Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish you all a good and joyful Christmas.

Sandra and I have been making stuff this weekend and my Christmascard below is the only one from me this year. It was fun to make and it looks much harder to make than it is. The text, in Norwegian, says of course Merry Christmas. I'll post it on my facebook wall as well and then I'm done with cards this year.

I have these old Christmascards and thought I would share one of them with you.This card was sent from Ottawa Dec. 11th 1930, to Stavanger Norway.
It's a nice card and an envelope made especially to match it. Boy did they know how to do things back then!
It's impossible to buy, something similar to this, today. I had to use a flashlight so the image is a bit overexposed but that was the best I could do.

Otherwise the rain came as usual and now the amount of slush is incredible, but it decreases every minute so I'm glad. We had a blizzard friday night, it was more noisy than I can ever remember.
That's all for today, and I'm not sure I will write another post before Christmas so take care everyone and enjoy!

Very interesting work.

Besides making my daily cups,
I'm digging in old family history and the history of the town in which I live. It's very interesting work and I've found some ( several) surprises. Originally it was my Great Granmother I was trying to figure out, but now I've found enough to fill up a book or two. At the same time I've found it interesting to read about how Bryne developed as the center of our county. How it was when my GG grew up. I promise, she would be surprised on how it is today.

It's very easy these days to find all the old written stuff about our relatives. Most church books are scanned and free to use from the archives. Below you see all that handwritten papers, it's birth sertificates and all that kind of stuff. The sketch in the book shows the very first "shop" in Bryne.  (1878) The owner had returned from America and was familiar to how the railroad developed the growt around the station.

In between the reading and digging I've made some paintings. I've always admired those who can make a very simple painting with a tiny bit of detailing and make it look great. You know, according to LESS IS MORE. That's waht I tried with the painting below. When all the painting (water colours) was done it was too much, so I filled it up. I will try over again though. Perhaps if I get bored of my cups, I can continue with simple paintings.

That's how I spend my days right now, and I find it very interesting.

Last tour through old NY.

These are the last three cards from old New York.

Good morning everyone.

First today is New Cunard Building. This card has no printed text so I don't know anything about it. Looks like a nice building though. And so it is,I read in this article. Wow, I think I'd like to visit that building.



Next image shows: Hotel Pennsylvania.
The old buildings looks so great, look at the ground level. Nothing like this is built today. That doesen't mean I don't like todays buildings, it's just that the details were much more focused back then. Today it's concrete and glass all over.
Listen to the printed text:" Hotel Pennsylvania at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue, opposite the Pennsylvania Railroad depot, with which it will be connected by an underground passageway. The first section on 7th Avenue, 20 stories high will contain 1.000 bedrooms with bath and shower."
Bath and shower back then, it's amazing. 40 years later we had our shower installed too.



Last card shows: Flat iron building Broadway and fifth Avenue.
This is not an unfamiliare way of building houses. I believe each city that have some of the old quarters left have at least one building of this kind, but the size may differ.
The printed text says:"Fuller Building, generally known as the Flat Iron building stands at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue facing 23rd Street. Was the first steel frame sky scraper built in the world. It is 300 feet high and contains 120,000 square feet of floor space above ground and 13,340 square feet under the sidewalk.
You can see a lot more photos and read about this building in this article.




I,ve had a lot to learn from this writing and I've enjoyed it. I hope you have learnt something too.
Have a nice day everyone and take care.

New York time again.

Three new images from old NY.

Hello everyone.

Here are the next three images from old times.
The first one shows U.S. Custom house.
This looks like an impressive building, but newer photos shows that today it's not that big after all. But, it is a very nice building. The sculptures in front represent the four continents: Asia, America, Europe and Africa and they helps make the huge impression. I'm especially attracted to the flying flags, they always make me feel good. It's almost like they're expressing : Here we are and we're proud of it.
You can read more about this building over here.

