Postcards from Sochi: Summering with Stalin

Sochi, a Russian city on the Black Sea, is known for being a controversial host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, but I thought we might take a look back at the “Florida of Russia”, when it was still a socialist holiday resort for Soviet workers hoping to experience a semblance of the utopian future they had…

Some very, very Serious Thoughts on Paris and Hemingway

I finally read Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast this summer. Only 126 pages and one of literature’s classics; absorbing his narratives of the Paris quais and cafés, I felt an unavoidable sense of failure that it had taken me more than a quarter of a century to find the book. At the same time, I…

TENNIS ANYONE?

As a result of an evil faculty conspiracy within the sports department, I never made it onto the Varsity tennis team in high school. Being the true sportswoman I am however, I graciously accepted my place on the Junior Varsity (and then dropped out a week later thinking, screw this sh**). Anyhoo, tennis season is…

And now, the Bikini Bobbers of the Summer of 1961

Today, in totally random photo stories fished out of the internet, we have this rather inexplicable contraption that seems to have been invented for the sole purpose of bobbing buxom babes in bikinis around to the amusement of the passing crowd. It looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen, but hey, it was 1961– who needs safety to spoil…

The Hermès Secret Garden on a Paris Rooftop

High above the grand boutique windows of number 24 rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where Charles-Émile Hermès relocated his father’s harness workshop in 1880 and first began to retail saddlery, there is an exquisite little-known paradise that overlooks the rooftops of Paris. I stumbled upon some insider photographs by Quentin Bertoux of this secret little Parisian terrace, so let’s take a…

Out of Office

Hey! Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate you being here, whether you’re a daily devoted reader or an occasional visitor poking your head in to see what I’m up to. So I have an update to share. I’ve been writing a book on Paris as you might have heard, that will be coming out in 2017 and…

Fireflies of New York

Summer brings a certain magic to the air, but in some parts of the world, it brings the fairytale to life. Once a year, the winged beetle commonly known as a firefly or lightning bugs, put on a show to remember using chemical bioluminescence during twilight to attract sexual mates or prey. In firefly mating rituals, the males…

A 1940s Abalone Picnic

Looking for a lighthearted distraction from life, I went diving into the Life magazine archives and found just the thing– a Hollywood beach picnic circa 1944, with pretty ladies, handsome boys and a how-to guide on preparing freshly-caught Abalone steak sandwiches. The perfect way to start the weekend… Our picnic hosts are young actresses Martha O’Driscoll, Ramsay Ames and former Yugoslav swimming…

American Girls in Paris

Summer has arrived here in Paris, which means, so have the American college girls. For twenty-something Parisian boys, this is hunting season. American girls are numerous and they’re generally less intimidating than your average female Parisienne. French women –who are well aware of this themselves– are generally complicated and slightly nutty creatures. It is common…

A Compendium of Vintage Pool Parties

Some things just look like a lot more fun in vintage grainy photos. I found a ton of nostalgic of motel pool postcards on Flickr and couldn’t help but put together another little compendium of some fabulously kitsch “pool parties”. When I went road tripping in California last summer, I tried to stay in as many motels…