Hotels and Motels

"Grand View Point Hotel. See 3 states and 7 counties. Pa., Md., W. Va, 63 mile view from Grand View--Ship Hotel on Lincoln Highway, U.S. 30, 17 miles west of Bedford, Pa., looking into 3 states and 7 counties, 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, Pa. 4A-H1905." Printed on back: "Distributed by H. Paulson, Grand View-Ship Hotel, Central City, Pa."

"Grand View Point Hotel. Approaching S.S. Grand View Point Hotel on the Lincoln Highway, 17 miles west of Bedford, Pa. Elevation 2,464 feet. 3A-H421." Printed on back: "Grand View Point Hotel at the most beautiful spot in U.S. Summit of Allegheny Mts., 17 miles west of Bedford, Pa., on Historic Lincoln Highway, overlooking 3 states and 7 counties. Elevation 2,464 feet. Distributed by H. Paulson, Grand View-Ship Hotel, Central City, Pa."

A menu from an elaborate meal at the Irvington Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Independence Day, 1893. -------- "The Irvington, July 4, 1893, Dinner. Oysters on shell, snapper, consommé royal, Kennebec salmon, Hollandaise sauce, pommes à la Russe, cucumbers, capon, oyster sauce, prime ribs of beef, young duck, apple sauce, lamb, mint sauce, sweet bread patties, à la reine, braised tenderloin, with mushrooms, queen fritters, glace au rum, mashed potatoes, Bermuda potatoes, peas, tomatoes, cauliflower, cream sauce, rice queen olives, Worcestershire sauce, chow chow, cole slaw, lettuce mayonnaise, gherkins, lemon meringue pie, English plum pudding, brandy sauce, queen of puddings, vanilla ice cream, raspberry water ice, assorted cake, apricots, plums, bananas, figs, almonds, English walnuts, raisins, crackers, cheese, black coffee, milk. Wine list may be obtained from head waiter."

The Bellevue Stratford, Phila., Pa. Talk through this disc. Hygiene Telephone Disc. A new one for each guest occupying this room. Talk through the Hygienic Telephone Disc and protect yourself from all germ disease. Replace when soiled. U.S. Patent, June 12, 1906. To put on, bend up small corner on line and slide on mouthpiece. Mfg. by Hygienic Telephone Disc Co., Phila., Pa. -------- Worrying about germs and the spread of diseases is nothing new, as this early twentieth-century "Hygienic Telephone Disc" demonstrates. Guests at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia could place one of these "Sani-Phone" discs--as they were also called--over the mouthpieces of the telephones in their rooms so they wouldn't contract tuberculosis or any other nasty bug. The discs used a wax paper-like film that was sandwiched between two layers of cardboard to keep germs away while letting sound through. For a 1912 advertisement that shows how the disc was placed on the candlestick telephones of the time, see Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs Ad, World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912 (Internet Archive) :

This Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs advertisement is a screen capture from the World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912 , p. xiv, which is available via the Internet Archive . For an example of a disc imprinted with a hotel's name, see Hygienic Telephone Disc, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., 1906 :

"They are on the way now. Harrisburg, Pa., ________. Dear ________. We are pleased to inform you that we are forwarding today--____ letters ____packages. And we have noted your change of address on our records. J. A. Johnson, manager. The Harrisburger, Harrisburg's newest hotel, Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.M. Doc Rankin."

