Hotel Turpin Autobus, San Francisco

Divided Back, used postcard. Postmarked July 23, 1916 from San Francisco, California. Stamp removed. Publisher:  Edward H. Mitchell. 

Price:  $12.00

Auto Bus meets trains and Steamers. Hotel Turpin Auto Bus. 17 Powell St. at Market, San Francisco, Cal. F. L. Turpin. A. W. Turpin.

This postcard was likely produced from a newspaper or magazine photo. Interesting that there are no women in this picture. Wonder what type of event it might have been? You have your businessmen on the left and some of the staff next to them; all the passengers and the driver of the bus are men, and then there’s the guy standing behind the bus. Note the suitcases on the running board. There’s a Touring Club of America sign on the hotel awning. And apparently there was a pool. The business next door was Kingsbury & Unger, (G. Kingsbury and F. Unger) a liquor store at 21 Powell St.

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Bell Brown, 1415 26th st, Bakersfield, Calif.”

The sender, Bell’s sibling, wrote:

“San Francisco, Calif. July 23rd – 1916. Dear Sister. I were in Stockton Friday. The land lady said she sent mail to the place I wrote to you from so I am going there tonight & will write from there.   M – “

Curiously, nothing definitive comes up in records when trying to find Bell (Belle). Nothing under Brown at this address in city directories. Maybe they were only there temporarily.

From the 1920 Federal Census for San Francisco, Edward H. Mitchell, postcard publisher, was born about 1869 in California, married to Idelle and they have three daughters, Gertrude, Bernice and Marion.

Sources:  H. S. Crocker Co.’s, San Francisco Directory, 1912, p. 963. Google book search.

Year: 1920; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 28, San Francisco, California; Roll: T625_140; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 278. (Ancestry.com).

Our Dear Deer Friend

Vintage photo, circa 1920s – 1940s.

Price:  $5.00           Size:  About 3 and 1/8 x 2 and 3/8″

Outside of a cedar-shingled, hotel, we presume, two women and a deer enjoy a visit while in the background a man and young boy appear to be in the middle of a handshake. I like the light reflecting off of those velvet-y antlers, and the surprise of that hefty tree trunk immediately in front of one of the windows. Good for viewing ants from that room, and which came first, the tree or the building?

Hotel Delos, Mykonos, Greece, 1950s

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. Publisher:  Leonar. Circa 1950s – 1960s.

Price:  $10.00        Size:  5 and 7/8 x 4″

Boats and waterfront scene on Mykonos (Horus) Cyclades Islands, Greece

The cars in this photo are possibly late 1950s, at least the one might be…if it’s a 1957 Plymouth (the one with the “fin” on the quarter panel – quarter panel being in the rear as opposed to fender which is the term used for the front – this info from my mechanic hubby.) But was much time spent looking at various cars to try to narrow down the era? No. And no time was spent trying to identify the watercraft (from experience this can be a very time-consuming endeavor.) In any case, our best guess is late ’50s early ’60s.

As far as the most identifiable business in the photo, that of the Hotel Delos, I believe the location must have changed at some point, as a current aerial photo found online shows no buildings to the left of the hotel, and a “stock photo” found of the building no longer shows the hotel’s name on the front. The cropped version below, gives us a better look at the two cars to our right, and the hotel on our left:

Source:  Mykonos. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykonos (accessed April 04/02/17).

Windmill Lodge, Ferris, Ontario

Divided back, unused postcard. Circa 1930s – 1940s.

Price:  $8.00     Size:  6 and 1/4 x 4 and 1/4″

“Windmill Lodge. Ferris, Ontario. Phones 425W4 and 83W5. 5 miles north of Callander on Highway No. 11. Watch for cream, black and orange windmill and cabins. 100 feet off highway on the beach on the way to North Bay. Mrs. Allan Leigh, prop. Insulated cabins and cottages on-the-lake. Inner spring mattresses – showers, running water in cabins, flush toilets. Delicatessen, meals and lunches. Sandy Beach – Safe Bathing – Pike, Pickerel and Bass Fishing.”

To get our bearings again (as per the prior post) the red “pin” on the map above marks the town of Callander, and according to the description on the card, the Windmill Lodge would have been located about 2/3 of the way up from Callander to North Bay. Today, there is the township of East Ferris, and West Ferris, a suburb of the town of North Bay. For time-frame and a little more info, we found a matching postcard at the excellent VintagePostcards.org (towards the bottom of the page in the link.) According to VintagePostcards, the Windmill Lodge is estimated as operating in the 1930s – 1940s, and may have been a forerunner to the Leighaven Cottages.

Sources:   Callander, ON, Canada. Google.com. (accessed March 29, 2017).

