TRAVEL HISTORY

In the late twenties and early thirties, American Airways was created through the acquisition of dozens of smaller airlines throughout the United States. Great video of American Airlines in the 1930s… Like most airlines, at the time the company profited by carrying United States mail. In 1934 American Airways Company ... Read More »

President Donald Trump’s “Mar-a-Lago” may be the closest proximity you might have to the illustrious society history of Post Cereals Heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post unless you charter her former private railway car. Originally christened Hussar, the car was built in 1922 for Post and her husband E.F. Hutton. The car ... Read More »

Have you wondered where the much-overused phrase “the red carpet treatment” originated? It all started with the 20th Century Limited. The train of tycoons and movie stars. The “Century” was an express all-Pullman passenger train operated by the New York Central nightly from New York to Chicago. From 1938 until ... Read More »

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 »