1930s

Far away from the Trans-Atlantic services – “Down Under” – Union Steam Ship Company operated a fleet of excellent passenger ships between Australia and New Zealand until 1960. In her day the Awatea was regarded as one of the most luxurious and fastest liners of the period. Her history was ... Read More »

Onboard the Ward Line’s SS MORRO CASTLE, in the early morning hours of September 7, 1934, a deadly fire erupted in two places on the cruise/liner en route from Havana Cuba to New York City. After wonderful days at sea and a wonderful time in Havana, the cruise turned into ... Read More »

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Lucius Beebe was probably the first gay man and major celebrity to have a publicly open relationship. An author, journalist, historian, raconteur, gourmet and bon vivant extraordinary – this extraordinary personality was world-famous and a long-time columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He loved trains and ... Read More »

The Germans (Nazis) created the first cruise line and built the first ships designed exclusively for cruising. Hitler sailed on the maiden voyage. The ships were large and modern. All one class with elegant public rooms. Hitler’s First Cruise Line The Germans operated the first steamship line with ships exclusively ... Read More »

The SS Yale and SS Harvard became known as “white Flyers of the Pacific”! The sister ships each made four sailings a week, carrying 565 First Class passengers at an average speed of 23 knots between the two major California cities. The fast coastal ships provided an overnight cruise on ... Read More »

Known as the “Queen of Sea,” the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company Steamship Line operated one of the finest fleets of passenger steamers on the Atlantic Coast and ranked foremost as one of America’s top tourist routes. It was said to be the only line plying between Baltimore, Savannah, and ... Read More »

The Pittsburgher was a premiere passenger train operated between New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Main Line. The PPR’s overnight all Pullman service-connected the Steel City with New York via the railroad’s mainline. It was initially launched during the mid-1920s, for many years the train pampered ... Read More »

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 »