Missing the View from Above: aviation photographs from digital collections

When people talk about things they miss during this time of COVID19 restriction, it’s typical to hear things like parties, restaurants, bars, shopping, and other leisure activities which physical distancing has limited or eliminated entirely. One thing I never thought I would miss was the sound of planes flying low over my house. I live blocks from the airport and spent most of my childhood … Continue reading Missing the View from Above: aviation photographs from digital collections

The Magic of Miami

Many cites have well-known monikers, so instilled into their public identity that we barely have to think about the association when we hear “the Windy City” or “the City that Never Sleeps”, or even “Sin City”. Oddly enough, you’d be hard-pressed to find even some native Miami residents who know that Miami is called “the Magic City” and why. Miami is among some of the … Continue reading The Magic of Miami

When the Illusory is Real: Richard Haas’ Fontainebleau Trompe-l’oeil Mural

Perhaps it was foreboding, ominous, or just plain bad luck, but in 1986, when Richard Haas’s iconic mural on a side addition of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach was christened, the Mayor of Miami Beach Alex Daoud tried to smash a champagne bottle on the wall and couldn’t. The bottle didn’t break. Around a decade later, Mayor Daoud was indicted on forty-one counts of bribery and … Continue reading When the Illusory is Real: Richard Haas’ Fontainebleau Trompe-l’oeil Mural

The Man Who Built South Florida: The Landscape Designs of William Lyman Phillips

Imagine the wilderness of South Florida. In your head, right now. Born and raised native, resident, or visitor, everyone can concoct a vision of sprawling mangroves clasping the shoreline, sawgrass slicing through the slough, or lush sea grape hanging over the sand dunes. Feel the breeze. Let any version of being outside in the tropics come into your thoughts. Relax. There’s a man who lived … Continue reading The Man Who Built South Florida: The Landscape Designs of William Lyman Phillips