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Category / Conversation Starters

The Godfather Bar, Still Open.

Once upon a time, Michael Corleone sat on the shady terrace of a local Sicilian bar after a day of hunting with his bodyguards in the mountains. He began to enquire with the bar owner about a beautiful girl he had seen by the roadside. The man quickly realised that Michael was describing his own daughter and…

Circus Girl University, Class of ’52

Did you know that there are currently two collegiate circuses in the United States that have year-round programs to teach students how to become circus performers? Maybe if you had known you might have given another thought to your list of college applications… The Florida State University circus program has been going since 1947 and although it…

The Rotting Underwater Ballroom of a Victorian Bernie Madoff

Beneath the lake of a once lavish Victorian estate built by a flamboyant mining tycoon, a secret awaits… (c) Forgotten Heritage At murkey water’s edge, a stone structure being overtaken by greenery hides a locked door. If you happen to have the right key, it will lead you down a spiral staircase and underneath the lake…

Big Empty Italian Castles For Sale

There is an Italian real estate agency that currently has 70 castles up for sale on its books. That’s an unusually high amount of castles, wouldn’t you say? Each more breathtaking than the last, I spent the morning scrolling through 59 pages of deserted castles, villas and historic properties for sale on the Florence-based realtor’s website,…

The Mysterious Trophy Room Found under a Boston Bridge

Past the construction signs on the Cambridge side of the Longfellow Bridge, a Boston landmark over the Charles River, an unexpected suprise awaits. A few perplexed passersby have snapped the display and posted it on the web, asking for more information about it… (c) City Owls Upon stumbling upon it, you might imagine a story of a…

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…

That time the Paris Metro was Segregated by a Class System

Today I pulled up an old New York Times article reporting the news that Paris’ subway system had eliminated its First and Second class carriage system. But the newspaper article wasn’t from 1950-something, it was from 1991. Image (c) Flickr, Alexandre C Forgive me, but for someone living in a country whose national motto is “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”, and…

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 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…

Fill in the Blank: I Wish this Abandoned Building Was …

What if we had the power to decide what became of the neglected buildings in our cities? What if sharing our ideas and feedback could really influence and shape the development of public spaces in our neighbourhoods? Artist Candy Chang is wishing for a world like that– and trying to make her wish come true … Do…

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