Lost Photos That Show A New Side Of History
By Sarah Norman | September 18, 2023
Step into a world where the past comes alive in ways you've never seen before. We invite you to explore a treasure trove of rarely seen vintage photos that not only redefine familiar narratives but also shine a light on untold tales that have remained hidden for too long.
Prepare to be amazed as we unveil snapshots of history that defy expectations. While you might be familiar with the glitzy glamor of Marilyn Monroe's Hollywood or the fierce presence of Mike Tyson in the boxing ring, these unearthed images show a side of these legends that few have had the privilege to witness. Moments frozen in time capture their vulnerability, determination, and the human essence behind the fame.
Venture forth and let the past captivate you in ways you never thought possible. These images are more than just photographs; they are windows into the hearts and souls of those who came before us. Continue reading to unearth the hidden gems that await—each click is a step towards redefining your understanding of history.
Mike Tyson was only 20 years old when Nintendo released Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, one of the most formative games on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Minoru Arakawa, the former president of Nintendo of America, saw Tyson in a match and knew that he was the perfect guy to be the game's head boss. It makes sense, the guy was an absolute monster in the ring.
Tyson jumped at the opportunity and his character was able to knock out fighters with one punch. The game was released right when Tyson took the unified heavyweight title and became the most famous boxer on the planet. Unfortunately, after selling more than a million copies Tyson only made $50,000 off the deal.
Marilyn Monroe photographed in 1962.
By 1962, Marilyn Monroe was easily the most famous woman on the planet. This blonde bombshell was known just as much for her romantic life as she was her work. Longing to be free of the ever watchful eye of the press, Monroe went inside herself. She used drugs and alcohol to escape, and she hid away from the real world as much as possible before her death that August.
But Monroe was also the kind of person who could turn her charm on with the flick of an intangible switch. Taken months before her death from an overdose of prescription medication, this photo shows the power that she held even when she was at her worst. It's a shame that someone with such an inherent and natural internal and external beauty was so dragged down by the press that she had to take her own life.
Hosted by Bob Hope in Hampton, Virginia, the 1972 Miss World USA crowned Lynda Carter - yes that Lynda Carter - the United States ambassador of the competition and sent her off to the Royal Albert Hall in London to compete for the title of Miss World. Carter didn't take home the crown, that went to Belinda Green of Australia, but two years later she was on television so she couldn't have been that upset.
While speaking with the New York Times in 2018, Carter explained that she wasn't into the whole pageant thing mostly because it just wasn't her scene:
You have to visualize the time. Women’s lib! Burn the bra! Gloria Steinem! And I had some guy telling me I needed a chaperone and had to go cut a ribbon somewhere. It wasn’t me.
A photo from the Bush to Obama transition - First Lady Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, Jenna Bush, Sasha Obama, and Malia Obama. (2009)
During the transition between the Bush and Obama presidencies in 2008. the Bush family went out of their way to make sure that the young Obama girls felt at home in their new space, something that can be daunting for anyone but especially two girls who were about to become huge fixtures in the public eye.
While looking back on the transition, Jenna Hager Bush wrote about her time showing the Obama girls around the White House. She wrote on Instagram:
Twelve years ago (!!!) today—I drove from my job teaching in Baltimore to meet my mom and sister in DC to show the next residents of this house their new home. Barbara and I taught the girls how to slide down the banister and all the secrets of the White House we loved as little girls—the best hiding spots, the movie theatre, and bowling alley. We showed them our rooms that would soon be theirs. Twelve years! PS I love my 'teacher outfit' it makes me nostalgic for that time.
Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Harvey Keitel and film director Quentin Tarantino on the set of Pulp Fiction (1993)
Say what again. Three of the most quotable words in film history. While Tarantino had scored an indie hit with Reservoir Dogs in 1992, it was Pulp Fiction that changed cinema forever. Not just a standard crime movie, the film brings together all of Tarantino's cinematic proclivities into one beautiful film.
