Category: History
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Hey there! Here are 3 things you may not have known about the history of the Margarita! #1 The recipe for the Margarita may be based off a popular 19th century cocktail called “The Daisy.” First featured in the 1876 publication of “The Bar-Tender’s Guide” by Jerry “The Professor” Thomas, the Daisy was super popular…
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So most of us have probably heard the old story of how people during the Victorian era were so sexually repressed that they even covered the legs of their furniture, but that’s actually a fake story! This myth was started by 19th century English writer and British Navy Captain, Frederick Marryat. Marryat authored many books…
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Did you know that the term “slip them a mickey” may have come from Chicago? There once was a man named Mickey Finn who, alongside his wife, Kate, opened a bar on S. State Street called the “Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden Restaurant” in 1896. It was located in a portion of Chicago called…
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Did you know that there’s a building in Chicago that’s covered in 24k gold? Yes, dahling, it’s true! The Carbide & Carbon building was created by the Burnham Brothers in 1929. And, yes, before you ask, their dad was famed Chicago architect, Daniel Burnham. Imitation gold leaf was originally considered for this 37-story Art Deco…
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Did you know that Salvador Dalí made a cookbook? Dalí claimed that he wanted to be a cook when he was 6 years old. He fulfilled that dream in 1973 with the publication of “Les Dîners de Gala,” a surrealist cookbook that feels more like a work of art than a cookbook. I’ll be recreating…
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This is part 3 of “How to Look at Art.” In this post, I’m gonna teach you how to do interpretative analysis. So, you’ve gazed at the artwork for a long time (maybe a scary amount of long time), you’ve read a couple books and done some research, you know the gist of the artwork,…
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This is Part 2 of my “How to Look at Art” series. I’m introducing you to the second part of how to look at art, contextual analysis. So, what is a contextual analysis? This is the part of the process where you’re going to have to do a little bit of research to try to…
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Hey everybody, Amara here! What does the historic Chicago Theatre have to do with Walt Disney? The theatre was built in 1921 by noted architecture duo, Rapp & Rapp. With the increasing popularity of film throughout the 1920s, movie theater architecture was evolving rapidly, and Rapp & Rapp were the most sought-out architects for movie…
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This is part 1 of “How to Look at Art.” In the field of art history, there is a generally agreed upon system of “looking” at art. In this post, I’m introducing you to the first part: formal analysis. So, what is a formal analysis? A formal analysis normally consists of looking at the physical…
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Did you know that the peace sign was possibly influenced by this famous painting? The peace sign symbol was created in 1958 by Gerald Holtom for the British nuclear disarmament movement. Holtom presented it to the Direct Action Committee on February 21, 1958 where it was “immediately accepted” as the symbol for a march that…
