Bohemian Shoebox

“a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore” for 50 years. His store has long been a literary hub, attracting the likes of Henry Miller, Richard Wright and William S.Burroughs. More importantly, George has been inviting people to live in his shop from its very first days. There are now 13 beds [sic] among the books, and he says that more than 40,000 people have slept there at one time or another. All he asks is that you make your bed in the morning, help out in the shop, and read a book a day.
Jeremy Mercer

Camden Town, London

Calcata, Italy.

Medieval village in Italy, on top of a calc-tuff hill, a stump of volcanic rock. 45 km from Rome. The village now hosts a very active community of over 100 artists, bohemians, and intellectuals who live and work there.

In the late ’60s and early ’70s, artists and bohemians began gravitating to the village, drawn by its rugged beauty and a mythical energy

“You could walk around here in your pajamas holding a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and no one is going to judge you because you’re not tied to the proper Italian way of doing things,” said a resident.

Camden Town, via

places for bohos to visit…

witches’ market, La Paz, Bolivia, 2001, copyright Monica (Bohemain Shoebox)

bobowoodlake:

(via oldchum)

La Paz, Bolivia, 2001, copyright Monica (Bohemain Shoebox)

breathing badly in Potosi

If there’s a place in the world where you really do not want to catch a cold, it’s in Potosi, Bolivia. It’s the highest city in the world, and it’s altitude means the air is thin. Yes, you hardly need anything else to limit your breathing capacities.

Add to this cold and altitude, way too much vehicular pollution, a person with mild claustrophobia (more precisely, lack-of-air-ophobia) and you have one unhappy cat. Yup, that’s me. When I finally got ut, I saw stuff like this…

The music was very upbeat. Yet the street dancers didn’t a crack a smile once. The juxtaposition made my day… When they were done with their show of extreme merriment, we danced up the street on our own, making the locals peer from out of their doors, and chuckle at the crazy Westerners.