Pulp Fiction was only Tarantino's second movie, but it's a completely realized piece of art. It combines realism with the surreal and film references with wholly unique moments to create a film like no other. While speaking about the film upon its release Tarantino said that he loved to ride the line of the real and the artifice:
I like movies that mix things up. My favorite sheer cinematic sequences in Pulp Fiction, like the 00 sequence, play like, Oh my God, this is so intense, all right; at the same time, it’s also funny. Half the audience is tittering, the other half is diving under the seat. The torture scene in Reservoir Dogs works that way, too. I get a kick out of doing that. There’s realism and there’s movie-movie-ness. I like them both.
WWII war bond rally at a Las Vegas casino in 1943.
In the 1940s, Americans were putting their money down to help the armed forces kick butt across Europe and the Pacific. War bond rallies were held across the country to drum up much needed cash for the war effort. These gatherings often brought along celebrities and government officials who stoked the excitement of regular citizens who just wanted to help the boys overseas.
These rallies weren't just held to make Americans feel included, they brought in a lot of money. One breakfast rally in Chicago raised $5 million, and with the kind of money that was flowing around Las Vegas even in the '40s who knows how much cash this rally raised.
Today, people would definitely grumble about buying a bond, but in the '40s people were happy to show their solidarity for the men fighting overseas while showing that they too could help even if they weren't able to strap on a helmet and go into battle.
The staircase at Landgericht Halle, Germany.
These beautiful stairs are a part of a court building in Halle, Germany that was built between 1901 and 1905. The four story building is one of the most elaborate buildings from the Wilhelmine era, and because of its importance to the area it's pretty much always under constant renovation.
Conservation groups want to make sure that the building maintains the glory from its early days without falling into disrepair. Originally used as a civil court, today the building serves as a combination court and tourist spot. It makes sense, the building is absolutely gorgeous and this stair case is out of this world.
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. ❤️
He may have been one of the most beloved lusted after actors of the groovy era, but he was smitten by the love of his life, Joanne Woodward from the day they met in the early '50s. The couple met while working on a Broadway production of Picnic, a romanic drama. The couple studied together at the Actor's Studio before they were signed to contracts at Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox respectively.
The couple wouldn't work together until 1957 when they filmed The Long, Hot Summer. The couple final married a year later in Las Vegas and Woodward put her acting on the back burner while Newman's career took off.
Rather than pretend Woodward never wanted to be an actor in the first place, the moment Newman was able to make his directorial debut with Rachel, Rachel he cast his wife as the main character. She was nominated for an Academy Award and Newman noted that he directed the movie for her because she gave up her career for him.
There's something beautiful about a community coming together to take care of people in need. The Amish are known for barn raising, their ability to come together as a group and build a structure in a day. That kind of workmanship has been honed over hundreds of years, beginning in Colonial times. Back then people had to rely on whatever supplies they had and know how passed down from family members to put together a building.
But it's not just the fact that they knew how to build a barn, it's that they were amazing at working together. By coming together to construct a barn as quickly as possible they ensured that they would be able to stick together as a community, not just a group of people who lived in the same town.
A frozen Michigan lighthouse after an ice storm. (Photograph by Thomas Zakowski)
The true force of nature is never as horrifically on display as it is during a freeze, when the temperature drops and the world is turned to ice. Everything stops, the roads become impossible to navigate, and we turn insular, hermit-like.
As terrifying as it is when the world freezes over like this, there's a stark beauty to the way that ice clings to the bannisters and staircases of the world. Homes and lighthouses located near the water are always hit the hardest. The spray from the water coats their every surface with freezing water until its an ice palace, melted only once Mother Nature has reminded the coasts of her true power.
Drive-in car hops in shorts and cowboy boots at the Log Lodge Tavern near Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas, 1940.
