Hotel Plaza - Laredo, Texas

Here's Laredo's famous Hotel Plaza with its Spanish Grill. The hotel doesn't seem to be there anymore.

 The message on the card, sent to Miss Rosalie Newcomb of San Antonio in 1943, reads:

Dear Roesel: This is where we are - bridal suite. It's raining cats outside. Say "hello" to Flo.

Love, Annette

Galveston, Texas

This is a tiny postcard folder circa 1920s from Galveston, Texas. Galveston actually had a larger population then (53,000) than it does now (47,743). The city was devastated by a hurricane in 1900, but was making a comeback about the time this postcard was published. Despite Prohibition, there was plenty of drink and complementary vices for visitors to Galveston.

Can't Get Enough of El Paso

Here are some more views from yesterday's El Paso, Texas postcard folder, starting with the back of the folder.

When I was looking at colleges, nobody suggested that I could enroll at the College of Mines, but by then it was already called Texas Western College. Now it's called the University of Texas El Paso.

This building is still standing and looks better in photos than it does in this postcard folder.

 

El Paso, Texas

Nellie M.H. King Taylor sent this wonderful postcard folder to Mrs. John Decker in Meeker, Ohio in 1949. I can't fit all the great views on one post, so I'll put up some more tomorrow. El Paso looks like a relatively quiet place in these pictures; at the time it had a population of just under 130,000.  It has since grown to almost 650,000.

Houston, Texas

Main Street in Houston doesn't look a bit like this anymore, which is really too bad. In fact, I couldn't find anything - not one building - that would lead me to think I might be in the same spot. Main Street goes on and on forever, with surface parking, vacant lots, and general sprawl.
Is this the spot? Who knows?


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Here's the back of the card.

City Patchwork

I've always loved looking out of airplane windows to see the patchwork quilt below. It's interesting  to speculate what the different patches are, but it's also fun to look at the overall pattern as abstract art.

Streetcar Sunday- El Paso to Juárez

I posted a card  several months ago of a cafe in Juárez that attracted U.S. residents wanting to buy a drink or two during prohibition.  Decades later illegal substances are still supporting the Juárez economy. Based on current events and high levels of violent crime and drug trafficking on the U.S./Mexican border at Juárez and El Paso, Texas, it's refreshing, but also sad, to see the easy and open border pictured on this card.

In 1882, a streetcar line was established between El Paso, Texas and Juárez, Mexico.  Like most streetcars of the time, these were initially drawn by horses or mules. The coordinated service fell under the jurisdiction of two separate operating systems, one in Mexico and one in El Paso, but the service was effectively operated by the El Paso Electric Railway, with the conversion to electricity taking place in 1902. This card dates from sometime after 1910, when the cars were converted from open to closed cars.

Streetcar service was discontinued in 1974. Oddly enough, it was not discontinued for the typical reason - replacement by bus service.  Instead, the Mexican government halted the service because of a perception by Juárez merchants that only the El Paso stores were benefiting from the streetcar. They felt that Juárez shoppers were all heading north.  Recently there has been talk about reintroducing the service, but of course now there are major concerns about illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Union Pacific Train - The City of Portland

This card shows the interior of Union Pacific's City of Portland train, which was put into service in 1935. Besides looking very inviting,  City of Portland was important for two reasons:

1. It was the first streamlined transcontinental passenger train.
2. It was the first to offer a dining car and sleeping cars.

The train was elegant and popular, providing a high level of service. However, with the advent of Amtrak in 1971, service was discontinued for the City of Portland and the other high-end trains (City of Salina, City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, and City of Denver.)

Here's the text of the card. (Both the Hotel White Plaza and the Titche-Goettinger store mentioned here are now registered historic landmarks.)

Room #317 - Hotel White Plaza Main + Harwood Streets, Dallas 1, Texas - Jan. 8th 1958

My darling daughter Lana J.

It was nice to see you at Xmas-New Years time and enjoyed being with you sweet. The trip to Dallas was okay with friends from Denver and Colorado Springs meeting me at the depots. Honey-child, the Titche-Goettinger Store in Dallas is right alongside of this fine hotel on Main Street side, the hotel taking up corner. Will ship you the dress when new supply comes in. More later. Lots of Love (?)

Dallas, Texas

This is one scary looking expressway! It seems like there would have been a lot of on and off merging collisions. What's really amusing is that if you want detailed information about the freeways of Texas, there is a website just for you: http://www.texasfreeway.com.  Freeway nerds unite! Unfortunately, this express highway doesn't qualify as a freeway (those came later), so you can't get the history on this one on that website. There are lots of maps and photos of other freeways though and some history back to the 50's. But I would really like to know more about this expressway and how long it "worked" and what they did next (uh-oh, I may be a nerd.)

There appear to be be lots of trees and residential areas on either side of the expressway, so can we assume the entire expressway swath was also housing and trees that had to be cleared? I don't know the answer. The September 19, 1949 issue of Life magazine carried an article about the opening of the first two miles of the 11-mile expressway, saying that it was opened to the "blare of bands and the joy of its citizens, and that it would speed motorists out of the city's heart at 50 mph."

Love Field was the main airport for Dallas until 1974, the year that the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport opened. This is the airport of my dreams; it looks like you could park right next to the terminal and walk to the tarmac. That's very exciting. It also appears that you could stand outside and watch the planes land and take off from the second-story balcony.  I would be so happy, I wouldn't even care if I had to drive there on that scary expressway. Dallas Love Field still operates as a secondary airport for Dallas.