Signs

Signs point the way. Or sometimes not. These signs are all a bit... extra.
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Granard, Ireland

Granard Farmers Mart

This farmer-owned mart has weathered every crisis since 1970, selling over 25,000 cattle yearly on the same Monday-Wednesday schedule.

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Harrogate, United Kingdom

Harrogate Tap

The only part of an 1862 station that survived demolition now causes passengers to miss their trains on purpose.

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Manchester, United Kingdom

The Peveril of the Peak

The landlady ran this pub for fifty years, retiring at 93 after keeping Manchester's last detached pub alive.

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Lakeside, Colorado, United States

Lakeside Amusement Park

To sell beer at his amusement park, a Denver brewer incorporated his own town: population 16, with its own police force.

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

The Cab Phone @ Aloha Tower

This lei-wrapped phone near Aloha Tower connects directly to a cab dispatcher—no coins, no dialing, just pick up and go.

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Ogland, Kazakhstan

Beket Ata Underground Mosque

This 18th-century underground mosque carved into desert rock may have doubled as an astronomical observatory.

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London, United Kingdom

Lacy Gallery / Pippa Small

A frame dealer's son and an anthropologist-turned-jeweler hold down neighboring pink and yellow shopfronts on Westbourne Grove.

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Monterey, California, United States

Monterey Canning Co

At its peak, Cannery Row processed 250,000 tons of sardines a year. Then the fish vanished - and only one marine biologist knew why.

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Wengen, Switzerland

Hotel Bellevue des Alpes

A family-run hotel since 1840, accessible only by train, with a front-row view of the "murder wall" that's claimed 64 lives.

AWA visted here

Broc, Switzerland

Maison Cailler

This 1898 chocolate factory powered an entire Swiss village: its hydroelectric plant brought electricity to Broc in 1899. What a uniquely sweet history!

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New York, New York, United States

New Yorker Hotel

NBC broadcast live big band performances from here nightly during the Depression.

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New York, New York, United States

Domino Sugar Refinery

At its peak, this factory refined 98% of all sugar consumed in the United States.

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Ioannina, Greece

Stoa Liampei

A covered arcade rebuilt in stone and iron after fire leveled half the city's shops in the 1800s now hosts modern day shops.

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Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Cabo Pulmo EcoAdventures

This fishing village gave up fishing in 1995. Now it has the largest fish biomass recovery ever recorded in a marine reserve.

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Superior, Arizona, United States

Superior Climbing Shack

A former copper mining town reinvents itself one climbing route at a time, with 1,000 sport climbs replacing underground shafts.

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Alnwick, United Kingdom

Alnwick Gardens

Behind skull-marked gates, gardeners in hazmat suits tend belladonna and hemlock. Oh, and 20 to 30 visitors faint from the fumes every year.

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Freeport, Maine, United States

Desert of Maine

A dinner-plate-sized patch of sand grew to swallow forty acres, buildings, and all.

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Geneva, Switzerland

Bijouterie CD I Love You

A jewelry store in Geneva’s neighborhood where love is the local specialty.

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Cedar Grove, Tennessee, United States

101 Travel Stop

This Tenneesee travel stop's first digits are the only ten we see...

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Kraków, Poland

O. Weinfeld Farby Lakiery

This century-old ghost sign in Kraków offers a rare glimpse into pre-war Jewish life and entrepreneurship.

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Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Northernmost

Ny-Ålesund, populated by a few dozen people, is the world’s northernmost permanent settlement.

Svalbard, Svalbard

Where Polar Bears Apply

Polar bears are collectively referred to as an “aurora” or as a “celebration”—until you find yourself face-to-face with one.

Sisimiut and Ilulissat, Greenland

Greenland Airports

Flights to Greenland are rarely taken on a whim, so visitors are likely aware that they’ve signed up to arrive at the edge of the world.

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Slope Point, New Zealand

Slope Point

This signpost offers the precise distance to the South Pole and the Equator, reminding travelers that there’s always room to limbo lower.

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Dungog Shire, Australia

Dungog Shire Council

Playful cow-related imagery is prevalent in the area and can likely even be found on the bulletin board of the light, dung-hued brick council office.

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Brooklyn, New York, United States

Paul’s Daughter

At Coney Island, it might be the giant burger and soda atop Paul’s Daughter—not the lighthouse—that steal the spotlight.

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London, United Kingdom

Donovan Bros

What do Naomi Campbell, rock band Wet Wet Wet, and Jack the Ripper have in common?

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Grand Canyon Village, Arizona, United States

Grand Canyon Airlines

This airline offers more than just flights—it offers a perspective shift.

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New York, New York, United States

Explorers Club

The Explorers Club has been a launchpad for history-making adventurers.

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