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Kelsey Dundon

Micro Mexico City: The Smallest Standouts In One Of The World’s Biggest Towns

This article first appeared in VITA Magazine.

There are a few things you probably already know about Mexico City. The weather is good. The food is great. They’re going to be co-hosting the FIFA World Cup this summer. And it’s big. Really big.

While many of Mexico City’s landmarks match the scale of the city itself—the impressively massive Museo Nacional de Antropología makes every must-see list for good reason—we’ve compiled a list of small-scale standouts that highlight a more intimate side of the capital.

Neighbouring neighbourhoods

La Condesa and Roma Norte are filled with packed cafes, parks quiet enough to hear birds chirp and shops that showcase the best in Mexican design. One gem, if you’ll pardon the pun, is Orfebre, a jewelry shop housing the works of 14 different jewelers from around Mexico and Central America, including one who makes her pieces on site. It’s smack-dab between the Pasaje Parián, a collection of minuscule shops in the atrium in the Hotel Parián, and Madre Café, which offers both a garden-level café and rooftop terrace.

Raise the roof

Rooftop bars in Mexico City are tiny treasures unto themselves. Located right behind the Metropolitan Cathedral in the Zocalo is Comedor Mexicano, dotted with only a few tables beside a small pool, an absolutely beautiful spot for a sunset happy hour.

The terrace sits atop the design-forward Circulo Mexicano, a boutique hotel whose rooms are beautiful and whose street-level retailers are expertly curated. A favourite is Templo, a tinier-than-your-hotel-room shop filled with ceramics sourced from around the country, plus a few collaborations exclusive to the shop, all handcrafted and all with a distinct eye for design.

A family affair

You don’t have to hold an art history degree to know the broadest brushstrokes of Frida Kahlo’s famous life—her show-stopping talent, her iconic style, her fraught relationship with Diego Rivera. Built in her family’s former home, the newly opened Museo Casa Kahlo (often called the Casa Roja) brings to life a lesser-known side of the icon. Through personal artifacts that range from her jewelry to her hair products, it illuminates the early relationships Kahlo had with her sisters and the influences her father’s pioneering photography career had on her painting.

This new museum is just a few blocks from a spot that’s probably already on your list: the celebrated Museo Frida Kahlo (often called the Casa Azul) in the lively Coyoacán district. Both are stops worth making. But be sure to book before you go.

House party

From the team behind world-renowned Handshake Bar is the brand new Ahorita (“right now” in Spanish). A bright red clock shop opens up to a space built around a central bar where bartenders, servers and partygoers gather, making it feel like you’ve somehow managed an invitation to a house party in a local’s chic studio apartment.

Getting there

Considering the fact that Mexico City feels a world away, flights from Canada are relatively short. And often direct. Flair Airlines just added new non-stop routes to MEX from YVR and YYZ so you can save on airfare while splurging on an adventure in Mexico City’s Beverly Hills.

Want more on Mexico City? You’ll find it in the official visitors guide.

P.S. You’ll find the story-behind-the-story on my new Substack The Waited: Part 1 (about how my love affair with the city all started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Part 2 (about record-setting artists).
P.P.S. Follow along in real time on Instagram.

November 28, 2025 by

Read | The Waited, my new Substack

The Waited is my new Substack about all the waiting that goes into the making.

For a few years there, when my kids were really little, I wasn’t thinking about writing fiction at all. But I would listen to podcasts and audiobooks about creative practices—by Brené Brown, Liz Gilbert and Cheryl Strayed. I was biding my time, I see now that I look back. Hibernating. Absorbing. And you guessed it: waiting.

Because after I lost my phone and spent three weeks in Europe off the grid(ish–I still had my laptop with me), I realized I wanted to write a book. So when I got home (and over the jet lag) I started John Grisham-ing things: I woke up earlier than I ever had in my life so I could get my 1000 words in before my kids got up and I had to start my day.

I wrote and wrote and wrote, then started working with the brilliant editor Carrie Frye, who had me rewrite and rewrite and rewrite until my thriller was solid enough to start pitching agents, a wild experience that ultimately landed me with my agent Lauren Spieller at Folio Literary Management in New York.

I’m fascinated by the way artists, writers and creative types do their work while also parenting or holding down a day job or juggling any of the other things that makes them postpone whatever project they have percolating.

The Waited, my new Substack, is about all the waiting that goes into the making. It will also be where I’ll share things that are…

Worth the Wait

  • Design. All the vintage things I love but shouldn’t buy because we have limited storage in our 115-year-old home.
  • Culture. Though let’s be realistic: probably more low-brow than high-.
  • Style. Especially vintage clothes that border on costume.
  • Writing. What I’m working on. How I’m working on it. And who I’m working with.
  • Reading. I’ve been running a book club for so long it’s become my entire personality.

