Drinking Away the Last Hours of Shanghai

Deep in the LIFE archives, I found myself fascinated by a glimpse into mid 20th century China during a period chronicled as “the last days of Shanghai”. It’s a portrait of a city full of Western influence; American neon-lit dive bars on every corner, shops and businesses advertised in English and western ex-pat communities going about their daily lives…

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My London Pied à Terre

Having grown up a London girl, I always feel too guilty and awkward to stay in a hotel when I go back to visit, so I usually end up crashing on someone’s couch. But London is becoming home to some of the most interesting boutique hotels in the world as of late, which means I’m…

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Laundry Basket Cars

Your average household laundry basket and a car– two things you’d never put together, but at the turn of the 19th century, apparently it was all the rage… An automobile enthusiast site dedicated entirely wood-bodied cars, Old Woodies, suggests that if you delve into transportation history, “one can find the apparent ancestors of these quirky vehicles:…

Saving Pie Town: The Last Pie-O-Neers of the American Dessert

As the legend goes, PieTown, New Mexico was founded in the early 1920s by a man called Norman, who had filed a mining claim in the area and opened a general store at the desert crossroads where he liked to bake pies made from scratch and serve them to his family or passing travellers. Word spread about…

My Victorian Weekend Escape from the Big City

Just when I think I’ve scoured every corner of AirBnB for their most dream-inducing homes, another one pops up on my radar and my blogger’s fingers get twitching. This one caught my attention because I initially assumed it was a picture of an old haunted house in the woods, which of course would be equally intriguing…

Circus Girl University, Class of ’52

Did you know that there are currently two collegiate circuses in the United States that have year-round programs to teach students how to become circus performers? Maybe if you had known you might have given another thought to your list of college applications… The Florida State University circus program has been going since 1947 and although it…

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

1. This “Swimming” Resort in Bali Now imagine the maid service swimming around with a cart and vacuum cleaner. Found on Villa Seminyak, Bali 2. Beach Chairs of the German Riviera Beach chairs on the North Sea, Germany, known as Strandkörbe’, typical particularly of the island of Sylt. You can buy your own for a little over…

Inside the Deserted Mansions of an American Heiress

She had three sprawling luxury homes at her disposal, but Huguette Clark chose to spend the last 20 years of her life holed up in a New York hospital room. Her father became as rich as Rockefeller from mining copper and founded the city of Las Vegas, but Huguette wasn’t your average American heiress. No one…

Escape to the Bohemian Dome in the Desert

I spent some time in Joshua Tree, California last summer and it quickly became my favourite place in the golden state, possibly on the planet. But of course, only now that I’m nearly 9,000 kilometres away in Paris, do I discover my desert dream house where I could have spent the night gazing at the stars…

Postcard from the Eiffel Tower, Paris (Russia)

The first thing I learned today, is that there’s a small village in Russia called Paris. With a current population of around 1700 people, the rural village was intentionally named after the French capital in the early 19th century when its founders returned from a victorious campaign against Napoleonic France. The second thing I learned is…