We've seen scantily clad car hops before, but not like this. Even in the modern era where we have male exotic dancers and businesses where good looking young men cater to both men and women it's still strange to see short short wearing waiters serving people in their cars.
This was clearly a business model created in response to having attractive young women as servers, but it's hard to imagine that this type of car service took off. Historian Paula Bosse explains what was going on behind the scenes:
It was a response to a sudden appearance of sexy carhops: Women who were dressing in scanty outfits, hula skirts, midriff-baring costumes, to serve drive-in customers. There was a big outcry against this and at some point some woman piped up, saying 'well, you know this doesn't really do much for women, we want to see men, we want to see the legs of men, not the legs of girls.' So, some enterprising man who owned one of these restaurants said 'yeah that's a great idea' and put these young studs, these young college students, in short-shorts in cowboy boots. It's so ridiculous, but it was very very successful.
Henningsvær Football-Soccer Stadium in Lofoten, Norway.
There are some sports stadiums and auditoriums that boast retractable ceilings or a view of its city's downtown skyline, but Henningsvær Football-Soccer Stadium is the only one that we know of that's in the middle of the sea. Who plays here? Some pretty important players, right? No way. This stadium is designed specifically for amateurs.
There are only about 500 people living in Henningsvær, Norway, an area made up of a few islets. It's a huge fishing town and the people there obviously love soccer so they constructed the Henningsvær Idrettslag Stadion for local players. The field itself is amazing, but the views are a completely different story. Imagine scoring a goal and then looking around to see this majestic view. You can'y beat it.
Here's a 1980 Lamborghini Athon concept car.
This isn't exactly what you think of when someone says "Lamborghini" is it? This concept car from 1980 was designed by the Bertone company as a way to show their support for Lamborghini, which is kind of a weird thing to do. It would be like a private company making their own version of Coca-Cola, you know?
Named the "Athon" because its design is perfect for fair weather, the car features a cabin in the forward position rather than the mid-set cabin of most spiders and its rear deck is completely repositioned. While this didn't get turned into an actual Lambo, the Athon was used as a reference point for futuristic films like Total Recall and RoboCop.
Princess Diana with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
For all of her fashion forward thinking and near constant attention by the paparazzi she did her best to keep her children out of the spotlight. She was a princess but she was also a celebrity which led photographers to snap away at her until she was a runway model whenever she was walking the streets.
After Diana's life came to a terrible end it didn't just change the world, it changed her sons. For instance, Harry became media averse and even acted out in his teenage years until he picked up where Diana left off when it came to using his status to help the underprivileged and bring light to important causes.
Couple in London wearing masks during influenza epidemic in 1918.
Everything that has happened will happen again. That's clear from this shot of a couple enjoying a stroll through London while wearing their masks during the pandemic of 1918. At the time, a flu was ripping through across each continent. It's estimated that by the time the pandemic came to an end that 500 million people had died.
This couple is just like so many people during the pandemic of 2020 who tried to go on with their lives while staying safe and keeping their germs to themselves. It's fascinating to see a photo from over 100 years ago that looks like it was taken recently save for the fashion. The pandemic of 1918 stretched through 1919, across three different waves, and finally came to an end following a less virulent wave in 1920. The effects lingered long after the pandemic ended.
Does anyone else think that this tiger is absolutely swoll? Those are some serious traps. These beautiful creatures can grow to over 10 feet, which is bigger than any cat should be, or at least house cats. We're not going out and searching for these big orange cats.
Their size isn't the only thing that's absolutely terrifying, their ups are the thing that can really get you. In the wild, tigers can be seen jumping between 18 to 20 feet at a time. Seeing something that big jump that far has to be crazy. If you do find yourself out in the middle of the jungle and see a tiger you can soothe your worries with the knowledge that tigers tend to live alone save for their cubs so if nothing else a whole group of tigers isn't going to maul you, just one.
16 year-old Ronald Reagan was a lifeguard in 1927.