Subscribe? Share with your friends? And let me know what you’d like to see?

November 3, 2025 by

Wear | 6-OH-4 x Kelsey Dundon

My baba was many things. An avid gardener. Prolific cross-stitcher. And a Ukrainian refugee. 

She was also the inspiration behind my collaboration with 6-OH-4 Clothing in support of Canadian Red Cross relief efforts in Ukraine.

Sunflowers are such a beautiful metaphor – they stand strong, they stand together and they turn their faces toward the light. To me, they feel hopeful. I wanted the sunflower to have the look of the cross-stitch needlework my baba used to make. So I drew several versions of the graphic and tested them out. I was originally thinking it was going to be multicoloured on a white background so I used the blue of the Ukrainian flag for the stem and yellow for the petals, as modelled by Mike Lyall of 6-OH-4 (above).

The Mike proposed doing yellow on blue, which had way more impact. But I didn’t love the graphic itself so I did some very lofi photoshopping (doodling on my iPhone) to reverse the middle of the sunflower, which is what would eventually become the heart.

By ordering this shirt (which you can do here), you’re facilitating help and healing in some of the hardest-hit regions of Ukraine: The net proceeds from every purchase goes to the Canadian Red Cross for humanitarian aid.

March 22, 2022 by

Travelling through my phone makes me ponder the time I accidentally travelled without my phone

This was taken a few minutes after climbing the bell tower of a ancient church in Pommevic, France. Those sandals have seen some things.

I wrote this piece when I returned from Europe in the fall. But I never published it.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately because it’s almost the exact opposite of COVID-19 quarantine, when the only access we have to the world is through our devices. Plus, like many of you, travel has been on my mind a lot lately. I hope you’re healthy and enjoying some virtual travel until you can once again enjoy some actual travel.

During a three-week trip to Europe this summer, I climbed the bell tower of a Roman-arched church, stepping over several dead pigeons and one calcified rat. In sandals. I found a bird turd on my pillow. After I’d already slept on it. And I brought my Paw Patrol-aged kids to Michelin-starred restaurants. (Sorry, fellow patrons.)

Yet when I tell people about our travels, the experience that horrifies them more than any other is: I lost my phone on the flight to Munich, the very first leg of our trip.

The pool house, as seen from our room at the Chateau Goudourville, a restored castle in Southwest France.

Yes, I spent three weeks with my family in some of the most photogenic locales on the planet – the French countryside! The beaches of San Sebastian! The McDonald’s PlayPlace! – sans iPhone.

And you know what? I highly recommend it.

The experience of phonelessness is a bit like time travel. Specifically to 2004, when I left my (flip?) phone at home to backpack my way from junior to senior year of college.

We used internet cafes back then. We scheduled calls with our families and then marched down the block to payphone cubicles to make them. Sorry: phone booths. It’s been so long since I used one I forgot what they’re called. We used real, printed maps, held aloft like, well…tourists. We referenced Lonely Planet guides and researched where we were going. In advance!

Super jealous of that guy photographing the sunset with his phone in Saint Jean de Luz, France.

It was entirely unlike the way we travel now, where we rely heavily on Google maps and user reviews of restaurants, eking out the day’s plans in real time.

Unless you ditch your phone, that is.

If you do – and hear me out, I think you should at least consider it – you’ll find a freedom you haven’t known in years.

Your out-of-office autoresponder will actually mean something. You’ll see the beach of St Jean de Luz as the expanse of pristine sand it is, not as potential content. You won’t have text messages pinging you while you sample local honey at an open-air market in Valence d’Agen. You’ll finally understand what Oprah means when she talks about being fully present.

Granted it’s not easy. In that open-air market you won’t be able to Google whether you should get the truffle-infused grape-seed or olive oil.

And you’ll want to consider how this will impact your friends and family because, believe me, the stress will wear on them. Your husband’s boss will offer to Fedex a phone to you across a continent and an ocean. Your soon-to-be brother-in-law will offer to procure a phone from his father, who is no less than the mayor of his town in Southwest France. Your friends back home with tell their friends back home nothing about your trip except your phone status.

The first exhibit I saw at the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian was by Douglas Coupland, who, like me, lives in Vancouver. But that’s beside the point.

When doing a Destination Digital Detox with others, logistics become paramount, especially while towing kids.

If your husband wants to take your little guppies to the San Sebastian Aquarium and you want to see the “Hello, Robot” exhibit at the San Telmo Museoa on the other side of the old town, you can’t rely on “where you at?” texts. Instead, you’ll have to pre-arrange a meeting point and – now this is where things get really quaint – a time to meet up. Pro tip: pack a watch.

