1. The Motormat, a Los Angeles drive-in where the food was sent out on conveyor belts right to your car, 1948 Found on Vintage Everyday. 2. These lovely sketches by Jeanne Lanvin from 1929 Found in the French National Archives. | Continue reading
What was once essentially a completely Greek city in the depths of Afghanistan, was lost under the desert sands for almost 2,000 years, hidden from history until its sensational rediscovery in the 1960s. It was christened by archeologists as Ai-Khanoum, or ‘Lady Moon’, after an U … | Continue reading
Jetting back to 1970s Japan, let’s get to know sultry film icon, actress, singer, and all-round badass Meiko Kaji. She rose to fame during the seventies at the height of what was known as the “pinky violence” Japanese film genre, which were essentially sexed up, bad girl action f … | Continue reading
Imagine the sweet sound of a duet between Elton John and Frédéric Chopin, or a Van Gogh painting interpreted in song by David Bowie. What if the lyrics for a Fleetwood Mac verse or a Pink Floyd anthem were ghost written by the famed 19th century female novelist George Sand? There … | Continue reading
1. Chinese ghost town of mansions reclaimed by farmers Cattle wander between the concrete shells of half-finished mansions in Shenyang, northeastern China, some of the only occupants of a luxury complex whose crumbling verandas and overgrown arches are stark symbols of a housing … | Continue reading
1. The understated, underrated photography of Evelyn Hofer When she was still alive, the art critic of the New York Times, Hilton Kramer championed her as “one of the most illustrious of living photographers”, but as Kramer pointed out, “She seems not even to have been heard of”. … | Continue reading
‘Roll up! Roll up! for the mystery tour’… a mystery indeed, given the chaos that subsequently engulfed The Beatles on their return from India to the West in 1968. Following the ground breaking success of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Fab Four plus an entourage of no l … | Continue reading
1. This Historic Home and Shop in Bath, England, is For Sale Biscuit factory, apothecary, emporium, and pub, this Bath property lived many lives before being converted into a house and shop by husband and wife duo, Patrick and Neri Williams, founders of Berdoulat. The Georgian li … | Continue reading
Wes Anderson did it again with another eye-feast of aesthetics in “Asteroid City”, set in futuristic quasi-mid-century Southwestern United States, a barren desert setting reminiscent of New Mexico or Arizona. He’s made us want to pack some hard-sided suitcases, load up the statio … | Continue reading
The Romans are famous for a lot of things – building and conquering empires, trade, art, foo – and don’t forget sex. Pompeii was excavated at the end of the 19th century and the archeologists who uncovered the city found themselves surrounded by erotic images at every turn. For m … | Continue reading
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Case in point: there’s a certain 19th century American housewife and single mother we should thank for giving us the mechanical dishwasher. You’ve probably never heard of her but Mrs. | Continue reading
1. Owlsley Stanley, the Acid King of the 1960s Stanley was a rather famed clandestine chemist who manufactured large quantities of LSD in the 60’s, provided LSD to the Beatles during the filming of “Magical Mystery Tour”. He also designed the Grateful Dead’s early sound and was t … | Continue reading
Ah, Belle Epoque Paris: a lost world of artists, writers, dancers, philosophers and …. potheads? Today, we’re getting acquainted with the long forgotten Club des Hashischins, “Club of the Hashish-Eaters”, a 19th century gang of Parisians dedicated to drug-induced experiences, who … | Continue reading
It’s time for a little gratuitous and greasy fast food nostalgia. Lovin’ it or hatin’ it, McDonald’s is a permanent fixture of the modern high street, but the nineties were a particularly experimental era for McDonald’s. The company was poised to push the boundaries of what a fas … | Continue reading
In a world rife with lifestyle influencers and “content houses,” where building one’s own notoriety is big business, it’s tempting to dismiss being famous for being famous as the most banal and basic kind of renown. But there was a time, with a burgeoning American press beginning … | Continue reading
Welcome to the curious world of Artist Alberto Martini, an obscure original visionary and precursor of surrealism. An illustrator, painter, sculptor, propagandist, and possessor of the graphic macabre. He would go on to influence an art movement, visualise the dark and grotesque … | Continue reading
