The New York Public Library has uploaded thousands of maps onto its website.
That's not the cool part, since many of these maps are already available online in some form or another, if you know what to look for.
The cool part is that the NYPL's website has overlaid these maps on their present locations, so you can see how past residents viewed their homes.
Here's what you do: Go to maps.nypl.org/warper and choose "Browse Rectified Maps."
Start searching areas you want to explore to see if there are any historical maps. We'll choose Chicago. We got one result showing Illinois circa 1860. That's OK; we can zoom in.
Click "Preview Rectified Map."
And we're here. You'll now want to start zeroing in on Chicago.
Welcome to Chicago, 150 years in the past.
The coolest element is the transparency bar. It lets you see the overlay of the old map with the new:
This allowed me to learn a ton of things I never knew about Chicago, including:
- Wilmette, where Rahm Emanuel grew up, was settled by German farmers as Gross Point.
- Part of River Forest — home of Paul Harvey and the creators of Mars bars — used to be called Harlem, because the guy who bought the land there had grown up in upper Manhattan.
- There used to be a community north of the city called Angola, for reasons that are not clear.
Anyway, you can also see one for New York City, which shows how much lower Manhattan has expanded into its surrounding bay.
SEE ALSO: 20 Brilliant Ways You Can Slice Up Europe
Join the conversation about this story »
     |
Drive down the back streets of East Los Angeles on a Friday night, and you may hear 300 or 400 teenagers shouting, thrashing, and partying to the beat of a fast-kicking bass drum. This is the East Los Angeles backyard punk scene, as raw and do-it-yourself as it was when it first sprouted in the '70s.
Many families, who have no affiliations with punk, host concerts in their backyards because they can make money from hosting and enjoy supporting the neighborhood kids. Hosts will typically collect $2-$3 for admission per person. 
Shows can attract hundreds of kids from all over Southern California. While most are from East L.A., some come from as far as Orange County or San Diego.
Most of the kids in the scene are somewhere between 14 and their early 20s.
The scene gives the kids a place to belong. Some of the teenagers have difficult living situations that they are looking to escape. As one teenager told Boatwright, "It's a way to get out of the house, forget about all this, and party."
In Boatwright's "Off The Wall" documentary, one teenager talks about how meaningful the backyard punk scene has become. "Family is like the true meaning of what keeps everyone together. And that's pretty much how our scene is, it's like a big family," she says.
At many of the concerts, 
Teenagers find out about the shows either through Facebook or mass texts. In order to get the invite, you have to be in the know.
Like most music scenes, the East L.A. scene comes with its own history, mythology, and current bands. The new teenagers continue the decades-long tradition by starting new bands or moshing at the shows.
The music at the shows spans the numerous different sub-genres of punk rock, from ska (an upbeat, reggae-like punk) to street punk (a faster, more relentless version of hardcore punk). 
The moshing can get pretty intense, but it's all in good fun. When someone falls, usually a group of people step in to get him or her out of the way. For many, it's a safe outlet for the aggression and anger that the teenagers build up in daily life. 
Cabral credits the shows with keeping him out of gang warfare. "
Boatwright produced a series of documentary episodes for Vans on the East L.A. scene. Check out the first episode below and 
2. Fine dining.
3. Beer section.
4. Newsstand.
5. Friendly workers. 
6. Subs.
7. Immaculate stores..jpg)
8. Ready-to-cook meals. 
9. Candy section. 
10. Superior employer. 
11. Salad bar.
12. One-stop shop. 
13. Bakery.
14. Prices.
15. Gift shopping. 
16. Wegmans superfans. 
If you want to break the bank to eat amazing food, Las Vegas has you covered.
And then of course, there’s the true heart of the Las Vegas culinary scene, which has also seen a revamp: the buffets.
