Post Your Favorite Postcards Here.

[Rix Gins]

I was wondering if the lake level rose or why they would have tracks into the water. Apparently IT WAS a boat launch for the world's fastest boat the "Mercury."
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23085

That boat is something else. 

the first all aluminum race boat ever built.

I wish it was still called Cigarette IV though.  I wonder what happened to the first three cigarettes?

[albrecht]

That boat is something else.    I wish it was still called Cigarette IV though.  I wonder what happened to the first three cigarettes?

Yeah. I like how rivets came out n also how the speed is nothing now. Cigarette boats, Im not googling cause on phone, but from shape or from smuggling? I recall Swiss and Canadian lakes have/had tobacco smuggling over the years....

[Rix Gins]

Here is a postcard that shows one of the most famous and historic restaurants in the U.S., the Cliff House, on the coast, a hop, skip and a jump from San Francisco.  This is how the place looked around 1950 and it has gone through five complete renovations since its opening in 1858.  Two of the renovations, or re-buildings to be more precise, were brought about by fires that completely destroyed the building and once, a ship holding a store of dynamite went ashore and exploded, damaging a whole section of the restaurant.  But it survives to this day: https://cliffhouse.com/  Now there are two restaurants there plus another room where one can get eats and drinks on special occasions.  The final renovation took place in 2003 and the powers that be wisely got rid of the 1950's look in favor of how the place looked back in 1909.  The two postcards at the bottom show the different looks.  This postcard is almost identical to the one shown on top, only the photo was taken from a slightly higher elevation.  I possess two other Cliff House postcards that I will hopefully show in the future.

History of the Cliff House: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_House,_San_Francisco


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[PB the Deplorable]

Here is a postcard that shows one of the most famous and historic restaurants in the U.S., the Cliff House, on the coast, a hop, skip and a jump from San Francisco...

It's actually in San Francisco

[Rix Gins]

It's actually in San Francisco

Ha, yeah.  I think this notation made me think it was on the outskirts of S.F...

It was a long trek from the city and hosted mostly horseback riders, small game hunters or picnickers on day outings.

But yes, I should have paid closer attention to the website.  It is after all, 'Where San Francisco Begins.'

[PB the Deplorable]

Ha, yeah.  I think this notation made me think it was on the outskirts of S.F...   But yes, I should have paid closer attention to the website.  It is after all, 'Where San Francisco Begins.'

Yes, the original harbor is on the bay side of the city, and that's where the city started out.  The western portion of the peninsula (SF now covers the entire peninsula) from there to the ocean was streams, brush and trees, a large area covered by sand dunes.  The Cliff House was way out past all that.

the Sutro Baths were built nearly adjacent to the north, and were a day trip destination themselves.  Playland at the Beach was an amusement park built just to the south of the Cliff House and was around for decades, finally closing in the 1960s or 70s - part of where it once stood is now a portion of Golden Gate Park where it ends at the ocean.

[Rix Gins]

Here is yet another Florida restaurant.  This one is called the Inlet Grill and it used to be by the Halifax River, south of Daytona Beach, Florida.  I couldn't find the place.  There was only one other restaurant called the Inlet Grill and it is located by the Ponce River, so unless they have changed the names of the rivers, this place is no longer around. I couldn't find any harbors along the Halifax River, so that was a blind alley.  All I could see for miles around were rich peoples houses with pools in their back yards, as shown down below.

In case you don't want to crane your neck in reading the message, it says, "Monday eve.  Here is where we had our supper - fish and more fish - weather fine in the 80 - going to set out on the porch this evening   Mary & Ted."  (Her spelling, not mine.)


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[Rix Gins]

I wonder what the story is behind this WWI postcard?  Did a German soldier have the photographer make the pic heart shaped so that it could be sent to his (the soldier's) sweetheart?  I doubt we will ever know.  You can't see it in the scan, but the card has a shiney gloss on the front, more like a photo than a postcard.  There is nothing on the back but some lines where an address would be written.  Too bad the soldier didn't write anything on it.

 

[Rix Gins]

Another Florida Restaurant.  This one was somewhat of a cultural landmark in Clearwater Beach history.  The place burned down back in 1974 but it is still remembered for the pelican and tiki carvings that the bartender sculpted out of driftwood.  You can read about it in this link: http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=45781&forum=2


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[Rix Gins]

I think this is a funeral scene for a World War One German soldier.  There is no information on it, other than one of the printed words says 'castle.'  Look at the interesting structure to the right.  That must be what the chaplain, priest or whatever, climbed up to deliver the final rites for the deceased.  This postcard came along with one of those WWI German memorial cards that I used to collect some years back.

