The College Series, Continued

It's back to school time, and I'm hoping to be receiving a lot more postcards from colleges and universities. Here's an addition to that series (first C&U post, second C&U post) from Cornell and Ohio Wesleyan.

The postcard on the right, from Cornell, is the second from that university, but this time it is during the winter. Of interest is that while the statue is of Ezra Cornell, the sender of this postcard tells me that the university was not founded by him. Perhaps there are multiple Ezra Cornell's and this statue is not the founder but a quick trip to Wikipedia indicates that indeed, an Ezra Cornell was one of the founders of that institution. Hmm.

The Ohio Wesleyan postcard on the left is of particular interest because the sculpture on the right side of the picture was created by the sender's grandfather, Ebb Haycock, a sculptor of some renown. Perhaps more so for the grandparents and parents, but I think it must be exciting? empowering? to be a third generation legacy at the college you attend.

Claire in Montana

My friends, Claire & Steve, recently moved to Missoula, Montana. Claire claims that after a month, she has become a cowgirl. Somehow, I don't think she's quite willing to give up the high heels and pearls yet. We shall see.

P.S. Notice the Ozzie & Harriet stamp.

Howdy In and From Turkey

My brother's name is Howard, but we call him Howdy. This postcard is from his time traveling Europe with his friend, Dave. Howdy is 6'4", Dave at least 6'5" and both are extremely handsome - my brother, with brown hair and dimples and Dave, with a great booming voice and very blond hair. They were 22 or 23 years old. I can only imagine how they stood out, especially in Turkey.

This card is proof that Howdy, indeed, has flown before. He has a flying phobia and I don't think he's been on a plane in 20 or more years. It also demonstrates how clearly a postcard is a mini-glimpse of a person's personality. There's no space (and no expectation) for much more than a glimpse, which is just the right amount, in most cases.

Howdy is competitive, in a wonderful, almost gentle, way. Proof: "I was thinking about you as how you are the "exotic" one in the family. You now have a partner." He is very funny, with a dry sense of humor. Proof: "By being here I now want to continue into the land of the unknown. The problem is my money is running out and I need to be home in time for the Xmas reimbursements." and "I'd rather be in Istanbul."

Once, Howdy and I went to Zihuatanejo together. We stayed in a rustic resort, with stone stairways cut into the cliff and two hammocks off every room. He is a wonderful traveling partner, with a more exotic sense of adventure than you might expect. I hope he does some traveling again, some day, as it's good for him!

Portugal

I love this postcard, mostly for the message on the back. It was from our Bank of America Traveler's Cheques client, Jay, from 25 years ago. She actually has been a pretty loyal postcard sender all these years. Her handwriting is quite distinctive and immediately recognizable. It also reminds me of the group at Grey Advertising who worked on her account, including my friend Evelyn. Jay always referred to Evelyn as "Evelyn Campagne King" (see the initials ECK above), an R&B singer from the 70s. To this day, if Evelyn's name is mentioned to Jay, she'll call her that.

I fell today and may have sprained my knee, so I've just taken some pain pills. Probably best to stop writing and go to bed.

A Quick Tourist Trip to Hollywood

When you grow up in California, it's commonplace to have visitors from all over, and as a result,you learn early to be a pretty good tourist guide.

My mom, one of my most faithful postcard senders (along with the secret sender, Julie, Marsha & Ralph, Yolanda, and Paula) recently hosted visitors from North Carolina. She sent postcards to me from their tour.

First, an overview of downtown Los Angeles, with snow covered mountains in the background. Note: LA only looks like this 1 or 2 days a year, usually in early January.

Next, a zoom into the Hollywood sign. You can actually drive up pretty close to the sign, if you know how to get there. And this picture was probably taken in March, after a rainy winter. Doesn't look nearly this green for very much of the year.


Down from the hill for a stop at Chinese theater, nee Grauman's Chinese Theater. It's actually a pretty interesting history, so consider clicking on the link and checking it out.


Finally, a look for movie stars' hand prints and footprints in the cement outside the Chinese Theater. These are not to be confused with The Boulevard of Stars down Hollywood Boulevard. Those stars and where each star's star is located can be found here.

I Missed Thursday, September 10

Will have to post in the AM, September 11. My first missed day. The guilt, oh, the guilt.

A Piece of the Berlin Wall in St. Louis

One can learn a lot from postcards. Who knew there was such a large piece of the "Wall" in St. Louis? When the wall first came down, people had chunks as souvenirs - pieces of cement about the size of a softball. But multiple panels in St. Louis? I had no idea.

