15 49.0138 8.38624 both 0 bullet 0 4000 1 0 horizontal https://www.messynessychic.com 300 4000

Category / Nostalgia

The Prettiest Pissoirs of Bygone Paris

Paris has always had a knack for making the ordinary and the mundane somehow look infinitely more charming, and even the city’s public toilets were once a thing of beauty… In the 1860s, French photographer Charles Marville was named the official photographer of Paris. Until his death in 1879, he documented the richness and diversity…

Who Remembers the “Studio 54” of Texas?

Coming of age in Dallas in the 1980s was synonymous with two words: Starck Club. The notorious nightclub brought scandal to the bible belt with an injection of European excess at the hands of a then-unknown French designer named Philippe Starck. In an abandoned concrete warehouse in the old part of town, past some forgotten…

The Tik Tok Generation Needs a Movie about The Abernathy Kids

In 1910, two boys, Louis and Temple Abernathy decided to cross America by horseback without adult supervision, from Oklahoma to Manhattan. They were just 10 and 6 years old. To get back home, they bought a car and drove it while their horses returned by train. This true but forgotten little adventure story struck me…

The Art of Homemaking in a World War Dugout

It all started with one photograph that caught my interest, and then through the course of today, I think I’ve easily gone through about 10,000 photographs, searching through various archives for another glimpse into how soldiers made a home for themselves on the front line. Above: A French WWI dugout called “The Chalet” (c) Denise…

An Ode to what they call “Duck Architecture”

Now I know. Did you? There’s an official name for all those kitschy roadside buildings shaped like the merchandise they’re selling. Most popular in the 1920s and 30s, giant coffee pots, hot dogs, ice cream cones, beer barrels, farm animals and other eye-catching buildings sprang up along the roadside, competing for the attention of passing…

Dollhouses of Death that trained America’s Detectives

I always found the game of Cluedo fell a bit flat. I wanted more from the murder mansion’s one-dimensional floor plan, and really, how were we ever supposed to solve crime with a cast of suspects crafted into tiny plastic tokens? But it turns out, around the very same time that the iconic American board game was being developed in…

The Lost Industry of Sign Painters

Sometimes I wonder about things like, who’s going to know how to make a piano in twenty years? Which skills will go extinct when the last generations of craftsmen and artisans can’t pass on the legacy of their trade? Forbes recently reported that despite a stubbornly high unemployment rate, skilled trades top the list of…

The Ghetto Brothers: Lost Legends of Rock’n’Roll

The Beatles from the Bronx… A Puerto Rican street gang turned community peacekeepers and rock’n’roll band, the Ghetto Brothers recorded their one and only album in 1972. When the streets of the Bronx, New York were plagued by 14 year-old warlords, drugs and prostitution, one unlikely group of teenagers created a unique sound that captured…

Trying to Sell the World’s Largest Record Collection

Five years ago, a young director made a documentary about a man named Paul Mawhinney who owns the largest record collection in the world. The short piece told the story of Paul’s struggle to keep his archive alive. In 2008, he had to close his store, Record-Rama, where he sold music and kept the last copies…

Who wants to Live in this Old Café in Paris?

At the foot of Montmartre, a Parisian café, or at least the ghost of one, has recently found its way onto the property market. Dating back to 1902, locals haven’t been able to get their caffeine fix here for a few decades, but the cheerful facade is still marked by old-world lettering on the windows,…

NEWER POSTS 1 … 77 78 79 … 191 OLDER POSTS