Stop Everything, Live Vicariously in Sweden’s Miniature Mouse World

For a brief moment, why not forget all the troubles of the big ol’ world out there and downsize in this tiny haven built for mice. Sweden has its own kind of Banksy you see; an anonymous artists collective which has been quietly installing miniature mouse-themed urban infrastructure, hidden in plain sight on the streets…

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

1. The Uncertain Future of America’s most beautiful soda fountain This summer, the 93-year-old Long Island Mom & Pop shop announced that it was going out of business. The statement said the cause was not COVID, but that the landlord is selling the building housing Hildebrandt’s and the new owners were moving in another direction.…

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

1. There’s a 1000 year-old lost city beneath the St Louis suburbs Cahokia was the largest pre-Columbia city in what is now the United States. Its pyramids and earthen mounds stood near present-day East St. Louis, IL. Around the year 1050, it had 30,000 people, making it larger than London or Paris at the time.…

The Radical History of Women Smoking

We don’t really need a reminder of just how bad smoking is for us. Bad for our physical health, the environment, and cringe-worthy on so many social justice levels. Why is it then, that women always looked so damn cool smoking their cigarettes in vintage photographs? There’s a complicated blend between our lifetime exposure to…

All Aboard! The Lost Romance of the Sleeper Train

Books, songs and movies have long-romanticised what it’s like to travel overnight on a sleeper train. Judy Garland took us on a musical ride along the Santa Fe Railway in The Harvey Girls, while Bing Crosby and company whisked us across the American plains to the mountains of Vermont aboard a beautifully vintage streamliner train…

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

1. Prostitution in Paris of Yore From the Eugene Atget collection and photographs by Ed Clark from the Life Archives. 2. Meet Yvette, 95, The Fierce Concierge Who Hasn’t Left Her Parisian Apartment in 6 Years View this post on Instagram A post shared by Documentary Weekly (@documentaryweekly) on Aug 3, 2020 at 9:00am PDT…

Doomsday Prepping in the Belle Epoque

Ah, to have planned for a comet apocalypse in the Belle Epoque! Looks like a wild time, according to all the 19th and 20th century postcards with folks soaring through the skies, bum over noggin, towards a starry death. Out of all the (ultimately) anti-climactic close comet calls, the 1910 approach of Halley’s Comet takes…

Nearly 50 Years On, a Forbidden Seaside Ghost Town is about to Re-Open

Imagine a millionaire’s resort; one to rival St. Tropez, Italy’s Portofino, or Miami’s South Beach – abandoned overnight. Imagine the luxury hotels suddenly emptied of their guests and left to slowly decay, the boutiques, bars and nightclubs reclaimed by nature, sunbathers replaced by sea turtles nesting on the deserted beaches and the once vibrant holiday…

Don’t Be a Tourist in Croatia – New eBook

When Hollywood needs to shoot unspoilt locations in the South of France; hidden turquoise bays and an old world Mediterranean that some might argue no longer exists; they find it in Croatia. The Romans vacationed here, leaving marks of their Empire along the Adriatic coast. More affordable than Tuscany, rustic restaurants and their truffle-infused dishes…

An Ode to the Man Who Dressed Ziggy Stardust

Every once in a while, pop culture gives us a duo whose legacies feel almost magnetically intertwined. David Bowie and the Japanese designer Kasai Yamamoto created some of the most iconic, gender-bending stage outfits the world had ever seen. Yet, for being such a fashionable and cultural force on East and Western stages, Yamamoto is…