Before he was an actor, and way before he was the leader of the free world, Ronald Reagan was just a young man growing up in Illinois. This shot shows him working his first job as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park. During his six years as a life guard at the river he carried out 77 rescues which is incredibly cool.
Reagan went onto study at Eureka College and became a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. He did it all at his time in college as if he was trying to prep for becoming a movie star. He played sports, he was a cheerleader, and he was even student body president. When he graduated college he immediately stated working as a radio announcer in Iowa.
Louie, the son of the Hunkpapa Lakota leader, Chief Sitting Bull.
Both due to the mythologizing of the American west and the way in which the American military treated the Indigenous people of the United States it's hard to actually know who's related to who when it comes to Native Americans. With Sitting Bull it's even harder to know.
Many photos and paintings claim to show indigenous warriors and their progeny but it's nearly impossible to know what's true. Siting bull had three sons (one adopted), two daughters, and five wives so it's not out of the question that he Louie could be his nephew but finding that documentation is almost impossible. That being said, it's not totally out of the question that Louie would be related to Sitting Bull we just don't have any info on their relation.
Long before she was the Queen of England, the young Elizabeth was just a princess with no designs on leading a nation. Born to the Duke and Duchess of York, her father didn't become king until his brother abdicated the throne. Even when her uncle abdicated she wasn't the heir apparent, but rather the heir presumptive.
Why wasn't it just accepted that she was going to be Queen? Because she was a woman. The heir presumptive is someone who's likely going to be the king or queen until a male heir is born or a better heir shows up. The struggle of this hierarchy is real.
Elizabeth spent her young life being tutored by the best teachers that money could buy while handling horses on her days off. It was a childhood truly like no other.
A lonely house on the remote Ellidaey Island, Iceland.
Talk about social distancing. If you've ever wanted to truly isolate yourself, whether you're escaping a dark past or just trying to get your head together, this lonely home on Ellidaey Island is definitely for you. Well, it would be if there weren't someone already living there.
There are more questions than answers surrounding this mysterious home. Some people believe that it's owned by Bjork (a remote island home is up her alley), while some people believe that it's owned by a weirdo billionaire who just wants to have an island to themselves, but there's another theory that's far more intriguing.
It's possible that this remote house is actually a hoax, that it was photoshopped onto the island. While that's a fascinating little mind game you can play with yourself, it turns out that the house is there but no one lives on the island because of the inhospitable conditions.
Social distancing at a beach in Poland in the early 1980s.
What exactly is going on in this photo of a Polish beach in the 1980s? There was no pandemic on at the time so whatever social distancing is happening is just because they want to. It's possible that this was just a fashionable thing to do while at the beach. Or maybe it was just super windy on the day this photo was taken.
At the time, Poland was in a place of massive upheaval and the rules were being written on a day to day basis so no one knew exactly what to do. Even though the country was in turmoil it's wonderful to see that people could still hang out on the beach and shut off their brains for a little while, even if they were doing it in giant wicker chairs.
Here's a 1949 Delahaye 175 S Saoutchik Roadster.
Some cars are meant to go out on the road and others are meant to be pieces of art. The Delahaye 175 S Saoutchik Roadster is absolutely beautiful but it's hard to imagine it on the road. The design aesthetic of this car is pure class. Its enclosed wheels and ridges alongside the trim give this car an art noveau look that would fit right alongside anything that Gatsby had in his home.
There's also a little bit of Batman in this car. It wouldn't be a shock to learn that the team behind the '90s Tim Burton films had checked out this Roadster for ideas. The first owner of this beautiful behemoth was Sir John Gaul of England who took the car around a series of European concours but as car design changed this baby fell out of fashion.
Today, the car has been restored to its former glory, with its original engine going up on auction for between four and six million dollars.
Watching a television set at Waterloo station in London, 1936.
