Buckle up in an armchair for a ride with Atlas Obscura, curator of strange, amazing destinations.
Atlas Obscura co-founder Joshua Foer offers his top 10 sites to see even when you can’t leave your house
In the summer of 2001, 19-year-old Joshua Foer took off on a classic Great American Road Trip, traveling around the country, sleeping in a minivan and seeking out the nation’s hidden corners for the sights and experiences that would transform him into a writer. Just one problem: He had no guides to point him to those places.
So he and a friend, Dylan Thuras, who was about to set off on a similar adventure in Eastern Europe, decided to try crowdsourcing. They created an online compendium and asked people to contribute obscure destinations.
The result was the Atlas Obscura, a website and book (Workman Publishing, $37.50) curated with Thuras, which invite readers to learn about some of the most unusual and, well, obscure sights in the world. In our current isolated, housebound state, the atlas offers a welcome escape into surreal, amazing and unexpected places around the globe — from your armchair.
“We believe that you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to experience a sense of wonder and discovery,” Foer says. Naturally, we had questions.
QIt’s easy to go down rabbit holes when you visit Atlas Obscura. Was that your plan?
AOur mission is to help you see the world with fresh eyes. That applies especially to where we live. It’s all around us, in our own backyards, if we only know how to look for it.
QIn addition to highlighting those obscure corners, do you see the project as a way to preserve stories and the history of a place?
AAbsolutely. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly homogenized. We have to work to preserve the things that make us unique and different — and we believe the best way to do that is by elevating and celebrating the world’s truly unique and special places, especially the ones that tend to be overlooked.
QWhat have you found most interesting about the site? I’m not talking about the actual places, but other things you’ve learned, perhaps from the entries and the people who contribute?
A
Well, I’ve learned there are a lot of really tall and completely uncelebrated radio towers around the world, but I guess that’s not quite what you mean. I suppose the most surprising thing is how many incredible places there are out there. I mean, we’ve been at this for a long time, and we are still amazed and delighted every day by how many places are contributed that blow our minds.
QWhat makes a place “right” for Atlas Obscura?
A
We’d never include the Eiffel Tower in Atlas Obscura, but up at the top of the tower, Gustave Eiffel constructed a secret apartment where he could entertain distinguished visitors. That’s in Atlas Obscura. The principal criteria for inclusion is that a place has to inspire a sense of wonder and curiosity.
QWhat do you recommend we visit — in our shelteredin-place state — through the website or your book? Are there any in the Bay Area that are particularly appealing to you? A
I’d start with these. And my favorite spot in the Bay Area happens to be one of the most popular with the Atlas Obscura community, so perhaps it isn’t that obscure. It’s the Wave Organ in San Francisco, an acoustic sculpture played by the sea.
Buckle the seat belt on your recliner and get ready to travel.