We will always love Dolly Parton, who’s installed a “dreambox” time capsule at her amusement park. In it, there’s a secret song that no one will hear until the legendary artist turns 100. 

LEARN MORE about Dolly’s songwriting prowess in Unlikely Angel, a book by Hamilton College professor Lydia Hammesley.

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Today, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at the Sporkful. Dan Pashman goes on a tour of Los Angeles, with an Atlas Obscura guide in hand. In search of an elusive slice of coconut cake, Dan begins at the airport, takes a detour to an underground tunnel system, and pays a visit to a very unusual store: Time Travel Mart.

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Producer Luz Fleming chats with the co-founders of MoF, or the Museum of Friends, about how they managed to create one of the best contemporary art museums Colorado has to offer, in one of the least likely locations you can imagine.

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The roadside dinosaur has been part of the Americana cannon since the 1930s, and we’ve got theme parks and Sinclair gas station mascots as a result. Today, Places Editor Diana Hubbell and producer Johanna Mayer head to two spots on opposite ends of the United States to ask one question: Why is there a dinosaur here?

Learn more about Steve’s Dinosaur House, and check out his Facebook page for the most up to date visiting hours.

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It’s Memorial Day, and the unofficial start of summer! To kick off the season, we hear a sampling of listener-submitted stories of summer adventure in the wild, strange, and wonderful world in which we live. Plus: Birds! 

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It’s almost Pride Month, and we want to hear your stories about places that celebrate lesser-known queer history, or that have a deep personal connection to you. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Iconic musician Fela Kuti declared his home in Lagos, Nigeria, an independent state. He called it Kalakuta - and in 1977 it was invaded by the Nigerian Army. 

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In 1926, a wildly popular evangelical preacher named Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach, in front of the Ocean View Hotel. When her body wasn’t found, she was presumed to have drowned. There’s just one curious thing: Over the next few weeks, people kept on seeing her.

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Dystopian fiction is all the rage these days. But back in the 1800s one of the bestselling books in the United States was a work of utopian fiction, about a guy who falls asleep in 1887 and accidentally time travels to the year 2000. The book, called “Looking Backward” launched political parties, communal living projects, and inspired a generation of architects and city planners.
 

Check out the Bellamy House in Chicopee, the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, and read Looking Backward for free on Project Gutenberg. 

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In Guyana’s Square of the Revolution, a statue honors Cuffy, an Akan man from West Africa who became a legendary figure. Captured and enslaved by the Dutch in the colony of Berbice (present-day Guyana), Cuffy rose from house slave to revolutionary leader. But an act of civility would be the beginning of his downfall.

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Earlier this month, the Atlas Obscura staff shared the places we gained during the pandemic. Now, we hear your stories – from a university that is an unlikely home for a certain critter, to a private community, to an arboretum and a chance encounter.

Plus: We want to hear from you for our next compilation episode! Pride month is coming, and we want to hear your stories about the places that celebrate LGBTQ+ history, and what they mean to you. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Drawbridge operators in Chicago used to live at these specific homes nestled at the base of their bridges.

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At the height of the Incan empire, a series of 200 woven suspension bridges crisscrossed the valleys of the Andes. Today, only one remains. It’s called the Q'eswachaka, and it’s rewoven every year by a continuous line of bridge builders. 
 

Journalist Eliot Stein traveled to Peru to meet the current bridge builder, and to witness this incredible tradition. His book, Custodians of Wonder, chronicles traditions like these across the globe, and the people preserving them.  

Plus: Listen to our episode all about the the world’s rarest pasta, or “threads of god.”

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You might think of The Great Gatsby as a classic New York City novel –  but the events that set off the action of the story actually take place somewhere else. In Louisville, Kentucky. It’s where Daisy and Gatsby first meet, and where Daisy marries Gatsby’s rival, Tom B...

For 300 years, only a handful of women in Sardinia knew how to make the “threads of God,” an exceptionally intricate pasta. But then, one woman decided to share the recipe with the outside world.       
 