The concept of the television has been kicking around since the early 20th century, but it wasn't until the late 1920s that a real deal electronic television was constructed and put into practice. At that point it was far from being readily available, and by the 1939 the television was displayed the 1939 New York World's Fair.
We expect to be surprised by new technologies on a regular basis today, but in the 1930s seeing a video image played with audio must have been absolutely mind blowing. After all, it was worth traveling to the Waterloo station to check it out. Television wouldn't become a standard device for homes for a few more years, which made the machine all that much more magical.
A close-up of a spider's paw, which is called a tarsus.
Science has spoken and it turns out that spiders are more closely related to man's best friend than we realized. The tarsus, or spider paw, isn't exactly the same as the padded foot of your family pet. It's actually a pad of forest like hair that researchers are referring to as "claw tufts."
More often than not you'll find a claw tuft on a tarantula, but they've also been found on the legs of spiders that are closely related to their furry ancestors. Not just provided to look cute in a super close up shot, these paws were born out of the need for spiders to run up vertical surfaces. And the bigger the spider, the more hair on the paws. One researcher explained:
There are two ways to go with this: if you are big you can get those beautiful big, dense iridescent pads as with the Idiommata; or you can get lighter, thus needing less, as in the case of huntsman spiders, which are among the few spider groups – along with jumping spiders – that can run upside down on ceilings and dangle off them with a toad in their fangs.
A class photograph taken by their schoolhouse in Florida, 1890.
Education has always been one of the most important gifts that we can give young people, and in the 19th century communities both rich and poor were coming together to teach the youth how to read and write. At the time, school houses were often just that, one room houses where students of all ages gathered to get their knowledge on.
Some schoolhouses were closer to the concept of the "little red schoolhouse," but just about anything could be a house of education as long as it had four walls and a roof to keep out the elements - even a building made completely out of tree branches and palms.
The students at this schoolhouse are definitely living in poverty, but it's clear that their community was committed to teaching them the basics regardless of what they had to do.
Abandoned villa in central Italy.
Italy is known for many things: it's food, it's rich culture, and it's beautiful countryside. But for those of us who are interested in the lesser known qualities of a country, Italy is also THE place to go if you want to check out an abandoned villa. According to Eleonora Costi, an Italian photographer, there are more than 50 abandoned villas dotting the countryside.
Costi says that the reason there are so many abandoned villas is due to the high property tax rates in the country, and the cost of upkeep on a giant house that's hundreds of years old. People inherit these homes and they can't pay for them so they just leave them to rot.
Even with their dilapidation the houses remain gorgeous fixtures of the Italian countryside.
A storekeeper hanging out by his shop in St. Louis, 1936.
Long before the world was turned into one massive suburb and big box chains gobbled up sidewalks and pushed mom and pop stores out of their buildings it was possible to just be a regular shop owner. You could own your business and establish yourself as a part of a community. This guy clearly was a mainstay in his town.
From the signage it looks like he's running a meat market, that's the kind of business that people come to no matter the day or the time of year. Even when the country was in an economic downturn, as it was in the '30s, you could still count on the guy at the meat market to take care of you.
Aerial view of the province of Enna in Sicily, Italy.
Known for its dramatic perch high above the valleys of central Sicily, Enna is one of the most beautiful, tiny towns that the country has to offer - which is saying a lot for a country full of beauty. Shaped like a star fish, or someone welcoming you in for a big bear hug, the town has an ancient feel that washes away the modernity of the outside world.
Constructed during the medieval era high atop a mountain to keep out intruding forces, the town now uses those same heights as a way to offer breathtaking views to anyone who braves the treacherous climb through the mountains of Italy. It's a wonderful place to visit, especially if you're looking for something that's off the beaten path.
Azteec Tecpatl Obsidian knives.
