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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / Nostalgia

The Misunderstood Nomadic Women who Danced Their Way to Liberation

Centuries before Betty Friedan and the sexual revolution challenged social mores in the West, the women of the Ouled Nail in Algeria enjoyed the freedom to earn their own fortunes, choose lovers and engage in sexual relationships outside of marriage in a society that placed no shame on these choices – and indeed valued these…

A Brief Compendium of Vintage Cocktail Recipe Books

Sometimes, you just strike internet gold – ya know, those obscure little corners of the internet where you can fall blissfully down the rabbit hole. Today’s find is a free online library of unearthed and collected bartender books; rare volumes dating from the 1820s through the 1940s, faithfully digitised – every last page – by…

Ultimate Basement Find: A City

Have you ever cleared out your basement or attic only to discover a box of childhood memorabilia or an awkward middle school yearbook you wish you could have forgotten for slightly longer? Well, there is one guy in Turkey who has us all beat. He discovered an entire ancient underground city behind a wall in…

Snooping Around Manhattan’s Abandoned Art Deco Bank

Wander around Lower Manhattan you’ll find perhaps the most beautiful doors in the whole city. Curved and ornately designed in silver and bronze, they are adorned with panels depicting methods of transportation from the golden age of travel: luxury steamships, fleets of sleek aircraft, hot air balloons and grand railroads. Most of the passersby that…

Black Debutante Balls: Curtsying with Pride since 1778

Debutante balls, or cotillions, are a centuries old tradition with roots in Europe as far back as the 1700s. The word “debutante” translates to female beginner in French, and refers to a young woman making her debut into polite society. The first of these lavish events was held by King George III in 1780 in…

The Parisian Poison Panic and Versailles’ Secret Witch Hunt

This is a different kind of story about Versailles; one that they only dared whisper about in the palace’s gilded halls. It’s the little-known story of a witch hunt that unfolded in secrecy within the French royal court, eclipsed in history by a more famous witch hunt that took place a decade later, thousands of…

Journey to the Most Inhospitable Place on Earth: The Skeleton Coast

Photography by Xenia Ivanoff-Erb Let’s assume you’ve made it to the Namibian coastline, that you’re finding yourself somewhere above the Ugab and below the Kunene River and more importantly, that you have the stomach for this kind of adventure – whether on land or by air. Boy you’re in for a treat of arid proportions.…

The Ghost Town left Behind by an American Sect of Hollow Earth Believers

In the once harsh and bug-infested swamplands of southwest Florida, lies the remains of a strange 19th century settlement. Founded by a charismatic leader who led his members into the quagmire to build a “New Jerusalem” and seek immortality through celibacy, the commune revolved around the belief not that the earth was flat, but hollow…

Hitchhiking By Train To Amtrak’s Ghost Town

“Are you sure you want to get off here?,” asks the train conductor, and with good reason: for it is nighttime at Amtrak’s least used railway station. Indeed, Thurmond, West Virginia is so remote and rarely used, that it is a request stop on America’s nation rail network: not only do you have to ask…
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