The printed text says: "The U.S. Custom House occupies an entire block at the foot of Broadway facing Bowling Green between Whitehall and State Streets to Bridge Street. It is a magnificent carved granite structure, the finest of its kind in the world, erected between 1901-1907 at a cost of $7,200,000. The site was formerly occupied by Fort Amsterdam."



The next image shows: Hudson Terminal and Tubes.

Have a look at the boats, steamboats! It's interesting looking at old images, they can tell so much about the time back then.
The printed text says:" The Hudson Terminal Building on Church Street,between Cortland and Fulton Streets are twin structures, and together from the largest office building in the world. The weight is estimated at 200,000 tons, resting on a cofferdam 400x178 feet, 75 to 98 feet deep. It is 22 stories 375 feet high and has office room for 20,000 people. Twin tubes enter the basement from Jersey City."

It occures to me that the infrastructure was so well planned back then. While we still was using horses if we had one. :-)



The last image today shows: The Post Office.

Wow, if only the those offices could look the same today.
The printed text says:" The General Post Office, located at the intersection of Broadway and Park Row is one of the finest granite buildings in the world. It has 47 branches 251 sub-stations and there are 38 other post Offices with 76 branches with a total of 410 sub-stations for the entire city. The General Post Office also contains the offices of the U.S. District and Circuit Courts."

It seems to be a lot of the best/largest/finest in the world. Probably used to build the nations fellowship. Just as many of our painters back then made all those romantic landscape paintings.



That was all for today, I hope you have enjoyed it.
Take care and thanks for visiting.

Old NY, transportation.

It's time for some old images again.


Today it's all about transportation, bridges, railroad and ferries.
This first card shows : Hell Gate Bridge, east river, New York city. This bridge opened in 1916. It was the longest steel- arch bridge in the world. It held that title until the Bayonne Bridge opened in 1931.
The printed text says: " Hell Gate Bridge crosses Hell Gate, Ward's Island, Randall's Island, Bronx Hills, to New York, and is the longest steel arch bridge in the world. Length 1.000 feet, hight 200 feet, weight 80.000 tons, concrete towers 200 feet high. Cost $ 14,000,000."
You can find an article about this bridge over here.



The second card shows : Williamsburg Bridge.

The printed text says: " Williamsburg Bridge crosses East River from Delancey and Clinton Streets, Manhattan, to Broadway, Brooklyn. Is a combine cantilever and suspension bridge. Opened Dec. 19, 1903, cost 10 million dollars. Crossed daily by about 400,000."

These two bridges are beautiful examples of good engeneering. Funny though that this last one is the oldest of these two. I would have guessed it the other way around.



My third card today shows : Elevated Railroad Curve at 110th Street, New York.
The printed text says :" Elevated Railway Curve at 110th Street; at this point the elevation is higher than in any other part of the city. Reaching a hight equal to five stories and requiring elevators at the station to take up and down the passengers. New York City is famous for it's elevated railroads; this is one of the most noted sections."
It's quite special that the people back then saw the necessity to lift the traffic up high. Well, in my head it is.
You can read a very old article about the elevated railroads here.



The last image today shows : Municipal Ferries and Lower New York.
This card doesn't have any printed text on it, so I can't tell you any more about it. I couldn't find any article to show you since I couldn't be sure if it was the right one I'd found.



Hope you've enjoyed it.
Have a nice day and take care.

It's time for a cityview again.

Three new images from old NY.

Today I'll show you three impressive buildings. Impressive if one take into concideration how old the buildings are.

The first card shows: Municipal Building
When I enlarge this photo on my computer it looks like there are 22 or maybe 23 statues on top of the row of pillars. To me it looks like a giant building. This is what is printed at the reverse:
" Municipal Building, New York. Covering a city block, Park Row, Chamber and Centre Sts. 34 stories, 585 feet high, built by the City of New York under Mayor Gaynor, to be used exclusively for offices of city departments."

There are no such beautiful buildings built today so I do hope this one is still excisting.



The second card shows The Equitable Building.

