USA

On the leafy edge of residential San Francisco, a simple Greek revival building that once served as a church for Christian Scientists has been transformed into the library of the future. Behold the world’s only Internet Archive—home to 11 million books and texts, 279 billion web pages, 100,000 software programs, and 120 statuettes, just to name a few of its holdings.

One would think that the invention of digital lettering for our commercial signs—on everything from shops to billboards—was nothing but an industrial step forward. As it’s turned out, yesteryear’s signs, which were all painted by hand, offered a beauty and personality that today’s automated version has been unable to duplicate; more important, a hand-made sign lasts much longer. Our correspondent explores what’s left of the old tradition, and stumbles on small but lively seeds of revival.

Eddie Muller has dedicated his life to finding, and restoring, lost films of the great Film Noir era of the 1940s and ’50s. At this point, Muller is much like one of his favorite characters—a beaten down but determined gumshoe, always looking for a lucky break. At stake: the preservation of our cinematic history, well beyond film noir.

In a small town outside Torino, Italy, the age-old Vermouth giant, Martini & Rossi has turned this beverage into a model of what might be called industrial spirits craftsmanship. Our correspondent goes visiting, then returns stateside to watch a small one-man shop create the modern artisanal version. What are differences, and why do they matter?

Ross Shafer made his mark creating a popular brand of mountain bikes, called Salsa, and a line of small but crucial bicycle parts that no one had brought to the market before. Now he’s making what might be the world’s most beautiful “pedal steel guitar.” Might Shafer’s relentless eclecticism offer a model for a kind of second Renaissance?

If you’re the least bit uncertain about committing to a Brooks bicycle seat, there is one vendor out there made for you. It’s the Wallingford Bike Parts Company, in New Orleans. Unlike virtually every other Brooks vendor, Wallingford offers you a six-month unconditional guarantee of satisfaction. In other words, if you find that a Brooks…

Fishing for tiny Japanese bitterling is a Zen-like experience. You hold a six-inch slender bamboo pole delicately between your forefinger and middle finger and drop a line with a speck of mashed potato or a half-grain of rice as bait. If the air is quiet and your concentration focused enough, you might just see the…

Remember when you got your first driver’s license? Odds are, no one put you behind the wheel of a Porsche when a Volkswagen was a simpler way to learn to use a stick shift. Fly-fishing is much the same. This sport can be intimidating enough without having to worry that you’re casting a rod worth…

Whether it’s a comfortable chocolate-caramel, a more adventurous honey-lavender-earl grey, or even a gelato cocktail, you cannot deny the craving for true artisan gelato once it has blessed your taste buds.  If you’re in the states but find yourself too many miles from a good gelateria, you can use this list for some mail-order heaven.…