1920s

California’s famous overnight steamboats Delta King and Delta Queen operated first-class overnight passenger service between San Francisco and Sacramento from 1927 until 1940. The steamboats were called the “mail-order” ships because they were initially built in Scotland, shipped to Stockton where they were assembled. The new steamers replaced the Fort ... Read More »

When the Fox Theater was built in 1929, it seemed as if there weren’t enough adjectives to describe the movie theater’s magnificence. The San Francisco Chronicle called the opening “a spectacle of such beauty and magnitude that it seemed rather a fancy of one’s mind rather than the inaugural night ... Read More »

From 1914 to 1949 the RMS Aquitania crossed the pond between New York, Canada, and Europe carrying celebrities, tourists, businessmen, immigrants, and war brides. The RMS Aquitania was the longest-serving Cunard liner built in the 20th century and to survive service in both World Wars. ARRIVES IN NEW YORK AS WORLD ... 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 ... 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 ... Read More »

The RMS Aquitania was the longest serving Cunard liner built in the 20th century and to survive service in both World Wars. The contract to build the ship went to John Brown & Co, and great publicity was given to the fact that it would be the largest liner in ... Read More »

Judy Garland is on the passenger list and its the Captain’s Dinner Night on the SS United States… And it is the one night that Judy Garland left her stateroom. Pictured: Sid Luff and his wife Judy Garland with a friend John Carlyle at right. 1956 1st Class Dining Room – ... Read More »

Eastern Steamship Lines operated coastwise overnight passenger services along the Long Island Sound between New York and Boston and to other Northeast Coast ports including Portland, Maine, along with services to Canada and cruises. VIDEO OF EASTERN STEAMSHIP LINE CRUISE 1937 CRUISE – NEW YORK TO NOVA SCOTIA ABOARD EASTERN ... Read More »

The Cunard Line celebrates Christmas with a long and fascinating history. The company was created in 1839 when Samuel Cunard won the Admiralty’s tender to provide a transatlantic mail service to be carried by steamships between Great Britain and North America. The service was inaugurated in 1840 when the steamship Britannia ... Read More »