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The City of Las Vegas was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Union Pacific Railroad between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Los Angeles, California from 1956 until 1968. It operated from 1956 to 1968. It was one of several trains to operate with the experimental General Motors Aerotrain, although this experiment was ... Read More »

The economic challenges of the city’s downtown since the BLM riots in 2020 have sparked speculation of a so-called ‘doom loop’. It’s happened. Once a major tourist center, San Francisco hotels, from five star to no star, are offering up to 60% discount. The operator of the gondola that services ... Read More »

Jeffrey Epstein threatened to expose an affair Bill Gates allegedly had with a Russian bridge player after the Microsoft co-founder declined to join his philanthropic venture, according to a report on Sunday. The disgraced pedophile, who killed himself in 2019, appeared to threaten Gates over the alleged affair with Russian ... Read More »

More than a 250 stars attended the September 1954 Pantages Theatre gala premiere. Many predicting an Oscar sweep for the films with top acting awards going to Judy Garland and James Mason. More than 20,000 fans were spectators at the Pantages premiere demanding Warner Bros and the Los Angeles Police Department to organize ... Read More »

Prominent big band leader Ernest (Ernie) Heckscher and his dance orchestra performed for years in the Venitian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. His mellow sounds enlivened debutante cotillions and high school proms in San Francisco for 36 years, from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1986. ... Read More »

The Southern Pacific’s Streamliner Coast Daylight was the West’s finest train in the 1940s, 50s, and early 1960s. It hugged the Pacific Ocean with great views. Linking Los Angeles and San Francisco on a glorious daylight trip, streaking along the edge of the Pacific Ocean for more than a hundred ... Read More »

The Germans (Nazis) developed the VW, created the first cruise line and built the first ships designed exclusively for cruising. The first cruise line… The Germans operated the first steamship line with ships exclusively devoted to cruising. The Kdf – Kroft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) leisure organization, a part ... Read More »

More than a century after the Titanic sank in April 1912; few new stories surface from the wreck. When documentary filmmaker Arthur Jones and his team started work on “The Six” — their film about the ship’s six Chinese survivors — in 2012, they kept expecting to find that someone ... Read More »

West Hollywood’s 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. I had dinner at Chasen’s many times. First, with my parents and then later on when I became a writer/producer. Dinner with Groucho ... Read More »

“Elvis who?” On the threshold of fame, Elvis took the train. Photographer Alfred Wertheimer recalls uttering that very question in early 1956. A publicist from RCA Victor Records had contacted him, asking if he was available to photograph a young singer named Elvis Presley. “I’d never heard of the man,” ... Read More »