TRAVEL HISTORY

70 Years ago this week, Matson Line’s refurbished SS LURLINE  sailed from San Francisco and Los Angeles on her maiden post-WW 2 voyage to Hawaii. The flagship of Matson’s passenger fleet had just emerged from a stunning $18-million makeover, following six years as a troop carrier with her white ship ... Read More »

“Elvis who?” 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,” Wertheimer told TIME Magazine in an article 40 years ... 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 ... Read More »

In the 1950s, a cruise to Hawaii was sailing round-trip from California to Honolulu (alternating between San Francisco and Los Angeles) on Matson Line’s SS Lurline. All First Class LURLINE made the crossing in 4 and 1/2 days – 4 days at sea.   Most passengers spent 9 days in Hawaii before returning to ... Read More »

After spending more than two decades anchored in Philadelphia, a retired ocean liner is preparing to make waves once again. The SS United States, which holds the record for the fastest maritime journey across the Atlantic Ocean, has been docked at Philadelphia’s Pier 82 on the Delaware River since 1996. ... Read More »

The French Line’s flagship had been out of service for nearly four years. Then on February 9, 1942, crowds gathered at New York City’s pier 88 to witness a spectacle. The largest ocean liner in the world was on fire. Fire fighting efforts successfully contained the fire after five and ... Read More »

The MV AUREOL of 1951 was a hard working, much-loved liner that linked Liverpool (and later Southampton) with West Africa in the waning days of the British Empire. She was operated by Elder Dempster Lines, one of the UK’s largest shipping companies, and during its 150-year history, it operated more ... Read More »

J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. could never imagine his yacht Corsair IV would be turned into a deluxe cruise ship just after World War 2  whose short career with voyages from California would end in tragedy, but it happened. J.P. Morgan Jr. and his legendary business tycoon father, J. Pierpont Morgan, ... Read More »

The RMS Aquitania was the longest serving Cunard liner built in the 20th century and to survive service in both World Wars. The contract to build the ship went to John Brown & Co, and great publicity was given to the fact that it would be the largest liner in ... Read More »