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Stage of the Paramount Theatre Los Angeles. Cruising The Past examines social history and looks at one of the great movie palaces. The largest ever built in Los Angeles.  Sid Grauman’s Metropolitan. Left: As the Metropolitan Theatre, Right: As the Paramount Theatre. Sid Grauman’s Metropolitan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles ... Read More »

“The Cunarder” boat train departs the Southampton Ocean Terminal bound for London Waterloo with passengers from the RMS Queen Elizabeth. The boat train is hauled by SR Bulleid “Battle of Britain” class steam locomotive No 34088 213 Squadron. BOAT TRAINS TO SOUTHAMPTON – From Cunard Lines to the Titanic and ... Read More »

Website of the Month – The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives – The Future of Our Past… Cruising the Past salutes The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives – with a visit to their excellent coverage of The Baltimore Mail Steamship Company. Gjenvick-Gjønvik is one of the largest private archives of historical documents from the 1800s through ... Read More »

Addison Mizner (left) and his career as an architect of fact and fable.  From mansions to yachts. More Social History in Palm Beach from a great story in New York Social Diary. Cruising The Past also looks at one of Mizner’s first clients: Edward Townsend Stotesbury and his yacht Neveda. ... Read More »

Cruise History: MS STOCKHOLM – Collided with the Italian Line’s Andrea Doria and, as the MV ATHENA, was attacked by pirates.  The Italian press called the Stockholm the “ship of death” (La nave della morte). The Stockholm returning to New York after her collision with the Andrea Doria. Her bow ... Read More »

Philadelphia lunching Ikea shoppers have a view of the SS United States, at Pier 82 since 1996. CRUISE SHIP HISTORY: SOS for faded liner – SOS for faded liner – Is the SS United States headed for the scrap yards or will Philadelphia save her? Bill Clinton was in his ... Read More »

CRUISE SHIP HISTORY:  OLD BAY LINE – PRESIDENT WARFIELD BECAME THE FAMOUS SS EXODUS.  The President Warfield was named after the Old Bay Line’s president.  Warfield’s niece Bessie Wallis Warfield (Mrs. Wallis) shook the British empire to its foundations when she married Edward VIII. PRESIDENT WARFIELD – “Old Baltimore At ... Read More »

Peter Knego at Alang with SS RITA (ex WINDSOR CASTLE) in late September of 2005. Photo by Kaushal Trivedi. Cruise News: Peter Kengo’s MIDSHIP CENTURY has received a new shipment of cruise ship furnishings after his recent visit to India.  His collection covers everything from furniture, to ship’s fittings and ... Read More »

Cruise History: The sinking of the actual RMS Titanic and the fictitious sinking of the Titan.  Was it coincidence? Art doesn’t just imitate life — sometimes it anticipates it. Fourteen years before the RMS Titanic was built, the American Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called Futility or The Wreck of ... Read More »

Cruising the future. The stylish French tradition of cruising will return with the revived Paquet Cruises in 2010. The Costa Allegra will be chartered by Paquet. The Paquet cruise brand in France is to be revived by Jean-Maurice Ravon through his company TMR. TMR will apparently charter the 820-berth Costa ... Read More »