When you want to read on the beach in Gros, the neighborhood where you’re staying in San Sebastian, you can’t just scroll to your Books app. You need to haul in your beach bag the 468-page Stephen King tome you found in the English-language section of the bookstore around the corner.

This photo probably wouldn’t have turned out as well on my iPhone anyway. It’s my kid on the beach in St. Jean de Luz, France.

When you want to take photos of the murals in the Toulouse Capitol, you’ll need to use the Nikon D5100 hanging around your neck, the same camera that will later inspire a saleswoman in a sunglasses shop to ask you questions in a French that far exceeds your 12th grade fluency. Can’t help you there.

When you do a Destination Digital Detox, you’ll experience the lost art of being off the grid. In the middle of a city, no less. Nobody will know where you are. Heck, you might not even know where you are. Consider bringing a map with you, because you certainly won’t be able to Google where to buy one.

We were travelling with two young kids so we didn’t join these Toulousains for a drink on the riverbank.

Over the course of your lo-fi voyage, it’s possible you’ll have one friend email you — you’ll check it on your laptop back in your Airbnb in the evening because you’re not a complete luddite — asking you to post Insta stories from your trip. Here’s what you do: tell her you don’t have your phone with you and she will be so horrified at the prospect she’ll leave you alone.

Three weeks without a phone in a foreign land is a real trip. When you get home, you’ll reacclimatize to the pace of North American life with fresh eyes, now that you’ve experienced slow jet-setting. Your perspective will have shifted because you were forced to live very, very differently than you normally do.

You may find you don’t even install Instagram on your new phone until a month after you return.

And by that point you can finally answer the age-old question: if you go on vacation, but don’t post your vacation photos, did you really go on vacation?

[Photos by Kelsey Dundon, except for the first one, which my husband took.]

P.S. I usually *do* have my phone with me so follow @KelseyDundon on Instagram.

May 11, 2020 by

Wear | Left on Friday

It’s really quite something. Watching one of your best friends start with an idea and turn that idea into a full-fledged brand.

Get yourself Spring Break ready: Left on Friday.

[Self-timed photo — my favourite party trick — taken at The Saguaro in Palm Springs.]

February 19, 2019 by

Wear/Where | Emerald Velvet

In The Anthology’s Wear/Where column, we celebrate the parallels between what you wear and where you live. 

If you were to throw a wintery dinner party in an emerald velvet dress…

…that perfectly matched your emerald velvet chairs, would that be a major yay or no way, bébé?

Wear: Green velvet dress by Ulyana Sergeenko.

Where: Interior design by Kitesgrove.

November 15, 2018 by

Workspace | The Sleep Shirt’s Alexandra Suhner Isenberg – Part 2

The Anthology’s Workspace column takes us inside the very creative spaces of some very creative people. You’ll find Part 1 of Alexandra Suhner Isenberg’s Sleep Shirt office here.

“You can do anything with wood floors and white walls,” says Alexandra Suhner Isenberg of Canadian-made luxury sleepwear line The Sleep Shirt. She was talking about it in the interior design sense, but you could also think about it in the sense that a clean, simple, beautiful space leaves your mind uncluttered and ready to create.

At least that’s the case for me.

I took these shots during a visit to her Vancouver office space (you’ll find a look inside her Swedish office space here).

Which has the warm sauna-esque vibe of wood panelling…

…and the blank-canvas feel of clean bright whites.

You could do a lot in a space like this.

You’ll find the latest collections of The Sleep Shirt here. You’ll find Part 1 of Alexandra Suhner Isenberg’s feature in The Anthology’s Workspace column here.

[Photos by Kelsey Dundon]

P.S. Know someone (like, say…you!) who needs an excuse to tidy up their super stylish desk? Send a note to KDundon@TheAnthology.ca — we’d love to see your workspace!

March 15, 2018 by

Workspace | The Sleep Shirt’s Alexandra Suhner Isenberg – Part 1

The Anthology’s Workspace column takes us inside the very creative spaces of some very creative people.

I distinctly remember when Alexandra Suhner Isenberg started her massively popular sleepwear line The Sleep Shirt (which you might have seen on Oprah’s Favorite Things, goop, or in Barney’s). We were in an editorial meeting at Vitamin Daily (now Vita Daily), where she was fashion editor and I was lifestyle editor at the time, and she’d just come back from London. There, at Spitalfield’s, she’d found an 19th century dressing gown not unlike one Karl Lagerfeld reportedly wore.