[Uncle Duke]

I think this is a funeral scene for a World War One German soldier.  There is no information on it, other than one of the printed words says 'castle.'  Look at the interesting structure to the right.  That must be what the chaplain, priest or whatever, climbed up to deliver the final rites for the deceased.  This postcard came along with one of those WWI German memorial cards that I used to collect some years back.

That raised dias is apparently a common feature in German Roman Catholic churches.  Here is a photo of a similar pulpit at my current parish, one of the historically German parishes in the area built in the late 1800s. This may be a function of church age however, as much as nationality.  In the 25 years I've attended this parish, I've only seen the priest preach from the dias twice.  One was a holy day, don't remember the other, but it was not a funeral.

[albrecht]

That raised dias is apparently a common feature in German Roman Catholic churches.  Here is a photo of a similar pulpit at my current parish, one of the historically German parishes in the area built in the late 1800s. This may be a function of church age however, as much as nationality.  In the 25 years I've attended this parish, I've only seen the priest preach from the dias twice.  One was a holy day, don't remember the other, but it was not a funeral.

Common in Lutheran and etc churches in Europe also. Interestingly, some of the design is for acoustics so the voice carries better, often accompanied by a lectern nearby for Passage readings etc by other church members. The "Evangelical" types of churches got rid of them mainly as there isn't as much of a separation between laity and priests, pastors, etc. I think, I'm not Catholic, but also some of the Catholic arrangements/style has changed (Priest facing, or semi-facing, congregation during rites where as before they faced the altar and his back was towards the people, etc?) And now, obviously, since electronics allow voices to be heard regardless of location and the more 'populist' ideas of Methodists and Evangelicals made it better for less separation.

[Rix Gins]

Here is the postcard that shows a tiny part of mega-big Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia.  The park started up back in 1888 and it is named after hockey's Stanly Cup guy. 

Info on Stanley Park: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park


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[Rix Gins]

Here is another vintage restaurant postcard from, you guessed it, Florida.  According to the postcard, the place was established in 1867 but I couldn't find any information on it.  The 10 Marine street location shows a large, fancy looking house or apartment complex but across the street there is a cool looking eatery called O.C. White's Restaurant.  It looks like a big house but it was actually Saint Augustine's very first hotel.  It was moved to its present location back in 1961.   Apparently it has a history of being haunted.

Info on O.C. White's: http://www.ocwhitesrestaurant.com/


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[albrecht]

Here is another vintage restaurant postcard from, you guessed it, Florida.  According to the postcard, the place was established in 1867 but I couldn't find any information on it.  The 10 Marine street location shows a large, fancy looking house or apartment complex but across the street there is a cool looking eatery called O.C. White's Restaurant.  It looks like a big house but it was actually Saint Augustine's very first hotel.  It was moved to its present location back in 1961.   Apparently it has a history of being haunted.

Info on O.C. White's: http://www.ocwhitesrestaurant.com/


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Oldest city in the US supposedly so I would reckon to have some ghosts. Interestingly John Sprague, the son-in-law or Mrs.Worth, founded Tacoma (I posted a picture of Tacoma High School here a while back)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Sprague (Lincoln County was going to be named after him but some political grunge changed that. But there are places named after him.)
And obviously her husband has several cities and places named in his honor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Worth

[Rix Gins]

This odd looking building is probably familiar to anyone that has visited Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut.  It is called the Block House and it was built back in 1775.  I'm not sure if this is the only Block House or if there were (are?) a number of them.  The photo at the bottom shows that the Block House in the postcard certainly hasn't changed much.

There was an interesting battle fought at the fort in 1781.  You will never guess who led the attacking British force.  (Or perhaps you will, if you have a detailed knowledge of American history.)  Anyway, it was Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, after he had switched allegiances from the Americans to the British.  P.S. The British won the battle.