1. The colourful covers of a Japanese lifestyle magazine, in production since 1948 The magazine is Kurashi No Techo, found via Present & Correct 2. Lewis Carroll’s Illustrations for “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground” (1864) Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript of Ailce in Wonderlan … | Continue reading
Plucking, shaving, waxing, epilating, threading, lasering – whatever preference one has for grooming body hair, we can probably all agree that most of the time, it would be easier if we didn’t have to do it all. And for a good part of Western civilization, underarm, leg, and pubi … | Continue reading
Pass the vinaigrette! No, not the salad dressing – we’re talking about the vinaigre de toilette. You’re forgiven for the confusion, being born in the wrong century and all. Let’s rewind about 150 years when a vinaigrette once commonly referred to a small container for smelling sa … | Continue reading
If you were to take a walk in Mumbai’s Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill, one of the city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, you might notice vultures circling above the trees in the distance. Behind the park’s manicured lawns and elegant flower gardens lies a 54-acre forest, home to … | Continue reading
1. Avast online archive of vintage interior advertising ADSAUSAGE preserves material relating to 20th-century advertising and popular culture, with a focus on film and Los Angeles history. Holdings maintain a collection of over 40,000 artifacts, encompassing newspapers, magazines … | Continue reading
Remember The Baby-Sitters Club? If you grew up in the nineties, had a perm or a crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas, you definitely swapped copies with your friends. The series, which details the lives of a group of pre-teens living and babysitting in suburban Connecticut was created … | Continue reading
The list of people who attended the March on Washington — Martin Luther King Jr., Josephine Baker, John Lewis and Harry Belafonte — there’s a who’s who of the activists, politicians and celebrities who defined the Civil Rights Movement. But Bayard Rustin, a trusted advisor and me … | Continue reading
Seventy-five years after she lay burning and capsized in the New York harbour, the French SS Normandie still holds the record as the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built. She is considered one of the greatest of ocean liners in history, a floatin … | Continue reading
1. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s art and antique collection heads to auction Check out the auction lots on Sotheby’s. 2. Why Young Collectors Are Buying Fussy Antiques “The news in the antiques world was, Young people are finished with this stuff, they’re never gonna like it … | Continue reading
Nothing says old-world luxury quite like the Orient Express. The train of kings, courtesans, spies, storytellers and murderers alike, all elegantly dressed and sipping on Champagne from cut-glass crystal flutes as European landscapes rolled by. The Orient Express, which linked Pa … | Continue reading
Fabulous, free and fashionable, France bloomed in the 1930s. The avant-garde arts flourished, Paris was at the centre of it all and her output was bountiful. The creative giants of the day, Picasso, Cocteau, Coco Chanel, May Ray, Beauvoir and Sartre, the Lost Generation and their … | Continue reading
The first-known public museum opened over 2,500 years ago – and it was curated by a woman. Her name was Ennigaldi-Nanna. She was a priestess and princess, the daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who was also an antiquarian and known as the first ser … | Continue reading
Some artists leave us tangled legacies– reputations tied up in creative theft, family feuds and unresolved estates. Others, like Adolf Wölfli, leave us a veritable Pandora’s Box for consideration. At a glance, Wölfli’s work oozes the sentiments of Psychedelic art; its kaleidoscop … | Continue reading
1. “Dreaming of Pomegranates”, 1913, by Felice Casorati an Italian painter, sculptor and printmaker More from this artist found on Weimar Art. 2. A master-planned retirement community with more than 1,740 RV homes Mobile home and RV parks cover a considerable portion of eastern M … | Continue reading
The swashbuckling frilly shirts, waist-cinching belts, man brooches, contouring make-up, jodhpurs and jack boots – was Spandau Ballet the most underrated fashion statement of the 80s? Outside of Britain (and the 1980s) the obscurely-named band might stand in the shadows of their … | Continue reading
