Author Archives: Dablad1

Pasadena Playhouse The Pasadena Playhouse opened in 1925. It has five stages, with over 300 performances annually. After a 17- year-vacant period, it re-emerged in 1986. In 1925 a fire curtain was installed to shield audiences, and it is still there. The first photo is dated 1930 and the third was taken during the curtain’s … Continue reading »

Think of Pasadena, and the Rose Parade immediately comes to mind. The Parade is now 5 1/2 miles along Colorado Blvd, Pasadena’s main thoroughfare. It was first held in 1890 and originally designed to attract tourists from the wintery “back East”. On the first day, there were 3,000 in attendance; in 2026 there were somewhere … Continue reading »

Hoquiam WA The former Northern Pacific RR Station was built in 1914. It ended passenger service in 1955 and is now occupied by the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. The first photo is dated 1917. Los Angeles Union Station Los Angeles Union Station opened in 1939, seen here in a photo taken on it’s dedication day. … Continue reading »

Grand Central, the grandest of them all, is located at 42nd St. and Park Ave. Sitting on 48 acres, it opened in 1913 after ten years of construction. The first photo is dated 1913. Above the main entrance is a group of statues weighing 1,200 tons. The largest is Mercury. Here also is a photo … Continue reading »

In addition to many historic buildings, St. Louis also has numerous structures that help define its past, such as: Eads Bridge Built over the Mississippi River between 1867 and 1874, Eads Bridge was designed to connect St. Louis with East St. Louis on the Illinois side. It is the oldest bridge on the Mississippi. The … Continue reading »

A significant part of St Louis history is its hosting of the 1904 World’s Fair, also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, commemorating the 1803 Purchase. The Fair was held on 1,200 acres with 1500 buildings all seen by 19 million visitors in just seven months! With one exception, all buildings were torn down as … Continue reading »

Porter Brothers Store The Porter Brothers Store opened in the center of town in 1906. It was extremely popular, but, when the rhyolite mines plaid out, it closed in 1910. The first photo is undated. Train Depot The Rhyolite train depot was built in 1907 at a cost of four million dollars in today’s money. … Continue reading »

Rhyolite is a ghost town about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near Death Valley National Park. It began in 1905 as a two-man mining camp and rose to 1,200 in two weeks! By 1907, it had electricity, water mains, newspapers, telephones, a school, and hospital. Yet, at the end of 1910, the rhyolite mine … Continue reading »

Outside of the numerous towns and villages on Cape Cod, there are many more historic sites. Here are six of them: Chatham Chatham Bars Inn Situated on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic, Chatham Bars Inn opened as a luxury hotel in 1914. It quickly became an escape for residents of New York City and Boston. … Continue reading »

Cape Cod is a peninsula reaching 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts. The name was given by an English explorer in 1602 on account of the abundance of cod fish. There are 15 towns and numerous villages, all with historic sites. Here is a look at some of them. Providence … Continue reading »