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History of Fort Trumbull: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Trumbull

Link to photo below: http://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Trumbull 

[Rix Gins]

This vintage postcard shows the Top O' The Mast Restaurant and Lounge in (where else?) Florida.  I think I've got the story down for this place though some conjecture is necessary to tie it all together.  I don't know when the place opened but I kind of get the idea that in it's early days, the restaurant portion was more prominent than the lounge.  The postcard itself touts the fine dinning, the best in seafood and steaks and the great view overlooking the Gulf.  It also mentions that you can be entertained 7 nights a week at their Tiffany Lounge.  From reading a number of on-line reviews, it seem like the emphasis shifted to the drinking part of the establishment.  The place became quit rundown but the patrons still liked to drink and sit on lounge chairs on the beach.  The most popular drink seemed to be the Rum Runner.  The guy who ran the place (in the year 2012) actually got in trouble with the law when he served some undercover agents their drinks a bit too close to the surf...http://www.nbc-2.com/story/19013803/2012/07/Thursday/ft-myers-beach-bar-owner-arrested  The place would limp along for two more years before closing.

A developer bought the place and set about transforming it.  https://www.news-press.com/story/money/2014/08/07/top-omast-sold-transformed/13750201/  He changed the restaurant's name to Sunset Beach Tropical Grill and Playmore Tiki Bar.  The new owner claimed that he would be making the restaurant portion more important but I get the idea that the customers still prefer to drink rather than eat.  This was back in 2016 so I went and got a pic of the place (see below) and, while I don't know when it was taken, it does seem to show a number of customers eating...or are they drinking?  P.S. There is an interesting message on the back of the postcard.  It appears to be an entry for some type of contest or something.


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[albrecht]

This vintage postcard shows the Top O' The Mast Restaurant and Lounge in (where else?) Florida.  I think I've got the story down for this place though some conjecture is necessary to tie it all together.  I don't know when the place opened but I kind of get the idea that in it's early days, the restaurant portion was more prominent than the lounge.  The postcard itself touts the fine dinning, the best in seafood and steaks and the great view overlooking the Gulf.  It also mentions that you can be entertained 7 nights a week at their Tiffany Lounge.  From reading a number of on-line reviews, it seem like the emphasis shifted to the drinking part of the establishment.  The place became quit rundown but the patrons still liked to drink and sit on lounge chairs on the beach.  The most popular drink seemed to be the Rum Runner.  The guy who ran the place (in the year 2012) actually got in trouble with the law when he served some undercover agents their drinks a bit too close to the surf...http://www.nbc-2.com/story/19013803/2012/07/Thursday/ft-myers-beach-bar-owner-arrested  The place would limp along for two more years before closing.

A developer bought the place and set about transforming it.  https://www.news-press.com/story/money/2014/08/07/top-omast-sold-transformed/13750201/  He changed the restaurant's name to Sunset Beach Tropical Grill and Playmore Tiki Bar.  The new owner claimed that he would be making the restaurant portion more important but I get the idea that the customers still prefer to drink rather than eat.  This was back in 2016 so I went and got a pic of the place (see below) and, while I don't know when it was taken, it does seem to show a number of customers eating...or are they drinking?  P.S. There is an interesting message on the back of the postcard.  It appears to be an entry for some type of contest or something.


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Ha, yea that lady was replying to some classic movie contest held by Archway Cookies using the postcard from that place. Archway was very popular until it was sold to a huge Italian company Parmalat SpA with lots of fraud and who bankrupt (but now, in the way those things go, an operating concern again under a French conglomerate.) Post bankruptcy Archway was bought up by LANCE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archway_Cookies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmalat
"company collapsed in 2003 with a â,¬14 billion ($20bn; £13bn) hole in its accounts in what remains Europe's biggest bankruptcy"

[Rix Gins]

Here stands an unknown soldier boy.  The picture was most likely taken in a French photo studio back during World War One.  There is no information on the back, just some old, dry glue marks and patches of photo album paper that were left on after somebody not so carefully pulled it out of said album.  I didn't notice until after I scanned the pic, but there is one of those photo album corner stickers still stuck to the upper right hand corner of the postcard.  I would take it off but it is glued on and it would only serve to peel part of the photo away if I were to try to remove it.

[Lord Grantham]

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When you zoom in it looks like old "Captain Jack" is getting right at it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xxugNQUtpE

[Rix Gins]

Finally, a vintage restaurant postcard that isn't from Florida.  The Smith Bros. Fish Shanty Restaurant was from Wisconsin.  They specialized in seafood and at first I did a double take, (seafood?) because I haven't brushed up on my geography, but of course, good old Lake Michigan runs right along the coast of 'Sconsin.  In fact, the Smith Brothers had a seafood warehouse at first, and would take the day's catches right off the lake.  They opened the restaurant in 1934 and would go out west and start two more Fish Shanty's out there, I think in the 1960's.  They are gone now, but there is a coffee shop in Wisconsin that sells fish sandwiches under the Fish Shanty name.  It is in the same spot as the original Fish Shanty Restaurant but I think there is a new building there now.  https://www.duluthtrading.com/store/dtc-shared/about-duluth-trading-company/all-locations-store-finder/port-washington-store/port-washington-coffee-shop/coffee-shop-port-washington.aspx?&src=BBPPCMN

