. This year’s list spans the globe from an aboriginal boys training home in Kinchela, Australia, to Asante traditional buildings in Ghana’s Ashanti Region and the archaeological park of Teotihuacan, Mexico. While sites affected by climate change comprise a sizable portion of the list, two heritage sites stand out as recovering from catastrophic events: the historic city center in war-torn Benghazi, and heritage buildings in Beirut, which suffered a destructive explosion in August 2020.

“We urge the world to stand with communities and save these places of extraordinary historic significance,” says Bénédicte de Montlaur, president of the World Monuments Fund. “Heritage sites are an incredible resource for addressing larger issues facing society as well as local needs of recognition, access, participation, and economic opportunity.” 

An all-female team at Studio Stories gives Ghent’s Café ‘t Kanon a timeless makeover.

Inspired by Europe’s golden era of bars and petit cafes, the mahogany-laden Cafe ’t Kanon is a 35-year-old staple that has been reinvigorated by an all-female team. Situated near a medieval market square in Ghent, the owners turned design practice Altu and creative directors Studio Stories restored the original terrazzo floors and “guillotine” windows. New additions include Parisian chairs, 1970s-style globe lighting sconces, and a horseshoe-shaped bar inspired by the building’s curvilinear exterior. 

Amazon will permanently close its physical bookstores and focus on grocery markets.

Last week, Amazon announced plans to permanently close all 68 of its bricks-and-mortar bookstores, pop-ups, and other stores carrying toys and home goods across the United States and the United Kingdom. The e-commerce behemoth will instead focus on its grocery markets and department store concepts. The move signals an end to the company’s long-running retail experiments, which involved opening convenience stores without cashiers, branded supermarkets, and a format called “4-Star” that sells items with high customer ratings. The closures in large part reflect the march toward online shopping that Amazon was instrumental in setting off, and analysts noted that opening bricks-and-mortar bookstores was a questionable business move akin to electric car maker Tesla opening gas stations. 

Russian-owned auction house Phillips donates $7.7 million to the Ukraine Red Cross. 

Blue-chip auction house Phillips has announced a donation of $7.7 million to the Ukraine Red Cross, an amount that matches recent proceeds from a 20th-century and contemporary art auction. “The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is doing incredible work to protect people in the region, and it’s our hope that the buyer’s premium and vendor’s commission from tonight’s evening sale will help this extraordinary charity as they continue their life-saving work,” says Phillips CEO Stephen Brooks. The donation follows a week of scrutiny for the auction house, which is owned by Moscow-based luxury retail conglomerate Mercury Group. Last week, Phillips posted a statement on its Instagram condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Today’s attractive distractions:

Edelweiss, an eerily abandoned mountain village in Canada, goes up for sale. 

Scientists discover a fossil of what may be the oldest stegosaurus ever found.

Finnish photographer Juha Tanhua transforms oil spills into cosmic universes.

Klaus Dahlenkamp envisions a sleek electric supercar concept for Alfa Romeo.