1930s

For first-class passengers aboard ocean liners and cruises, from the 1930s into the 1960s, the menu choices were staggering. On ships like the SS Europa, RMS Queen Mary, and the SS United States, dinner might have had 12 courses, with 8 to 10 options for each course. It is difficult ... Read More »

One of the most shocking tragedies of World War 2 occurred on November 18th, 1939, when the Dutch liner “Simon Bolivar” struck a German mine in the North Sea, and sank with the loss of over 120 lives, including woman and children. Poignant stories told by survivors are here reprinted ... Read More »

First as the trans-Pacific record holder liner, then serving during World War 2, followed by being renamed the Empress of Scotland on the trans-Atlantic run and then finally sailing under the German flag. It was ironic, the allied ship used during WW 2 to fight the Nazis, was sold to ... 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 »

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 ... 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 »

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, ... 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 ... 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 ... Read More »