HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

San Diego

VALENTINE GREETINGS!

I recently wrote about my Uncle Bert's postcard collection that dates back to the early 1900s. Since a lot of my readers enjoyed them, I decided to see if any related to Valentine's Day. However, I could only find one. It was printed in the U.S. and mailed to my Uncle Bert on February 14, 1910, from Saint Paul, Minnesota:

Here are some others for fans of old postcards:

Related Post: Vintage Postcards 1908-1912 -  February 6, 2019

VINTAGE POSTCARDS 1908-1912

Through the years, I've enjoyed looking at a collection of vintage postcards from the early 1900s that was given to me by my parents. 

The embossed and colorful cards were produced in Germany when it was the world's leader in lithographic processes. It was the Golden Age of postcards. This changed during World War I when lesser-quality postcards started being produced in England and the US. It was also during this time that the telephone began replacing the postcard as a fast and reliable means to keep in touch.

To me, they are far more than just a collection of old postcards because they tell a story about a young boy from a poor family who suffered a serious injury from a fall. He was unable to walk for a number of years. At the age of ten, he was referred to Dr. Gillette at the City Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota for care. He needed to be hospitalized and lived apart from his family for approximately three years. The young boy was my Uncle Bert—my father's older brother.

The postcards were written between 1908 and 1912. Most of them were written to Bert by his three older siblings or by Bert to his mother. They were postmarked, written in pencil, and each one had a one-penny US postage stamp on it.
 They often refer to his mother coming to visit on Sundays. I expect that she traveled by streetcar to see him. The distance from the family home in north Minneapolis to the City Hospital in St. Paul was about twenty miles—a long trip in those days.

Here is one of the messages written by Bert that was addressed to his mother and mailed on November 11,1911: 

“My Dear Mother

I am feeling fine and hope you are all the same. Say mama will you make

me a pocket in my old pants for my watch. Today is Thursday but the doctor

isn't here yet. Well good bye from your loving son.

     Bert ”

                                                                        * * *

The City Hospital, established in 1907, eventually became known as Gillette Children's Hospital. It was the first in the nation to provide free medical care to disabled children due to the work of Dr. Arthur Gillette. Today, Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare remains one of only a handful of nonprofit hospitals nationally that offer long-term care and rehabilitation services for children with rare disorders and injuries.

PLACES I'VE BEEN......THAT ARE CALLING ME BACK

THUNERSEE, SWITZERLAND

   When my daughter and Classy Career Girl founder, Anna, asked if I would write a guest post for her website I was honored, and a bit perplexed as to how this vintage traveler could be of interest to young and ambitious Classy Career Girl readers. I started thinking about the many places I've traveled to, and the ones that are still calling me back for a more leisurely vintage visit. Here are the Top Six:

       I visited Trondheim (pop. 170,000), Norway, in 1967, when I was traveling through Europe with friends on $5 a day. Here, I met my grandmother's sister—her only living sibling at that time. She gave me a bracelet that I still cherish. My grandmother, Anna, left Norway for the U.S. in the late 1800s. She never returned and never saw her sister again. This wasn't unusual back in those days. They kept in touch by writing letters. Since my ancestors came from here, I would like to return for a week in the warmth of the summer, exploring the old harbor city with its wooden houses on the River Nidelva, and meeting distant cousins.

ROCKEFELLER CENTER

NEW YORK CITY

      A city that I've been to many times and would return to again in a heartbeat is New York. I can walk for miles along the crowded streets to view a fascinating mix of modern and historic architecture, and 19^th century brownstones, along tree-lined streets. With a population of 8.5 million—37% foreign-born, and dozens of parks, rivers, museums, theaters, skyscrapers, restaurants, there is never a shortage of things to explore. It's hectic and I'm always ready to leave, but there's something special about New York that keeps calling me back.

      

        We visited Greece, about ten years ago in April, a delightful time of year to be there. It was off season, and we could ride the ferries to enjoy the uncrowded islands of Santorini and Mykanos at our leisure. With over 1,200 islands, mountains, and the 11^th longest coastline in the world, this is truly an enchanted region for a long and casual vintage revisit.

CASTELROTTO, ITALY

      Another spot that I have fond memories of is a small town in the Dolomites of northern Italy called Castelrotto—located near the wonderful Alpe Di Siuse which is the largest high altitude alpine meadow in Europe. It offers easy hikes, historic nearby villages, wonderful scenery, wineries, and reasonably priced bus and train passes to explore South Tyrol. Yes, that's an area I would go back to frequently, given a chance.

 Where else?

    

AMALFI, ITALY

WATERCOLORED POSTCARD

  Once we spent a couple of nights in Amalfi on the western coast of Italy, just below Naples. I said at the time, I would like to return to the place we stayed at, with a balcony overlooking the turquoise sea, and then jump a coastal train to the southern tip of Italy. That was about twenty years ago, and it still hasn't happened. However, the watercolored postcards of Amalfi, that I have hanging in my bedroom, will ensure I won't forget about this destination.

VIEW ABOVE GUNTEN, SWITZERLAND 

THUNERSEE

      Finally, I will return to the chalet ($64 per night) perched on a mountain above Gunten, Switzerland, overlooking the Thunersee—a place we recently visited. This I could do every June for the rest of my life and not tire of it. Hopefully, I'll be hiking on the nearby trails, just as the locals do, well into their nineties. Switzerland is known for its high cost, however, we found reasonable grocery, beer and wine prices at the Coop City in Thun. Our lodging included a free bus pass with unlimited travel in the area.