East Ferris. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Ferris. (accessed March 29, 2017).

“North Bay, Ontario:  Canadian History in Vintage Postcards.”  VintagePostcards.org. (accessed March 29, 2017).

Gananoque Motel And Cabins

Trade Card, Gananoque Motel and Cabins, 1945 – 1958.

Price:  $10.00        Size:  About 3 and 1/4 x 2 and 5/8″

Are there many trade cards for this 1950s era motel still floating around today? Maybe a family member has a stash somewhere, and one would assume others must have survived. After all, it was only about sixty years ago. But, at the time of this post, we see no others online.

To get our bearings, for those of us unfamiliar, Gananoque is a small town on the St. Lawrence River, about a half hour’s drive north, up Highway 2 from Kingston, Ontario.

The reverse of our card reads:

“Souvenirs, Fishing Licences. Phone 517W. Gananoque Motel And Cabins. Highway No. 2 – Just East of Eastern Gateway. Gananoque, Ontario, Canada. Completely Modern Motel. Private Conveniences in Cabins. Lunch Room and Gas Station on Premises. Prop. Agar & Rombough. Box 402 – Gananoque. Our Motto:  It’s a Pleasure to Please.”

G. S. Agar and D. A. Rombough were mentioned in The Ottawa Journal as part of group of honorees of the dealers of the Ottawa Division, Supertest Petroleum Corp., Ltd., who qualified for Long Association Awards in 1952 and again in 1957.

Erin Christie’s article (December 2008)  “End of an era for Country Squire”  filled in some details for us:  Stanley Agar and Donald Rombough’s Gananoque Motel was in business about thirteen years, and was,  “…10 small cabins in a horseshoe, five motel rooms, a gas bar and a snack bar”  when it was sold in 1958 to Warren, Rita and Wayne Gollogly, who renamed it the Cloverleaf Motel. The rest is history for the Gollogly Family who expanded the business into what became the Country Squire Resort and Spa (now under Best Western.)

Sources:  Gananoque. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gananoque. (accessed March 26, 2017).

“Supertest Dealers Honoured.”  The Ottawa Journal. Saturday, April 26, 1952. p. 27. (newspapers.com).

“Receive Supertest Awards.”  The Ottawa Journal. Wednesday, April 10, 1957. p. 19. (newspapers.com).

Supertest Petroleum. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertest_Petroleum. (accessed March 24, 2017).

Christie, Erin. “End of an era for Country Squire.” December 18, 2008. (www.gananoquereporter.com). Accessed March 26, 2017.

Les Jardins, Hôtel St. George, Alger

Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher:  Cie Alsacienne des Arts Photoméchaniques. Strasbourg, France. Circa 1916 – 1920s.

Price:  $10.00

“Alger – Hotel St-George. Les Jardins – The garden’s”

A sepia-toned postcard from a photo of the gardens at the Saint George Hotel in Algiers, now of the El-Djazair hotels and resorts chain. Half-way around the world from our last post in the Boston, Mass. area but another absolute bit of heaven. The publisher for this one is a.k.a. CAP and according to Metropostcard, operated from 1916 – 1969.

Sources:  The Saint George Hotel, Algiers. http://www.chaineeldjazair.com/index.php/en/sain_george/historique. (accessed February 20, 2017).

“Alsatian Photomechanical Arts Co. (CAP) (1916 – 1969)” A-publishers, page 1. Metropostcard.com. (accessed February 20, 2017).

Hotel Tres Reyes, San Carlos de Bariloche

Hotel Tres Reyes San Carlos De Bariloche pc1Hotel Tres Reyes San Carlos De Bariloche pc2

Here’s a vintage 1950’s postcard involving two hotels:  Hotel Tres Reyes in Bariloche, Argentina (the card does not do the place justice) and Hotel Monteleone, located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana – check out their film and t.v. history, as well as their haunted one!

“Nov. 29th.  Dear Gang – The lake country is a must for the ones who can take it – and it really isn’t rugged. Hotels fine, food superb, and what scenery! Couldn’t get into BA yesterday because flight schedule changed but we didn’t care – it’s so gorgeous here. Everyone wears ski suits (except me). Love to you all, and I’ll be home soon – Mary.”

BA would be Buenos Aires….and the card is addressed to:

“McDougall’s Travel Source, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans 40, Louisiana U.S.A.”

McDougall’s was located in the lobby of the hotel. Two city directory listings show up online for this travel agency, one in 1952 and the other in 1956. Listed as McDougall’s Travel Service, 214 Royal.

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked circa December 4, 1954. Unable to read location sent from. Printed in Argentina.

