Far-Flung Local Gems | The New Yorker

Within the spirit of summer season journey, we’ve requested a few of our writers dwelling outdoors New York Metropolis to share a number of of their favourite native spots. Learn Lauren Collins on an irresistible Parisian toy retailer; Hannah Goldfield on her seek for a prized fruit in Hollywood; Rebecca Mead on a beloved church grounds in London; Inkoo Kang on a unusual hyper-local fragrance museum in Berkeley; and Ian Crouch on a mid-Maine nature sanctuary, with pie.—Shauna LyonLocal GemsLauren Collins, in ParisIllustrations by Jackson GibbsToy shops—do these even exist anymore? I can vouch for at the least one: Le Bruit du Papier, a small however mighty wonderland within the Ninth Arrondissement, strategically positioned straight throughout the road from the rec heart the place the children in my neighborhood go to do judo or discover ways to play the violin. That is primarily the identical idea as placing a bar throughout from a golf course. No little one can stroll previous the gleaming, apple-red storefront with out urgent a nostril to the glass and begging to be allowed to go in. What I like about Le Bruit du Papier is what I hate about Le Bruit du Papier. Its proprietor, Myriam Arthaud, is aware of precisely what her junior prospects need. They arrive in packs, bearing old-school pocket cash. (Cash! At Le Bruit du Papier, these are nonetheless going robust, too.) They spree on iced-tea-flavored “soda spray,” gelatinous sweet eyeballs, capybara-shaped smooshies, One Piece branded Métro-card holders, and—most essential—all issues Legami, a Milanese maker of animal-topped pens, cutesy erasers, and different lovable crap that’s all the fashion with tiny Parisian customers. This being a French toy retailer, Arthaud does supply the occasional sop to adults. “There can be tender drinks for the youth and the extra sober,” an invite from the store learn, inviting patrons to return pattern the brand new Beaujolais one latest night. Dream on, Amazon.Inkoo Kang, in BerkeleyThe perfumer Mandy Aftel’s embrace of pure components makes her an anomaly within the perfume business, which depends overwhelmingly on artificial concoctions for its wares. Aftel, who has authored half a dozen books on the artwork, historical past, and makes use of of scent, shares her ardour for olfactory risk by way of the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents, the one museum in America devoted to fragrance. Working out of the storage and again yard of her Berkeley residence (a block over from Chez Panisse), it’s a cozy, family-run affair; on a latest go to, between chats with Aftel herself, I used to be greeted by her husband and regaled with tales by her son. The museum’s assortment contains centuries-old books and a bottle of ambergris (a substance produced within the digestive system of sperm whales), in addition to gildings on fragrance’s lengthy historical past. There are dozens of jars crammed with essences that guests are inspired to smell for themselves; my favorites included civet, cassia, and oud. One smelling station presents the traditional and trendy extracts of the identical plant for comparability. And, as a result of smells are highly effective however fleeting, visitors can take residence samples from the greater than 200 scents in Aftel’s work station, or, because it’s recognized within the perfume world, fragrance organ. With the Archive, Aftel has created a treasure trove of fragrances that will in any other case be tough if not unattainable to seek out—and, extra essential, she has created a possibility to reorient one’s senses to the world.Ian Crouch, in MaineLook out from atop Desk Rock, a large perch on the northern finish of Grafton Notch State Park, in western Maine (lower than two hours northwest of Portland), and also you would possibly succumb, for a second at the least, to the foolishness of considering you’ve acquired issues discovered. It’s a pleasant spot, nicer than most, and also you’re standing on it. Then once more, having climbed a couple of thousand ft of path in lower than a mile, coronary heart nonetheless pulsing at your temples, perhaps you received’t be considering in any respect. Even higher! The black flies pierce the reverie by way of late June, however by July (actual summer season) you’ll be able to linger to look at the clouds glide alongside, casting cool tender shadows on the distant floor, the place a skinny line of pavement snakes by way of the timber. After which, within the fall, in all probability having to create space for some neighbors up there—fellow-peepers—sit on the rock and hug your knees as throughout the leaves go yellow, orange, crimson, and purple. Return to the automobile, head south a number of miles, and pull off at Screw Auger Falls, or someplace quieter, to scrub the mud off your calves within the icy Bear River. Become the clear additional shirt you remembered to pack. Again on the highway, nonetheless heading south, make one remaining cease, on the best: the Puzzle Mountain Bakery, in its third decade and beneath the stewardship of a second technology, named after a peak you simply handed (extra ledges, extra views). It’s a pie stand, or, actually, a pie hutch—a crimson wood enclosure filled with home made fruit pies, maple-cream cookies, whoopie pies, and jam. They do their baking in a constructing down a close-by driveway, however the hutch is unmanned, and hours, Thursdays to Mondays, are versatile: money goes in an outdated cast-iron tank (or Venmo in the event you should). There’s no dangerous time for pie, however there are few higher occasions than this, sitting on the again bumper, passing tins of strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, and apple backwards and forwards. Fingers, or perhaps one fork. It’s getting late. Wipe the crumbs off your lap, wrap any leftovers for later, and begin the lengthy, or, for the fortunate, shortish drive residence.Rebecca Mead, in London