United States Post Office at Phoenix, Arizona

Postcard US-3372307 to Poland was a 1950s vintage card of a street view looking north on 1st Avenue past the west entrance to the U.S. Post Office in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Just North is the Hotel Westward Ho.

Also known as Federal Building-U.S. Post Office, it opened on September 29, 1936 and operated as the main post office of Phoenix for over thirty years, A landmark in downtown Phoenix, the Federal Building-Post Office was symbolic of the federal presence as it also hosted several other Federal agencies.

It is currently part of Arizona State University at the Downtown Phoenix campus. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 10, 1983, the Post Office features Spanish Colonial Revival architectural design.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Postcard US-3263831 to California was a vintage card showing St. Patrick's Cathedral, a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church and a prominent landmark of New York City, directly across the street from Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan and specifically facing the Atlas statue. The cathedral was completed in 1878, The cathedral and associated buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. According to a spreadsheet of NRHP list from the National Park Service, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 8, 1976 with a reference number 76001250.

Designer of the Las Vegas Welcome Sign Passed Away

Betty Willis,  an American graphic designer and a Las Vegas native best known for having designed the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign,  died at the age of 91 at her home in Overton, Nevada on April 19, 2015

Betty was the daughter of Stephen R, Whitehead, the first assessor of Clark County, Nevada. She went to an art school at Los Angeles in 1942, and returned to Las Vegas for she first job at the courthouse. She designed the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign in 1959 when she worked for the Western Neon sign company. She considered the sign "my gift to the city," and never trademarked the sign, which made many derived arts possible and thrived.

Postcard US-2995494 to Belarus shows the iconic sign among the various landmarks in Las Vegas. It has become one of the most photographed signs in the world. The word “fabulous” reflects what Betty always used to describe Las Vegas: "We really thought Las Vegas was a fabulous place." The sign was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 2009.

South Carolina Low Country

Postcard US-3263845 from Pennsylvania shows live oak trees that form a canopy over the quiet back roads of the Low Country. Some branches are horizontal and can grow out 40 to 60 feet or 12 to 18 meters. The trees are called live oaks because they stay green all winter.

The sender have driven to all 48 continental states in the U.S. That reminds me an article on  How to Really Drive Across the U.S. Hitting Major Landmarks. I need to put that idea on my bucket list.

State Street, Chicago

Postfcard US-3133042 to Russia was a linen vintage postcard with a view of State Street, Chicago, Illinois in the 1940s. State Street became a shopping destination during the 1900s. It was mentioned in the song "Chicago,"  made famous by Frank Sinatra where Frank sung "On State Street that great street, I'd just like to say: They do things that they never do on Broadway.They have the time, the time of their life." State Street is the location of many landmarks buildings.

Countdown to 2015

The countdown to 2015 is on, and LasVegas is expecting a record of 340,000 visitors in this New Year's Eve, despite of a forecast of freezing temperature and snow.

More than 80,000 fireworks will light up the night sky, shooting from the rooftops of MGM Grand,
Aria, Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace, The Venetian, Treasure Island and Stratosphere, in a 7 minute and 11 second synchronized show.

Postcard US-3087107 to China shows a collage photo that includes many major landmark hotels and casinos in Las Vegas under the fireworks.

Update: The anticipated snow did not materialized. Only bursts of spectacular fireworks filled the sky, ushering in a brand new year.

Fireworks from Planet Hollywood and Aria after countdown to 2015.

25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was a 96-mile or 155-kilometer barrier built in 1961 by East Germany that divided West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin,  preventing people from fleeing the communist East. Many people were killed when trying to scale the wall.

As the result, the Brandenburg Gate, an 18th-century neoclassical triumphal arch and a landmark in Berlin, became isolated and inaccessible because it was immediately next to the Berlin Wall.

On November 9, 1989, after a series of radical political changes which eroded the pro-Soviet influence and under months of protests, the East German government announced opened the border, which resulted in the collapse of the wall and paved the way for German reunification on October 3, 1990.

Postcard DE-1702613 from Germany shows the Brandenburg Gate, a site that witnessed many major historical events in Europe. 25 years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall,  it is once again the center for celebration and a symbol for unity and peace.

Same-sex Marriages Started in Wisconsin

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb declared the gay marriage ban in Wisconsin unconstitutional Friday, June 6, 2014. Same-sex couples began getting married in Madison and Milwaukee shortly after the ruling, in spite of confusion over the effect of the ruling. Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's vowed to appeal the ruling and to seek an emergency order in federal court to stop the wedding.

Wisconsin is the latest of the 15 consecutive lower court cases won for the same-sex marriages since a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June, 2013, although many of those rulings are still being appealed.

Postcard US-2576413 shows the Wisconsin State Capitol Building in Madison.

Space Needle and Maple Leafs

Jetblue's AYCJ pass took me to Seattle, Washington on October 7, 2010. Postcard US-1812081 to Germany shows the Space Needle, a landmark of city, over the maple leafs during my visit. The observation tower was built for the 1962 The Century 21 Exposition (Seattle World's Fair) in 1962. The tower is 184 m or 605 ft tall, with an observation deck at 160 m or 520 ft and a a rotating restaurant  SkyCity at 150 m or 500 ft. In comparison, the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas is 350.2 m or 1,149 ft. 

From the top of the Needle, the panoramic view reveals the downtown Seattle, the Olympic Mountains, the Cascade Mountains, and Mount Rainier, Elliott Bay and surrounding islands. The Space Needle was designated as a historic landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Board of the City of Seattle on April 19, 1999.