“I guar-on-tee!”

In addition to his cooking and famous television show, Wilson wrote a children’s book of Cajun fables (a “Cajun Mother Goose”) and recorded many albums of Cajun humor as well as music.

Purchased the Moderne mansion built by William G. Rankin in the 1930’s, preserved and restored it (see “Thoroughly Moderne: An Architectural Gem with a Spicy History,” Inside Northside, Jan 2009).

For further reference

“Pleeese bah mah ressi-peees!”

In 2006, a farmer working in his field discovered what is the largest underground tomb known in Greece, from the Hellenistic age (ca. 300BC, around the death of Alexander the Great and near his birthplace) [BBC] [Fox]

In 2008, the tombs were included on the World Monuments Fund’s Watch List 2008 as one of the 10 most-endangered monuments in the world.

Good usenet thread in soc.history.ancient (2003)

google search

“The Great Book Massacre”

check out this early interview on his upcoming book, Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization

Home of newspaper magnate Herbert Bayard Swope, inventor of the “op-ed”

Real-life counterpart to Jay Gatsby’s mansion &/or the Buchanan’s home (Fitzgerald did not write about a particular home but based his fictions on the ones that he knew), built 1902 by architect Stanford White (2002 NY Times article claims this is more legend than fact: “A Whisper Of White, A Hint Of Daisy”; even so, it’s the only one left and was definitely a home Fitzgerald visited)

Remembered only by a sole preservationist in the May 9, 2008 Port Washington News [letter] [more]

Demolished June 2008

Articles and information

opinion piece

Photographs: Historic Photos of Long Island by Joe Czachowski (Turner 2008)

See also Glitter That Was Once Gold: Long Island Gold Coast Trivia by Kevin Durst (Trafford 2006)

“Inventing the American game” by Bob Alman is a contempoary (2005) illustrated profile of Herbert Bayard Swope, Jr.

Related: Sara and Gerald Murphy’s estate in the Hamptons [NY mag feature]

For further reading

An opposition to inferior change and cultural decay

Who to call

The National Trust for Historic Preservation

The Recent Past Preservation Network (mid-century modern, retro, vintage, googie, space age preservation)

In the business? Get the book: Preservation Yellow Pages: The Complete Information Source for Homeowners, Communities, and Professionals (published by the National Trust)

Also recommended: Historic Preservation for Professionals (a comprehensive full-systems approach)

Corporate Chains, Big Boxes, Franchises

“Fast Food Fascism” by Joyce Marcel shows how the corporate franchise chains are making everything ugly and bland

Design Preservation

HP is not just buildings and architecture … all manners of design are part of “cultural preservation” including the dumbing-down of logos and packaging and the doing-away with “outdated” or “old-fashioned” things for clearly inferior replacements.

Vivid example of the Bell logo’s descent from classic to bland [responsible parties?]

Ditto for the UPS logo: from classic (a famous design by Paul Rand) to unbelievably generic and bland.