THE LAST RESORT - SURFERS LODGE PENICHE

Inclusive is the new exclusive, says Ben Pendole, founder of the travel website AHotelLife.com. He rounds up eight of the most interesting game-changers working in the hospitality industry today for us.

At long last, summer has stepped aside and made way for fall, bringing with it an annual yearning for yesterday and the months preceding. We can choose to deal with the unwelcome guest, holed away in our apartments bitterly dodging the change, or instead, look back at times past and pretend they’re still here.

Robin Scott and Jamie Wiseman are not new to the New York scene. They are, however, new to the beach. Scott, originally from London, and Wiseman, an Oklahoma transplant, are the savvy business minds behind the development of the Brooklyn club Output, and they are bringing their knowhow to the shore with their new project, the Playland Motel, which opened earlier this month on Rockaway Beach.

Egypt is today a land at once both very old and very new. It is hard to imagine how a country that overflows with millennia-old temples and obelisks and sphinxes can be suffering birthing pains, but it has been only two short years since the day everyone refers to as simply “January 25.” There are few countries where people speak regularly of a time “before the revolution” with such poignancy, a time that is still fresh in many Egyptians’ minds, a time that many now recall with a mix of nostalgia and relief as they stumble forward, hoping to reach a new democratic equilibrium that appears tantalizingly close yet remains troublingly distant.

The approach of summer every year brings with it thoughts of escape—fantasies of road trips and jungle hideaways and secluded beaches seared by Instagram-worthy sunsets. Those of us without the privilege of dropping everything and heading off for distant lands, however, can make do with Jungles in Paris, a new travel website from writer Darrell Hartman and his brother Oliver. Eschewing the expected posts on the latest luxury hotels or fashionista favorites, Jungles in Paris takes a more thoughtful approach, going small and digging deep by focusing on the unexpected surprises uncovered by the careful traveler, from ritual skin-piercing in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley to the daredevil moto-taxi drivers of southern Yemen.

This year’s edition of Coachella had a high bar to meet. After temporarily resurrecting Tupac, twice, in 2012, the sold-out festival faced heightened expectations as it once again took to the desert over the last two weekends to bring its largest crowd ever, estimated at ninety thousand each weekend, to Indio’s Empire Polo Club. Popular opinion ahead of time dubbed some headliners out-of-date, and critics were surprised by the lack of a top-billed electronic act. Aided by the growing popularity of dance music, nonstop Daft Punk rumors and predictions flooded feeds and blogs during the lead-up, but to the disappointment of seemingly everyone—the presence of Daft Punk tees was trumped only by the sea of “Bitch don’t kill my vibe” and “Ya bish” shirts that flooded one of the only festivals Kendrick Lamar was not scheduled to perform at—the closest attendants got to the masked duo was a video clip that aired before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ set on the first Friday of their new single “Get Lucky.”

Photographs of the American Southwest, a new book by photographer Dan Martensen, represents nearly ten years of road trips to the aforementioned locale: a dusty, barren hotbed of distinctly American wasteland. The title may be misleading to those expecting majestic rock formations and awesome canyons. Martensen looks instead for surreal shrines left behind by man. […]

We’ve been around awhile now, and we know a lot of our readers might not have had the opportunity to experience our earlier issues. So we wanted to give you the chance to discover one of our favorite stories from our archive every Friday. Some of them feature actors, musicians, or artists who eventually made it big, talents we are proud to have tapped early in their careers. Some have brilliant writing, and some have beautiful photography. Some have both. But all of them are so great we thought they deserved a second chance. This week we present Derek Blasberg’s Fall 2008 profile of King & Grove founder Ben Pundole—before King & Grove. Before you head to our favorite new Williamsburg pool, find out a little bit more about the man who made it all possible below.

We’ve been around awhile now, and we know a lot of our readers might not have had the opportunity to experience our earlier issues. So we wanted to give you the chance to discover one of our favorite stories from our archive every Friday. Some of them feature actors, musicians, or artists who eventually made it big, talents we are proud to have tapped early in their careers. Some have brilliant writing, and some have beautiful photography. Some have both. But all of them are so great we thought they deserved a second chance. This week we present Magnus Berger’s personal Fall 2009 profile of hotelier Nicolas Malleville, owner of the Coqui Coqui chain of hotels in Mexico. If you haven’t planned your summer getaway yet, this might just inspire you.