Basque pelota for betting, during the 80's and 90's Jai-Alai was especially popular in Miami and Florida where the frontons had press boxes, restaurants, and going to the Jai-Alai was seen to be a privilege. Men often came in suits and women came in elaborate dresses for the "special event". Nowadays Jai-Alai has dropped in popularity instead of thousands of people who came to watch now there are barely a couple hundred. Pelota is usually played in the Basque regions of south-western France and north-eastern Spain, where it originates. There are also federations of Basque ball in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa
Cyrus Alai 2006 and 2009. He donated his huge collection of Persian maps to the University of London. Cyrus Alai Cyrus Alai (Persian: سیروس علایی) is a Persian-British engineer, map collector and the author of the book "General Maps of Persia". Alai was born in Tehran and studied at Technical University of Berlin. Before the 1979 revolution he was a lecturer at Tehran University. Shortly after the revolution he moved to London. Alai has contributed to various publications such as the Encyclopedia Iranica for the entries related to cartography of Persia. He is the author of two books "General Maps of Persia"