Has Coronavirus Killed the Menu? An Ode to the Restaurant Staple

Ah, Paris! Global capital of couture, style, and…menus? As café terraces welcome back patrons post-lockdown, it’s comes to the attention of our Paris team that tangible menus have gone digital across the city. Restaurants are displaying QR barcodes for customers to scan and access menus via their smartphones in order to avoid spreading les microbes.…

Our Zoom Date with Artist & Picasso Muse, “Sylvette David”

In April of 1954, a young Sylvette David became one of Pablo Picasso’s most iconic, if not enigmatic muses (if you haven’t read our article of her story, we suggest you do that first and come back). Who was this ethereal woman with an intelligent stare and the impossibly high ponytail? More than half a…

There’s an Iconic Art Deco Department Store Frozen in Time inside an LA Law School

It’s a spring afternoon in 1936, as you pull up to the doorstep of 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The valet takes your car, the doorman tips his cap, and suddenly you find yourself in the belly of a 230,000-square-foot mecca of West Coast fashion. Known as “Bullocks Wilshire,” this storied California department store was…

We Found a California B&B that Might be Madder than the Madonna Inn

As unabashed lovers of the more-is-more mantra, we were destined to fall in love with “The Victorian Mansion at Los Alamos” – which is anything but Victorian, in a way. It can be a 1950s drive-in, or a Parisian escape; a pirate’s lair, or a gladiator’s delight. The last Victorian estate in the area, this mansion-turned-B&B…

How to Soak Up New York City in Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Style

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese’s latest ode to the Italian-American East Coast, and the unflinching mobsters who held its purse strings in the 1970s. It’s also an utter delight for the New Yorker at heart: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino take us on a slow burning trip down memory lane to find…

A Time Travelling Greenwich Village Studio Hides an Incredible Art Collection

Wait for no muse. Make a habit of working all the time. Let your wooden sculptures grow up, and your bronze sculptures grow out. Such was the world according to Chaim Gross, the patron saint of bohemian Greenwich Village. As an Arts educator, he was bar none in passion and gave playfully acerbic advice (this…

This might just be the Largest Collection of Outsider Art to ever Go on Sale

There are a lot of antique collectors on the world wide web. Professional seekers of this-n-that, people who track down rarities solely to turn a profit – which is all fine and well. But Dale Smith is different, and our ears perked up when the story of his collection landed in our inbox. “I don’t…

A Brief Compendium of “Are You Seriously Going to Eat That?”

Crab cakes anyone? They should have a museum out of misfortunate mid-century menus. Seriously, what were they thinking? Food styling has come a long, long way. I dare you to make one for your Friday night dinner guests. Shrimp Cocktail Tree, found on Pinterest. Stanley Kubrick Egg Treats, found on Flickr. You’re going to need a…

Was Inflatable Furniture Really All that Bad?

As we dream of sipping an ice cold margarita on a floaty pool mattress, far from the stuffiness of our cubicles, a certain nostalgia comes to mind: the age of 1960s, blow up “living.” Through furniture, rooms, even a car, the inflatable life brought a welcome touch of relaxation and sheer goofiness to a design…

The Kitschiest Hotel in the World

Imagine a place where caveman bedding, lime green carpeting and hotel rooms named after cultural ethnicities went unquestioned; where the sound of electric waterfalls and squeaking plastic leather seating was welcomed. My friend, you don’t have to imagine anymore, now that you know there’s a place where your inner-kitsch can be free. Welcome to the…