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 Jacksonville. Aboard the Merchants and Miners Trans Co SS NANTUCKET ... Read More »
The 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967, during which time it would become known as a “National Institution” and advertised as “The Most Famous Train in the World.” Movie stars were regular passengers on the 20th Century. Kim Novak drew enormous attention from rows of businessmen ... Read More »
The Paramount Theatre opened in January 1923 as Grauman’s Metropolitan Theatre. It was the second largest movie palace in California, San Francisco’s fabulous Fox Theatre was the first. Both were demolished in the 1960s. Elvis Presley appeared in person at the Paramount in the 1950s. Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood were featured on the gigantic screen in “The Girl I ... Read More »
National holidays were celebrated onboard liners and cruise ships with special events and elaborate menus. From Russian Caviar to Filet Mignon to Ice Cup, Independence Gourmandizes. The menus are classics in cuisine prepared onboard and not the fresh frozen cruise meals aboard today’s cruise liners. Here are a number of Steamship Lines celebrating the 4th from the 1900s into the ... Read More »
Appearance was very important to women during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Ladies always looked their best when they stepped outside their homes. Newsreel clip of fashions 1950 onboard the SS Homeric. It didn’t matter whether they were going to the grocery store, the airport, to run errands or to pick up the kids from school. This was especially true for ... Read More »
Star of Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO, Janet Leigh is ready to board the famous SUPER CHIEF and Virginia Leith, star of A KISS BEFORE DYING shows us the all-Pullman train during the 1950s in a promotional film. Even the characters from TV’s MAD MEN may have been aboard the train all through the 1960s. A lot of executives would take the ... Read More »
In the late 1940s, the Milwaukee Road introduced the Olympian Hiawatha, the transcontinental version of the railroad’s very modern fleet of Hiawatha passenger trains. The original version of the train was the Twin Cities Hiawatha, which began operating between Chicago and the Twin Cities on May 29, 1935, one of the first streamlined trains ever to be introduced in the ... Read More »
Raymond Loewy, whose modern concept of everything from fountain pens to airplanes, ships, and railroad trains won him the title of America’s foremost industrial designer. His basic design philosophy was behind the creation of the interiors for Matson’s luxury liner Lurline and modern ticket office in downtown Los Angeles in 1948. These were the ultimate in mid-century design. “We translated ... Read More »
The Southern Pacific’s Streamliner Coast Daylight was the West’s finest train in the 1940s, 50s and early 1960s, linking Los Angeles and San Francisco in a glorious daylight trip, streaking along the edge of the Pacific Ocean for more than a hundred breathless mile. Chair car passengers had full access to the Coffee Shop, Diner, and Tavern cars. The two ... Read More »
The USA Olympic Team sailed aboard the SS America to England in 1948. The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin. ... Read More »
Great photos of passengers and officers aboard P&O and Orient Line ships sailing from England to Australia. The RMS Arcadia was one of P&O’s great liners. Sailing on P&O Orient Lines… Read More »
Besides “crossing the Pond” on Cunard, Elizabeth Taylor sailed to Europe on the French Line’s SS Liberte, cruised to the Mediterranean aboard Cunard’s RMS Caronia and Mauritania. Liz sailed to the Caribbean and South America on the Grace Line’s SS Santa Rosa. She loved ships and the sea. Taylor had sailed a number of times on the RMS Queen Mary with her mother, ... Read More »
Maritime historian Peter Knego, who liked the former British passenger liner AUREOL, once the flagship of Elder Dempster Lines, so much that when she was broken up he rescued enough of her fittings to fill a shipping container, including a mahogany bar, tiger-maple panelling, cabinets, chairs and light fixtures and installed the lot in his California home in Oceanside, California. ... Read More »
The New York to Detroit market was once crowded with trains, served primarily by the New York Central and Pennsylvania while the Baltimore & Ohio also offered exceptional services via Washington, D.C. The trains weren’t the victims of cancellation due to weather. The North Easter last week wouldn’t have stopped the trains. The NYC’s All-Pullman Detroiter was arguably the ... Read More »
Judy Garland is sailing today on the SS United States. Everyone knew the famous star was on board because they had a First Class Passenger List. They also read that Marlon Brando, Salvidor Dali along with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were other celebrities sailing to Europe on America’s famous trans-Atlantic liner. Cunard Line Passenger Lists Passenger lists were ... Read More »
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