Binghamton, New York

Here we have two postcards of Binghamton, New York. They are basically identical in that they were made from the same photograph, but printed by different companies. The first one was printed a little earlier. The second one was cropped a little bit, making the "Cobb Photo" on the bottom left disappear.  I'm not sure if that means the photo was borrowed without permission or if it's merely a coincidence.

There were obviously two different postcard tinters at work here. The first one went wild with the clouds and the second one liked awnings so much that she added an extra one. Who can blame her; it's the only place where you can add colorful stripes on a postcard. The picture was taken in winter, so there would have been no leaves on the trees, but both tinters added some for effect.

Here are the backs of the postcards in the same order:

Harvesting Bananas in Hawaii

If you could only see the expression on his face.

Streetcar Sunday -Sydney, Australia

According to Wikipedia, Sydney once had the largest tram system in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth (after London), and one of the largest in the world. It was extremely intensively worked, with about 1,600 cars in service at any one time during the 1930s. In 1945, the system provided 404 million rides.

As with most cities, Sydney started out with horse-drawn trams (or streetcars) in the late 1880s. These were replaced by steam-powered trams, which proved to be very popular, but by 1910 just about all of the trams were electric. The system was highly successful, despite competition from cars and buses. Still, the government was determined to shut it down. The system was shut down gradually, with the last streetcar making its final run in 1961.

If you want to know more about Sydney streetcars, there are lots of good resources. Dedicated individuals have put a lot of work into the Wikipedia reference for Sydney trams, so be sure to take a look. And don't miss this wonderful video, What Happened to Sydney's Trams:


You might also want to check out the Sydney Tramway Museum.
Oh, and here's the back of the postcard, just in case you want to see it.