"Meal ticket, the Lee House. This ticket must be presented to waiter at each meal. Guests cannot secure meal without presenting this ticket. Good only to person issued. Name: Kuntz. Room no.: [200?]. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of tattered & torn (or otherwise damaged) . "For[idian] Ho[tel]. Floridian fishing dock, Miami Beach. Caught on yacht Skip Jack, Capt. E. P. Le May." A tattered, torn, creased, and taped photo of two fishermen posing with a sailfish on the dock of the Floridian Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

A swimming pools photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Alberca del Hotel Ruiz Galindo. Fortin Ver." Translation and elaboration: "Swimming pool at the Hotel Ruiz Galindo. City of Fortín de las Flores in the Mexican state of Veracruz ." As seen in this real photo postcard, gardenia blossoms floating on the surface of the swimming pool apparently helped to attract visitors to the Hotel Ruiz Galindo, located in the Mexican city of Fortín de las Flores ("Fort of Flowers"). An article in Life magazine, May 14, 1945, for instance, featured photos of Mexican movie actresses swimming among the flowers and described "the hotel's enormous swimming pool, which is frequently covered with gardenia blossoms for the guests' pleasure." A Google search also uncovered later hotel promotional materials that refer to the pool as "The Famous Gardenia Swimming Pool" and to the hotel as "The Gardenia Resort." I haven't been able to determine, however, whether the hotel is still in business. Mouse over the image above to see enlargements of the left side and right side of the pool. Note the woman sitting in a poolside chair on the left and a group gathered around the diving board at right.

Gardenia blossoms float on the surface of the swimming pool as a lone woman sits among a row of chairs lined up beside the pool. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard:

Two men on the diving board are talking with a man and woman who are standing nearby. A few gardenia blossoms are visible in the pool. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard:

A swimming pools photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a real photo postcard of a woman posing among the gardenia blossoms in the swimming pool at the Hotel Ruiz Galindo, located in the city of Fortín de las Flores ("Fort of Flowers"), Veracruz , Mexico. The gardenia flowers in the pool were a selling point, and a later postcard described the pool as "The Famous Gardenia Swimming Pool" and the hotel as "The Gardenia Resort." Mouse over the image to see enlargements of the left side (notice the hotel guests seated beside the pool and the maid looking down from the second level) and the right side (there are two men at the diving board).

As a woman poses among the gardenia flowers in the swimming pool, hotel guests watch from their seats alongside the pool. A maid standing on the second level of the hotel takes a break from her work to look down at the photo shoot taking place below. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

Gardenias float on the water in the foreground, and two men are visible at the diving board in the background. One looks like he's getting ready to jump in the pool, while the other appears to be stepping away from the board. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

"The Manhattan, A. J. Meloney, prop. South Carolina Avenue, Atlantic City, N.J. Near the beach." The proprietor of the Manhattan Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, used an illustration of a Native American on his business card. See below for a selection of other late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century hotel business cards. For additional examples, see my Hotels and Motels album.

"Central Avenue Hotel, No. 831 Market Street, Philadelphia. O. H. Dash, proprietor. Terms, two dollars per day. Also, proprietor of Surf House, Atlantic City, N.J."

"Lehigh House, South Bethlehem, Pa. Convenient to university. Newly refitted. European and American plans. Reduced rates for students. P. Alexander Hunt, prop. Free 'bus." As far as I can determine, Lehigh House was a hotel located in what is now Bethlehem , Pennsylvania ("South Bethlehem" is no longer used as a place name). I haven't been able to figure out the hotel's exact location, but its proximity to Lehigh University ("convenient to university") was apparently why the proprietor offered "reduced rates for students" and a "free [omni]bus." The only mention of the Lehigh House hotel that I've uncovered so far is in Alfred Mathews, History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Everts & Richards, 1884), p. 144: "In 1833, [Caspar] Kleckner built the hotel now known as the Lehigh House, which he kept until 1841, when his son-in-law, John G. Schimpf, took possession of it, and remained as landlord until 1858. Following him there were two or three other landlords, who remained for short terms, and in 1862 the house was sold to James Allen Trexler, whose son H. A. Trexler, is the present proprietor." I suspect that this business card dates to the 1880s or 1890s, when P. Alexander Hunt presumably succeeded H. A. Trexler as proprietor.

"Merchants' House, Denver, Pa. F.P. Miller, prop'r. Bar stocked with the finest wines and liquors. Livery connected."