1. The Secret Apartment in the Eiffel Tower
Now I know I’m that last one you’d expect to be recommending a trip up the almighty tower of mass tourism, but even I didn’t know about this…
Within a year of the completion of the Eiffel Tower, it was reported by writer Henri Girard that Gustav Eiffel “the object of general envy.” But it wasn’t for his engineering and design feat, it was for an apartment he had at the third-to-highest level of the Eiffel Tower. Girard wrote that the famous apartment was “furnished in the simple style dear to scientists”.
Eiffel used mostly for meeting important guests like Thomas Edison, who visited in September 1889, rather than for debaucherous parties. Today, after being closed to the public for many years, the apartment is on display for visitors to take a peek into, complete with mannequins of Eiffel and Edison.
Found on Untapped Cities
2. A Fairy Post Office hidden in a Tree
Installed in December of 2013 in a tree at a fork on the park’s Curran Trail, the tiny post office was not expected to last very long and consisted of a miniature mailbox in front of a pint-sized office complete with desk, lamp, a thimble-sized birdcage, and tasteful art on the wall…
The creators of the post office left little letters in the mailbox and after a couple of months simply left the whole thing to exist in secret. Much to their delight, wanderers who had stumbled upon post office had added decorations and even new notes had even been written and left in the mailbox. Soon the creators were regularly checking the mail and whimsical exchanges with unknown recipients…
The tiny post office still sits in the tree to this day, now often distributing bite-sized newspapers (“The Small Times”) alongside the little letters.
More about the Fairy Post Office found on Atlas Obscura.
3. The Honeywell Kitchen Computer
The theory was that the Kitchen Computer was effectively a huge electronic meal planner which when uploaded with a number of ‘her’ favourite recipes could then create meal planners and for a small extra fee would even calculate meals based on the limits of the family weekly budget.
All well and good we hear you say but don’t forget this was a machine that cost $10,000, weighed some 100 lbs and required someone with a master’s degree in computer science to install and program it. Not surprisingly Honeywell failed to sell any of its Kitchen Computers when they were advertised in 1969. There is a theory that they never intended to but instead were simply a publicity stunt by US upmarket department store Neiman Manrcus to promote their Christmas catalogue…
Found on Voices of East Anglia.
4. Iran, 1964
Photographs by Bruce Davidson, found on Kateoplis
5. New York Women Draw their Own Boobs
The Cut explores women’s complicated relationships to beauty standards and the efforts required to meet them. See the full slideshow.
6. Hendrick’s Typography
Well judged typography for this Hendrick’s Quinetum bottle, designed by USA based design group Quaker City Mercantile. Found on The English Blog.
7. These Incredible Cookies
Made by Amber Spiegel
8. The Pink Highway Sheep
A sheep farmer who has a farm next to the highway near Bathgate, Scotland, has been dying his sheep with non-toxic dye since 2007 to entertain passing motorists.
Found on BBC News
9. The Pastel Beach Huts of Mersea Island
Mersea Island Beach, Essex, Flickr photo sources 1,2,3,4
10. These Scout Badges
Available to buy on Etsy.
11. This Old Amsterdam Garage Converted Into An Apartment
Amsterdam-based interior designers BRICKS (Kelly Hoppen and James van der Velden) have transformed a local old garage into a beautiful apartment, entirely re-building much of the space but leaving key elements behind to hint at the space’s history.
Found on HUH Magazine
12. This Ride
This 1953 Lancia Aurelia PF200 C Spider sold for $1,100,000 at RM Auctions in August 2014. The Aurelia PF 200 range featured a rounded front air intake that resembled the American F 86 Sabre fighter.
Presented at the1953 Geneva Motor Show, the Aurelia PF200 C Spider was born to the “Aurelia” family of cars made by the Turin-based carmaker between 1950 and 1958.
Found on Italian Ways
13. A Monday Night Movie Recommendation
“The ‘teenager’ was the result and invention of adolescent girls. They were the ones buying the magazines, the cosmetics, the clothes, and the records that were changing people’s attitudes. Once they started expressing themselves with their own pop culture there was an opportunity for marketing and it was through that input that they got recognized as a distinct class.”
Available to watch on Netflix/ iTunes.