       These are my brief words of travel wisdom for followers of the “Classy Career Girl”—those special women who are working everyday to make their lives better. We can all grow, and frankly life keeps getting better. Most importantly, if you wish to travel, as my father use to say, “Go while you can.

      "Don't pass up any opportunities that come your way—some of them only come once in a lifetime."        -The Vintage Mom

ALPE DI SIUSI

SOUTH TYROL ITALY

BALBOA PARK & THE CITY--CELEBRATING SAN DIEGO'S PANAMA-CALIFORNIA EXPOSITION

SAN DIEGO EXPOSITION BANNER

It's 5:30 a.m. at the San Diego International Airport; I still have an hour to wait for my early morning flight. I happen to notice the West Gallery near my gate. I decide to enter the peaceful glassed-in room to find out more about the artwork on the walls. They are original works by Peruvian-born Guillermo Acevedo, who has received honors for his work in illustrating and documenting San Diego's neighborhoods and landmarks. I then sit on a gallery bench to enjoy a five-minute historical video about Balboa Park.

This is my initial introduction to the over 30 displays throughout the airport celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the San DiegoPanama-California Exposition that opened in Balboa Park in January 1915. It seems fitting that this airport, with thousands of visitors passing through every day, would participate in a celebration of an event that attracted 3.8 million people from all over the world—long before jet planes were on the drawing board.

This is a time when a small town of 38,000 manages to convert a city park in a desert into an oasis of lush gardens and exquisitely designed buildings of Spanish Colonial Revival and related architecture. The Panama Canal is complete, and San Diego is the first American port-of-call on the Pacific Coast. A group of San Diego citizens decide this is worthy of an exhibition that will place San Diego on the map for its architecture, landscape, and quality of life. It is done in style and lead by local architect Bertrand Goodhue and others who had the courage to follow their dreams, despite the doubters.

When I return to the airport a week later, and with time to wait before Ron can pick me up, I decide to look around for some of the other displays. It's mid-day on a Wednesday and the airport is relatively quiet. I find a Starbuck's for coffee and then the search begins to find works of art by local artists, reproductions of historical photographs and postcards, murals, and other artifacts from the 1915 Balboa Park Exposition. Immediately, I notice some great colorful banners honoring the Exposition along the corridor leading to the gates.

I pick up one of the brochures, Balboa Park & the City, that are available throughout the airport. This is my guide to the Contemporary Perspectives portion of the exhibit featuring ten local artists and organizations. I am intrigued by a location in the airport called Sunset Cove where two of the works can be found. I manage to find it, and now I know that it is the name for the new circular section overlooking the airport in Terminal 2. This is home to a food court with the Bubbles wine bar in the center that offers $22 glasses of champagne. I stop at the Red Mango kiosk to make my own yogurt sundae with fresh fruit. I pay by the ounce and the bill is $4.11—it is just what I want and not a bad price for airport food. I also enjoy local photographer Lee Sie's dramatic images of Balboa Park and San Diego cityscapes that are on display at the entry.

Next, I discover numerous displays of antique lighting fixtures secured in showcases that are copies of original 1935 chandeliers designed by Richard Requa and constructed from compressed paper for the House of Hospitality in Balboa Park. The new creations are done by Gibson & Gibson Antique Lighting.

WALL MURAL,THE TREE LADY

If you are traveling through airport Terminal 2 with children, don't miss the impressive floor to ceiling wall panels of artwork from the 2013 children's picture book, The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins and illustrated by Jill McElmurry. (Lucky Mila is getting this one for Xmas.) The book tells the story of horticulturist KateSessions' life and ambitions to turn the dusty hills of Balboa Park into a garden worthy of the 1915 Exposition. Sessions, who is referred to as the “Mother of Balboa Park,” made a deal with the city in 1892 to lease 30 acres of land for her nursery with a promise to plant 100 trees a year in Balboa Park and 300 trees in other parts of San Diego.

An impressive bronze statue of Kate Sessions (1857-1940) stands near the Sixth Avenue entrance to the park; it is often adorned with flowers placed in her memory by those passing by.

VINTAGE CLOTHING DISPLAY-BAGGAGE CAROUSEL

Directly above the baggage carousels are mannequins adorned in elegant vintage clothing. The dresses and suits are on loan from the Old Globe Theater's costume collection for production set between 1900 and 1920. They are a sharp contrast to the casual wear we see at the airport today and a reminder of how the world has changed.

I then notice some display cases with old memorabilia near the Terminal 2 baggage area that include an official daily program, advertising signs, books, and jewelry from the event.

Outside the Terminal 1, there is a large official Seal from the Exposition that depicts a ship going through the Panama Canal. It's a beautiful design. However, my favorites are the large murals of actual scenes from the event showing the ornate Spanish architecture and lush gardens—many still standing today. This quote is posted on the wall next to the murals:

     It is so beautiful that I wish to make an earnest plea...I hope that
     not only will you keep these buildings running for another year
     but you will keep these buildings of rare phenomenal taste and
     beauty permanently.              -Theodore Roosevelt, 1915

MURAL OF EXPOSITON

VINTAGE CLOTHING-BAGGAGE CLAIM

PAGE FROM THE TREE LADY: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever