My morning errands at the Pike Place Market unexpectedly started out with BBQ today, where dozens of teams setup some stands to compete in an annual competition. Events will go on throughout the day if you’re in the area and want to stop by.
Category: Culture (page 17 of 27)
I haven’t been able to stop studying this old photo on shorpy that Pete linked to this morning on twitter. If you were to summarize Rin Tanaka’s Harley Davidson Book of Fashions into one picture, this might do a pretty good job.
Washington, D.C., circa 1925. “H. Addison Bowie.” A motorcycle dealer on H Street. With “Harley-Davidson” in the big window under “Distributors,” and a smaller sign upstairs. National Photo Company glass negative.
Make sure you view the large hi-res version. Some highlights:
“All Ray-Ban Sun Glass production is allocated to military use” – from an ad in 1945.
A vintage Persol ad from 1987.
From Popular Science, August 1937.
I was just shown this interesting photography site where users upload pictures of their city environments. Major spots are covered, like Seattle and Chicago, and there are some great sets showing older photos from decades ago (like these for NYC in 1942, part 1 and part 3). Good stuff.
In 1995, Sotheby’s hosted an auction for a large collection of antiques and fine art that was used by Ralph Lauren to showcase his clothing lines throughout his stores, showrooms, and advertisements. If you’ve ever visited the Ralph Lauren mansion in NYC, or the store on Michigan Ave in Chicago, you definitely can get a feel for how he sells everything by also selling the perception of a having a certain lifestyle. From the introduction to the book that accompanied the auction:
This remarkable group of antiques and furnishings , which were bought in both the United States and Europe, embrace a diversity of styles and cultures through grand and casual, rugged yet sophisticated. In addition to such high-style furniture as the Louis XV ormolu-mounted tulipwood and kindwood parquetry bureau plat from the mid-18th century signed by Pierre Garneir, the collection also includes a large number of whimsical and traditional decorative pieces, such as the 19th century English carved rocking horse, the pair of 19th century Codestone garden urns, needlework pillows, tea caddies and andirons.
My favorite piece shown in the book is a chair and ottoman set made from tusks and alligator leather, and only because it’s so tacky and politically incorrect by today’s standards.
This post will be mostly safe for work. From an earlier post for reference – I had forgotten I had it until this weekend when I attempted to organize a few stacks of books I had lying around. Not all of the comics in the book are adult themed, and many focus on current events of the time and general life troubles. And after going through it again, I was surprised to learn that Shel Silverstein worked for Playboy quite a bit during his career.
I recently had the opportunity to try out curling for the first time, the sport where teams of players attempt to slide and position 42 pound granite stones in a certain way over ice. Going into it I had some misgivings, but it ended up being a lot of fun and there is quite a bit of strategy and skill involved. Wikipedia has a good overview of how the game is played.
A view of the rinks inside the Granite Curling Club in Seattle, the only dedicated curling club on the entire west coast.
Reading up on it later, it turns out that the game originated in medieval Scotland (and here I thought that the Canadians came up with it). From wikipedia again:
Curling is thought to have been invented in late medieval Scotland, with the first written reference to a contest using stones on ice coming from the records of Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire, in February 1541. Two paintings (both dated 1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depict Dutch peasants curling—Scotland and the Low Countries had strong trading and cultural links during this period, which is also evident in the history of golf.
Evidence that curling existed in Scotland in the early 16th century includes a curling stone inscribed with the date 1511 (uncovered along with another bearing the date 1551) when an old pond was drained at Dunblane, Scotland. Kilsyth Curling Club claims to be the first club in the world, having been formally constituted in 1716; it is still in existence today. Kilsyth also claims the oldest purpose-built curling pond in the world at Colzium, in the form of a low dam creating a shallow pool some 100 × 250 metres in size, though this is now very seldom in condition for curling because of warmer winters.
Spotted hanging over the piers this weekend in Seattle – the stars and stripes. Turns out that the big General Construction Company was celebrating their centennial, and even put on a nice fireworks display last night. I like their style.
