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Category / Desirable Digs

The Tiny Tudor Village & Other Hidden Treasures of New York

As much as I wish I could travel back and forth between Paris and New York (by way of my own secret portal disguised as a telephone booth, of course) for now, I’ve chosen Paris to roam and explore down to the very last cobblestone street. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been taking notes…

Abercrombie’s Abandoned New York Castle is For Sale

Abercrombie & Fitch– that slightly irritating brand for college kids whose preferred choice of footwear is flip flops all year long. But thanks to this historic house recently hitting the market, I’ve discovered there’s a slightly better story behind Abercrombie & Fitch. David Thomas Abercrombie was a true adventurer. Born to Scottish immigrant parents, he first…

The Castaway Collector of Brooklyn

In Boerum Place, Brooklyn, New York lives a man in an apartment with many things. Chong Gon Byun is his name and he arrived in New York City from Korea 25 years ago. Your initial thoughts on Byun might be that he is an obsessive vintage gatherer, a flea market bargain hunter, a hoarder. But a closer…

My Brooklyn Bronco B&B

It’s a (concrete) jungle out there when it comes to finding the perfect place to rest your head at the end of an action-packed day in New York City. Are you going to choose from the long list of twenty-story plaza hotels where every room is identical, or are you in search of something unique and off-beat? What I’m…

A Tale of Two Cities & Beyond with MessyNessyChic in 2018

In 2018, MessyNessyChic became a tale of two cities. We’ll always have Paris, but now we have New York too. In preparation for Don’t Be a Tourist in New York, book number 2 (touching down in 2019), this year our rabbit hole led us across the pond in search of a sleepless city’s secrets. Armed with a…

I Have This Thing with Topiaries

Maybe it’s because, in truth, they’re completely unnecessary but so utterly gratifying when trimmed with precision. Maybe it’s because they transport us to the fantasies of our childhood, both romantic and slightly eerie (we’ve all seen how things end for Jack Nicholson in The Shining), but whatever the reason, we can’t stop staring at topiaries, so…

The Problem with America’s Only Royal Palace

At a glance, it could be a corner at Buckingham Palace, but what you’re looking at is the gilded throne room of America’s only royal residency on U.S. soil. This is the Iolani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaii, built in 1879 for the last sovereign monarchs of Hawaii. Not many people know there’s an American princess in waiting,…

California’s Best Kept Secret: A Century old Subterranean Garden

Fresno, California tends to be one of those cities that people are ‘just passing through’ on their way to see something else. But pass through too quickly and you’ll miss out on a little secret subterranean paradise… More of an underground mansion, the Forestiere Gardens are a manmade creation of sprawling subterranean passageways, courtyards and…

America’s Beauty School Dropouts: A Brief Compendium

We miss the days when estheticians waxed eyebrows in a Paul Bunyan-ready cottage, perfected their perming skills in a nondescript clapboard shack, and barbers painted their 1969 Volkswagens to match their salon. More than mere institutions for a cute ‘do, the beauty schools and barber shops of yesteryear were visible extensions of major cultural shifts.…

The Postman Who Built a Palace Made of Pebbles

This is the story of a French postman who spent thirty years of his life building his dream home– a palace made of pebbles and stones he found along his postal route…. Ferdinand Cheval allegedly first began building his “Palais Ideale” in 1879 when he tripped over an unusual stone. Inspired by its shape, he…

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