The Revolutionary ’70s Girl Group That Swept Bowie off His Feet

“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time,” David Bowie told Rolling Stone magazine in 1999. They were called “Fanny,” and they were a breath of fresh air in an industry where few women, let alone all-girl groups, were given the space to rock out. Fanny saw that space, and claimed…

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Hollywood Ghost Diner

I‘ve been on the lookout for a truly authentic 1950s diner since I arrived in California. I finally found it, driving down Wilshire Boulevard and screeching to a halt as soon as I locked eyes on its mighty mid-century neon facade. Only one problem: Johnie’s Coffee Shop isn’t serving any coffee and waffles today … or tomorrow. At a closer look through…

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Get to Know the Woman behind these Real-Life Wes Anderson Interiors

Like it or not, we’re living in a Wes Anderson world; from fashion trends to instagram fads to interiors, the director’s aesthetic has well and truly taken over. And if you want to make it your business to know the names of the movers & shakers behind our current generation’s design movement, you should probably…

The Jim Morrison Ghost Hangouts of LA

The year was 1969 and The Doors were gearing up for the release of their fifth album, Morrison Hotel. Driving around Los Angeles in a VW van, as only Jim Morrison would, the band and their photographer were location scouting for the album’s cover shoot when they came upon the Morrison Hotel at 1246 South Hope Street…

The Music Your Plants Are Making in Secret

Think twice the next time you pluck a daisy from the sidewalk, because that flower may actually be ‘screaming’ in a language you don’t understand— or at least, not yet. Today, we’re cracking the code of the fascinating world of plant sentience, a.k.a., the secret way in which everything from your Ikea houseplant to a…

Vintage Muse du Jour: The Greatest Diva of them All

It’s 1970, and for once, the world’s greatest soprano is silent. Interviewer David Frost has just asked her, “Who really is Maria Callas?,” la Divina takes a moment to answer. “There are actually two people in me,” she says, “There is ‘Maria’ and there is the ‘Callas’ that I have to live up to.” But which one must…

Mods vs Rockers in Brighton’s Battle of the Beach Chairs, 1964

One of my favourite things to come across when I’m researching is a snapshot from history that I’m completely unfamiliar with. A forgotten story to re-discover, another clue to the bigger picture or just a bizarre anecdote from the past; these are my little treasures hiding under rocks. And today, I found these baffling and beautiful photographs of what I can only…

How Does Your Atomic Garden Grow?

Have you ever seen a strangely misshapen tomato growing in your vegetable garden? A uniquely pigmented plant in your backyard that’s just not like others, able to thrive even in the harshest of seasons? There’s a very good chance that it could be an atomic heirloom from a forgotten atomic garden of the 1950s and 60s. While…

Memories of a Summer on the Coast of Yugoslavia

Summer holidays on the coast of the Adriatic in Yugoslavia in the 60’s? An offbeat vacation spot that isn’t the Cote d’Azur nor Dirty Dancing’s Kellerman’s, but something in between. Mountains, beaches, shopping, midnight dinners, and more; these shots make us nostalgic for early photojournalism and magazine covers with smiling vacationers, vintage wardrobes, and the irresistible happiness that…

A 1960s London Bus Back in Service (for Cocktails & Fine Dining)

This is so brilliantly British, but I’m warning you now, you probably won’t be able to finish this article without feeling an overwhelming urge to break out in your most ridiculously posh English accent. Years and years ago, restaurant critic Simon Davis bought a 1966 Routemaster from a garage in Hemel Hempstead. The double-decker London…