These amazing, ornate knives are seriously beautiful, but they hold a story that's more intriguing that any collector could imagine. These knives have multiple meanings, and because of their use in human sacrifice those origins are pretty dark. The myth of Tecpatl, or flint, states that it was thrown to Earth where it landed at the Place of the Seven Caves before breaking into 1,600 pieces. Each piece of flint is said to have birthed a different god who roamed the Earth.
More than just a way to remind users about the beginnings of Earth, these knives were used during human sacrifices before removing a subject's heart and feeding it to the gods as a way to bless a tribe. Because each Tacpatl knife was hand carved they each contain a different design that often denotes their specific use whether it's agricultural or for something much more heinous.
Let's just put it all out there, deep sea worms are incredibly freaky. Even without the help of microscopes these creatures that can grow to monstrous proportions are absolutely mind boggling to look at. They're like something from an H.P. Lovecraft story. These worms that live and love in the darkest parts of the ocean have been found to live for at least 300 years, and it's believed that some may live for more than 1,000 years.
To determine the age of these worms researchers have to use a growth model to track size and longevity - it's not like scientists can cut them in half and count their rings. By feeding data into the growth model they could see how worms of various sizes grew in one year, thus showing them how the worms grew over multiple years and decades. If this research is accurate then deep sea tube worms are the second-longest-living non-colonial species in the ocean after the deep sea clam. One researcher explained:
It’s possible that new record-breaking lifespans will be discovered in the deep sea, since we are finding new species and new habitats almost every time we send down a submersible.
Constructed by by Frands Brockenhuus and completed in 1554, Egeskov Castle in Denmark is one of the best preserved Renaissance era water castles in the world. Built on oaken pines in the middle of a small lake, the castle was originally only accessible by a draw bridge. Supposedly, it took an entire forest to construct this massive fortified home.
The castle is actually made up of two buildings which are connected by an incredibly thick, one meter wall. Initially this made sure that anyone defending the home could move from one building to another without too much hassle. It comes complete with scalding hole and arrow slits as well as some of the earliest indoor plumbing to exist in Europe. Today, the castle exists as a museum that's been open to the public since 1986.
Las Vegas at night, 1961.
The glitz and glamor of Las Vegas has never been as on display as it was at night in the 1960s. The lights were out, and the stars may not have been in the sky but they were for sure on stage at casinos like the Golden Nugget. It was a glorious time to be in Vegas, whether you were losing money or winning it didn't matter because anything and everything was possible.
This era of Vegas was still young, it kept its secrets safe and held its favorite sons and daughters close. It wasn't out of the ordinary to see Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack carousing through the neon lights. Even if you didn't see old blue eyes on your visit to Vegas you still had a good time and that's all that matters.
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.
This charming town sitting in the Swiss Alps has been in place since at least the 13th century when it was owned by the Freiherr of Wädenswill. Since then it's changed hands many times and has since become a sought after tourist destination.
The beauty of Lauterbrunnen isn't just responsible for some of the most gorgeous photos you've ever seen, it also influenced J. R. R. Tolkien while he was writing his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien hiked from Interlaken to the Lauterbrunnen Valley in 1911 and its vistas spoke to him. The images stuck with him, and it instilled within him the world of Rivendell, the home of the elven people.
Rays of sunlight in the waiting room of the Chicago Union Station, 1943.
This beautiful shot shows just how much love and care was placed into the architecture of Chicago's Union Station. Designed in 1909 by D. H. Burnham & Company, the design of the Great Hall didn't just anticipate a massive amount of travelers making their way through the city, it did so while providing an architectural beauty that many train stations at the time ignored.
Its Neoclassical structure takes up an entire city block and looks totally different than everything else around it. It's truly something special. Everything about this structure seeks to draw the eye to different places. It's possible to visit Chicago's Union Station and see something new every time.
Patagonia's Marble Caves. These 6000-year-old marble caves are located on the shores of the General Carrera Lake in Patagonia, Chile.
