How to Make an American Anti-Hero

They crusaded with horns sprouting from their heads, and rifles slung across their backs. Legend has it they decreed the virtues of the Holy Bible in one hand, and a torch in the other. They were known as the “Bald Knobbers,” and for a period of time in the lawless Ozark Mountains of a post-Civil…

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

1. What Ali wore. Berlin’s 83 year-old dandy. “This is Ali. He walks past my work every morning wearing great clothes,” explains photographer Zoe Spawton, who works in a cafe in Berlin and began noticing Ali as he walked passed every morning at 9:05am, impeccably dressed. She began to take his photo and launched What Ali Wore in…

Girl Friends, Inc: The African American Social Clubs of Yesteryear

It all started over a pot of stew in the summer of 1927. Eunice Shreeves rang a fews friends to come over to her New York home, break bread, and make a few more memories before heading their separate ways for college. The Harlem Renaissance was at its peak, and these ladies were headed to…

Preserved Moments of Historical Sass (Vol. 10)

sassy: adjective \ˈsa-sē\ impudent, lively, spirited, vigorous, distinctively smart and stylish, showing no respect for people in authority, saucy, pert, confident, chic. Greece, 1960s, submitted to Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/996n6h/my_dad_with_my_uncle_greece_late_60s/ And we’re back, with a new edition of cool kids of history, giving plenty of sass to the camera. Nothing more, nothing less… 1942 The Brooklyn high school pants protest…

Before Hedy, There Was Barbara Lamarr

God, we’re a sucker for a woman like Barbara La Marr. She was one of those rare cases in which someone is so utterly charismatic, they can get away with almost anything. Constant embellishing of her life’s story, deliciously reckless behaviour, a tangled string of fiery romances — she ticked every box with flying colours,…

Camping like Wes Anderson: The Real Moonrise Kingdom

Since 1899 (that’s long before Wes Anderson ever made Moonrise Kingdom), this charming campground has been welcoming travellers to Yosemite National Park with its picturesque tented accommodation and cinematic backdrops. This place my friends, is the real Moonrise Kingdom. Formerly known as Camp Curry, until a trademark dispute with a private concessions company of the same name saw…

What Happened to Picasso’s Mysterious Teenage Muse?

For a few Spring months in 1954, a melancholy Picasso found himself enraptured by 19-year-old Sylvette David. Of all the muses who bookmarked his life — and there were many — she’s fallen to the wayside of history as one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood. For years, critics wrote the body of work she…

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

1. The Cruise Ship that could have been The Dornier Do X was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world when it was produced by the Dornier company of Germany in 1929. First conceived by Dr. Claude Dornier in 1924, planning started in late 1925 and after over 240,000 work-hours it was completed in June 1929. The type was popular with…

The Vault

Don’t Be a Tourist in Romania

This summer, my curiosity took me to Romania, a former communist Balkan country with a notoriously bad rep as a backwards land of gypsies with zero infrastructure for any semblance of tourism. Why do you want to go to Romania?! I was consistently asked in the run-up to our trip. My unspoken answer: to prove you…

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The Musician Searching for Forgotten Pianos Inside Derelict Wonders

Debussy said music is all about “the silence between the notes.” But for Romain Thiery, it’s about making sure that silence doesn’t grow too loud. Since 2009, the pianist, photographer, and overall urbex Renaissance man has been spotlighting the world’s grandest pianos in their final hour, in equally stunning and crumbling abodes, to give them…