Price:  $5.00

Sources: Hotel 3 Reyes – Bariloche. http://www.hotel3reyes.com.ar/ (web accessed May 14, 2016).

Hotel Monteleone. http://hotelmonteleone.com/history/ (web accessed May 14, 2016).

Polk’s New Orleans City Directory, 1952. p. 1565. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995).

Polk’s New Orleans City Directory, 1956. p. 341. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995).

Stone Bridge Cottage, Tiverton, Rhode Island

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Portuguese message1

Stone Bridge Cottage was a popular hotel and restaurant which later became known as Stone Bridge Inn. The Inn appears to have survived as an establishment at least until August or September of 1976, according to a newspaper ad for the Inn as a musical venue to include buffet lunch and champagne. The open, roofed porch that encircled the building would later have been enclosed. According to authors Nancy Jensen Devin and Richard V. Simpson, the building shown here in this 1909 postcard would have been the third structure, described as,  “…a large, wood-shingled, two-and-a-half story hotel occupying a corner lot at the east end of what was once the Stone Bridge….The once-fashionable resort catered to vacationers and travelers for almost two centuries.” 

The first in The Cunha Family Collection:  This card was sent by Miguel S. Cunha, presumably a relative of the addressee. Two of the three are written in Portugese (and if anyone can translate them we’d surely appreciate it.) The translation is difficult due to the sender’s handwriting, and the possibility of misspelled words or even a change in spelling over the years. This one appears to be about someone named Mathes going (or who was going) to California with (or to see?) Miguel’s brothers, and something regarding a letter being sent to Miguel’s father? Also, someone named Jose Antonio is mentioned.

The card is addressed to:   “Jose Silveira da Cunha, 115 Sumner St, Taunton, Mass.”

The likely fit for the addressee shows in Massachusetts Marriage Records, for Jose Silveira Da Cunha, born about 1878 in the Western Islands (of the Azores). Married on November 10, 1906 in Taunton to Maria S. Azevedo, born about 1880 in the Western Islands (of the Azores). The groom’s parents are Joao Silveira Bettencurte Cunha and Rosa Margarida Da Silveira, and the bride’s parents are Manuel Vieira Siceira and Mariana Azevedo. The next two postcards in this small family group are addressed to Mary Cunha and Mrs. J. Cunha at the same Sumner Street address.

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked October 6, 1909 from Newport, Rhode Island. Publisher:  The Metropolitan News Co., Boston, Mass. and Germany. No. 9259 (44078).

Price:  $5.00

Sources:  “The Stone Bridge Music Festival.”  The Berkshire Eagle, 27 Aug 1977, p. 64. (Newspapers.com)

Jensen, Nancy and Richard V. Simpson. Images of America:  Tiverton and Little Compton. Charleston:  Arcardia Publishing, 1977. (Google eBook.)

Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. (Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Marriage Records, 1840-1915.)

Monterey Hall Of Records 1834

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This circa 1908 postcard shows an old adobe structure, built around 1834 or 1835, called the House of the Four Winds, or La Casa de los Cuatro Vientos. It was so named because it was the first house in Monterey with a weathervane on it’s roof. It served as a residence for Mexican Governor Alvarado, and later was designated as the Hall of RecordsIt is now privately owned by the Monterey Civic Club; it’s street address is 540 Calle Principal. Below is a very similar image, courtesy of eHumanity, from a lantern slide. The postcard may have been based on this image and altered somewhat or taken from a later photo.

LS_13187 Hall of Records

The sender addressed the card:  “Miss L. Seamas, Sacramento Cal”
and wrote,

“Am in Monterey today. Mamie Seamas. Hagemann Hotel. Santa Crus”

Not much was found regarding Mamie or L. Seamus (without looking too extensively) but a 1910 ad was found for the Hagemann Hotel in Santa Cruz. Besides being the proprietor of the hotel, W. K. Krieg, was listed as secretary for the Santa Cruz Brewery Company in the 1910 city directory.

Hotel Hagemann Ad

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked August 1908 from Monterey, California. Publisher:  Paul C. Koeber Co., 85 Franklin St., New York City and Kirchheim, Germany. “The PCK Series.” Number or series 4099.

Price:  $10.00

Sources:  House of the Four Winds. Historic Monterey. Web accessed April 3, 2015. [http://www.historicmonterey.org/hb/house_of_four_winds.html]

About Lantern Slides. University of South Florida Libraries. Web accessed April 3, 2015. [http://www.lib.usf.edu/special-collections/arts/about-lantern-slides/]

Hagemann Hotel advertised in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. 20 May 1910, Friday, p. 7. (Newspapers.com) Web accessed April 3, 2015.

