Longacre Square, Times Square - New York

 

Longacre Square, originally the home of many carriage makers, was named after London's Long Acre Street, which was the center of the carriage-making trade in London.  In April of 1904, the name was changed to Times Square in honor of the Times Building which was being built there.  Building began on the Times Building in 1903 and was completed in 1905. The picture for this card was taken from the Times Building, so it would have been published in 1903 to early 1904, since at that time it was still called Longacre Square.

Here's the same view circa 1950:

The message written to George Olney in 1954 says:

Hi George -

Hope you had a good time, + maybe you can tell the other kids about it.

Loving Uncle Tom

And here's a view of the famous building that precipitated the name change:

The card was sent to Hazel Hare in McCook, Nebraska in1906:

Football, Soccer, and Pigs

I won't say why I'm posting this, but you can form your own opinion. The message on the card says:

Technique is not enough alone, for success you also need luck.

There is a German expression: to have pig means to have luck. That's where the pig comes in here.

Streetcar Sunday - Istanbul, Turkey

The history of the streetcar in Istanbul is not so different from that of many North American cities. The first streetcar service in Istanbul started in 1872 as horse-drawn trams.  Horse-drawn service was halted for a year, because the horses were needed for the Balkan War. That served as the impetus to electrify the system, which happened in 1914. After that, streetcar service quickly became the most popular mode of transportation, reaching its peak in 1956, with 108 million passengers, 56 lines, and 270 streetcars. By then, cars and buses also began to compete with the streetcars though.

If I haven't mentioned it already, I think the demise of the streetcar was largely due to a perception that it was antiquated. Buses seemed modern and more sophisticated at the time. The ride was also smoother, particularly in Istanbul, where  the streetcars had not been updated since the original cars from 1912. As a result, the streetcar network was closed down in the 1960s in favor of buses.

Similar to many North American cities, streetcars have returned to Istanbul. There is the nostalgia streetcar that looks like the ones shown on the postcards, and there are also very modern sleek ones in Istanbul now. 

For more detailed information check out the great Wikipedia page for public transport in Istanbul.