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I posted this vintage Christmas card to Facebook to amuse my friends. The kid’s woeful expression prompted a few comments. Really, though, if you study 19th and early 20th century portraits, photos, and illustrations, unsmiling faces were the rule rather than the exception. People always looked somber. I started to wonder why that was. Well, for one thing, […]
You could fly coast to coast in 1930, but such the trip entailed a succession of short day flights and overnight train rides. Your flight from New York City to Los Angeles might take four to five days. With the introduction of the Condor in 1933, you could do it in two days and dispense with trains altogether — the Condor’s 12 pull-down sleeper berths meant you could fly by night as well as by day. Of course only the wealthy, untouched by the Depression, could afford air travel of any kind.