The American Theme Park Town that started as a Beer Stand in the Prohibition Aftermath

It’s highway Americana at its best and it all started in 1949 with a shocking-pink beer stand just south of the state border for the thirsty patrons of North Carolina where it was illegal to sell alcohol in its counties. Over the years, its grown from a lone beer stand into a fabulously kitsch 300…

The Vault

The Soviet Propaganda Fabrics We Probably Shouldn’t be Lusting After

On one hand, they’re undeniably beautiful and intricate patterns that could make a very attractive scarf collection were a fashion designer willing to give them a style comeback. On the other hand, if anyone were to take a second look at your scarf, they would find the image of a communist regime… These are the communist…

Pssst! You've stumbled across content that is exclusive to Nessy's Keyholders.

There’s a new way to access the really special stuff from Messy Nessy Chic …

Hidden beneath the surface layers of the internet, there’s a place where we keep our most secret addresses, untapped archives, creator’s inspiration, collector’s guides, explorer’s manuals, obscure research and much more… And it’s made for our keyholders only!

Apply now to unlock the Vault

Keyholder Login

Hockey and Swastikas

Much like the toothbrush moustache, Hitler ruined it for everyone. The swastika of course, was once a very common symbol of good luck, something a women’s hockey team competing in a male-dominated sport certainly needed at a time when most Americans believed women shouldn’t work outside the home if their husband’s held jobs. Meet the…

The Underground Travelling Tiki Bar

Tiki, unlike disco, is not dead. It may have been sleeping off a hangover in a cabana somewhere since the mid 1970s, but the kitsch phenomenon is alive and well… Pictured above is one of Los Angeles’ most iconic tiki bars of yesteryear, Vagabond’s House, during its heyday on Wilshire Boulevard in the 1950s. In the 1970s,…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CXVII)

1. The Croft Mobile Pub “In December 1984 Bedford OB HWW 642 was resident on a housing estate in Brixton with the majority of the bodywork removed and replaced with The Croft Inn, a mobile pub…” From the last person to apparently see the Croft Inn: “This creation was quite bizarre. The effect this must have…

Ass-Whooping Women in Skirts in the 1930s

Just in time for the weekend (in case us damsels happen to lose our way down a dark alley), here’s some footage from British Pathé archives of a young woman in 1933 giving a real vintage ass-whooping using some Judo and Jujitsu moves. The video titled “The Weaker Sex! (Sayest Thou!) Who said “weaker sex?”, sees a highly entertaining Miss May…

Buy the “Walking Dead” Ghost Town, Just a Click away on eBay

I click on the eBay listing for the historic Downtown area of Grantville, Georgia. “Add to cart” for $680,000, a “unique opportunity” but “may not ship to France”. Crumbs. Anyone else interested? It’s not everyday you find 9 buildings on 40,000 square feet of a downtown historic district up for sale on eBay, but then again, the…

Forget the Chalet, Cozy Up at the top of AirBnB’s 200 Ft Historic Ski Jump

It was the site of the 1952 Winter Olympics and still sees some of the most daredevil ski jumpers from all over the world flying off its ramp into the Nordic sky. But at the very top of the superstructure, where competitors would anxiously await their take-off in front of up to 30,000 spectators, the little elves of…

The Curiosity Museum with Cocktails, Taxidermy Classes & Cuddly Crawling Chameleons

“I’m so bored of contemporary museums and their desperate attempt to classify and make sense of everything. The world is one big, glorious mess and we should celebrate that.” – Victor Wynd. Oh, I couldn’t agree more Mr. Wynd! This may come as a bit of a surprise, but you’ll rarely find MessyNessy in a…

200 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Go Down to the Basement in Paris

Underneath the product aisles of a well-known Monoprix supermarket branch in central Paris, where I’ve often popped into myself to pick up a bottle of wine and some olives before attending parties nearby, the skeletons of up to 200 lost souls have been discovered buried in a mass grave. For some of us reading of course, this may very…