The rare beauty of the Patagonia Marble Caves has kept tourists and travelers coming back for years on end. Found off the Carretera Austral Highway in southern Chile, the caves can only be reached by taking a kayak across the General Carrera Lake.
Formed over the last 6,000 years from melted glacial waters, these rocks have been slowly carved as the liquid washes away and rubs against the interior of the caves to create different forms of caverns and tunnels. Aside from the fascinating shapes of the rocks, the glacial waters are also unlike anything else on the planet. They shimmer in colors like turquoise, green, and deep blues.
Rows of tulip fields in the Netherlands.
Tulip season in Holland is one of the most beautiful times on the planet. The tulip wars of Flevoland flow up the coast of The Hague and all the way to the north near Alkmaar. The reason that Holland is one of the best places for tulips is because of its lengthy spring with incredibly cool evenings. In top of that, the soil in the low lying land near the water is drained on a regular basis which is perfect for tulips.
As the weather heats up ever so slightly in March, tulips bloom throughout Holland and turn the country into a technicolor dreamland all the way until May, it's a sight that you have to see o believe. It's wild just how many tulips bloom in the country, with more than 7 million of the flower blooming at the Keukenhof in Lisse alone.
Researchers believe that this glorious and strange globe dates back to Florence, Italy, in the 1500s, right around the time that Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci were sailing across the Atlantic and exploring the Americas. Aside from its vague outline of North America, it features drawings and markings that show monsters and underwater terror waiting for sailors.
The globe is about the size of a grapefruit and it was more than likely used to cast the copper Lenox globe which can be found at the New York Public Library, which until recently was thought to be the oldest globe to show the Americas. S. Missinne, an independent Belgian research scholar said of this globe:
When I heard of this globe, I was initially skeptical about its date, origin, geography and provenance, but I had to find out for myself. After all, no one had known of it, and discoveries of this type are extremely rare. I was excited to look into it further, and the more I did so, and the more research that we did, the clearer it became that we had a major find.
The Hollywoodland sign in 1935 before it was changed to simply Hollywood.
If you roll up to Griffith Park in Los Angeles today you'll get a clear view of the Hollywood sign, but back in 1923 this famous sign read "Hollywoodland." The sign wasn't originally put up to remind everyone that they live in the land of dreams, but rather to advertise a group of tract housing that was being developed in 1923.
The sign went up in 1923 for a cool $21,000 and was meant to stay up for just over a year and a half, but the letters never came down... not until 1949. That's when the H fell over either due to inclement weather or a truck running into it. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took the sign under their wing, knocked down the rest of land and left "Hollywood" standing. 30 years later, the sign once again needed to be updated and it cost nearly $30,000 a letter.
Was there anything better than going to a carnival, climbing into a giant ride, and letting the carnies in charge of the machinery take you for a whirl? The Rotor Ride is one of the most beloved and super dangerous rides that we ever had the pleasure of paying to put our lives in danger.
The ride was introduced to the world at Oktoberfest 1949 before it was exhibited throughout Europe and the states. Rotating at 33 revolutions per minute, it creates an inward acting centripetal force that, when it gets up to full speed, sticks riders to the wall. By the end of the ride gravity takes over and riders lie to the borrow of the barrel.
For those too afraid to ride, many Rotors were built with an observation deck that allowed viewers to watch without having any fun.
The tiny St. Anna chapel in Vals, Switzerland.
Vals, Switzerland, is a tiny albeit beautiful place. As of 2019 it had a population of less than 1,000 people. This tiny chapel may not serve them everyone in the area but it does give the place a kind of lonely appeal that you can't deny.
Found in the Valser valley, the whole place is known for housing thermal baths and producing Valser mineral water. As for all that snow, Vals is a precipitation heavy area. It spends at least half the year getting rained on which sounds dreary but leads to the beautiful greenery that surrounds the area for the rest of the year.
If you're visiting there's not really much to do but take in the beauty, so bring your journal and bring your deepest thoughts.
