When I was a child, Oldsmobile was a brand that I imagined was designed and driven by old people. Figuring the name starts with “Old” it’s easy for an eight-year-old to come up with that natural conclusion.
But I would eventually learn it’s called Oldsmobile because the founder was Ransom E. Olds.
Anyhow, this news photo caption explains why the roofless, windowless, antique was in New York. Continue reading
This real photo postcard by Thaddeus Wilkerson shows the new Plaza Hotel. The hotel towers above its neighbors offering its guests terrific views of the city and the park. We are looking southwest from the Hotel Netherland on 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. The southern boundary of Central Park at 59th Street is on the right and on the extreme left is a portion of the Vanderbilt mansion on Fifth Ave and 58th Street.
The original Plaza Hotel on the same site was opened in 1890 and demolished in 1905. The new Henry Hardenbergh designed Plaza Hotel was much larger than its predecessor.
The original estimate to buy the site, raze the old hotel and build the new hotel was Continue reading