Historic hotels can come with a higher price tag. People will shell out to sleep among Art Deco architecture actually built during the Art Deco period or pace the same creaky floors as their favorite writers. If you know where to look, though, you can find rooms in beautiful, old hotels at reasonable prices. From […] The post The Coolest (and Affordable) Historic Hotels in the US appeared first on Fifty Grande ..read more

“We need more things like this” my friend says as we walk into the TWA Hotel in Jamaica, New York.  We’ve just emerged, sweaty and verklempt, from the traffic lines of John F. Kennedy International Airport, which is under construction, creating new and more sadistic ways to congest roadways every day. Outside, the thermostat is reaching 90 degrees, and the air conditioning in my Prius is broken. It was not the air conditioning, though, my friend was reacting to, nor the relative lack of people in a hotel lobby at 11 a.m. on a Thursday, but the dramatic white slopes of the TWA’s concrete c ..read more

Temperatures are rising, tan lines are coming in and days are finally long enough to drive well into the evening. Yes, American road trip season is upon us, and with it, the perfect excuse to visit states you’ve never seen before. When driving across unfamiliar state lines, sometimes it’s nice to have a little help deciding the best sites to see and which attractions are worth a detour — and that’s what Fifty Grande is here for, folks. In the United States, road trip attractions run the gamut from quirky museums to grand national parks, curated cultural trails to scenic drives and train rides ..read more

Come August, the summer sun is fully maturing and the heat is inescapable — at least within driving distance of most American cities. And shorter driving trips probably make the most sense in August. You’ve just spent some of your personal time and energy on the holiday weekend in July, and you’re saving up for another in September, so August is for little jaunts. Maybe you plan a trip around a festival. Maybe you set your sights on a hike or semi-convenient natural vista. Speaking of vistas, we’ve got a few we think are looking great in August below.    Fort Collins, Colo.  ..read more

In 2019, there was a new kind of gay panic on the map. When Dr. Greggor Mattson, professor and chair of sociology at Oberlin College, researched how many LGBT bars were left in the United States in 2019, he could find only 15 lesbian bars. Between 2007 and 2019, the already-low number of lesbian bars in the U.S. had dropped by 51.6%. When Mattson published his research, it sparked a wave of op-ed eulogies for sapphic saloons.  Mattson had created a census using old Damron guides. Bob Damron’s Address Books, as they were called in the mid–20th century, were printed guides to gay-friendly s ..read more

Pictured above: Ofland Escalante If you’re looking for the Goldilocks camping experience, one that says “yes” to fire-cooked meals, stargazing and spending time outdoors, and “no” to sleeping on the ground and long walks to a shared bathroom of questionable cleanliness, you might be a glamper.  A portmanteau of glamourous and camping, glamping is all about adding an element of luxury to your outdoor adventure, swapping nylon tents for fortified yurts in the forest and buggy latrines for revamped trailers in the wine country. If glamping sounds expensive, that’s because it can be, but as t ..read more

The newest 21c Museum Hotel only opened last August; however, “The Way Out West,” a three-story permanent installation occupying the lobby’s main stairwell (and on the cover of our latest issue), has already proven itself as St. Louis’ most iconic spot for a selfie. Sorry, Gateway Arch! Photo-printed wall coverings and carpets conceived by the design duo Fallen Fruit have become an irresistible backdrop where oversized cherubs tumbling across an acid landscape of flora and fauna camouflage slinging arrows and tomahawks among the dogwood. And if you turn around and take a deeper look, you’ll fi ..read more

You almost certainly don’t think about Iowa, a predictably flat, predictably conservative state in the same sentence as Pride Month. But Iowa’s history of LGBT trailblazing goes way back. In 1976, the state repealed a law criminalizing same-sex sexual activity 27 years before the Supreme Court followed suit. In 2009, it became the third state to legalize same-sex marriage (California was tenth). The Supreme Court jumped on the bandwagon six years later, but according to reporting by Iowa Public Radio, something happened in those intervening years. Same-sex couples from neighboring Minnesota, W ..read more

What began in 1872 as a single, protected region called Yellowstone National Park has evolved into the National Park Service which encompasses 429 sites across the country and its territories. Sixty three of the historic areas have been designated as national parks that protect unique lands and ecosystems. The National Park Service is one of the best and most popular resources we collectively have to learn about our country’s history and it welcomed more than 325 million visits last year. Each one of the national parks has something new to explore whether that be historically, recreationally ..read more

July is the hottest month of the year but also one of the coolest when it comes to sartorial uninhibitedness and communal pursuits. Which is to say, we like to wear a little and party a lot. Fourth of July festivities are in full swing with fireworks sales sky-rocketing, social calendars filling up with outdoor party invites and the smell of barbecued meat wafting in the summer air. You might think Independence Day is all July is known for but it has much more revelry to add to its name. You can celebrate Ice Cream Month or Hot Dog Month for four weeks straight (!!!) or indulge your demure art ..read more