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Tag / western

Georgia O’Keeffe: She Lived Deliciously Alone in the Wild, Wild West

In 1934, Georgia O’Keeffe gutted the passenger seats from her A-Model Ford. It was time to make way for the only companion she needed, and wanted, out west: her art. There, in the dry heat of New Mexico, the pioneering female artist drove, hiked, and schlepped her canvases to the farthest corners of its blackened…

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:…

Vacationing at the West’s Smallest Ghost Town

Is luck just another word for good timing? It is for the town of Gold Point. Under the endless stretch of sky in Esmerelda County, Nevada, at the gateway of Death Valley, the little ghost town sleeps with dreams of bygone glory. Of chattering saloon life and gold dusted guns. Once upon a time –…
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Two Ghost Towns, One that Died and One that Survived

Bodie, California has been on my bucket list ever since I first discovered my fascination for all things lost, forgotten and abandoned. In fact, the first leg of our California road trip has been more or less centered around reaching the historic gold mining town which boomed through the late 1800s, only to become completely…

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Having a Grand Old Time at a Real-Life 1920s “Westworld”

Are you watching HBO’s new American sci-fi western thriller, Westworld? (Or at least trying to follow the twisted plot?). Based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name, Westworld isn’t your typical historical theme park. Intended for rich vacationers who pay to live out their western fantasies, guests are welcomed to the pioneer town by artificially intelligent…

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There’s a new way to access the really special stuff from Messy Nessy Chic …

Hidden beneath the surface layers of the internet, there’s a place where we keep our most secret addresses, untapped archives, creator’s inspiration,  collector’s guides, explorer’s manuals, obscure research and much more… And it’s made for our keyholders only!

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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…

American Cowgirls of the 1940s

This post is pretty much the result of me getting lost in the LIFE magazine archives again and coming across a bunch of mostly unpublished photographs of cowgirls that were too good not to share. These snaps are a melange of photo stories by LIFE photographers, Nina Leen, Peter Stackpole and Cornell Capa between 1947-48 at the…
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