(Sub)Culture Features

YouTube at 15 is our package of stories celebrating the streaming site’s anniversary. It’s hard to imagine, but there really was a time before makeup tutorials, conspiracy explainers, on-demand music videos — really, viral videos at large. Since it’s become such a ubiquitous part of culture, we set out to …

If you’ve ever wanted to own a piece of history — albeit a dark chapter — now’s your chance. Built in 1922, this gated, single-story, Spanish-style home has impressive panoramic views in both the front and back yards, a swimming pool, and ties to some of the most notorious crimes …

Listen to an audio version of this story below: Scientologists have special words for the people gathered at a sleek Airbnb townhouse on a mild day in September. They’re irrational, or “banky.” They’re putting off bad vibes, or being “downtone.” They’re full of negative energy, or “chargey,” and they won’t …

Bob Mackie has been working with Cher for 50 years, helping define and redefine her style through all its dramatic changes. Naturally, Mackie is also a huge presence in The Cher Show, the Broadway adaptation of Cher’s life. Mackie’s ostentatious, intricate designs get their own runway show during the musical. …

Tensions at the Peoples Temple camp at Jonestown came to a head with a visit from a concerned congressman. In November 1978, Representative Leo Ryan had flown in with a group of journalists to see just what was going on in the jungle of Guyana, where constituents in Ryan’s home …

It wasn’t the usual start to an awards show, even if the award show was for the adult industry. Without any kind of announcement, a parade of porn stars, all wearing sheer monochromatic garments designed by Kanye West’s Yeezy brand, took the stage. The erotic photographer Richard Kern snapped their …

“This is the only president who has turned his back on as many as 15,000 transgender service-members,” says Sheri Swokowski, a transgender veteran who served in the Wisconsin National Guard for 35 years. “Even since [President Trump’s] tweets, they are still getting up every morning, putting on their uniforms, lacing …

On a February morning in 1967, George Harrison‘s wife, Pattie Boyd, sat at her kitchen table and lamented to a girlfriend how she longed for something spiritual in her life. With that, the legendary party girl ripped a tiny newspaper advertisement for Transcendental Meditation classes out of the paper and, …