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Category / Time travel

The Wreckers of New York City, 1951

It’s an enduring, ongoing cultural conflict everywhere in the world: progress vs tradition. There are those for “progress”, be it visionary forward-thinkers or money-driven demolishers of precious history and culture. Then there are the “traditionalists”; identified as either pillars of reason and impeccable taste or bitterly out-of-touch relics who really ought to quit their hollering, move aside and let the rest of…

Borrow an East London Time Capsule House

At number 4 Princelet Street in East London, there is an 18th century yellow brick Georgian time capsule behind the Old Spitalfields Market. The double fronted merchant’s house, conserved in its original condition from top to bottom, is one of the last of the original houses to be built on the street where dozens of…

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…

Documenting the Giants of Roadside America

California native, Debra Jane Seltzer, must have the most sizeable independently-run website I’ve ever come across– and that’s not just because it’s full of the roadside giants she documents. Roadside Architecture is literally huge, containing more than 2,300 pages and over 60,000 photos. Banging away at her website for nearly 15 years now, Debra has…

What Happens when You Discover 31 Rolls of Undeveloped Film from a WWII Soldier

“Lucky Strike Beach”, “Start of Train Trip”, “Roll of French funeral, 1947”; these are some of the labels found on 31 never-developed rolls of film taken over 70 years ago by an American World War II soldier. One film was wrapped in some kind of a letter that reads: “I’ve always had a lonesome life, dreaming…

5 of the Rarest and Raddest Motors up for Auction Today

It’s Friday, the perfect time to daydream about a set of hot wheels to ride off at full-speed into the weekend with. RM Auctions has kicked off the auction season in Arizona this week with a eye-popping selection of automobiles. The final bids going under the hammer today so I’ve picked out my favourites because I’m pretty…

It’s Time for Show & Tell with the Vintage Camera Collection You Always Wanted

I found John Kratz and his camera collection on another one of my internet browsing adventures and was immediately taken with his sharp eye for vintage design. I love how some of his cameras just look like miniature art deco buildings. John is an experienced photographer, but here’s the thing about his collection– he hasn’t used a single camera……

The Vintage Menu Collector: 25,000 Restaurants by One Woman

I love reading menus. They are the shop windows of the kitchen and provide a playful sense of gambling for what might just be the best of worst meal of your life. Today I stumbled upon a rather mind-boggling collection on the NYPL Digital archives of thousands of restaurant menus dating as far back as 1851.…

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…

The Ski Lodge Party, 1942

It’s a glorious day for skiing (and hiking up the hill) in Mount Hood, Oregon, so let’s join the Timberline Lodge Ski Club circa 1942… Off to a stylish start with a smooth mount on the chair lift… Chair lift blanket chic. Check out those ski goggles. But as the weather conditions begin to deteriorate,…

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