The Hype Machine

London is a tough town. For every single thing that you fall in love with, you also find something that simply shouldn’t happen in cities of this size and affluence.

There is one place that I miss more than the rest of London combined. In my tour of London, a walk around the tourist staples of the city (bridges, pretty old government buildings, etc), would be replaced by a simple evening here. Really.

Cafe 1001 is a dimly-lit lounge with two spacious rooms, couches, great food (including an outside grill with great burgers), eclectic music and events. Odd street-art-style drawings cover the walls along with a strange poem or two. Weekday nights are not too crowded, weekends get busy.

On Monday nights, this all gets even better. In the back room, there is a screening of an eclectic set of short films. Really eclectic, Hype Machine-eclectic. It’s called Short & Sweet. Student films, famous shorts, music videos, strange animated films, you name it. They thrill you, make you think, wonder and feel, all the while you are on comfortable couches, with candles and drinks. Offbeat mix of music follows. Oh yeah, and it’s free.

Short & Sweet and Cafe 1001 brought me my most incredible nights in London. You won’t find it in TimeOut, so you just have to see for yourself.

Where’s this in New York?