Santa Cruz County Directory, 1910 – 1911. p. 78. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989.

Entrance To Hotel Del Monte

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“704 – Entrance Hotel Del Monte, Monterey County, Cal., Coast Line, S. P. R. R.”

There’s so much going on with this postcard…

Early autos

Well, for starters, this continues the topic from the prior post – early American cars – steering wheel on the right. You can see that the first two vehicles from the right – have their steering wheels on the right, while the third one in line, has it’s wheel on the left. The card was postmarked in 1910, and it may have been produced from a newspaper photograph of that year or within several years prior. However, if you’ll notice – the “driver” in the third car is a woman, while the man next to her looks more “geared up” in coat and hat, to drive. Maybe they switched places for the photo, or maybe the image was altered for the postcard, and the wheel was drawn in on the left. (We’ve seen similar alterations on other old postcards.)

The car on our right is possibly an early Winton, with that continuous curved fender. I found a four-seat 1904 model displayed at Early American Automobiles, the 9th photo down on the left; you can check out the similarities between the two. Wikipedia’s entry regarding the “Winton Motor Carriage Company” shows the famous two-seat touring Winton “Vermont” (again with that distinctive fender.) It was 1903 that Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, along with his mechanic, made the first successful automobile trip across the U.S. in a “Vermont.”

The Hotel

The luxurious Hotel Del Monte, was built by railroader Charles Crocker, and operated from 1880 – 1942. It was part of a 20,000 acre resort; a playground for the rich and famous, and a big part of the Central Coast’s history. See  “St. John’s Chapel, Del Monte, California”  for a related post. The hotel showing on this postcard would have been the second of three; the first two being destroyed by fire. The wooden, Gothic first and second hotels were designed by Southern Pacific Railroad architect, Arthur Brown, Sr. and built by S.P.R.R. workers.

The Coast Line

Opening January 1, 1880, the Monterey Branch of the Coast Line of the S.P.P.C. ran from Castroville to Pacific Grove; linking San Francisco to the Hotel Del Monte and Pebble Beach. It included Southern Pacific’s longest running “named” passenger train, the Del Monte, which ran from San Francisco to Pacific Grove, and mainly served wealthy tourists. This passenger train made her last run on April 30, 1971.

The sender wrote:

“Dear Billy, I was very glad to hear from you. Did you get the papers? I will write you a letter soon. Lots of Love from Ada.”

The card is addressed to:  “Mr. Will Ingram, Weed, Siskiyou Co. Cal.”

Game hunting for the wealthy

The great thing about this postcard is the added info at the top, which must have been written in later years and by a relative:  “Grandpa lived here for awhile. Regina Ingram’s father Maurice Smith. He hunted all the game for the wealthy guests – venison, quail, turkey.”

Regina Ingram was Lilac Regina Smith (Lilac – love that!) born in 1895 in Monterey. She married William Ingram, the recipient of the postcard, born 1885 in Monterey. From research on Ancestry.com, the postcard sender, Ada, was likely William’s sister. Regina’s father, Maurice Smith, was born in New York about March 1865. He appears as early as 1880 (from the census) living in Monterey, and on subsequent census records with his wife and children. No clues were found in records as to when exactly he would have stayed at the Del Monte, perhaps early on before his marriage, which was in about 1892. The town of Weed in Siskiyou County is located almost 400 miles north of Monterey, up Highway 5. The 1910 Federal Census taken in nearby Edgewood, shows William living with some family members:  Amy Ingram, William’s sister, was running a hotel; another sister, Mary, was working there as a waitress; and he and brother George, were working for the Weed Lumber Company as bricklayers.

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked June 8, 1910 from Monterey, California. Publisher:  Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco.

Price:  $18.00

Sources:  “1904 Winton. Winton Motor Carriage Co., Cleveland OH. 1897 – 1924.” Early American Automobiles. Web accessed April 1, 2015.

Winton Motor Carriage Company. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winton_Motor_Carriage_Company. (accessed April 1, 2015).

California’s Most Historic Resort: Hotel Del Monte. Naval Postgraduate School. Web accessed April 3, 2015. [http://nps.edu/About/Publications/HotelDelMonte_updated_Final.pdf]

Castroville to Pacific Grove: The Monterey Branch. Abandoned Rails. Web accessed April 3, 2015. [http://www.abandonedrails.com/Monterey_Branch]

Year: 1880; Census Place: Monterey, Monterey, California; Roll: 69; Family History Film: 1254069; Page: 252A; Enumeration District: 057; Image: 0505. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1910; Census Place: Monterey, Monterey, California; Roll: T624_89; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 0013; FHL microfilm: 1374102. (Ancestry.com)