The Swimming Pool that Turned into a Museum

In the last few years of the twentieth century the Mayor of Lille in northern France had a quandary. The old swimming pool in the small town of Roubaix had been closed in 1985 due to safety problems. 

So, why not simply knock the old building down? What was the problem?

The swimming pool just happened to be a stunningly beautiful example of Art Deco architecture. Time for a peculiarly French solution.

Image Credit Flickr User Graham Chandler

Kalakala – Make or Break Time for the World’s First Streamlined Art-Deco Ship

The ferry Kalakala operated for over thirty years, working on Puget Sands in the US State of Washington from 1935 to 1967.  Her retirement from service has not, however, been a graceful one.  The world’s first streamlined art-deco ship has been diversely beached in Alaska, used as a canning factory and evicted from her anchorage by an indigenous American tribe.  Now moored at Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma, it is make or break time for the Motor Vessel (MV) Kalakala.

Image Credit Flickr User ChrisHaysPhotography