1940s

Full exterior view of Idle Hour, in the center is a large barrel with smaller buildings attached at either side.

Idle Hour: Eat Inside a Giant Hidden Dog at California’s Last Barrel Restaurant

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As many of you know I’m an architecture junkie, and one of my favorite forms of architecture is programmatic, or fondly known as “California Crazy” that is to say, buildings that are constructed to look like something, which California was wildly known for. Sadly, there are very few examples left, but at Idle Hour you…

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Myself, seated at the counter with a mural of a beach with surfboards sticking up in the sand is behind me.

Chili John’s: The 80 Year Old Diner Beloved by Food Critics and Hollywood Alike

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I’m not quite sure how to put into words what walking into Chili John’s is like…except it’s somehow magical. There are few places that feel as honest, warm, yet also bit like the Twilight Zone. Chili John’s is one of those places. From its massive murals to its well worn linoleum to its cracked orange…

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Myself, wearing a blue western wear shirt, cream cowboy hat with blue stars, leaning against a barrel bar.

A Return to the Kern County Museum: Home to Country Legends and More

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Back in 2021 Patrick and I made our first visit to the Kern County Museum, an outstanding museum with over 50 buildings across 16 acres in Bakersfield. Our visit was amid COVID restrictions, and meant that few of the buildings were open, and between then and now, it has opened a Bakersfield Sound exhibit and…

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A mannequin family sits at a card table playing Monopoly. A stone fireplace is on the back wall, which is painted pink.

Mining, Gambling, and More all on Display the Clark County Museum

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While Las Vegas may be the literal bright spot that everyone flocks to when visit Nevada, just a few miles to the southeast is something anyone who loves Nevada should visit, the Clark County Museum. The museum sprawls over 30 acres, and features relocated buildings, train cars, antique farm equipment, and more. The adobe-like building…

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Exterior of a blue, white, and orange subway car from the 1960s.

New York’s Transit History Unfolds in a Literal Underground Museum

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New York City is known as a place that loves its public transportation, especially its subway system, the history of which is on display at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn. Located in a decommissioned subway station from 1936, the museum showcases the creation of the subway tunnels, features numerous vintage subway cars that…

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