1. The marbelised “Literatur” passageway in the Museumsquartier in Vienna
Free to wander through, the mural (painted by Austrian artist Johanna Kandl) is inspired by the marbled endpapers used in Baroque book production. The vending machine dispenses literature written by young Austrian writers.
Found on the Tess Newall Studio.
2. A Time Capsule Department Store stuck in the 80s
Ruben’s Department store in Augusta, Georgia has a lot of original “New With Tags” vintage items in storage so that’s just what they sell. Take a walk through the department store here on Instagram with Mainstreet Backroads.
3. The socialite buried wearing a lace nightgown inside her 1964 Ferrari
Sandra West was a Beverly Hills socialite and wife of Texas oil tycoon Ike West. When she made her will, she requested that she be buried inside a Ferrari (shown above) “with the seat slanted comfortably.”
“her beloved Ferrari 330 America was lowered into the 20 foot long grave and then covered with cement. The funeral director indicated that the cement was added as the cemetery was in a high crime area and he feared the car would be back on the street in a day!”
It was a request worthy of the Egyptian Pharaohs she so enjoyed studying. King Tutankhamen was buried 3300 years earlier with the best conveyance of his age, two golden chariots. Ms. West intended to journey to the hereafter in equally supreme style.
Read the article on My SanAntonio.
4. A bestselling French author on serial killers turned out to be a serial liar
The three-part series is based on the reporting by The New Yorker’s Lauren Collins.
5. Secret Egyptian Pyramid Base
In 1967, Shōnen Magazine published a set of illustrations detailing the secret weapons of Dr. Who, an evil scientist bent on capturing King Kong who regularly appeared in “The King Kong Show,” a popular animated series on Japanese and US television at the time (not related to the British “Doctor Who”).
“equipped with advanced military hardware, including 3D radar, jet launchers, recoilless guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, and military tanks that burrow underground. Dr. Who monitors all the action from a wall of TV screens in his room at the center of the pyramid. The base is powered by a nuclear reactor in the basement and surrounded by giant ant-lion sand traps.”
Find an enlarged full version here.
6. Straw Castle in Diourbel, Senegal
Apparently it’s called the Castelo de Palha, but I couldn’t find more information than that. Any leads?
Found on Pinterest.
7. New York’s Rejected Design for Central Park (the Versailles that never was)
Currently on display at the New-York Historical Society, this is the 8½ feet long rejected design for Central Park that was lost for years before being discovered in 2008 in an attic. The designer in engineer John Rink who was one of 33 entries in the 1857 design competition for the site. His park was to be a much more manicured Versailles-esque park, with plenty of elaborate topiary and zero open green spaces. The plan also details a two-winged museum.
Found here.
8. The art nouveau Winter Garden is a hidden gem in small-town Flanders
Midway between Brussels and Antwerp, the village of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver is elaborately named for its neo-Gothic Our Lady of Waver church. But its greatest heritage treasure is the sprawling Ursuline convent school and its Winter Garden, an art nouveau gem built in 1900 for the Ursuline nuns.
Found on The Spaces.
9. The world’s deepest hole, abandoned by the Soviets beneath this rusty metal cap
Drilled by the Soviets just to see what would happen, the Kola Superdeep Borehole is the result of a scientific project attempting to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust.
The deepest point reached 12,262-metre-long (40,230 ft) in 1989 and still is the deepest artificial point on Earth. The project was closed down in late 2006 because of a lack of funding. All the drilling and research equipment was scrapped. The site has been abandoned since 2008.
Found on Wikipedia.
10. Neon salesman’s sample case, circa 1935
Found on Tumblr.
11. A Beatnik Glossary
Might come in handy. Found on Tumblr.
12. Taking Airline Reservations before Computers, 1945
Back before computers, airlines took reservations manually. Centered around a large board that displayed the next thirty days of flights, employees would receive calls for reservations, write down passenger’s information, and then assign them seats on their chosen flights. Modern reservation systems developed with the evolution of computers. Shortly after World War II, American Airlines introduced the first automated reservation system, the Reservisor.
Found on SFO Museum
13. A heartwarming little tribute to the Paris Olympics, made with love in England
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