Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week features a promotional postcard from the Hotel Imperial, Ostend, Belgium. I can match it with another hotel promotional card - this one from the Trouville Hotel, Long Beach, New York. The Trouville was one of many such fine hotels built on Long Beach, Long Island at the height of the resort's fame and fortune at the beginning of the twentieth century. The hotel stood until the 1960s and I can be fairly certain about the date of the drawing which forms the image on the card because of a pencil-written comment on the reverse of the card. This states:
"Original drawing from which this reproduction was made was set up and coloured in water colours by me. It was about three and a half by two and a half inches. Drawn in 1913. R"
It looks like a splendid place to stay. As soon as time travel is perfected, I'm off there for a short break.
If you want a short break - pop on over to the Sepia Saturday Blog and follow the links.
Unusual architecture, Alan. But mightily impressive with the boardwalk in the foreground. I'm imagining some of the conversations that might be taking place, before being carried off on a salty breeze.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a popular place back in 1913, but I don't think I'd like to travel back to that time if it meant going through the horrors of World War 1 and all that was to follow.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you should have a card from Long Beach. Just yesterday I was researching one of my family lines and discovered they lived for a time in Long Beach. I bet they knew the Trouville.
ReplyDeleteNicely coloured too - fascinating little personal detail that makes it special. It looks like the place to see and be seen.
ReplyDeleteOh you've hit the button for me. Yes, time travel to visit all of these long gone places. I don't want to stay forever, just a chance to experience for a day would be grand.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lively picture and surprising that the original was so small. The name Trouville implies a French connection with a Normandy beach and the flags suggest an international clientele. Tickets for that time machine are going to go fast.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely looks like a place to be seen, and very grand.
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