Daily Archives: October 22, 2013

Hollywood Nostalgia & Vintage Trivia

©ourtesy of 99percentinvisible.org & uhohohno

Bubble Houses

architect 01

If you were a movie star in the market for a mansion in 1930s Los Angeles, there was a good chance you might call on Wallace Neff. 

architect 00Neff wasn’t just an architect–he was a starchitect. One of his most famous projects was the renovation of Pickfair, the estate owned by the iconic silent film actress Mary Pickford, and her husband Douglas Fairbanks. When the couple moved into Pickfar, the house sat on a nameless street in an empty neighborhood called Beverly Hills. If you were lucky enough to be invited to dinner at Pickfair you might find yourself seated next to Babe Ruth, the King of Spain or Albert Einstein. Life magazine called Pickfair “only slightly less important than the white house, and much more fun.” Neff designed estates for Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland and Groucho Marx. His Libby Ranch is now owned by Reese Witherspoon. But at the end of his life, Wallace Neff lived in a 1,000 square foot concrete bubble. And Neff believed that this simple dome was his greatest architectural achievements. Continue reading

Happy birthday Robert Rauschenberg

©ourtesy of moma & lacma

Happy birthday Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg in his Front Street studio, New York, with three transfer drawings, 1958. Photograph by Jasper Johns. Courtesy Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Rauschenberg was born Milton Ernest Rauschenberg on October 22, 1925, in Port Arthur, Texas. In honor of his birthday today, we shared an album of portraits from throughout his life on our Facebook page: page: http://on.fb.me/1a4MXo1

Today would have been Robert’s 88th birthday.

Film: ‘Veterans of Color’ screening in Brooklyn, NY Museum

©ourtesy of Audrey Smaltz & theBrooklynMuseum

veterans of color-FILM

Friday, November 8, 2013 at 3 p.m.
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, 3rd Floor

Through moving interviews, Veterans of Color (Mark Perry, 2012, 60 min.) reveals the reality African American veterans faced when returning home from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. A talkback with the film’s producer, Dr. Bernard C. Watson, follows the screening. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath. For advance tickets, please visit www.museumtix.com.

I know, you’re worried if anyone’s ever kicked the bucket in your house, ever?

©ourtesy of  Timothy Weisberg @ nbcNY

Not to worry, Help is on the Way. We’ve found a NEW website with ALL the Answers.

dead people LIVE here

Think you’re witnessing paranormal activity at home? Forget ghost hunters — there’s a website for that. Homeowners and renters can now get answers at DiedInHouse.com, which for $11.99 will tell you if anyone has died in your home. The site, a sort of Carfax meets afterlife history report, scours multiple sources to determine if anyone has departed this life in your home before. It’s a task that’s easier said than done, according to the site’s founder Roy Condrey. “It’s harder to find things like this out than you think,” he told the Houston Chronicle. After Condrey learned that most states do not require home sellers or real estate agents to disclose a death there, he sought to create a service that provided death records for a specific address, according to his website. That information might seem to make it tougher for realtors to sell a possibly-haunted property, but one survey finds that prospective buyers aren’t easily spooked out of buying ghoulish real estate. Realtor.com’s 2013 Haunted Housing Report found that 26 percent of the 1,400 people surveyed indicated they would consider buying a haunted house.