1940 JOSEF SUDEK Vintage Czech Photo Gravure Charles Bridge Prague

Photo Lens: Josef Sudek – The Poet of Prague

Josef Sudek was born March 17, 1896 in Kolín, Bohemia and died September 15, 1976 in Prague. Photographer Josef Sudek is called “The Poet of Prague” because in tens of thousands of luminous images he captured the timeless soul of this city that is known as “The Jewel of Europe.” Sudek ceaselessly photographed the city’s streets,...

CULTURE, Photography

August 13, 2015

Jack Kerouac’s Final Years in St. Petersburg, Florida

You may say that you can’t judge a book by its cover but we know for a fact that you can’t tell an author’s interior life by his home. Jack Kerouac spent his final years in St. Petersburg, Florida in a simple home in a quiet neighborhood. That’s right. The Beat Generation high priest, free-spirited novelist...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

Prague-Czechoslovakia-postcard-Staromests-kemlyny-Bohemian

August 12, 2015

Prague Lens: Vintage Postcards

There is nothing I love more than searching old photographs and postcards, especially Prague vintage postcards through the eyes of old time photographers. I just love images of people and places from the past. Today I am sharing some very old postcards that are from 1890 – 1940, mainly in Prague but also a few in...

CULTURE, Photography

August 10, 2015

Photo Vault: Georgian Women & Children

This post features Georgian women & children. They are a class of Eastern Slavic people that numbered over 4 million by the start of the 20th century. What many think of as the “Cossack” dress was in fact the traditional style of Georgian people and the mountain peoples of the Caucasus. Cossacks were Dagestanis, Terek, Kuban, Ossetians,...

NOSTALGIA, Time Warp

August 5, 2015

Jim Morrison’s Paris Journal

Before he died in Paris in July of 1971, Jim spent much time writing in a journal. This writing has come to be known as Jim Morrison’s Paris Journal. It is a notebook that some refer to as a manuscript which went on to be published in full as a part of The American Night:...

Books, CULTURE

August 3, 2015

Flintstone’s Style House for Sale – Yubba dubba doo!

If you’ve ever traveled highway 280 in the San Francisco Bay area, then you have no doubt seen the Flintstone’s style house nestled into the hillside and overlooking the Crystal Springs Reservoir. Flintstones, meet the Flintstones They’re the modern stone age family From the town of Bedrock They’re a page right out of history In 1976...

Architecture, CULTURE

July 29, 2015

Watch This: Dorothea Lange – Grab a Hunk of Lightning

Last night we watched Dorothea Lange – Grab a Hunk of Lightning. Amazing. The footage in this film is breathtaking. You feel as you are there with Dorothea today, and yet the footage of her planning her exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was taken in the 1960’s. Such contemporary views, I was...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

Ecstasy-Hedy-Lamarr-Prague-Film-1933-Article

July 27, 2015

Czech Ecstasy Shocked the World in 1933

Czech Ecstasy shocked the world in 1933. Yes, Czechs are known to expand limits, break barriers and stretch the boundaries of the world. Always on the cutting edge and forward thinkers, even the first president Tomas G. Masaryk, (the Father of Czechoslovakia) talked about being able “to see and hear without any wire… just imagine”. Did he, on November...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

July 22, 2015

Czech Stamp Design

Who knew you could find a Picasso on a tiny little world traveling piece of paper? By the end of June of 1937, Pablo Picasso had completed his painting entitled Guernica, a mural-sized oil painting on canvas. It was huge and combined a palette of gray, black, and white. This specific work of art is known as one of...

Art and Design, CULTURE

July 20, 2015

Photo Vault: The Cossacks

Cossacks are a class of Eastern Slavic people that numbered over 4 million by the start of the 20th century. They emerged in the 14th-15th centuries, forming democratic communities in the great river basins of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine. Since their early days they had maintained the traditions of military training in...

NOSTALGIA, Time Warp

July 15, 2015

The Cowboy and the Senorita

The Cowboy and the Senorita book arrived and I jumped in right away. My father loved Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and as a child, their shows or music was always playing somewhere in the background. They represented America and an imagined west that can only exist in the mind of immigrants who visualized the American...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

July 8, 2015

Photo Lens: Jaroslav Beneš

Jaroslav Beneš was born in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia on February 27, 1946. He is a Czech photographer and the co-founder of the photographic group called Český dřevák. Beneš creates a type of “architectural still-life” in the true sense of the word. Although the subjects of Beneš’s photographs are usually buildings or architectural details, he cannot be...

CULTURE, Photography

June 25, 2015

25 Beautiful Silent Film Stars

Hollywood has always had a distinctive look. The world over, people flocked to the cinema to emulate their favorite movie stars. In this collection we look at the beautiful and popular faces of the day. Note how contemporary many of them look almost 100 years later, could even be the girl next door. 1. Maude...

PEOPLE, Women

June 22, 2015

Filth & Wisdom

Filth & Wisdom. What a name. But who can not love a film with Eugene Hutz, (born Yevheniy Aleksandrovich Nikolayev-Simonov in the Ukraine) the super funny actor you may recognize from the film Everything Is Illuminated or the Gypsy Punk band known as Gogol Bordello. In fact, Hutz made his film debut in the 2005...

ENTERTAINMENT, Movies

Prague-Czech-Tres-Bohemes-Visit-Bohemia (17)

June 18, 2015

When Prague Was 50 Shades of Grey

1986 proved to be an unusual year for a young woman who had spent most of her life in America to visit Prague. Despite the uncertainties, my parents were compelled by a longing for their homeland and the people they had left behind, and so I decided to accompany them. The Cold War was on...

LIFESTYLE

June 11, 2015

Czech Avant Garde – Surrealism

Today we are looking at Czech Avant Garde – Surrealism. In the period between the two world wars, artistic movements in Czechoslovakia produced outstanding examples of avant-garde book cover design, layout, and typography. Czech artists, designers, and architects adopted and developed trends from the avant-garde in other parts of Europe and created what they saw...

Art and Design, CULTURE