Buffalo Central Terminal 1929 - 1979

Some of you may have seen picture of today's subject matter in something of a sad and sorry state on a few websites which detail abandoned buildings.
This blog likes to redress the balance a little and show the places "in happier times" although I'm not sure if there were that many happy times in the timeframe of the station's existence.  The glorious Art Deco building (you must know by now about my fondness for those) can be seen looking shiny and  fairly new  on this 1940s card below.

Buffalo Central Terminal was a working station for 50 years, with around 200 trains a day coming and going in its busiest era . The station was opened on 22nd June 1929 and over 2000 guests attended. Services began the next day, only hours after the revellers had stopped celebrating. It wasn't particularly good timing for the station as the Wall Street Crash which happened only a few months later, followed by the resulting Depression had a negative impact on the number of people using the vast station. Increase in car ownership in the 1930s also meant fewer passengers travelled by train.
Activity picked up during WWII but soon declined again after the war was over. The station was put up for sale in 1956 but negotiations fell through and 10 years later dismantling of parts of it were already being dismantled.
Passengers did continue to use the station until 1979, the last train to depart from there was on October 28th 1979. Ironically ,at around the same time , in my home town 150 years of the Rainhill Locomotive Trails had just been celebrated.
The station was neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair during the 1980s and 1990s but repairs began in 2003 and tours of the place began.  Restorations have continued and many planned events are due to take place there this year. The first, the traditional Polish and Ukrainian Dygnus Day,  will be held on Easter Monday in  couple of weeks' time. 
I do hope that this is one story with a happy ending. I don't know if trains are likely to run from there again but I do like the idea of these gorgeous buildings being used for something.    
You can read about the restoration here
http://buffalonews.com/2016/06/25/central-terminal-is-given-a-temporary-face-lift-thanks-to-marshall-crew/
You can find out more the station here
http://buffalocentralterminal.org/

The Beresford Hotel, Glasgow

Today I'm looking at a building which is still in existence, in fact it's a listed building, but which has had several incarnations since being built.

It's an Art Deco building which I'm sure you all know by now are my favourites.

You probably can't read the card but it states Beresford Hotel Glasgow, Scotland's Newest Hotel. Standing proudly on the famous Sauchiehall Street it was known as Glasgow's first sky scraper and was the tallest building erected in the city during the interwar period. The designer, William Beresford Inglis took inspiration from contemporary cinemas.  

It was built in 1938 for those attending the city's Empire Exhibition which took place between May-December that year. The event attracted 12 million visitors but it's unknown how many of them made use of the hotel. What  is known is that it was a popular venue for American Servicemen during WWII.

It continued as a hotel until 1952 when demand for such accommodation began decline and for the next 12 years was Scotland's HQ for ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) before being sold to the University of Strathclyde in 1964 to be used  as student accommodation.

I have to say I'm quite envious of the students who lived in such a lovely building. My own Halls of Residence in Manchester were a rather less lovely 1970s building though I was quite fond of the place at the time. Initially they were only open to male students until the 1980s when female students were permitted to live on the top floor.

In 2002 they were sold again and now contain 112 private flats. Again, I'm quite envious of the people who live there.

The postcard is not dated and has not been posted, but from the description on the front I'd say it was from shortly after the hotel was built.

  

New Brighton Open Air Baths 1934 -1990

Sorry for the long hiatus. There have a lot of real life things going on at moment, the biggest being that I have moved house and some of my postcard collection got separated so I'm still sorting through things. I hope I haven't lost anything.


I love this card, it contains two of my passions, open air swimming pools and art deco structures.

I'm sure quite a few of you reading this will be familiar with New Brighton baths and may have spent the odd summer day there and bathed in these waters.

Just as with the doomed New Brighton Tower, when the baths were constructed in 1934 they were the largest of their kind. Photographs of the era show that they really were quite spectacular looking at the time, bright and stylish and contemporary looking, the baths attracted 100,000 visitors in their opening week. As well as the 4 and 1/2 acre pool, visitors could enjoy lying on the terraces and soaking up the sun, watch the bathers or dine in the café and all for 6d.

From 1949 until the year before it closed it also became known for its Miss New Brighton Bathing Beauty contests which drew crowds of up 10 15,000 people.

As with everything on this blog it eventually came to an end. In February 1990 hurricane force winds damaged much of the structure and as repairs would have come to £4 million it was decided instead to bulldoze the pool and this happened in the summer of 1990.

The MV Kalakala - From Icon to Embarrassment

I've mentioned before that I particularly like Art Deco related cards so when I heard about the MV Kalakala I just had to find a postcard of her.
This wasn't too difficult considering that she was once the second most photographed item in the world, with only the Eiffel Tower beating her. Not bad for what is basically a car ferry.
She was also one of the most popular exhibits at the 1962 Seattle World fair. The postcard below was sent from Seattle but many years earlier in 1946.

She was launched in 1926 as the Peralta but a fire 7 years later destroyed her superstructure. The brief for the redesign was to be distinctive and modernistic and eventually it was decided she should modelled on contemporary aircraft. The publicity was also intriguing, billboards were commissioned with simply Kalakala written on them in large letters.
The unusual design was a case of style over substance. The narrow car deck meant that she could carry less vehicles than other vessels and there were difficulties with docking due to the setback of the wheelhouse. Still, she remained popular with tourists who enjoyed moonlight cruises on the ferry.
The design faults didn't stop her from seeing heavy service in WWII where she was used to transport shipyard workers and Navy personelle. Her popularity as a vehicle  had waned by the 1950s and she gained unflattering nicknames such as the Silver Slug and Galloping Ghost.
She was retired from service in 1967 but was used as a factory ship until she was beached in 1970 and used to process shrimp. In 2004 she was sold to a private investor as her previous owners couldn't afford the upkeep. However she was evicted from her new home Neah Bay that year and the Macah people who had provided the anchorage sued the owners. I do not know the outcome of this but she was moved to Tacoma Washington.
By 2011 she was very frail and would up being sold for a nominal fee of a dollar with the understanding that the purchaser would renovate her. This did not happen and she was scrapped in early 2015.
When writing about the Kalakala I can't help picturing her as a tragic movie star, tragic beginnings,  good looks and publicity helping her get noticed  followed by rising and falling popularity. She has a brief moment in the sun again before retirement followed by lawsuits and eviction and finally ending up on the scrap heap unloved and largely unmourned apart from by those of us with a cult interest in these things. Kind of sad  really.     
If you are wondering about the unusual name she is from the Chinook Jargon trade language and means "bird". The Chinook Jargon, unlike the Kalakala, is still being used but with less than 650 speakers who knows for how much longer.