Designer Elena Velez doesn’t think her life in Upstate New York is glamorous. While the region has its fair share of trendy shops and cafes catering to weekenders from New York City, Velez says she’s never been much for that sort of thing. Instead, in the six months since she and her family relocated from Brooklyn to a small town just north of the city, Velez has found herself drawn to places she describes as mundane – like chain restaurants and hardware stores – as well as the area’s abundant “hidden historical alcoves”. A neighbourhood guide that marries the ordinary and the antiquated feels itself an extension of the Elena Velez brand, in which inquiries into tradition and American life are canon.

In the wake of her Spring/Summer 2025 collection debut, Velez shares her favourite places in the Hudson Valley, from the big box to the bygone.

Magazzino Italian Art

“There's this amazing Italian museum near where we live called Magazzino. They have this amazing backyard space where they keep donkeys and they have a gorgeous patio for beautiful Italian espressos and lattes. It's relatively unknown, so it's fun to stop in there and have this whole amazing upstate garden to ourselves.”

Ace Hardware and Home Depot

“I have a very working class, blue collar background, so it was never a habit of mine to go spend money on beautiful things. But now that I have a house, I'm really excited about interior design in a new way. I'm really enjoying antiquing and hardware stores. I'm learning how to fall in love with Home Depot.”

“My mom's a ship captain, so I spent a lot of my early childhood in these very industrial heavy metal spaces. So I love the smells and the senses of being in like, Ace Hardware. It feels really nostalgic and sentimental to me in a weird way. [I’ve been enjoying] exploring these really mundane places that remind me of some semblance of home and getting to pass that along through the formative experiences of my kids.”

Butterfield Library

“We have a beautiful library in the area that has this gorgeous 1900s parlor. It's got all these portraits of local civic leaders. I love that. I like this little collegiate experience of pretending you're studying in some sort of great academic space.”

Historic landmarks

“Where we live is close to a lot of these landmarks and all sorts of [historic] towns and memorabilia left over from the 1700s. The proximity to antiquity and history is really exciting.”

Applebee’s

“Our biggest indulgence is going to Applebee's. We spend a tonne of time upstate at Applebee's, just eating apps and drinking shitty cocktails. We're very not glamorous.”

Foundry Preserve Trail

“Where I find unintentional joy in living upstate is that it is so similar to my experience in the Midwest. It's the sort of place that changes drastically topographically within a 30 minute drive. So for me, I love these little experiences that remind me of being in Wisconsin, like all of the foliage and all of these different upstate trails.”

Cold Springs Historic District

“We have a gorgeous little historical town in the vicinity that we love to visit. They have cafes and antique shops, and it's right next to the water, which is nice – there’s lots of live music.”