Compared to the building above this one looks quite modern. When I see these images I think it's no wonder so many of my fellow countrymen imigrated to America. At that time these images must have expressed "heaven". This specific image is dated to 1913. You can see it at the bottom line, written in white.
The printed text says:
"Equitable Building, New York. Largest Business Structure in the world. The Equitable Building will occupy the block bounded by Broadway, Nassua, Pine and Cedar Streets, it will be 38 stories above ground and 3 below, with a floor space of nearly 45 acres. It will house 15.000 people, and will have many of the departments of the city government. It will cost $ 29.000.000"
Was it ever build?
It's a very impressive sight though when we know how old it might be.



The last card today shows Singer Building and part of financial district.
This is my favorite of todays cards. Look at that view!! And notice the people far down there. The flying flag and the water in the background also contributes to make this card my fav.

Listen to the printed text:
"Singer Building located on the corner of Broadway and Liberty Streets is 47 stories high rising to a total hight of 612 feet. In it are 5.000 tenants, who are carried to their offices by 16 Otis traction elevators. The foundations consists of 36 caissons sunk to bedrock 92 feet below surface. Built by the Singer Mfg.Co."

This image is copyrighted in 1912 by Irving Underhill.
Where the stamp is ment to be, there is a text saying: "United States and Canada one cent. Foreign two cents." Well, those were the days!



That was all for today, but I have new images to show you next week.
Wish you all the best.

Another tour in NY

Ready for some more pictures from old New York?

The first card shows: Hall of Fame. University Heights.

The card doesn't have any dating but I assume it's made between 1910 - 1920. That building looks quite modern to be of that age. There's nothing printed at the reverse so I can't tell you any more about it.



The second card shows: Columbia University. I wonder how the neighbourhood looks like today. There is a printed text on this one saying:
"Columbia University occupies an area of 26 acres from Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue West, and 114th to 120 Streets. Was originally founded as Kings College in 1754 at Broadway and Barclay Streets. Moved in 1857 to Madison Avenue and 45th street. New buildings on present site were erected between 1892 and 1902 at a cost of $ 13.000.000. Endowment $ 29.000.000."
Isn't it amazing with the empty streets?



The last card for today shows: The Obelisk, Central Park.
This card looks so peaceful, and have a look at the car. Printed text says: " Obelisk Central Park. This is a 200 ton monolith brought from Egypt in 1880 and said to be 3400 years old. It, therefore, is a great curiosity, not only on account of it's age, but also because of the Egyptian hieroglyphics written thereon."

Is it still excisting, I wonder.



That was all for today, I hope you've enjoyed it.
Have a nice day and take care.

New York between 1910 - 1920

I have 19 images to show you.

Todays cards are not specific buildings but more like still-life pictures from the city. I really love these cards and wanted to share them with you all. I'm planing to publish a new post once a week.
The cards came into my posession in an auction were I baught a so called blind-box. I've got a lot of things that way. I would love to hear from you if there's anything recognizable, houses still there and so on.

The first card shows: Fifth avenue and 42nd street.
On the back side of the card there is a printed text reading: "Busiest crossing in the city, where traffic is heavy at all hours of the day and night. It is only a short distance to the Grand Central Station and right in the heart of the hotel and theatre district. The Public Library stands at the intersection of the two streets."

This specific card is not dated in any way but some of them are and I assume they are made in the same periode of time.



The next card is showing: Broadway and 33rd Street.
There is no printed text on this one so I can't tell you any more about it. The sign on the left hand building is reading: Wilson building. The corner house on the right hand side has a sign reading: SAMS or SAKS

Look at the flying flags, isn't it a beautiful image?



The last card today shows: Sunday Morning on 5th Ave.

It has no text at the reverse so I can't tell you anything.
The yellow "bus" has a sign reading: SEVENTH to FIFTH AV.
This is such a nice picture too and look at the sunrise in the background.



That was todays post, I hope you enjoyed a journey back in time.
Wish you all the best.