A Brief Compendium of Secret-ish Oddball Clubs and Societies

Clubs – organized groups of individuals sharing common interests or goals – have existed for centuries. The concept can be traced back to ancient times when people gathered for mutual support, sharing knowledge, and communal activities. They reflect our innate human desire for a sense of belonging, collaboration and shared experiences, but also, the allure…

There’s Even a Club for Impoverished French Aristocrats

As the story goes, in 1932, a family of wealthy French aristocrats were waiting to board a train in Paris when they realised that the porter carrying their luggage was one of their own – a fellow aristocrat, that is – who had fallen on hard times. Faced with the reality that such an unthinkable…

New York’s Secret Caribbean Kingdom (and its Queen)

Peer inside and your senses inevitably tumble inside a place that’s more time capsule than bar. In the warm glow of a colour we’ll just call, “Yellow, 1979”, exists a world apart from the modern and fast-paced New York City we know. You’ll hear the salsa rhythm of a lively San Juan watering hole and…

Oh Nothing, Just an 18th Century Masturbation Society

The picture-perfect fishing village of Anstruther is situated in the county of Fife on Scotland’s east coast. The fragments of its ruined castle are still sitting perched on a rock above the harbour, looking across the Dreel Burn, the winding river that washes down to the sea, to the town’s ancient parish church on the…

Want to Explore NYC’s Most Secret Spaces? Join the Club

I‘m wondering how many New Yorkers know about the greatest club in their city. Like many of your reading, I’m the kind of city kid that likes to look under the surface of my urban landscape, open doors I’m not supposed to and see inside spaces you need a special key for. The New York Adventure Club has…

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Inside a Secret World War II Officers’ Club

In downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland, there is an old warehouse overlooking the harbour, that looks as anonymous as all the other brick buildings surrounding it. At least until you look at the roof… For protruding out of the flat roof, is what appears to be a rather unusual looking aerial. It is thicker than you…

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Inside Disney’s Secret Club You Could Wait a Lifetime to Get Into

Walt Disney was known for placing many hidden gems inside his theme parks. From his own secret apartment to hidden mickeys, Disney fanatics live to discover these little treasures. Club 33, tucked away inside Disneyland California, is perhaps the most hidden of all. Club 33 was built speakeasy style, with only a small “33” address…

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…

The First Man to Reach the North Pole was an African American Desk Clerk the World Forgot

“I think I’m the first man to sit on top of the world,” is not something many people can boast, especially if they lead perfectly normal lives, say, working a desk job in the city in relative anonymity. But for many years, that was the truth of Matthew Henson. In 1908, the unsung African American…

Let’s Talk About 1980s Parisian Pop Culture

On a steamy summer night in 1981, it wasn’t odd to find David Bowie tossing around a blow-up ball in an underground discotheque pool or Grace Jones singing “La Vie en Rose” on a Harley Davidson surrounded by Paris’ premiere drag queens at clubs like Le Palace. A big, playful energy combusted across a city…