One-Line Adventures [July 31]

Our team at Atlas Obscura is always exploring the overlooked and unexpected, whether in our own backyards or in far-flung locales. In One-Line Adventures, we send out some quick dispatches of recent discoveries.

“For 75 years, most of the 51 mile long Los Angeles River was cemented over after a devastating flood and it was largely forgotten and lost within the city sprawl, but they finally reopened it for pilot kayaking programs this summer — which I participated in.”
—Robert Hemedes [Field Agent, Los Angeles]

“Sometimes adventure is found in your backyard and, living on a houseboat, my backyard is the bay; on Sunday, Annetta [Atlas Obscura Senior Editor] and I took the zodiac and discovered this lovely and strange anchor-out.” — Tre Balchowsky [Field Agent, San Francisco]

“One afternoon spent exploring on Mare Island in Vallejo revealed everything from fire-scarred industrial ruins and abandoned buildings to beautiful Victorian architecture, a picturesque historic cemetery and a secret garden overlooking the bay. I recommend.”
— Annetta Black [Senior Editor/Obscura Society Mastermind] (for more on Annetta’s adventure on Mare Island, read her Notes from the Field)

“A visit to London’s Highgate Cemetery requires a photo with Marx’s giant head.”
— Michelle Enemark [Graphic Design, Video Production] 

“This week I was most surprised by how gentle the train police were when they kicked me out of Norfolk & Southern’s rail yard.” — Sarah Brumble [Tumblr Editor] 

“I have a thing for New York’s wooden water towers — I love that even the freshly constructed ones look old timey. Last week while on the 22nd floor of the Beacon Hotel (74th and Broadway) I took this pic of a water tower against the midtown skyline.”
— Ella Morton [Head Writer, Book Team]

“Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. bought this house in Pasadena, California, specifically for the Tournament of the Roses, the famous rose parade that Mrs. Wrigley loved to watch from the porch, and that uses the house as a staging area to this day.”
— Rachel James [Editor-in-Chief, Places]

“Did Mr. and Mrs. Elsworth choose to substitute the usual crossed bones motif with tulips to adorn the tombstone in Trinity Churchyard of their two-year-old son, Nicholas, as a symbol of eternal love, usually attached to these flowers? Be it as it may, how profoundly melancholic!” — Laetitia Barbier [Contributor/French Correspondent]

“I really think there is not a more beautiful place to be caught in a New York City rainstorm than Lincoln Center, where the shine of water on the pavement makes it feel like city I first experienced in old black and white film noirs.” — Allison Meier [Editor-in-Chief, Articles]

One-Line Adventures are snapshots of some recent explorations from the Atlas Obscura Team. Click here to see more >