🍦 A $1 million dollar tongue | Bulletin #163

This week: the first world cup ⚽️ and phone box fascination ☎️

September 23, 2026

Olympia Theater 📍 Miami, Florida, USA 📸 Marco Fratus

Hey Adventurers 👋 Did you know the term "box office" once referred to an actual counter where wealthy theatergoers purchased private box seats? Because boxes cost more than general admission, their sales became the easiest barometer of success—the fuller the boxes, the fatter the take. By 1904, the phrase had shed its physical origins, becoming shorthand for something more abstract: whether an audience bothered to show up at all.

OUR FIRST MIDWEST EXHIBIITON

Calling all cheeseheads: AWA is heading to the Midwest for the very first time! Next year we will premiere a brand new version of our exhibition at the Racine Art Museum - and we want your photos from Wisconsin on the walls. 🖼️ Submit your AWA Wisconsin photo here for a chance to be featured! PS: Have a Wisconsin recommendation? Send it here because we’re headed that way!

On the heels of their 150th anniversary, we’ve compiled an architecturally-awesome set of stories to help celebrate one America’s oldest architecture firms. Shepley Bulfinch has some truly incredible structures, and we’re honored to help them share!

Archie’s Ice Cream📍Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, USA 📸 Marjorie Becker Photo

THE MAN WITH A $1 MILLION TONGUE

John Harrison spent more than 30 years with one of the best jobs around: tasting ice cream. Eventually, his taste buds were reportedly insured for $1 million. But how does someone become the man trusted to sample an estimated 60 million gallons of the stuff? We got the scoop…

Estadio Centenario📍Motevideo, Uruguay 📸 Marjorie Becker Photo

THE WORLD CUP’S FIRST HOME

Built in just five months, Estadio Centenario wasn’t ready for the first match of the first-ever World Cup. But it opened in time for Uruguay’s victory - and, 100 years later, will welcome the tournament home again. The story includes 93,000 roaring fans, a “Tower of Babel” construction site, and a primary school hidden beneath the pitch…

Meet William Arnold, a man who has made it his business to keep Britain’s rural phone boxes standing. His devotion took him on a 1,700-mile round trip to visit a rare payphone on the Isle of Lewis - the kind of pilgrimage that has a special ring to it. What would inspire someone to drive the length of the country, twice, for a phone box? Find out below. ☎️

Just in time to keep your feet cozy this winter, the Secret Link winner will get a pair of AWA socks! Also, as is AWA tradition, 30 runner-ups will receive an AWA sticker. Happy searching! 🧦