Artisans

The butterfly in the window of Eduardo Carneiro and Co. at 225 Rua das Flores is prominently displayed. The sun glints off its delicate wings, reflected not by satiny iridescent color, but by gold. The butterfly's intricate wing pattern is not the creation of nature but of a Portuguese artisan's skill at winding, twisting, curling and braiding fine golden wires into symmetrical wings.

My wife and I have just spent a few delightful hours at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. We never tire of this beautiful oasis: The handsome gardens; the carefully crafted replica of a Pompeian villa; the fine collections of antiquities, drawings, paintings, manuscripts, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture--all in a setting of absolute splendor overlooking the blue Pacific. Knowing that Mr. Getty imported the finest artisans and materials to build this great museum adds to our pleasure.

Outside the old Venice jail, toddlers in tie-dyed shirts lick avocado-vanilla popsicles and graying couples aim their Leica cameras at a small-scale organic garden. Inside, wines are dispensed from behind the mahogany reception desk while curious cooks page through dog-eared recipes at a cookbook swap. The inaugural Food Rendezvous brimmed with comestible energy, an assemblage of L.A.'s food artisans, gardeners, chefs and nonprofit organizations. The event sprang from the minds of Laurie Dill and Dominique Leveuf, two former San Franciscans who were inspired by the underground markets there.

The usual, bustling Caribbean harbor-front market, featuring the usual display of straw baskets, wooden bowls, maracas and other trinkets, is to be found on this westernmost of the three Dutch Leeward Islands. And although these items are attractive to some and inexpensive, they are generic souvenirs, mostly made in factories in South America and representing nothing distinctive about the island on which they are sold.

The big sign across the highway advising of an abrupt drop in the speed limit is not so much an admonition as an appeal for attention. For there is nothing grand about Solis Grande. Mayor Joaquin Colman, a retired policeman, thinks the population is around 2,000. On a recent afternoon, there was a game in the pool hall, and outside the traffic was light. One or two shops were open, but no one seemed to notice.

It is hard to talk about coffee and passion and integrity and, oh yes, art, all in the same breath and not get the sense that you've been swept into some caffeine dream, a double-tall, foamy latte land where you can rhapsodize about coffee all you want and there's no small temptation to look up from your cup and exclaim, "Beans!" But on a recent Monday afternoon, Jon Greenawalt, southwest regional marketing director for Starbucks Coffee Co., is wondering how this coffee-as-art stuff is going to play in West Los Angeles.

Donald Cordry and Dorothy Mann of Minneapolis loved the same things: Mexican culture and each other. When the couple married and moved to Mexico in 1937, a lifetime of collecting Mexican art and folk art together began. Fifty years later, the results of the Cordry's efforts are on exhibit at UCLA's Museum of Cultural History.

TARTUS, Syria - War may be ravaging much of Syria, but there is no sign of conflict on bustling streets here, where diners wearing designer sunglasses order freshly caught fish at seaside cafes and gaze out on a palm-fringed expanse resembling a slightly tattered version of southern France or the Greek isles. Absent are the rows of pulverized apartment blocks that mark parts of battleground cities like Homs, Damascus and Aleppo. But that doesn't mean this ancient port - once home to Phoenicians, Romans and Crusaders - hasn't suffered its share of losses.

Old notions of advertising are being scrambled on the Westside, inside boutique agencies with names like Blitz, Ignited and Omelet. The hot shops are pushing big-brand clients beyond the familiar confines of radio, television, magazines and newspapers and onto the Internet, smartphones, game consoles and tablets. With more than 42% of the country's TV homes equipped with digital video recorders, which allow users to fast-forward through commercials, and some younger viewers leaving TV altogether, advertisers are rushing to build Internet infrastructures, create Web videos and funnel content to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

In hopes of upgrading its pastry offerings, Starbucks Coffee Co. plans to spend $100 million to acquire the San Francisco artisan bakery Bay Bread and its La Boulange brand. The company's pastries are made using fresh and locally sourced ingredients favored by its French founder, Pascal Rigo. His operation runs 19 La Boulange stores in the Bay Area that sell croissants, pastries, cookies, breads and more. Starbucks said Monday that it was acquiescing to customer demand for "more wholesome and delicious food options" by rolling out products created by Rigo at U.S. Starbucks stores, starting in the San Francisco area in early 2013.