GSTS Launch! Elizabeth Dimitroff & Livvy Bryant
Your editors on Monogramming, Helgi's Bar, Badly Designed Websites, Taxidermy, and much more.
Welcome to God Save The Scene!
Thanks for subscribing; you won’t regret it. Our guests will be revealing their secret recommendations twice-weekly over the next few months, so keep an eye out on Mondays and Wednesdays.
In the meantime, feel free to subscribe to our Spotify mixtape, a playlist comprised of the tunes our contributors have been listening to while they write their features. Watch this space for an irl (zine-based) version of GSTS coming this summer. To kick it all off, today we’re sharing some of our personal recs.
Love,
The GSTS girls x
The God Save The Scene co-founder, artist and furniture designer has just returned from NYC after 8 years. She's here to give you her recommendations:
☞ POETRY NIGHT AT REFERENCE.POINT: Every other Tuesday this library/living room/bar/bookshop hosts a poetry night. The ambiance and intimacy of a dinner party recreated in a brutalist building in Holborn. Their fantasy book/magazine collection is also the backdrop to chess nights, film screenings, parties, and exhibitions. It’s eerily perfect. reference-point.uk
☞ HELGIS: Mecca for all of East London’s leather-dipped bikers. My friend had her birthday drinks here a few weeks back and it did not disappoint.Â
The Interior: All black everything (including black lights), melted wax candles, skulls
Music: Metal/Rock (strictly vinyl)
The Scene: Neck tats, mullets, leather, mean (in the best way) facebook/helgisbar
☞ INDEPENDENT BOOK/MAGAZINE SHOPS: I’m in the process of getting to know London as an adult. I have dedicated one day each weekend to an independent bookshop venture. They are always located in the coolest neighbourhoods and their customers are typically locals. I dig around for any London-based zines they stock – a great way to unearth some more hidden gems around town, as opposed to the obvious yelp search.
Favourite Shop: Donlon Books donlondbooks.com
Favourite Magazine: The Fence the-fence.com
☞ FRECK PEN: My desert island beauty product. I fell in love with this freckle making tool after learning about the meaning behind beauty marks during the French Revolution. I'm personally loyal to subtle 'flirtatious' and 'passionate' beauty marks. It spices up my makeup routine and camouflages bad skin days. freckbeauty.com
☞ GET STUFFED: Is your pet nearing the end? Fear not, ‘GET STUFFED’ in Islington can make them a life-long companion. The ‘miscellaneous’ gallery on their website is that of a fever dream – click through to browse cat paw keychains and HUMAN HANDS. getstuffed.co.uk
♪ LISTENING TO: Slim’s Return - Madlib (through my WIRED headphones)
☠︎ HATES: Men who call their parents "Mummy" and "Daddy", people who try to sing genuinely well at Karaoke, getting caught Shazaming a well known song.
The God Save The Scene co-founder, ex-copywriter and full-time sculptor shares her recs:
☞ MONOGRAMMING: An eternally chic and luxurious practice, not to mention the best way to elevate a gift. Gifts should be useful but luxurious, and as any Douglas Adams fan will tell you, a towel is the ‘most massively useful thing’ in the universe. I get my monogrammed towels (and more) from an ancient website called amysgifts.co.uk. Prices are low, shipping is fast and the hot pink pool sheet with orange cursive text is the apex of design.
☞ BADLY DESIGNED WEBSITES: Speaking of Amy's Gifts, there are several other so-bad-it’s-good websites I love to frequent:
Archive Today: The 123movies of journalism. When the constant begging from the Guardian donation team gets on your last nerve and only stunning contempt from a Times columnist will do, head to archive.today to access paywalled articles for free (try opening in Safari if Chrome refuses). archive.ph
Blind Items Rehash: Another free and incredible resource. Some mystery person/collective(?) with an encyclopaedic knowledge of current affairs spends an inordinate amount of time combing through blind items of celebrity gossip, figures out the person/people/story in question and actually bothers to link ‘the solution or substantial clue’. The website is organised chronologically for your ease of reference. agcwebpages.com
Original Poster: Save for constant eBay trawling, specific vintage posters are difficult to track down. Original Poster is a FAMILY BUSINESS run by a father and son team who ‘travel the country (and beyond) in the search for film posters’. Cinemas, retired projectionists and collectors have all sold their collections to the duo! originalposter.co.uk
☞ TRISHA'S: This Soho bar is no secret, just a spot I love. Last time I was there, the manager spontaneously handed me a membership card, though I don’t think that it actually entitles me to anything.Â
☞ THE ISABELLA PLANTATION: I can't believe that this hidden garden is in London; it feels otherworldly. Go in late April/early May, when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom around the pools. royalparks.org.uk
☞ FOLLOWING BOOMERS: The only people capable of using social media are 45+. Life through the lens of a media elder is all raw photography and batshit captions. My favourites are: @victoriamather @kevin.mccloud1 @jeremyclarkson @alexandratolstoy @keithmcnallynyc  @nigellalawson @marthastewart48
☞ UNUSUAL SUBSTITUTIONS: I can’t afford Art, but I can afford tea towels. Gallery shop tea towels are usually around a tenner (cheaper than posters!), and you can get some of the world’s best artworks immortalised in a poly-cotton blend. The fabric also brings a nice warmth to your space. Frame them or just let 'em hang loose like a sort of tapestry. See also: rugs as paintings, room dividers as headboards, etc.
♪ LISTENING TO: The Umlauts – Boiler Suits & Combat Boots
☠︎ HATES: Manipulative buskers, Clapham, the Dart Charge.
Over the next few weeks, look out for recs from: David Murphy, Kimberley Cookey-Gam, Felix Antony Brown and Kathleen Sorbara, to name a few!
Love this, I’m always looking out for new things to see in London. I’ve now found two great guides, god save the scene, well done!!