1. The Cliff House
Boasting the best views in San Francisco, this seven story Victorian mansion built in 1896 by Adolph Sutro, survived the 1906 earthquake but was destroyed by fire 1907, eleven years after being built. Four different variations of the Cliff House have now stood on the cliffs overlooking Seal Rocks, and it has held restaurants, dance halls, gift shops and vista points.
This is how it looks today, it is now a restaurant.
More info found here.
2. This Collector
“Everyone knows Domenico Agostinelli in Dragona, a low-income suburb west of Rome.
Many call him the rag collector, and you can find him in what looks at first like a junk shop. But what the 74-year-old collector has put together is, in fact, a museum of sorts.”
“Agostinelli has visited 60 countries and collected items of all kinds: a 65-million-year-old dinosaur egg, meteor fragments, a car that once belonged to American mob boss Al Capone.”
“Domenico says that most museums and collections of antiques were created by the nobility and the clergy as testimony to their own wealth; he instead has created his museum as testimony to humble, simple hardworking people, rich only with peasant wisdom.”
“He needs help to catalogue all the material he knows by heart, but the state is not helping and he fears that all will be lost when he dies”.
“I’m a guardian of time,” says 74-year-old Domenico Agostinelli.
Full story found on Reuters, and more photos here.
3. Saving the Little House under the Bridge
One of the more adorable abandoned buildings you’re likely to ever come across, 401 Vernon Boulevard was built in 1892 as the office for the New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Works, the company that supplied terra-cotta for Carnegie Hall and the Ansonia Hotel, among others.
The company went out of business in the 1920s, and the building has been vacant ever since. It was eventually bought in 1970 by Citibank, who boarded it up but couldn’t tear it down due to its landmark status.
The Terra-Cotta building is now owned by Silver Cup Studios, who has been restoring the property. I stopped to check it out recently, and was blow away by the detail and ornamentation.
According to Alan Suna, CEO of Silvercup Studios, “We don’t know what it’s future is right now, but we’re restoring it just the same to make it ready for whatever the future will bring.”
Found on Scouting New York.
4. New York’s “Suicide Cave”
Actually called the Ramble Cave (AKA the Indian Cave): this natural cave was discovered when the park was first being constructed. During the early 1900’s the cave was a hideout for criminals and someone committed suicide there. According to the New York Times, the cave was also a popular spot for “wild youth” to gather and engage in nefarious deeds, including “annoying women”, for which 225 men were arrested in 1929! The cave was later sealed at both ends because it was deemed “too dangerous.”
Found on Roadtrippers’ Best Kept Secrets of New York.
5. “Aaand we should turn around”
Waterspouts, found on Reddit.
6. The Japanese Bridge that looks like a Roller Coaster
This is the Eshima Ohashi bridge in Japan. It’s the third largest rigid-frame bridge in the world at 44 metres tall. If you’re wondering why it looks more like a rollercoaster (or should I say, road-er coaster) than a bridge, it’s because it was designed to be high enough to let ships pass underneath.
Found on Lost at E Minor.
7. Stacked Palettes for the World’s Biggest Bonfire in Norway, June 2010
Found on Imgur.
8. This Luxury Treehouse
Built by Blue Forest Luxury Tree houses, found on Little Things.
9. An Abandoned Tracking Station in California
This radome supported satellite launches and also tracked test missiles. Constructed by the Air Force in 1999, it now looks very much abandoned. Found on Flickr.
10. These Paintings
By Gavin Rain, found on Faith is Torment.
11. Oreo Cookie Tacos
Just in time for Cinqo de Mayo. Found on Sweet Tooth
12. Famous People on their Prom Night
Michelle Obama
Ellen Degeneres
Beyoncé
Matthew McConaughey
Jimmy Fallon
Brad Pitt
Will Ferrell
Found on Fusion
13. The 200 Pound Turban
Check out how how Baba Avtar Singh, a Sikh living in Northern India, ties his famously large turbans. Mr. Singh uses 2,460 feet of fabric and 100 pounds of weighty silver adornments to create his masterful symbol of Sikh pride – and still manages to walk and ride his motobike ever so gracefully. Watch the process. It’s the most beautiful sight . . .
Found via HonestlyWTF
