City Stories

Blueprint Engraving of a Navy Blimp Observer With Binoculars Watching an Atlantic Convoy From the Gondola, Captioned the Convoy Blimps Flew on Panhandle Gas, Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo, Texas: The Gas That Wouldn't Burn

Ten buried Cadillacs, the gas that wouldn't burn, and a ten-dollar bet on the year 2968 — one week of Amarillo stories.

Amarillo, Texas: The Gas That Wouldn't Burn

Ten buried Cadillacs, the gas that wouldn't burn, and a ten-dollar bet on the year 2968 — one week of Amarillo stories.

Blueprint Engraving of a Lit Two-Story Glass Office Building on the Saugatuck River at Dusk With the Line And They Outgrew the Mill, Westport, Connecticut

Westport, Connecticut: Teaching America to Draw

Twelve illustrators, an old mill on the Saugatuck, and a bet that anyone in America could be taught to draw by mail.

Westport, Connecticut: Teaching America to Draw

Twelve illustrators, an old mill on the Saugatuck, and a bet that anyone in America could be taught to draw by mail.

Blueprint Chart of Elizabeth's Neck Peninsula in Long Island Sound With Compass Rose and the Line Her Name, On Every Chart, Old Greenwich, Connecticut

Old Greenwich, Connecticut: Elizabeth's Neck

How a Winthrop widow put her own name on a Long Island Sound peninsula in 1640, and how the map forgot it.

Old Greenwich, Connecticut: Elizabeth's Neck

How a Winthrop widow put her own name on a Long Island Sound peninsula in 1640, and how the map forgot it.

Stiletto heels catching in a root-buckled brick lane beside a signed City Hall high-heel permit, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California: Permit Required

It's illegal to wear high heels in Carmel without a permit. City Hall will give you one, free — and the reason is the trees. Three stories, one week.

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California: Permit Required

It's illegal to wear high heels in Carmel without a permit. City Hall will give you one, free — and the reason is the trees. Three stories, one week.

Blueprint map of the North Atlantic tracing Althea Gibson's 1956–1958 route from Tallahassee to Paris, London, and New York — headline 'She took Paris. She took London. Then New York took her home.

Tallahassee, Florida: Althea Gibson Way

How a Harlem play-street champion became a Rattler — and why a street through FAMU's campus now carries her name.

Tallahassee, Florida: Althea Gibson Way

How a Harlem play-street champion became a Rattler — and why a street through FAMU's campus now carries her name.

One Bay, Two Lost Fleets - blueprint illustration of the 1559 Luna wreck and a red snapper smack on the floor of Pensacola Bay

Pensacola, Florida: Two Lost Fleets — Luna 1559...

Two lost fleets on the floor of one bay: Spanish ships sunk in 1559, and the snapper schooners that fed America under sail.

Pensacola, Florida: Two Lost Fleets — Luna 1559...

Two lost fleets on the floor of one bay: Spanish ships sunk in 1559, and the snapper schooners that fed America under sail.