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Outside Hippo Hardware in Portland.
Portland, Oregon

Hippo Hardware

No two pieces are exactly the same at Portland's hippo-themed hardware store.
San Francisco, California

Short Story Vending Machine

With the touch of a button, you can read a randomly selected short story.
An individualist named George Carlin.
literature

Why Americans Are Cursing More Than Ever

Swear more to express yourself as an individual. Everybody's $#*%! doing it!
Natasha Frost August 4, 2017
Lord Byron, 1813
literature

The Early Gay Rights Manifesto That Lord Byron (Probably) Didn't Write

In the 19th century, the poem "Don Leon" argued for British Parliament to drop the death penalty for homosexuality.
Michael Waters July 31, 2017
The quaint and well-preserved Goodwin's Court.
London, England

Goodwin's Court

An easily overlooked stretch of ornate window fronts and gaslight lamps that could be right from the pages of Dickens.
Thoor Ballylee in Ireland.
Galway, Ireland

Thoor Ballylee

This 14th century tower house was once the home of Irish poet W.B. Yeats.
Debating was a key skill in 18th century society.
literature

Asking the Tough Questions With an 18th-Century Debate Society

Is polygamy justifiable? Is it lawful to eat swine's flesh?
Sarah Laskow July 24, 2017
Marine map of Scandinavia, drawn up at Venice in 1539.
dinosaurs

Here Be Dragons

Five real places to see the winged legends of medieval Europe.
Meg Neal July 13, 2017
Michelangelo Caetani's cross-section of Hell, 1855.
maps

Mapping Dante's Inferno, One Circle of Hell at a Time

A topography of torment.
Anika Burgess July 13, 2017
Pollyanna Statue
Littleton, New Hampshire

Pollyanna Statue

A town wears its heart on the sleeve of a smiling girl, arms flung wide open in a cheerful greeting for all who encounter her.
The World's Tallest Pinnochio
Collodi, Italy

Tallest Wooden Pinocchio in the World

The towering Pinocchio stands 63 feet tall in the Italian village his creator frequented as a child.
Piece of Spectra cover, 1916
hoaxes

The Hoax Poetry Movement That Accidentally Became Legitimate

How Spectra went mainstream.
Michael Waters June 28, 2017
A teenage Beatrix Potter and her pet mouse, Xarifa, in 1885.
literature

Beatrix Potter's Greatest Work Was a Secret, Coded Journal She Kept as a Teen

It took a dedicated superfan 13 years to translate it.
Cara Giaimo June 16, 2017
Dhan Gopal Mukerji's <em>Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon</em>.
suicide

The Spirited Life and Sad End of the First Indian-American Children’s Book Author

Dhan Gopal Mukerji was a prolific writer and an early cultural ambassador between East and West.
Samir S. Patel June 16, 2017
Mark Twain's cabin.
Sonora, California

Mark Twain's Cabin

Where the writer penned his famous story about a jumping frog.
literature

The Artful Propaganda of Soviet Children’s Literature

In 1920s Russia, children read about sugar beets, hydroelectric plants, and five-year plans.
Anika Burgess June 15, 2017
A scene from Beauty and the Beast, aka ATU tale type 425C.
literature

The ATU Fable Index: Like the Dewey Decimal System, But With More Ogres

"The Wolf Dives Into the Water for Reflected Cheese," and other highlights of folktale categorization.
Cara Giaimo June 14, 2017
Dr Seuss, Cat in the Hat, and a book with lines from Oh The Places You'll Go.
Springfield, Massachusetts

Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden

Life-size bronzes of the Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, Sam-I-Am, and the Lorax—and the author himself.