THE PAST AND NOW | News, Travel & Social History News about Cruising, Social History, Ships, Trains, & Travel

The strange tale of the banned World War II epic on the most famous ship of all time. The Nazi German film version of the Titanic. Before James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, the Hollywood Titanic of 1953, the 1958 British film A Night to Remember, and the 1997 Broadway musical ... 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 ... 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 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... Read More »

Horseracing was popular on liners and cruise ships during the 20th Century. The following is from a young man’s diary who sailed with his parents First Class from San Francisco to London via the Suez on board the RMS Oransay in the 1960s. A NIGHT AT THE RACES Tonight, there ... Read More »

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 ... Read More »