1. Art Deco Details of LA’s Union Station
Photographed by Dean Cheng, found on Flickr.
2. The Anonymous Key Window on 13th between Chestnut & Market
You approach, and there is little to no dialogue. He knows what you want. You want keys made. This is all that is available
Smaller than a food truck, but let’s say a little bit larger than a phone booth, that provides an essential, timeless service, but could also be a portal to another dimension.
It doesn’t have a name (at least not one that’s advertised) and it doesn’t even seem to be moored to time as we know it. What is happening behind that window might be happening 100 years ago, for all you know.
Sometimes, it’s nice to notice the little things. As does Philebrity, Philadelphia’s first independent cityblog circa 2004.
3. The Catskills Leisure Resorts: Then & Now GIFs
More found on the DCist.
4. Radio Letterhead Designs from the 1950s
A collection found on Flickr.
5. A derelict NSA listening station in Berlin
Built after the Cold War on a mountain of rubble from WWII.
Found on Glory of Disrepair.
6. The Last Nazi Hunters
Since 1958, a small department of Germany’s government has sought to bring members of the Third Reich to trial… but the world’s biggest cold-case investigation will soon be shut down…
Their goal is to find the last living Nazis who have yet to be indicted and might still be able to stand trial… Today, the youngest suspects are 90 years old, and most were low-level Nazi functionaries: guards, cooks, medics, telephone operators and the like. The defendants tend to die during the lengthy judicial process, so the odds of conviction are miniscule.
Throughout its history, the condition of the Central Office has been one important measure of Germany’s evolving relationship to its Nazi past. After its founding in 1958, it enjoyed 10 years of robust activity before receding from public view, amid widespread opposition to further investigations of German war crimes.
Many of the Nazis convicted in the trials that followed Nuremberg were released in the 1950s, when a series of amnesty laws passed by the newly minted West German parliament reinstated the pensions of Nazi soldiers and paroled 20,000 Nazis previously jailed for “deeds against life”. By the end of the decade, thousands of Nazis had been freed from German prisons and rehabilitated, taking up comfortable posts in the judiciary, police and state administration.
A fascinating read over on the Guardian.
7. This Tree of Languages Infographic
Fun fact: “The latest projection is that French will be spoken by 750 million people by 2050. One study “even suggests that by that time, French could be the most-spoken language in the world, ahead of English and even Mandarin.” Forbes’ Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry made an intriguing argument when he granted the title of “Language of the Future” to French, of all tongues. “French isn’t mostly spoken by French people and hasn’t been for a long time now,” he admits,” but “the language is growing fast, and growing in the fastest-growing areas of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa”.
Full article can be found on Open Culture.
8. Scottish fixer upper for $258K
After my recent wander round an abandoned Scottish castle in the Highlands, this Tudor-Italianate house dating back to 1870, looks very appealing.
9. And this Ridiculously Kitsch House For Sale in Palm Springs
With an asking price of $575K, found on Estately.
10. Air Shorts
During the 1970s there was a craze toward huge inflatable shorts. The idea was simple: wearing them would help us sweat off unwanted body fat whilst giving a unique massage through trapped air pockets. The downside? They were super uncomfortable and so hot that you would sweat profusely all day. And then there was the strange lack of weight loss. The idea that you can sweat off your blubber is a myth born from the fact that weight class athletes like boxers use saunas to make a certain weight come weigh-in. It’s of course incredibly temporary, designed only to beat the scales for one evening.
Found on Kitschatron.
11. Padded Underwear in the 60s
From a 1964 Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog.
12. “Women wiring an early IBM computer”
Documenting Science series (1938-58), found here.
13. An action-packed pop art Japanese monster movie set in the Wild West starring Marilyn Monroe and Elvis
“Scary Prairie”, A film by Erik Winkowski.
That is all.
