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Category / People / Icons / Muses

Whiskey Flavoured Toothpaste, 1955

By the time Don Poynter was a college student, he had already created his company Poynter International and was spending nearly half his time in Asia manufacturing novelty products. Among his inventions were the first talking toilet seat, the first basketball backboard for a wastebasket, Jayne Mansfield’s official hot water bottle and the world’s smallest…

A Prime Minister’s Abandoned Beirut Mansion

There’s one type of home you don’t really expect to find crumbling in an abandoned and decaying state– such as the ones that belonged to heads of state or government, for example. But when a country tears itself to shreds in a civil war, I suppose we can begin to understand how the upkeep of an exiled…

Hot Wheels: Janis Joplin’s Porsche

In 1968, Janis Joplin bought herself a 1965 Porsche 356c Cabriolet, one of 16,674 356c’s ever produced. It had one of the most desirable configurations with convertible spec, disc brakes and the hot engine. She had her roadie, Dave Richards paint it while she was on tour, a psychedelic paint job he called, “the history…

A Day with Charlie in Paris

We were late, we were late for a very important date. The march began at 3 o’ clock but Paris was blocked at every turn. So we took the highway and whizzed around the city with a little encouragement from the traffic regulators… We jumped in with the march, though more of a pleasant stroll…

NYC’s Secret Japanese Kitchen

Inside a nondescript Brooklyn building, there’s a door to an imaginary world with beautiful random objects, edible flowers, bicycles … and a secret Japanese restaurant. We’re not talking about just another social dining club and a have-a-go chef, but a seriously gifted host whose level of cooking is being whispered about as a talent which far surpasses anything…

Then & Now: The Rolling Stones’ French Villa of Debauchery

In the Spring of 1971, Keith Richards began renting a villa on the Côte d’Azur for $2,500 a month. The British government was threatening to confiscate the bands’ funds if they did not leave the country by April 5th of that year as part of the Labour government’s punitive 93% tax on high earners. The Rolling…

For Sale: Burt Reynolds’ Rolodex and other Awkward Stuff He’s Selling

So here’s a unique Christmas gift– Burt Reynolds’ Rolodex! You could own BR’s very own “little black book” from his home office, including the (possibly/ very likely out-of-date) contact information for his groovy celebrity friends, restaurants, and business contacts. It’s basically priceless (but last time I checked it has a current bid of $900). Burt Reynolds was…

The 1920s College Kids and the Fur “Pimp Coat” Craze

Man has worn fur since he was living in a cave, but there’s something about this photograph and the fresh-faced young men, all “pimped-out” in full-length fur that stopped me in my tracks. I had stumbled upon a snapshot of a moment in fashion history when American Ivy league-ers and young college undergrads began sporting…

Ballets Russes goes to the Beach! Inside the Private Photo Album of a Prima Ballerina

Imagine sunbathing at the beach next to your own impromptu performance by some of the most talented dancers that ever lived– in their ‘speedos’. These photographs are that day at the beach. Intimate snapshots from the private albums of Irena Baronova, the “baby ballerina” who was recruited by the Ballets Russes at just 13 years of age,…

The Free Restaurants of Sikh Temples that serve guests of any Religion or Background

This is a Sikh Temple in San Jose, California. Here, and at any other Sikh place of worship in the world, they serve free meals for all visitors, regardless of religion, race, background, gender or social status. The temples are called gurdwara, where Sikhs pay their respect for the teachings and commandments of the Ten Gurus, and in every…

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