I do remember when the wall came down. I was in the hospital, having just given birth to my second son. He was the largest baby born in the hospital that month, so we were a bit of a celebrity couple in our little corner of the world. Post-partum is an emotional time, and I remember watching the news with the shots of the wall tumbling down, and crying. It was such a powerful symbol, and it was coming down.

The Worst Hotel I Ever Stayed In

I was surprised to come across this postcard, from the “Absolute Worst Business Hotel I Ever Stayed In”. What possessed me to keep it (and not even mail it to myself) I’ll never know. Must be my predilection for postcards.

One of my advertising assignments was the launch of Chun King Frozen Oriental Entrees. As was often the case, a factory tour was part of the learning-about-the-product process. Chun King Entrees were one of many products manufactured at the world’s largest frozen food plant in Russellville, Arkansas.

Russellville, Arkansas is not easy to get to. First, fly to Little Rock, Arkansas – at the time an airport with only six gates. Then, rent a car and drive two+ hours to Russellville. It is definitely in the middle of nowhere.

I was traveling with my two clients, one senior to the other, but both men. When we arrived at 8 PM at the hotel where we were supposed to be staying, somehow there was no reservation for me. “No room at the inn”, was the message from the person at the front desk, “but there’s a motel down the road”. Rather than offering to double up, or even helping me look into it, my clients looked at me, handed me the keys to the rental car, instructed me to “be back at 8 AM”, and disappeared into their respective rooms.

My memory tells me I went to the car, drove down the road and into the parking lot of the motel, along with the semis and pick-ups, off the interstate. I remember being a bit uncomfortable as a young woman on her own, in a motel with doors facing the parking lot and flimsy windows opening onto the walkways. I stayed at cheap, dirty, questionable even sleazy hotels all over Latin America when I traveled there. But somehow I was flabbergasted that my clients gave not a moment’s thought to safety or security or even common courtesy on a business trip they had asked me to accompany them on.

It’s often a conflict – being treated like an equal in business and being seen as a woman. I can’t imagine that either of these men would be comfortable with their own wives being sent alone to a rural motel, in the dark, at night, in a place she'd never been. Can we have it both ways or is that asking too much? What do you think? Have you ever been in a situation like this?

Lanzarote Island

Our friend, Lauren, traveled to Lanzarote Island to support her partner who participates in Iron Man Triathlons. Why do you suppose Iron Man events are often held on volcanic islands? Or is it just that the two Iron Man triathlons I'm aware of occur as such.

Lanzarote Island is part of the Canary Islands, situated on their eastern-most edge, and while the Canary Islands are described as autonomous, Lanzarote Island is designated as a Spanish island. It is not clear what the existing political structure looks like and there is no mention of that in Wikipedia.

Cadillac Ranch

Someday, I'll road trip across the US. Have always, always wanted to do this, having fantasized about this as far back as 7th grade, when I thought heaven might look like a VW van and a friend, driving across the country.

When that someday comes, whether I choose the southern or northern or central path, my route will include a stop at Cadillac Ranch.

According to recent reports, the Cadillacs are now graffiti covered, and additional graffiti is not discouraged. At one point, they were painted pink in support of efforts to raise funds for breast cancer research. Originally, they were their off-the-factory-line colors, and the postcard above is a picture taken in 1976, shortly after the creation of the ranch.

Cook Islands

Tom Hanks in Castaway took a bit of the glamour away from desert islands. Not that the Cook Islands, are deserted, but some of them are very tiny, very sparsely populated and relatively obscure.

There's an interesting site, with job postings for the Cook Islands, if you're interested in running away from it all. Check it out. ck/jobs.htm

Elephant Seals

The elephant seal population in Northern California has increased over the last few years. Now, not only can you see them and walk among them at Ano Nuevo between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, you can also see them at Point Reyes and just north of Cambria, where Highway 1 starts the curviest portion of its path. Or, view a life-size replica of an adult male at the little museum on Chrissy Field.

Ano Nuevo is particularly exciting. Ranger-led hikes take you on paths over the dunes and down toward their beach. You are warned to be ready to run at any time, and to never ever get between two male bulls who might be getting ready to charge each other. I imagine it's a bit like what a safari might be like, but with fewer varieties of animals.

Dresden 1903

These postcards from Dresden are from my great grandfather's collection, sent from Europe in the early 1900s. Specifically, these were sent in late August 1903. Notice the postal marks on the last picture below. Not only do you see the postmark from whence the card was sent, but also the postmark of the destination address. It appears that even in 1903 a postcard from Germany took about two weeks to travel to Stockton, California. Pretty impressive. What's hard to see in these pictures is the embossing on a couple of the cards. If you enlarge the images, you may get a better sense of that.