The possible survival and escape of the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, was one of most captivating and romantic mysteries of the 20th century. The youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, was assumed to have been tragically murdered along with her parents and siblings by … | Continue reading
There was one way only for Europe’s intellectual elite to become a member of what is probably history’s oddest Masonic societies: by puckering up to the rear end of a pug as an expression of total devotion. You read correctly; the mid-18th century was filled with pantaloon-clad l … | Continue reading
1. The U.S. Is Giving Away Lighthouses for Free Each year, the US General Services Administration auctions off lighthouses to the public. | Continue reading
When Willem Arondeus said, “Let it be known, homosexuals aren’t cowards’’, on the eve of his execution in 1943, he was speaking for himself and countless others who gave and risked their lives to end the tyranny and oppression that the LGBTQ community faced under Nazi rule. It is … | Continue reading
You shall go to the Ball! The Belle Époque was that party at the end of the 19th century when European influence, wealth, culture and glamour reigned supreme. All wanted to join the party, and Detroit, that French Trading post on the North American lakes, was up for it. Prosperou … | Continue reading
It’s as American as Apple Pie in all its neon-lit glory, evoking our collective cultural memory of 1950s road-tripping, film noir fugitive hideouts and the golden age of kitsch. The motel is as much a part of the American open road as the gas station and the roadside diner, an in … | Continue reading
There isn’t one clear inventor of electronic music, although if you start looking, you’ll find that an overwhelming number of early pioneers who shaped its history were women. On both a technical and creative level, women have and continue to revolutionalize electronic music. As … | Continue reading
1. Cardboard studies of shops & little businesses in L.A By Ana Serrano found via Present & Correct. 2. | Continue reading
As we traverse the world of modern digital technology from smart phones to artificial intelligence, the game of chess still captivates and challenges people the world over. Chess, it seems, has thrived due to the advancement in connectivity. But 200 years earlier, before this ele … | Continue reading
I say “Pop Art”, you say Andy Warhol … or maybe Roy Lichtenstein. Pop is often seen as a quintessentially mid-century American (and male) movement, a reaction to overconsumption and popular images encapsulated by Warhol’s soup cans. But Pop Art actually dates back to artists work … | Continue reading
1. Luna Luna, the secret art amusement park hidden away for 35 years One summer in 1987, the world’s first art amusement park appear in Hamburg Germany, featuring a ferris wheel by Basquiat, a carrousel by Keith Haring, an enchanted tree by David Hockney, a glass maze by Roy Lich … | Continue reading
When it was completed in 1929, it was advertised as the most beautiful hotel in the world, with some 500 bedrooms, some with their own swimming pools. But the Royal Picardy was only in operation for about 20 years, was abandoned for 20 more and finally destroyed in 1968. While th … | Continue reading
You might think John, Paul, George and Ringo made a name for themselves gigging around Liverpool. Well think again, on both counts. In 1960, John, Paul, George, Pete and Stuart cut their teeth in Hamburg, before they ever made it big at home. Pete and Stuart? | Continue reading
While you’re almost certainly familiar with his unrivalled genius as a painter, inventor, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor or architect, there is a little-known aspect of Leonard DaVinci’s life rarely taken into consideration in the context of art history; one … | Continue reading
Known as ‘The City of Light’ for nearly two centuries, Paris led the way during the Age of Enlightenment, and yet history has forgotten one of the most bizarre and beautiful uses of light ever witnessed by Parisian society: electric jewellery. During the Belle Epoque, the chicest … | Continue reading
1. Just a three-storey 7th Century Cave In Maharashtra, India, the Ellora Caves is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, featuring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments, and artwork, dating from the 600-1000 CE pe … | Continue reading
We love a good story about a missing painting missing. This one starts in Christmas of 2008: a Hungarian art historian is at home with his young daughter Lola, watching the popular children’s film Stuart Little, when he notices a painting in the background that shakes him up so m … | Continue reading