CRUISING THE PAST Travel and Social History

During the 1930s – businessmen and tourists sailed to Europe from the USA. There were almost daily sailings from New York. French Line offered Cabin Service on the SS Champlain, SS Lafayette, SS De Grasse, and SS Rochambeau. The above schedule and rates give a great indication of what it cost to travel from New York to Europe at the ... Read More »

In the 1950s pioneer shipping executive Arnold Bernstein wanted to offer superior Economy Class steamship liner services from New York to Europe offering all staterooms with private facilities aboard the SS Atlantic. Bernstein had chartered in the summer of 1948 a passenger ship the CONTINENTAL (ex ANCON of 1902) for four round voyages from New York to Plymouth and Antwerp. ... Read More »

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 was acquired by E.L. Cord, who renamed it “American Air ... Read More »

The Delta Line was cruising to South America from New Orleans in the 1950s. The steamship company introduced three revolutionary passenger-cargo ships to its South American services in the post-war years of the 1940s. In keeping with the trade name of the company, “Delta Line”, the three vessels were given “Del” names DEL NORTE, DEL SUD, and DEL MAR. The ... Read More »

The GORDON C. GREENE sailed south on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers – from Cincinnati to New Orleans and back. Nearly 70 years ago.  When times were much different. The cruise cost $220 or about ten dollars a day  Capt. Mary Greene – co-owner of the Greene Line, and for 50 years the only woman pilot on the river.  She ... Read More »

Greene Line Steamers originated as a family-owned and operated business established by Captain Gordon C. Greene and his wife, Captain Mary Greene. After working his way from deckhand to captain, Gordon Greene purchased his first steamboat with his own savings in 1890. The last years of the 19th century and first years of the 20th were prosperous for steamship lines, ... Read More »

First as the trans-Pacific record holder liner, then serving during World War 2, followed by being renamed the Empress of Scotland on the trans-Atlantic run and then finally sailing under the German flag. It was ironic, the allied ship used during WW 2 to fight the Nazis, was sold to Hamburg America Line and rebuilt as the Hanseatic for cruise ... 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 »

Social History: Los Angeles icon novelist John Rechy, a first-generation Mexican American who has chronicled gay life in America, received the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement at a gala ceremony at the University of Southern California last month. John Rechy, like Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal shares a star quality and charisma with the giants of American ... Read More »

She’s the largest luxury cruise liner ever built in the United States using all American products and by American workers: Meet “America’s Flagship,” the S.S. United States. Cruise industry executive and philanthropist Jim Pollin, owner of the Pollin Group and winner of the SS United States Conservancy’s National Flagship Champion Award, presented a check to Conservancy executive director Susan Gibbs ... Read More »

Monday, May 7th marks the 101st anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Lusitania. The Liverpool-built passenger ship whose destruction sparked the United States’ decision to enter World War I in 1917. “Enlist” (mother and child drowning), by Fred Spear, June 1915. WWI recruitment poster published by the Boston Committee of Public Safety just a month after the Lusitania sinking. ... Read More »

The Southern Pacific Railroad was a major element in the development of Palm Springs. At one time the SP offered passenger service on over eight daily trains. The SP, Union Pacific, and Santa Fe Railroads brought thousands of visitors to Palm Springs. Palm Springs was a retreat for movie stars and the very rich. Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, and Frank ... Read More »

70 Years ago this week, Matson Line’s refurbished SS LURLINE  had 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 sisters, MARIPOSA, MONTEREY and MATSONIA. The Lurline was the ... Read More »

On the morning of September 8th, 1934, en route from Havana to New York, the SS MORRO CASTLE caught fire and burned, killing 137 passengers and crew members. She was a luxury ocean liner of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for runs between New York City and Havana, Cuba. The Morro Castle was named for the Morro ... 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 later. “He didn’t have a gold record yet.” (By the ... Read More »