Vintage Postcard – Twin Palms Motel

Twin Palms Motel
18 Bath St.  Santa Barbara, Calif.
Phone: 965-2045

QUIET — OFF THE HIGHWAY. Spacious, sound-proofed units with shower or tub and shower. Some kitchenettes. Most units have mountain and ocean view. Free TV. Only half-block to excellent ocean beach. Good restaurants within walking distance. Owned and managed by Carl and Betty Garms.

Hi-Fi Color Reproductions
Printed by Robert W. Moline  Santa Barbara, California

You are in luck! This motel is still open for business, operating as Casa Del Mar Inn. And it is even MORE gorgeous than in the above postcard. It gets excellent reviews on Yelp! and Trip Advisor.

Update 11/11/13
Woot! Casa Del Mar Inn owner Yun Kim has sent some additional information about the Twin Palms! The Inn had an unexpected visitor in this week who was able to provide some history. Robert Hall and his dad, Charles Hall purchased the motel in 1969 and changed the name to Twin Palms Motel.  They kept it for about 6 or 7 years and sold it someone who changed the name to Sand Castle Motor Lodge. Here are the dates provided:

1944: Original building permit for 18 Bath Street Parcel. Was originally a 7 unit residential apartments.

1944-1962: More units were added over time

1962: Became a 21 room motel, called Del Mar Motel & Apts, Owner Fred Fey

1969: Purchased by Charles Hall and changed to Twin Palms Motel

1976: Purchased by unknown and changed to Sand Castle Motor Lodge

1983: Purchased by unknown and became Sandman at the Beached

1992: Purchased by Mike & Becky Montgomery and became Casa Del Mar

12/1/97: Purchased by Yun Kim, became Casa Del Mar Inn.

Thank you SO MUCH Yun Kim for providing the additional history! What a fantastic place. Friends, I highly encourage you to check out the Casa Del Mar Inn next time you’re in Santa Barbara.

Starlight Room, San Francisco

Night View of
San Francisco from the Starlite Roof
Sir Francis Drake Hotel
“Twenty-one stories high in the sky
Between the stars and the Cable Cars”
is the world-famous Starlight Roof, the most beautiful cocktail lounge in the world, known for its breath-taking view of San Francisco and the bay, luxurious decor, and delightful refreshments.
Color photo by Cal-Pictures

Pub. by Smith News Cor., 1338 Mission St., S.F.Calif.
Mirro-Krome Card by H.S. Crocker Co., Inc., San Francisco 1, Calif.

This lovely vintage postcard is unused.

The beautiful Starlight Room (aka Starlite Roof) is still wowing the crowds at the Sir Francis Drake. The room was remodeled in 2011 (read about it here). However, it seems like maybe what I pictured as refined quietness in the postcard above is no more. John Compisi writes in an examiner.com article “Make no doubt about it, this is a retro Night Club scene and is not for the faint of heart. The music is loud and current with a throbbing disco beat and DJs who are capable of doing on the fly mixes.”

Yelp! reviews are so-so. Some people love it. Some people feel a bit intimidated by the minimum drink purchases (and the prices, at $12 for your basic drink – check out the menu). There’s also a $50 per swipe hold fee on credit cards, it seems…plan accordingly.

The website has a bit of history on the Sir Francis Drake Hotel: “Built for the princely sum of $5 million [opened in 1928] by Midwestern hotel developers, the Sir Francis Drake Hotel offered impressive innovations like an indoor golf course, ice water on tap, and radios in every guest room. The window panes were made of Vitaglass, so-called because it let even the healthful ultra-violet rays into each room, making it possible, according to early advertisements, to suntan without going outside. Another feature was the Servidor, a handy panel in the guest room doors, which allowed staff to discreetly deliver dry cleaning or other items without disturbing guests.”

Vintage Postcard – Lew Ellen’s Coffee Shop

Lew Ellen’s Coffee Shop
32 John Street
Salinas, California

Lew Ellen’s Coffee Shop located on U.S. 101 in the heart of Salinas “The Salad Bowl of the World.” Excellent Cuisine. Large off-street parking area.
Phone HArrison 2-1925
Owned and operated by George & Lucille Comeau

Color photo by Ray Foster
SC3630
Natural Color by Mike Roberts
Berkeley 2, Calif.

Color Sales Company, 931 Addison St., Berkeley 2, Calif.

This lovely vintage postcard is unused.

Holy cow, the building is still there, and it’s still a restaurant according to Google StreetView:

It’s part of a small chain called Norma’s Family Restaurants. According to Yelp! people either really hate or really like Norma’s.

George Comeau passed away at the end of 2012 at age 97. His obituary is here. He married Lucille in 1939 (she passed in 1999). They ran the restaurant ten years.

Vintage Postcard – Ambassador Hotel

640 No. Indian Ave., Palm Springs, Calif.

Phone: 32-5-2285
Luxurious hotel rooms, suites and apartments – all with telephones. Switchboard. Heated Pool. Poolside Coffee Shop. Four blocks to down-town shopping district.
“Your Winter Home in the Sun”

Plastichorome by Colourpicture, Boston 15, Mass.
P18147

This postcard is unmailed, but it does seem to have a list of books and titles handwritten on the back of it. Maybe a winter reading list? Honestly, I’d type it out but the writing hurts my eyes and gives me a headache trying to decipher it. I can see Faulkner and Steinbeck.

This is one of those cards you pick up on ebay that falls short when you get it. I love – LOVE – writing on the back of the cards. But only if it’s helpful to date or is an actual note so someone. A grocery list of books just doesn’t cut it. I’d rather have had it blank.

In this posting, I chatted a bit about why I became a deltiologist. I get most of my postcards on ebay, and I don’t spend a lot of money of them. For one, I like chrome cards, not real photo cards. But as more people get into collecting chrome cards, you really have to watch what you get. There are some nefarious people out there who are hawking what are either photos of postcards (really?) or some reproduction cards that have historic scenes on them but were printed 1990s or later. Also, buying a bulk group of cards is likely to get you a stack with several (many) duplicates – which were strangely not in the photos of the bulk of cards or in the card descriptions. Gone are the days when you could see a card and know exactly what you were getting.

There are some fantastic card sellers out there though, folks I wind up buying from again and again. If you’re interested in postcards, check out these sellers:

Chateaumomme

Gamblerjoyce

Anyhow, back to the Ambassador. It was built in 1939. This article, written in 1987, talks a bit about the history (at that time, the Ambassador was known as Alan Ladd’s Spanish Inn). It was up on the market again around a year ago (check out the details at loopnet). Fantastic news, though. The project is under development by Britanny West. The project consists of the renovation, restoration and addition to the 80 year old Palm Springs Landmark hotel.The project consists of the renovation, restoration and addition to the 80 year old Palm Springs Landmark hotel. Check out the details and images here.