CRUISING THE PAST Travel and Social History

The U.S. has no true high-speed trains, aside from sections of Amtrak’s Acela line in the Northeast Corridor. The Acela can reach 150 mph for only 34 miles of its 457-mile span. Its average speed between New York and Boston is about 65 mph. FLORIDA IS A HIT Virgin Rail is now running high-speed between Miami and Fort Lauderdale which ... Read More »

The Steamboat Gordon C. Greene cruised round-trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans on the Ohio and Mississippi with over a hundred passengers on a 21-Day river journey via Cairo, Paducah, Evansville, Memphis, Baton Rouge. When times were much different. The speed of the boat – was about that of the average of “Low Pressure” boats of Mark Twain’s time. The ... Read More »

With accommodations for 120 First Class Passengers Only, the “Del Triplets” – Del Norte, Del Mar, and Del Sud – were the first modern American flag liners to be built after World War 2 and became a top choice for cruising to South America. The streamline vessels, built at the Ingalls Shipyard, Pascagoula, Mississippi, were 10,074 tons, 495 feet in ... Read More »

The “Del Triplets” – Del Norte, Del Mar, and Del Sud – were the first modern American flag liners to be built after World War 2 and became a top choice for cruising to South America. They offered first class, mid-century modern passenger service from New Orleans to South America. Premiering in 1946 the three ships lasted until 1972. To ... Read More »

The SS Robert E. Lee was hit by one torpedo from Nazi Submarine U-166, steaming at 16 knots about 25 miles southeast of the entrance to the Mississippi River on July 30, 1942. Lookouts had spotted the torpedo wake about 200 yards away before it struck the former Eastern Steamship Line coastal liner just aft of the engine room. The ... Read More »

The Santa Fe felt it needed its own streamliner serving the Bay Area and launched the San Francisco Chief in June 1954. The new express train joined Santa Fe’s other legacy trains: the Chief, Super Chief, and El Capitan. The San Franciso Chief offered First Class Pullman Sleeping Car and Chair Car accommodations. San Joaquin Valley cities such as Stockton, ... Read More »

Looking very chic, HRH Princess Michael of Kent recently attended the opening exhibition of Juan Bastos: California Portraits at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. The rich exhibition of 40 portraits of prominent Californians painted by Bastos, the Bolivian-American artist, a longtime resident of Los Angeles. The exhibit was part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA (Latin American & Latino ... Read More »

Travel the past: The first SS Volendam served the trans-Atlantic route for Holland America Line HAL from the 1920s until the early 1950s. Travel the now: Peter Kengo, the travel critic, and historian take us on a tour of the third MS Volendam. We link to Peter’s article in USA Today with a complete picture t0ur of Holland America Line’s ... Read More »

Over fifteen hundred passengers lost their lives on board the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic. She was one of three Olympic Class’ passenger liners commissioned by the White Star Shipping Line. Hailed as a wonder of luxury, power, and style she first rolled into the water from the slipway in Belfast’s Harland and Wolff shipyard to much fanfare in May ... Read More »

The SS LURLINE, flagship of Matson’s passenger fleet, emerged from a stunning $18-million makeover, following six years as a troop carrier with her white ship sisters, MARIPOSA, MONTEREY and MATSONIA. The Lurline was the Queen of the Pacific and her arrival in Honolulu was greeted with great fanfare. For her April 1948 debut, passengers were greeted with all new staterooms ... Read More »

MS Oranje, later known as MS Angelina Lauro, was a passenger liner, a wartime hospital ship and finally a cruise ship that was lost while being towed for scrap. She sank in a storm in the mid-Pacific, on September 24, 1979. The ship underwent 25 years’ service as MS Oranje, and fifteen as MS Angelina Lauro. She was a cruise ... Read More »

Chasen’s was a glamorous world – “Celebrity chefs” will never replace stylish hosts and personalities such as Dave Chasen or Vincent Sardi or Mike Romanoff. The “chefs” were in the kitchen. Not greeting you at the front door! No credit cards were honored! Credit was by house accounts only. Not based on credit scores but on celebrity scores. Now the ... Read More »

In the late twenties and early thirties, American Airways was created through the acquisition of dozens of smaller airlines throughout the United States. Great video of American Airlines in the 1930s… Like most airlines, at the time the company profited by carrying United States mail. In 1934 American Airways Company was acquired by E.L. Cord, who renamed it “American Air ... Read More »

President Donald Trump’s “Mar-a-Lago” may be the closest proximity you might have to the illustrious society history of Post Cereals Heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post unless you charter her former private railway car. Originally christened Hussar, the car was built in 1922 for Post and her husband E.F. Hutton. The car was used for company business and personal travel. The famous ... Read More »

Have you wondered where the much-overused phrase “the red carpet treatment” originated? It all started with the 20th Century Limited. The train of tycoons and movie stars. The “Century” was an express all-Pullman passenger train operated by the New York Central nightly from New York to Chicago. From 1938 until the last run in 1968, passengers walked down a crimson ... Read More »