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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / Don’t Be A Tourist

Someone Reinvented the Futuro House and put it on Airbnb

In 1968, a Finnish architect designed what would become a controversial but iconic example of mid-century architecture, inspired by the post-war futurism and space exploration. The Futuro house was all set for mass production around the world, marketed as the ideal “portable” ski chalet or beach house, promising to change the way we lived. Some…

Mother & Daughter Buy an Abandoned Chateau, Invite You to Stay as they Restore It

Back in 2013, we broke a story about a couple that bought an abandoned chateau and started a blog to share their journey. Widespread interest, longing and general FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) ensued on the internet. Several years later, we’ve found a similar fairytale: an architect from Austria, Elisabeth Herring, and her daughter Valerie, adopt a neglected 16th…

Hide Away at the Home of Picasso’s Favourite French Poet

With the first signs of an early Spring, perhaps you might find yourself looking towards summer already and thinking about how you’re going to spend it. With France as my oyster, I began my hunt for hideaways in the south when I stumbled upon a rare gem in the medieval village that has long been a…

The Bread & Puppet Theatre: A Living Museum of American Hippie Culture

The year is 1979. Thousands of people flock to a farm field in Vermont, and wait for their stilt-walking hosts to christen the “Circus Ring” field with their presence. When they do, it’s in a parade of unbridled joy – a celebration of misfits, mainstream dissent, and all the freshly-baked rye you can eat. It’s…

The Secret behind 575 Wandsworth Road

On a seemingly ordinary street in South London, past the concrete tower blocks, the off-licenses and chicken takeaway shops, is a strip of seemingly ordinary Victorian terrace houses. But one of these houses is not like the others. Hidden away behind the most unassuming facade, is a work of art and a place a possibilities…

We Found a California B&B that Might be Madder than the Madonna Inn

As unabashed lovers of the more-is-more mantra, we were destined to fall in love with “The Victorian Mansion at Los Alamos” – which is anything but Victorian, in a way. It can be a 1950s drive-in, or a Parisian escape; a pirate’s lair, or a gladiator’s delight. The last Victorian estate in the area, this mansion-turned-B&B…

Have New York’s Grand Central Station all to Yourself

Turns out, even them hardened New Yorkers have a soft spot for romance. This week, Grand Central Terminal announced the impossible: it will be opening its doors for the night to one special, randomly selected couple this Valentine’s Day for a romantic dinner for two beneath that iconic zodiac ceiling in the Main Concourse, all…

What Happens After Dark at Amsterdam’s Mystery Manor

You’d have to be searching for something peculiar to stumble across the Mayer Manor. Luckily, it seems you and I are always in search of something peculiar. Originally a 15th century monastery, later occupied by a wealthy tobacco merchant of the 19th century, the four-storey mansion is tucked away behind a canal in the red…

Discovering Hollywood’s Secret “Palm Springs” of Arizona

While everyone and their mother went to Palm Springs during Hollywood’s Golden Age, the real stars snuck away to Scottsdale, Arizona. Basking under the Sonoran Desert sun in America’s Southwest, Scottsdale has long been a hushed hideaway for Hollywood weekend runaways ever since its first hotels quietly rose up from the desert like a mirage…

How to Soak Up New York City in Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Style

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese’s latest ode to the Italian-American East Coast, and the unflinching mobsters who held its purse strings in the 1970s. It’s also an utter delight for the New Yorker at heart: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino take us on a slow burning trip down memory lane to find…
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