Radio City Music Hall, New York City

I added Radio City Music Hall, New York City to my postcard collection last week. This postcard is unused, but it is a "linen" intended to look like cloth, a popular postcard style from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Originally named International Music Hall, the "names 'Radio City' and 'Radio City Music Hall' derive from one of the complex's first tenants, the Radio Corporation of America" (RCA) (source: Wikipedia). You can read more about its history here on the Radio City Music Hall website.

Although Radio City is only 90 minutes away, I have only been there twice. First time was in 1962, when Aunts Nellie and Stephanie took my sister Jeanette and I to see the live show (the Rockettes and all) and a film (Rome Adventure). The second time was in 1991, when my wife Laurie, daughter Hayley, and sister (still Jeanette) attended the Christmas live show (the Rockettes and all), but no film. Between 1962 and 1991, they jettisoned the film, but increased the admission price!

And so it goes.

Woolworth Building and City Hall Park, New York City

I acquired Woolworth Building and City Hall Park, New York City at the same time I acquired Singer Building, Broadway, New York. The Woolworth Building became the tallest building in the world in 1913, beating out the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, which previously had beaten out the Singer Building for that honor. At 57 stories and 792 feet, the Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world until 1930. (The completion of 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building dethroned the Woolworth Building.)

The building was headquarters of the F. W. Woolworth Company until 1998. Its location is in Lower Manhattan at 233 Broadway, one block east of the site of the World Trade Center and four blocks north of the site of the Singer Building.

This postcard has a 1947 postmark and is a "linen" card because it is intended to look as if it was printed on cloth, which was a popular postcard style from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Chrysler, Daily News, Chanin, Lincoln and Lefcourt Buildings, New York City

I collect postcards and acquire some of them via eBay. The postcard above is my latest acquisition, which was delivered via the postal service on Saturday.

It amuses me that it took 81 cents of postage to mail the penny postcard to me! In theory, the seller could have stuck 28 cents postage and my name and address on the back of the postcard to get it to me.

Anyway, the postcard was postmarked February 1947. It depicts the east side of Manhattan Island in the vicinity of East 42nd Street. That area of The City is probably the one area that I have frequented the most during the past 58 years, since it is also the location of Grand Central Terminal, which is the terminus of a train ride into The City from these parts.

For you radio fans out there, note the radio tower at the top of the Lefcourt Building, which is the skyscraper to the far right.

For those new to the postcard hobby, this type of card is known as a "linen" because it is intended to look as if it was printed on cloth. This was a popular postcard affectation from the 1930s through the 1950s. Often the colors of the linens are so unnatural that they are ludicrous; this one happens to be one of better examples color-wise.