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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / New York

13 Reasons New York isn’t Dead (& Could Never Be)

No matter the circumstance, “life finds a way” in New York City, to quote the wise words of Jurassic Park. This city always had an almost reptilian talent for regeneration, from the Great Depression to the rough ‘n tumble 1980s to that fateful day on September 11th. Now, Covid-19 is the latest crisis to put…

Remembering NYC’s ‘Secret’ 82 Drag Club

Bedazzled drag queens, mobsters, and Errol Flynn playing a piano with his errr … manhood? It was just another Saturday night at NYC’s “82 Club,” c. 1955. Tucked inside a nondescript door at 82 East 4th Street in Manhattan, “82” declared itself the “gayest rendez-vous”on the town in every sense of the word, falling somewhere…

Let’s House Hunt for that All-American Utopian Commune. Just in Case.

We do love a good plunge into worlds apart – filled with utopian goat herding, secret society conspiracies and hippies living off-grid on the fringes of society. Of course, the line between commune and cult is famously slippery and plagued with crackpot messiah tendencies. The more modern and optimistic term for the idea of a…

Signed with Love: The Hand Painted Posters of NYC’S Cevallos Brothers

Sometimes, you just need a sign. Preferably: one crawling with brilliant fonts, memories of your favourite childhood foods and a few brujas on broomsticks. Such are the delightful creations of NYC’s local legends, the “Cevallos Brothers,” who for almost half-a-century have been hand painting the town’s streets, tortas trucks, bars, and more with our favourite…

How Black Cowboys Built the American West: A Living History

You may hear it, before you see it. The gentle trotting of hooves backdropped by the sounds of New York City’s JFK Expressway. Even locals do a double take when they cross paths with a member of the Federation of Black Cowboys. When they ride, they tell the true story of the Wild, Wild West:…

She Was a Black Librarian Who Could Equal America’s Most Powerful Man

Today, we meet a heroine by the name of Belle da Costa Greene. Under the honey-hued lights of Manhattan’s Morgan Library, she became the guardian of the world’s greatest cultural treasures: not one but three Gutenberg bibles, illuminated manuscripts, originals by Da Vinci, Mozart, Michelangelo, and others – the list goes on (in its very own…

An Educational Haven at Harlem’s Little Black Book Shop turned B&B

A foreword from the founder of Messy Nessy Chic: “I’m so tired,” are words that stand out to me in all of this. I’ve heard them uttered repeatedly from members of the African American community in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, which has sent shockwaves throughout the world. What those…

Faces of the Lenape Tribe, the original Inhabitants of Manhattan

Why did they sell Manhattan for $24 worth of beads and trinkets? That’s one version of the story anyway, about the legendary transaction between the European colonisers and a once powerful indigenous nation. The Dutch called it “New Amsterdam”, and then it became “New York” under the British. But isn’t it about time we all…

10 Enchanting NYC Bookstores to Support During These Surreal Times

Books aren’t fair weather friends. No matter what, we can always rely on the words of the authors we love to taste life twice (so says Anaïs Nin, who sure lived a spicy life). Now, more than ever, it’s our turn to help support the guardians of these words: our cities’ independent booksellers. We’re talking…

How a Curious Bunch like Us can Help in Times like These

Where do I begin? Or a better question – how can I help in a time like this? Together, we’ve built a truly unique community of people that shares a very particular mindset. So let’s stick to what we’re good at and put it to some use.  For the past decade here at MessyNessyChic, we’ve been…
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