Atlantic City, New Jersey

Last chance to get out and enjoy the shore before summer ends.  Back in 1914, there were plenty of people enjoying the sand and sun at Atlantic City. Many of them were overdressed for the beach, at least by today's standards, but those straw hats and ties look so elegant. I'd like to say no thanks to wool bathing suits though.

The message to Howard R. Spindler reads:

We got away at last + are here for a week. It is delightful and cool here. Will be home on the 16th Jessie

Howard was born on March 1, 1893 and registered for the World War I draft in 1917/18, but I don't know if he fought in the war or not.

Hotel Times Square

I guess that Hotel Times Square has a better ring to it than Hotel Claman, but it's not nearly as distinctive. I appreciate that the sender of this card marked the room where he stayed though.

This was a new hotel when the sender stayed here in 1925, but years later it became a welfare hotel. In 1922, The New York Times reported that the hotel was to be built at a cost of $1,500,000 and would provide accommodations for 'men only' for a proposed price of $9-$14 per week.  It is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is rented as efficiency apartments, but for a lot more than $9-$14 per week.

I wonder if the recipient of the card, Frank Yates, was the famous sculler from Cornell.

The message reads:
Hello Dick, Am spending a couple of Red Hot weeks down here making some water grant surveys. made one at Poughkeepsie last week + have some on L. I this week. took a boat trip down to Atlantic Highlands N.J. today trying to cool off but didn't have any chills on the water. This is the hotel where I am staying + have fine accommodations. Regards to the boys HSB (?)

The Broadway Central Hotel

Here it is - the only medium-priced hotel on Broadway. Only $1.00 per night for the European Plan and $2.50 per night for the American Plan. What's the difference? Well, the European Plan includes accommodations only, and the American Plan includes three meals per day. I'll take the European Plan, thank you. It's hard to imagine having enough time to explore the city if you always have to be back at the hotel for lunch and dinner.

This hotel, located at 673 Broadway, was originally known as the Grand Central Hotel. With 630 rooms, it was considered huge at the time. The Broadway Central, designed by Henry Engelbert, was opened in 1870.  An enormous sum was spent on luxurious furniture, carpets, and furnishings.

Over the years, the flavor of the hotel changed. In the 1950s, Bill Haley and the Comets played there nightly, and by the 1970s it had become a welfare hotel, charging $5 per night. By then, the building, plagued with rats, prostitutes, and garbage, was considered a public nuisance.  Illegal alterations probably led to the 1973 collapse of the hotel, which killed four residents. Check out Tom Miller's blog for more information on the history of the hotel.

Sadly, this postcard was never sent. I love reading the messages on these old cards, especially if they say what they did during the day and mark the window of the room they stayed in. No such luck this time.