A Dozen Celebrity Digs That Remind us to Go Big or Go Home

As long as folks have had money, they’ve had the ability to realise interior designs that most of us can only dream about – to breathe new life into ancient Italian villas, or hole up in a French seaside fortress; to live out their days in a storybook windmill, or commission a veritable spaceship. Our…

The First Faces of Manhattan

Why did they sell Manhattan for $24 worth of beads and trinkets? That’s one version of the story anyway, about the legendary transaction between the European colonisers and a once powerful indigenous nation. The Dutch called it “New Amsterdam”, and then it became “New York” under the British. But isn’t it about time we all…

The Undertaker Village of Paris: Then & Now

It was a time when divorcées were only allowed to be buried at night, when the Arch of Triomphe wore a black mourning veil, and the business of death was booming in Paris. In fact, over one thousand undertakers worked together in their own veritable mini-city at the town’s edge, from coffin makers and casket…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCLXX)

1. This 30,000,000 year old volcanic plume in New Mexico Shiprock pinnacle, photographed by Jordan Hammond. 2. Ancient Chinese cottage built on top of a mountain in Suiyang Shuanghedong National Geopark View this post on Instagram A post shared by History Cool Kids ® (@historycoolkids) on Sep 20, 2019 at 5:10pm PDT 3. Tibetan Yaks…

I See a Road Trip to New York’s Village of Psychics in Your Future

When the forests of Upstate New York are blanketed in orange and brown hues during the fall of Autumn leaves, there are few places more bewitching to escape for the weekend. But there is certainly no place quite like the enchanting hamlet of Lily Dale, NY, population: 275, where over 50 registered spiritual mediums are in residence…

A Brief Compendium of the Most Petite Places in Paris

Space is scarce within Paris’ péripherique. As the most densely populated city in Europe, residents of the City of Light have learned to be creative with every nook and cranny. Beyond the mind-bogglingly miniature apartments and comically small lifts, there are those who have transformed the unlikeliest of spaces into fully functional cultural spaces, boutiques…

5 Fairytale Sleepovers in Case You Don’t Win that Night at Downton Abbey

It’s finally happening. Highclere Castle, aka the legendary English estate that’s hosted Downton Abbey, is opening up its gilded doors for a once-in-a-lifetime slumber party. In partnership with Airbnb, the castle will welcome two lucky guests to live out the wildly popular TV drama. Reservation opportunities go live on October 1st at 12PM BST, and…

The Overlooked Occult Movie Legend who holds Hollywood’s Darkest Secrets

As an artist and an outsider, Kenneth Anger was the West Coast’s answer to Andy Warhol – a California boy who hosted rituals for the Church of Satan in his San Francisco mansion, and introduced the Rolling Stones to the occult; a man who found a muse in Mick Jagger, but a bigger one in…

Step inside an Ali Baba’s Cave of Dried Flowers

Somewhere in between Paris and Provence in the small town of Bayet, a floral wonderland awaits. For 35 years, husband and wife team Véronique and Jean-François have been harvesting, drying and selling over fifty varieties of flower on their 7000m² farm in the countryside of Auvergne. And you’re invited to stop in anytime and frolic…

Muse du Jour: David Bowie’s Real ‘Lady Grinning Soul’

No one could shake it like Claudia Lennear. Or sing, for that matter. The 1960s-70s vocalist backed some of the music industry’s greatest talents, from Ike and Tina Turner to Joe Cocker; George Harrison to Stephen Still, but emerged as a powerhouse performer in her own right. “A tour de force from start to finish,”…