Streetcar Sundays - Detroit without Automobiles

Just in case you missed last Sunday, I will be posting a street scene featuring streetcars every Sunday. Last week was Boston, This week it's Detroit, Michigan.

Detroit was a transportation hub long before the automobile. At the turn of the century Detroit was also known as the "Paris of the West" because of its beautiful architecture. Henry Ford built his first automobile here in 1896 and founded the Ford Motor Co. in 1904.  However, there is not a single automobile on the Detroit streets of  this picture, only streetcars and horse-drawn carriages.

The card was sent in 1907 and the message on the front reads:

How are you all. Maggie and I here for a few days.

4/22/07 Charles

Yamato Hotel-South Manchurian Railway

The Yamato Hotel was not in Japan as its name might imply.  It was actually in Lushun Port, China, formerly known as Port Arthur. Although I read somewhere that the hotel still exists, I couldn't confirm it, so I refer to it in the past tense.

The South Manchurian Railway (founded by the Empire of Japan) maintained five Yamato hotels in southern Manchuria in an effort to open up this undeveloped, mineral-rich part of China. Some of them are still operational, in case you're planning a trip to Manchuria. The hotels were reportedly very elegant, western-style hotels. From this picture, it looks as if they stood in stark contrast to their surroundings.

Can't Judge a Flapper's Appetite...

I love the way she looks off into the distance as if she's contemplating what she will order next. More champagne?  This flapper girl from the 20's certainly knows how to live it up. Dancing the Charleston burns off a lot of calories.