It's very possible that many of the places featured on these cards no longer exist, due to the bombing of Dresden in 1945.

Belize

When I traveled in Latin America, we ran into a lot of people who had spent time on the different Cayes off the coast of Belize. Caye Caulker was frequently mentioned - it was one groovy stop on the gringo trail of the 1970s. I remember stories of cheap lobsters, beautiful beaches, and bathrooms (well, outhouses) on the ends of piers that emptied into the ocean. We didn't make it there.

A few things I know about Belize. 1) English is spoken there - it was a British colony for a long time and is still part of the British Commonwealth. 2) For years (and I don't know if this is still the case) Belize didn't appear on a Guatemalan map - Guatemala didn't recognize Belize as a separate country; rather they claimed it as their own. 3) Lastly, the Palancar Reef (second only to the Great Barrier Reef in size) stretches from Cozumel down along the coast of Mexico and Belize, and there is supposed to be great diving and snorkeling.

If you're interested in more on Belize, click here: Belize

The Guggenheim

Among my most faithful and constant postcard senders are my friends, the Guggenheims. They aren't the Guggenheims of the museum, but their message is, "we're visiting the family store".

How cool is that?

Six Degrees of Separation

Small world situations are always an interesting pleasure, no matter how often they occur. In this case, two women I know from completely different components of my life turn out to be best friends from high school. Somehow we all figured out our one degree of separation-ness.

Recently they had a mini-reunion in New York, enjoying eating their way through the city. They sent me this postcard from Balthazars. My favorite part of this postcard is the address: General Delivery, San Francisco. The truth of the matter is, it was sent electronically. But I love the general delivery reference as much as I love that they thought of me in the restaurant. Thanks, ladies!

Postcard Advertising - Hong Kong

Two from Hong Kong, one for ribbed condoms, one for a graphic designer and stylist.

I like the message on the back of the condom ad, graciously greyed down so you can write your own message over it.

Postcard Advertising

Here are two examples of postcard advertising from the 90s.

In bars, restaurants and coffee shops in major cities around the world were mounted postcard racks (usually in the halls outside the bathrooms) with free postcards advertising any number of products/services. It was a great idea, and an early example of viral advertising - a company distributes free postcards, usually with an interesting graphic, provocative message or, at minimum, extension of an existing ad campaign, and you pay out of your own pocket to mail it to other potential consumers (a.k.a. your friends).

A quick look for this company, Maxracks, suggests that the company continues to exist, but only to send virtual postcards. Now that I think of it, I haven't seen any of these racks in a while with the exception of in a Pasta Pomodoro, which had their own postcards only in these racks.

The postcards below, Mel for Tanqueray and Altoids "Curiously Strong", were both extensions of big, visible ad campaigns at the time.

Mel for Tanqueray Vodka was an extension of the more famous "Mr. Jenkins" campaign for Tanqueray Gin, but not nearly as interesting. Mr. Jenkins was quite popular. I remember one headline which read something like, "Mr. Jenkins regreted the demise of the macrame bikini" (may not have been exactly that, but close enough). In fact, Mr. Jenkins in many ways is the father of the current campaign for Dos Equis beer - "the most interesting man in the world". Mr. Jenkins had a very similar personality.

The Altoids campaign ran initially on bus shelters, with a number of different versions, all with the "Curiously Strong" tag line, all a lot of fun. This campaign really made that product the ubiquitous mint it is today.

Montana - A Better Example of a Postcard Shaped Like the State

Couldn't resist posting this right after Idaho's when I came across it.

It's such a better example of a postcard shaped like its state. I suppose it helps if you have a couple of right angles.

Idaho

Idaho is probably starting to look like this right now, or if not, will soon. I like it when a state and/or country puts the shape of their geography on a card. And Idaho takes it one step further by creating a card with a shape at least reminiscent of the shape of the state.

We spent a week in Driggs, Idaho once. It is on the other side of the Tetons from Jackson Hole, Wyoming and a lot cheaper than Jackson Hole to live in. My friend, Michelle, and her family lived there.

The highlight in Driggs was a drive-in was called "The Spud". Parked outside the fence of this drive-in was a flat bed truck with a representation of a giant potato on it, one that spanned the length and width of the truck. On Wednesday nights, admission was charged per car rather than per person. Michelle had an old Winnebago one of whose purposes was to be packed full of kids on Wednesday nights, with everybody watching the movie from the roof of the vehicle. Inside The Spud was a ramshackle snack stand surrounded by broken down couches, so if you didn't want to sit in or on your car (or your Winnebago) you could splay out over the couches.