When I grow up, I want to be a retronaut; Chris Wild already is and he is generously sharing his portal with the world. Mr. Wild’s intriguing website (and it is intriguing) is a place in time dancing with whimsy. How to be a Retronaut is a website where you can scroll and click with wild abandon and pure wonder, “If the past is a foreign country, this is your passport.”

A retronaut is someone who travels through time using just perception. How to be a Retronaut is a charismatic playground within a timeline that invites you to be a retronaut. The appeal of the website is in variety and unexpected entertainment. Where else can you find Eiffel Tower blueprints, a blooper reel from the 1930s, and a 5000 year old piece of chewing gum?! There are roots to modern chromatics, like this Crayola color chart graphically depicting the evolution from 8 crayon colors to 120 colors in 97 years (image above). For a dash of Parisian history, devour the details of this flat (who doesn’t want this ostrich?!).

I love the nostalgic photographs hidden throughout the website. These images of a Brooklyn gang in 1959 are completely captivating.

These Parisian glimpses (in color!) are from the WWII era.

And let’s not forget the birth of Twitter (70 years earlier than you think).

Now click over and explore!

(All images from How to be a Retronaut.)

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