Cool history of the Smith Bros. Restaurants: http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2014/09/06/smith-bros-fish-shanty-becomes-a-fixture-in-walteria/

Cool description of the Wisconsin Fish Shanty: http://roadtips.typepad.com/a_salesguys_guide_to_the_/2006/03/smith_bros_fish.html


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[Rix Gins]

This postcard shows a sailor's hijinks back in 1941.  Pretty light subject matter so I'd venture to say it was produced before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  I have seen a number of pre-WWII U.S. Navy pics and by and large, the sailors appear to be having some fun times. 

[Rix Gins]

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This postcard showing the Nelva Courts and Restaurant couldn't be any more inauspicious if it tried.  One would think that the place was a cheap, fly by night motor court down there in Meridian, Mississippi, that came and went without anybody noticing.  But looks are deceiving.  There are a number of different postcards online that give the impression that the place was most likely a thriving business. If not, it certainly had one of the coolest neon signs around.   http://lileks.com/rest/exteriors/122.html   

I don't know when the Nelva Courts started up but I kind of get the impression that they ceased to exist late sixties, early seventies.  There is a car dealership there now.


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Grace attached two postage stamps to the card but never sent it.  No postmarks over the stamps.  The two stamps are from the 1954-68 Liberty Series.  The two of them combined are worth a whopping 40 cents. 


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Here are some other postcards that show the place.





         

[Rix Gins]

This postcard isn't part of my collection but I wish it was.  I love these old combination gas station, inn, restaurant buildings.  I lost the info on this card but I think the building was located in Dillard, Oregon.

[Rix Gins]

An old postcard dating back to 1911.


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[Rix Gins]

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The King's Arms Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia was built back in the 1700's and it is still there, and still serving colonial style food, though I don't think they put those bed sheets around you anymore.  I read a number of reviews for the place and the customers seemed to like the peanut soup and a game pot pie full of rabbit, duck and venison.  A bit expensive but it is a tourist spot, so there you go.  https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/eat/kings-arms-resorts


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[Rix Gins]

Happy Easter!

[Rix Gins]

Here is a postcard of the Corn Palace Auto Court in Mitchell, South Dakota.  I couldn't find anything out about the place so I don't think it is there anymore.  It must have had some type of relationship with the Corn Palace itself, that old (1892) building complex in Mitchell, where everyone gets together once a year to celebrate corn and where they put up big paintings done up with colored corn on the cobs.

Info on the Corn Palace:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Palace


https://youtu.be/p2tAgHDi7Yw

[Rix Gins]

It's kind of fun to hold a postcard in your hand and realize that it is over one hundred and seven years old.



To gain insight into the 1910 mind, I attempted to decipher the message.



'Peaches came all ok but the railroad (?) us there as usual I got six cans and dinner so that is very good I hardly know what to say about dinner Pank(?) and Floss are coming here (?) night (or might) to go back don't you think is about as cheap to buy for checking cost so much besides meal let me hear what you expect or think of doing and when coming. Don't make any difference to me. B ll (Bill?)'

I'm not too sure that I totally understand the 1910 mind.

[Rix Gins]

Does anybody know what restaurant this is?  If you are from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you just might.  When I first looked at it, I noticed the mass of deer antlers above, the rows of beer steins along the wall, and to the right, a painting of a happy man hoisting a stein of beer.  (At first I thought he was playing an accordion.  Guess I'm in need of a stronger pair of glasses.)  Definitely serving food of a Germanic nature.

Introducing Karl Ratzsch's Rendezvous of Celebrities, a well known Milwakeean (sorry if wrong usage for people from Milwakee) restaurant that served the finest in German cuisine for 113 years.  The place closed three years ago, was opened again one year later but closed permanently almost exactly one year ago.  As far as the celebrity part goes, Liberace and Frank Lloyd Wright were know to have dined there.



Here are a couple of links to the place, followed by a pic of the building back when it was still open, I believe.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/dining/2017/04/02/karl-ratzsch-restaurant-closes/99954262/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/dining/milwaukee-german-restaurant-karl-ratzsch-closed.html