[caption id="attachment_84284" align="aligncenter" width="475"] Eric Clapton, wearing a crocheted "100% Birgitta" jacket by Birgitta Bjerke, performs with... | Continue reading
"If radioactivity is the thing that makes Vaseline glass cool, it’s not what makes Vaseline glass glow."Let’s say you’re that tchotchkes dealer’s ... | Continue reading
The great cities of the West weren’t even complete before urban dwellers fantasized escaping them. Compelled by sublime landscapes and the conservationi... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_84830" align="aligncenter" width="625"] "How To Make Good Pictures" (Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak Co., 1943). Source: Collection o... | Continue reading
Danger! Warning! Intruder Approaching! For recalling the fears and aspirations of the space-race 1950s, Japanese toy robots can't be beat. But how much do... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_83971" align="aligncenter" width="603"] Scott Thompson with a small portion of his metallic menagerie and a few of his trunks.[/ca... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_83251" align="aligncenter" width="501"] Syrena-Electro was Poland's premier manufacturer of Polish tango records between World War... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_81545" align="alignnone" width="500"] A children's workbook cover from Italy, c. 1900.[/caption]There’s a reason that Anne Frank... | Continue reading
"When I got to San Francisco in 1970, I discovered that maybe it was the mecca of underground comix for the guys, but not for the girls.”As both a comic... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_81195" align="alignnone" width="600"] An unnamed inmate at Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas carves a patriotic eagle from har... | Continue reading
Compared to today's sleek micro-gadgets, boomboxes are like electronic dinosaurs, dated as much by their ludicrous size as their outmoded technology. Beg... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_80974" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Fay Jones' artwork for Stasis, one of the original 295 cards in "Magic: The Gathering." ©... | Continue reading
On a decrepit block of Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, hidden behind a dilapidated, aging façade, lies the ghost of a palatial dining hall filled with... | Continue reading
From the neon tubes of theater marquees to your desk lamp at work, from the million-watt glare of sports stadiums to the nightlight faintly glowing in you... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_80051" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Swizzle sticks organized by color, from the collection of Pam Ashlund.[/caption]Lots of pe... | Continue reading
Remembering David Bowie, most people rightfully think of his genre-defying music and androgynous, futuristic fashion sense. But Memphis-Milano furniture? ... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_78757" align="alignnone" width="618"] George Fullerton (left) testing a Stratocaster in the Fender factory, sometime in the mid-to... | Continue reading
"At some point, we decided that somebody on a bike or on foot is not traffic, but an obstruction to traffic."“If you look at newspapers from American ci... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_78274" align="alignnone" width="626"] The Defence Line Monument in Novorossiysk, Russia, featuring four giant hands holding PPSh s... | Continue reading
Larry Boyce was the late 20th-century's greatest champion of the stenciled frieze. An Oscar Wilde-like character in pith helmet and zebra-striped tights, ... | Continue reading
If you want to understand San Francisco’s self-inflicted housing crisis, look no further than the city’s very first zoning law, commonly known as the ... | Continue reading
When Bob Meistrell started surfing in Northern California during the early 1950s, 20 minutes was about all he could stand in the frigid coastal waters. De... | Continue reading
"The drink became symbolic of America, and even freedom in a way. It made Coca-Cola more than just another fizzy drink."Faced with all this bad press, it | Continue reading
Futzing around on social media, as one does, I recently stumbled upon a meme that hit close to home. Over a picture-patterned sofa in an autumnal-colored ... | Continue reading
The term "robot" was coined in the 1920s, so it's tempting to think of the robot as a relatively recent phenomenon, less than 100 years old. After all, ho... | Continue reading
Consider the sweet, intoxicating smell of a rose: While it might seem superficial, the bloom's lovely odor is actually an evolutionary tactic meant to e... | Continue reading
Despite the oft-repeated mantra of America's criminal-justice system—that one is innocent until proven guilty—mugshots suggest otherwise. Although ... | Continue reading
Like many great things, it all started with toilet paper: In the spring of 1966, the Scott Paper Company, a major manufacturer of disposable household pap... | Continue reading
[caption id="attachment_12608" align="aligncenter" width="364"] An example of a figure-eight hukilau shirt.[/caption]In this interview, author and scholar... | Continue reading
In Donald Trump’s America, the tough guys are in charge now, and they don't want to hear from any nerdy intellectuals. Scientists are dropping from gove... | Continue reading
There's something undeniably beautiful about prosthetic limbs, designed to echo the physical grace and mechanical engineering of the human body. For most... | Continue reading
Everybody hates wallpaper. From the red flocked-velvet damasks that once darkened the walls of Wild West bordellos to the garish supergraphics that give c... | Continue reading
Before the youth of America fooled around at drive-ins and necked on Lover’s Lane, they coupled in canoes. Boatloads of them. In the early 1900s, canoes... | Continue reading
Every day, exciting new technologies and inventions designed to make our lives better make us crazy instead—if we’re lucky. A document you’ve been w... | Continue reading