Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The Wednesday Post




Recap of an American Roadtrip, part 3
the premier marina facility for megayachts within the Caribbean.


...in which we find out what's happening these days at the sites of last week's boring postcardst!


View from Art Museum and Skyline,
Philadelphia, Pa.



The view from the Philadelphia Art Museum is still there.  A number of new buildings attest to the continuing vitality and development of the City of Brotherly Love.





PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE
“World’s Greatest Highway”



The Pennsylvania Turnpike is still there.  In fact, there's more of it.  Twice as much Blue Mountain Tunnel, for instance.




Burpeeana Giant Zinnias Growing for Seed on Floradale Farms in California



Floradale Farms no longer exists.  The Burpee facility, just outside of Lompoc, was shut down and sold at the end of 1985.  For more about the development of big big zinnias at Floradale Farms, scan through the extravagant article on the Legacy of W. Atlee Burpee on the Burpee Seeds website.



KEYSTONE COURT
On U.S. Highway No 1. 14 miles South of Washington D.C. 7 miles South of Historic Alexandria, Virginia. Individual colonial cottages.



Keystone Court no longer exists.  Indeed, it seems to have left very little impression in the fabric of time except this postcard and a few entries in period business directories.  With changes to the landscape and the street numbering system in the ever-burgeoning suburbs of Northern Virginia, it is pretty tough to figure out where the individual colonial cottages once stood.  The site of this newish post office is my unconfident best guess.  If you've got a better best guess, it's time to stand up and be counted!



ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
Yacht Haven and West India Company Docks



Yacht Haven and the West India Company Docks are still thereYacht Haven bills itself as "the premier marina facility for megayachts within the Caribbean," a popular facility for people with very large boats, more money than is good for them, and no shame. The West India Company Docks, now as then, is a moorage for cruise ships. Cruise ships have, of course, jumped scale in the interim. In 1968, when the postcard was sent, the world's largest passenger ship was the SS France, 66,343 tons. Today, there are about 60 cruise ships of over 100,000 tons, and they have names like Disney Fantasy, Norwegian Getaway, and Carnival Triumph.




1 comment:

Nichim said...

We saw some really amazing yachts in Piraeus, the port of Athens. There was one that looked very much like some kind of evil space magnate's interstellar death yacht.