Ave had a good day of sightseeing! Were at it most of the day in the hot Va. sun. Left coats in the car. The flowers are lovely here – tulips, iris, violets are all out though they say it is in late spring. The reconstructed area is very interesting. Have seen today about half of the buildings open. Tonight we went to a candlelight concert of 18th and 17th century string music in the Governor’s Palace. It was delightful. Ate dinner tonight at the Williamsburg Inn – wonderful food.
Love
THE CAPITOL, 1699-1705
This structure closely identified with the political life of Colonial Virginia, has been rebuilt on original foundations at the earlier of two buildings that stood here during the eighteenth century. Its furnishings and unusual interior painting conform to descriptions in contemporary records.
Don’t count too much on my coming to corn produce as I am very busy canning peaches and must to make Poor pickles and meat relish and get my dress made and get shoes and gloves and we are going to Edith’s Sat. and home. I’ll let you know. Later.
Letter rec’d in good condition. Will ans letter tomorrow night or when I receive that parcel. Maybe tomorrow.
B
The Little Sisters of the Poor is an international Roman Catholic women’s religious organization. They were established in Philadelphia on August 24, 1869, to respond to the needs of the elderly poor in Philadelphia. The home was rebuilt in the early 1970’s and is currently called the Holy Family Home.
We did leave Mexico finally at 9:10 am by American and had a wonderful flight much better than Braniff. E. met us at customs and took us home for lunch and left there about 1:30. They had three inches of snow in San Antonio, first in 40 years. We arrived here at 5:15 and went to the Rodeo at the Astrodome last night. Doc and Festus were guest stars, Jimmy Dean is to be here the 28th – would have preferred him! Enjoying every minute still.
Love
Inside the Astrodome – this is the first thing you see when you enter the Astrodome Club. It is a bar 10 feet long, the longest in Texas. You can get yourself a drink, turn around and walk six steps, and enjoy what’s taking place down on the field.
The Astrodome opened in 1965 and was still in use for various things until the early 2000’s. It was the world’s first multi-purpose domed stadium.
Railroad Exhibit Building, New York World’s Fair 1939
The entrance to the railroad exhibit at the New York World’s Fair 1939 appears very much like a glorified and modernistic roundhouse for locomotives.The Rotunda above contains 25,000 square feet of floor space leading to a circular theme hall 180 feet in diameter surmounted by a dome approximately eight stories in height. Sponsored by the Eastern Presidents Conference of the railroads, the exhibit includes a building nearly a quarter of a mile long, an outdoor exposition including nearly a mile of track, a colorful pageant telling the history of American railroads and the largest working miniature railroad ever constructed. The building contains 110,000 square feet of floor space and is the largest at the Fair.
The Electrical Products Building, New York World’s Fair 1939
The Electrical Products Building, New York World’s Fair is a rainbow of colors glowing across the World of Tomorrow. The Electrical Building is in the “Blue Sector” with a mural hint of ‘Wonders’ displayed behind its portals. The oddly shaped pylon at the left is an outstanding feature of the building. Architects: Walker and Gillette.
Hall of Pharmacy, New York World’s Fair 1939
The Hall of Pharmacy at the New York World’s Fair 1939 shown in the center of this photograph, which has been taken over by contract by The Show Globe, Inc., presents the entire story of research, development, manufacture and distribution of drugs and pharmaceutical products. The building, built by the Fair Corporation, occupies one of the most prominent sites in the Exposition grounds, being close to the Theme Center, the 200 foot Perisphere and 700 foot Trylon, partly shown at the extreme left of the photograph. Architects: Pleasants Pennington, G. Lyman Paine, Jr. and I. Woodner-Silverman.
The 1939 New York World’s Fair took place in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York. Many countries participated and over 44 million people attended over two seasons. It was based on the future with an emphasis on the ‘world of tomorrow’.
Postcard courtesy of Western Publishing and Novelty Company.
In 1866 the area known today as Pershing Square was dedicated as a public square called La Plaza Abaja (the lower plaza) by Mayor Christobal Aguilar. A year later people started calling it St Vincent’s Park since it was across the street from St Vincent’s College (now Loyola Marymount University). The name changed again in 1870 to Los Angeles Park and in 1886 it was 6th Street Park when it was redesigned by Frederick Eaton. It became Central Park during the early 1890s and had a bandstand pavilion.
In 1900 a statue of a Spanish-American War veteran was dedicated. In 1910 the park was renovated again by John Parkinson and featured a fountain by sculptor Johan Caspar Lachne Gruenfeld. In 1918, a week after the end of World War I, the park was renamed once again to Pershing Square to honor General Pershing. I believe this is the iteration pictured above.
The park went through many other iterations over the years including being demolished in 1952 in order to build an underground car park. By 1984 when the Summer Olympics were in Los Angeles, it had become so neglected, the city spent $1 million for temporary renovations.
Once again, in 1992, the park closed for a $14.5 redesign and renovation by Ricardo Legorreta and Laurie Olin. It re-opened in 1994 with a bell tower, fountains, a walkway, and concert stage. This design remains today. In 2000, a monument was dedicated to a highly decorated local Korean War veteran by the name of Eugene Obregon.
The County Hospital, costing 13 million dollars, is one of the largest and best equipped in the world. There are 123 buildings on 56 acres of ground. An average 4 thousand patients are treated daily.
(This particular building was finished in 1933, and was converted to office space. A new $1 billion dollar building opened in 2008.)
Postcard Buzz 