Her concept? To create a modern version of the classic piece in high-end materials with impeccable made-in-Canada finishes. Now, she’s done all that and more. She’s expanded the line, moved to the South of Sweden and commutes back and forth to Canada, where The Sleep Shirt is still made.

Here, the designer takes us inside her Swedish studio in her own words.

My work day typically starts at 7:15, once my husband has left with the kids (he does the school drops, I do the dog walking) and then I start working right away, in my nightshirt, of course. After getting through emails I go for a run or walk with my husky mutt Wanda, and then shower and get dressed. The rest of the day is work, emails, and meetings, until everyone gets home around 4:30. I usually end up doing another hour or so of work after dinner or when the kids go to bed. That’s the trouble of working in a different time zone… While it is sometimes hard to draw a line between work life and home life when you have an office at home, the fact that I have a dedicated room on the other side of the house means it does feel separate.

It’s taken me two years to figure out what I wanted to do with this space. It’s a fairly big office but the closets on one side and doors and windows on the other make it impractical for uses other than a bedroom. It’s on the ground floor of our house and the door leads out to the backyard which is perfect so I can let Wanda in and out during the day. I decided that the majority of the furniture would lie along the long wall and the rest of the space would be fairly bare.

I know it sounds cliché to say I wanted the office to be good looking and functional, but isn’t that the case for most home design now? It isn’t that hard to make a room look good, but to make it truly functional as well is much more difficult. It’s important, during a busy week, that I have places I can just throw paperwork or fabric swatches that haven’t yet been stored, without making the place look like a mess. I’ve stored things according to how often I use them, and the long countertop area over the cupboards serves as a space to put things when they come in, before they are put away. The desk is adjustable; I usually work standing in the morning and sitting later on.

The furniture is mostly Ikea or vintage auction. Not exactly the most inspiring stuff but when you need functional storage to fit exact measurements, Ikea is usually the best place to go. I’ve also got plans to get some window coverings as the light can be bright during the day. The door leads outside to the yard and also to our garage and storage room, so I keep a pair of clogs handy in case I need to go outside. Everyone in Sweden has clogs, and to be honest, there isn’t a better shoe to slip on if you need to run out to the garage, grab something from the garden, or put the garbage out.

One wall is all closets which stores packaging materials and a few personal things (my coats). The sewing machine is a hand me down from my mother in law. I’ve never had a house where the sewing machine is always out and ready to use, now that I’ve got it, it’s much easier to do quick projects. And if there is someone else working with me in the office, the machine can be moved that the desk can be used for a laptop. The magnetic white board is for storing current collection information and the boxes and cupboards hold stationary, fabric swatches, and other office or packaging supplies.

The board and letter cups are from design letters, it’s a series designed with Arne Jacobsen’s letters and they are so cute. The art wall is the inspiring part of the office, and it’s a work in progress. There’s room for more items and it will grow. There are also a few kids crafts in the room, around the sewing machine and on the magnetic board.

You’ll find the latest collections of The Sleep Shirt here and their just-in-time-for-the-holidays gift boutique here. Up next in The Anthology’s Workspace column: Alexandra’s Vancouver studio.

[Photos by Alexandra Suhner Isenberg, portrait of Alexandra by Nicole Gurney]

P.S. Know someone (like, say…you!) who needs an excuse to tidy up their super stylish desk? Send a note to KDundon@TheAnthology.ca — we’d love to see your workspace!

December 4, 2017 by

Thing of Beauty | The Saje Diffuser

William Morris said “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” In The Anthology’s new Thing of Beauty column, we highlight the objects that check both boxes.

I’m a creature of habit. And ritual. Before I start writing, I like things to be just so.

My desk needs to be tidy(ish). My Spotify Psybient playlist needs to be pulsing through my Urbanears headphones. And as of my most recent birthday (when I got this as a gift), my Saje ultrasonic diffuser needs to be diffusing the sweet scents of the mountains throughout my office.

It’s become almost as critical to my workday as my laptop. Almost.

September 21, 2017 by

#TBT | Vintage Shopping Cheat Sheet

I have a bone to pick with Marie Kondo. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is great and all. Clearing out clutter really can be freeing. Living a more minimalist lifestyle can be liberating. Blah blah blah.

But I’ve learned the hard way that there is an exception to that rule: Do not donate your vintage pieces.

When I look back at posts like this one from several years ago, I am reminded of the vintage wedding dresses and leather skirts and sequin blazers I wore and loved and subsequently donated in a fit of KonMari-ing.

And you know what? I wish I’d shoved them to the back of my closet instead.

My kids’ baskets and baskets of toys, on the other hand? I couldn’t possibly KonMari those fast enough.

September 21, 2017 by