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.
 
 

The Changing Fortunes of Port Soderick Bay and Hotel

Is that the roar of motorbike engines I can hear? Is that Bushy's beer tent I can see from my window and are those leather clad men I can see wondering around Strand Street?

It seems so, which can only mean that TT is upon us again and so all my blog posts for the next fortnight will be Manx related.

Port Soderick got a brief mention in a previous post but it deserves a post of its own.

The Isle of Man is known for its glens and among them is Port Soderick. Its Wikipedia entry makes for rather grim reading, describing closed and abandoned buildings, filled in padding pools and unsafe walkways. Strangely, or perhaps not, it's one of my favourite places to visit on the Isle of Man.

In visiting the glen I'm following on from many a tourist from previous generations.  The site was first developed as a tourist attraction by the Forrester brother and advertised as "the only free glen on the island". Holiday makers in the late Victorian era flocked in their droves to the Port Soderick Hotel where they enjoyed the private beach, camera obscura and the funicular. The railway, built in 1898, which still runs today, was once the busiest in the island such was the popularity of the place.

The card below dates to the Edwardian era and shows the funicular, which was destroyed in 1914, as well as the hotel and holiday makers.

This is actually my favourite card in all my collections.

Here it can be seen from a different angle but from the same era.

Although the hotel closed in the 1950s, tourists still came to the hamlet and enjoyed the bay as the card from the early 1960s shows below.

    The hotel was sold to private hands in 1984 but did go through something of a renaissance in the 1990s when celebrity chef Kevin Woodford  had the Anchor Hotel there. This was closed in 2002 and the building has been derelict ever since.

However, in March this year we received news that Heritage Great Britain is interested in buying the site and bringing it back to life. This is great news if it happens, though part of me will miss the quiet secluded Port Soderick I like to visit.

Grossinger's - The Dirty Dancing Hotel.

Grossingers Resort Hotel was a  family run affair in the  Catskill Mountains, a popular tourist spot for urban Jewish families and the starting point for many Borscht Belt style comedians.
It is said to have been the inspiration behind the hotel in Dirty Dancing, a film which premiered the year after Grossinger's closed.

It was founded in 1919 by married couple Asher and Malke Grossinger but really hit its stride in the 1950s and 60s when Jennie, their daughter, acted as hostess. The emphasis was on glamour but with a personal touch and it soon gained the nickname "The Waldorf of The Catskills"

The outside of the building as shown on the postcard below (sent in 1967 by someone attending a banquet for School Business Officials) is fairly uninspiring looking.

However, the site itself was very impressive with  35 buildings in 1200 acres of land which included its own airstrip and post office complete with its own zip code.

The card (written in 1965 to someone's mum, someone with handwriting so terrible that's all I can make out) below gives some impression of the size.

The rooms such as the Terrace Lounge and The Pink Elephant Bar were bright and colourful. The former was modernised by Morris Lapidus a name synonymous with 50s and 60s hotel architecture.

There were a variety of activities the guests could enjoy, they didn't even have to wait for winter to go skiing as the hotel became the first place to use artificial snow in 1952.

There was also an ice rink and indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

  

Jennie died in 1972 but the hotel did still attract guests until cheaper foreign air travel in the late 70s and early 80s and changing tastes meant that resort hotels fell out of favour.

It was closed in 1986 and thirty years later the buildings remain decaying and abandoned. That is all except the golf course which is still active and possibly one of the eeriest golf courses around.

More information including photos of before and after can be found here

http://joe4speed.com/grossingers.htm

The Rise and Fall of the Lee Plaza Hotel, Detroit

I would to take a look at something which may have a happy ending.

The Lee Plaza Hotel in Detroit was once the cities biggest apartment hotel. The 15 storey building was constructed in 1929 in the Art Deco style.

Although it was originally conceived as hotel, it spent much of its life as an upscale apartment block with hotel services. The cities rich and powerful who resided in the building could choose one of 220 rooms which ranged from 1 bedroom to 4 bedrooms. They could also take advantage of a concierge, Servidor, 24 hour valet parking, beauty parlour, games room, library and a supervised children's play room.

While some people probably did stay there long-term, and who can blame them, many more used the place as a temporary residence such as the sender of our postcard who stayed there in 1941 while her place was being decorated.

Sadly the good times were not to last. The hotel changed ownership several times, was declared bankrupt at least once and guests dwindled as residential hotels fell out of favour.

In 1969 it, along with other famous buildings in Detroit, became a senior citizens' complex. However its troubles were not over and when an elderly resident was murdered there in 1987 more residents began to leave and the place was finally closed in 1997.

This century the building has been seen by many as a symbol of Detroit's decline from prosperity to poverty.

The building may yet prosper again. A Detroit native by the name of Craig Sasser bought the building in 2015 and there are plans to renovate the building and develop the surrounding area.

This is not the first time hotels have been redeveloped from seemingly hopeless cases. The King Edward Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi was empty for 40 years before restoration began in 2007. Closer to home, another Art Deco masterpiece the Midland in Morecambe underwent expensive restoration to be returned to its former glory.

For now though, The Lee Plaza remains an example of an abandoned building and symbol of the turbulent nature of the past 80+ years.

More information about the Lee Plaza and other buildings in Detroit can be found at the excellent historicdetroit.org