Maybe don’t say this Hawaiian phrase this holiday season

A mysterious letter-sender, when soccer rivalry gets real, and more. Email not displaying correctly? [View in your browser](. [73ed94ee-f881-4ea1-8e1f-44f98483021c.png]( December 09, 2022 [The Dark Side to Holiday Music]( [‘Mele Kalikimaka’]( [You might have heard the lyric “Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,” crooned by Bing Crosby. “Mele Kalikimaka,” both the song and the phrase that inspired it, may conjure a cozy island holiday sentiment for some—but not everyone feels so warm and fuzzy about it. It also makes no sense.]( [Read More →]( [Architecture History]( [Montreal’s Outdoor Staircases]( [Many Montrealers live on the upper stories of plexes—residential buildings with individual units stacked one on top of another, typically as duplexes and triplexes. Their defining features are the external iron staircases that twist, turn, and climb steeply up the facade of each structure, and they’re so iconic that they’re considered cultural icons. The ubiquity of these staircases is due to the surprising convergence of a few seemingly unrelated factors.]( [Read more →]( [VOLENDAM, NETHERLANDS]( [Mr. Kaor's Portrait]( [Not many people get handwritten letters anymore, especially ones full of inquiring about superficial things like how the weather is. But for the last 40 years, Hotel Spaander in Volendam has received just that, almost daily, from a mysterious man in Japan. These letters would always contain the same handwritten message, with only a few small errors and differences.]( [Read more →]( [Sponsored by Discover Atlanta]( [Starlight Drive-In Theatre]( [In the 1950s, over 4,000 drive-in theaters were in operation across the United States. As of 2022, roughly 320 remain. One resilient vestige of this midcentury pastime is Atlanta’s Starlight Drive-in Theatre—the only drive-in theater in the state of Georgia. Drive in, kick back, and toast a giant soda and popcorn to the good old days.]( [Learn More→]( [When Sports Get Real]( [A Brazilian Soccer Rivalry]( [It’s not uncommon to have rivalries in sports. But have you ever had a rivalry so fierce, it spilled over into architecture? That’s what happened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where the fierce rivalry between the city’s two big soccer teams has extended even to public works. Or, that’s what one team claims, anyway. Who’s really right here?]( [Read more →]( [Reykjanes, Iceland]( [Gunnuhver]( [Iceland is a cap atop a brewing geothermal field, the place where hot gases bubble out from deep within the earth through fissures in its tectonic plates. This phenomenon created the country’s famous geysers and hot springs, the largest of which is Gunnuhver, constantly spewing steam at a scalding 570˚F. But its natural majesty isn’t the only reason Gunnuhver is famous. It has a ghost story as well, which gave the hot spring its name.]( [Read more →]( [Atlas Obscura Courses]( [Sexy Spiders and Mid-Air Mating]( [Join squid biologist and science communicator Dr. Sarah McAnulty for a breathtaking spin through the myriad mechanisms species use to swap their genes and the spectacular, complex, and sometimes goofy approaches they take to get there. We’ll cover the rituals that lead up to mating and how animals choose partners, the wild ways different species actually have sex, and how animals care for their young in their first days of life.]( [Enroll Today →]( [Gastro Obscura]( [Behold, Tom and Jerry]( [No, not that Tom and Jerry. This version is a Christmas party staple in the American Midwest. It’s a delicious, warm revamp of the classic eggnog, with its origins tracing back to a clever publicity stunt orchestrated by a British journalist, Pierce Egan. The story goes that Egan added brandy to eggnog to create a signature cocktail to promote a 1821 book. While this origin story remains unverified, Egan’s work did make a meaningful contribution to the drinking world: the phrase “Tom and Jerrying,” which means indulging in loud, drunken behavior. Be safe if you do indulge.]( [Read more →]( [Talkeetna, Alaska]( [Dr. Seuss House]( [Hidden in the sparse woods outside Talkeetna, Alaska, is a bizarrely singular home known by locals as the Dr. Seuss House, though that isn’t what its creator calls it. While this whimsical house has no direct relation to the famed author, it is easy to see how the structure got its nickname. Situated in the small town of Talkeetna, Alaska, the fantastical house is what most of us would describe as something we’ve seen in a Dr. Seuss book.]( [Read more →]( [Atlas Obscura Trips]( [Landscapes and Memories of Yugoslavia]( [Experience a dramatic road trip filled with history and heritage as you travel across Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Visit fortresses and skyscrapers, ruined factories, and extraordinary works of Modernist architecture, all while paying particular attention to the monuments of Yugoslavia – raised to commemorate the deeds of anti-fascist partisans and revolutionaries or to mark places of historic trauma – and taking an organic and pluralist approach to the complicated history of the region.]( [Book Now →]( [Add a place to the Atlas]( [Subscribe to our other newsletters]( [The definitive guide to the world's hidden wonders.]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Visit AtlasObscura.com]( · [View in Browser]( · [Unsubscribe]( · [See All Newsletters]( 61 Greenpoint Ave #622, Brooklyn, NY 11222