Read Diana Hubbell’s article about the quest to save the world’s rarest pasta. 

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Dylan and producers Johanna and Amanda take your questions. If you have a question for Dylan, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.

Plus: Listen to Dylan’s episode about how he learned to love Las Vegas. 

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The history of medical clowning extends back to Ancient Greece and the time of Hippocrates and is taught in workshops throughout the world.  

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/medical-clowning-program-at-haifa-university

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In the 1870s the Midwest experienced a devastating natural disaster in the form of… an enormous cloud of extremely hungry locusts. Dylan and producer Amanda discuss what happens when a cloud of locusts twice the size of Colorado descends on your town.

If you can’t get enough of Rocky Mountain Locusts check out our episode on Grasshopper Glacier! 

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We get a crash course in the Chitlin' Circuit, a network of entertainment venues for Black musicians during segregation. And we take a closer look at a special stop along the way: Club Ebony. It’s a place that still thumps with the blues of the past, even as it welcomes a new generation of musicians.

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In 1887, Greensburg, Kansas was a small town in a relatively new state. The town needed to come up with a way to attract visitors – and they chose to think big. Very, very big.

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It’s been five years since the pandemic shutdown. So often, conversations about that time revolve around places we’ve lost. But for this episode, Atlas Obscura staffers share the places they gained during the pandemic. 

Plus: We want to hear from you. Tell us about the places that you gained or discovered during the pandemic. How did you discover this place? Why is it important to you? What’s it like visiting that place now vs. then? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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Dylan sits down with podcaster Ashley Ray, who has more than a soft spot for her Midwest hometown. Hear why she thinks it may just be the best kept secret, despite its bad reputation. 
 

Check out Ashley’s podcast all about TV and culture. 
 

All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.

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As a child, Lulu Miller had a beloved dog. But one day, the dog disappeared – and in all likelihood, it was probably eaten by coyotes. Since then, Lulu has been strangely fascinated by these crepuscular creatures. Now, she heads to Graceland Cemetery in Chicago at the crack of dawn – to marvel at the urban coyotes that make the cemetery their home, and to grapple with their longstanding bad reputations.
 

Plus: You can check out the coyote photos of Robert Loerzel (Lulu’s coyote guide) on his Instagram. 
 

All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.

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Toronto is home to a massive underground mall called the PATH, a labyrinth of hallways with shops, banks, and no fewer than nine Tim Hortons. At 30 kilometers long, it’s the largest underground shopping complex in the world. It's also famously dull. What wonder can be found ...

Dylan has complicated feelings about rats. On one hand, they’re amazingly resourceful creatures. On the other, they caused the bubonic plague (and other harmful situations). So when Terrestrials producer and composer Alan Goffinski went on a rat reporting spree Dylan knew ju...

From laundromats to Sacramento, listeners go to bat for places with bad reputations. 

All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.

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Niles, Illinois is home to an exact replica of Italy’s leaning tower of Pisa - only it’s half the size of the original structure.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/leaning-tower-niles

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Adventurer Elise Wortley retraces the footsteps of historic female explorers – and she does it all with no modern gear, no shortcuts, and no guarantees that it is going to work out.

Learn more about Elise’s trip to the Valley of the Assassins.

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Producer Alexa Lim travels in search of the Kolache Triangle. Along the way, she visits some of the state’s Czech communities, and hears how the kolache became the gem of the Texas roadside snack.

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Two small stories about two cold nights in different parts of the world. 11:45 p.m. in Oulu was written by Anne Korkeakivi, and 2:30 a.m. in McMurdo Station was written by Elizabeth Endicott. Both essays were edited by Tusshara Nalakumar Srilatha and originally appeared in Off Assignment. Elizabeth Endicott is a writer based in Denver, and Anne Korkeakivi is the author of the novels Shining Sea and An Unexpected Guest.

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