Wish You Were Here: A Tour of America's Great Hotels During the Golden Age of the Picture Post Card Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a book without intellectual pretension. It makes no attempt give any literary import to the postcards that the author has chosen to display here. It is a book about nostalgia.
For me, nostalgia takes two forms; a feeling of fond remembrance for those things in my past which are no longer accessible to me for whatever reason, and a feeling of nostalgia for things that I wish I could have experienced. These feelings are coupled with a tinge of sadness. This book of hand-tinted postcards of hotels, motels, and inns of the 30's, 40's, and 50's brings up both kinds of feelings.
Many, but not all, of these places no longer exist in their original form. Most are probably gone. Some have been remodeled and changed to a degree that they are no longer recognizable, and a few do remain, still looking as they've always looked.
This is not an easy book to review in the traditional sense of reviewing, so I am taking a "been there, done that" approach. I think that's a fairly logical approach for any "nostalgiac." (Like that word? I just made it up.)
Page 45: Hotel Muelbach -- Kansas City: I grew up about 60 miles from Kansas City and on several occasions visited The Muelbach with friends or family. One of the things that I remember most was a lobby decorated in deep maroon hues. I still associate that look with what I think opulence ought to be. I'm sorry The Muelbach's gone but thankful for this postcard from Zaid's collection.
There are other places that bring back memories, particularly the various lodges around Glacier Park that are included in the illustrations. The last time I was in Glacier Park in Canada, these lodges had remained unchanged. I hope that they continue to do so.
There are well over a hundred of these hand-tinted linen postcards illustrated in this book. I can almost guarantee you that if you put a copy of WISH YOU WERE HERE on your coffee table, most of your guests will gravitate to it, pick it up, and engage in exactly the same kind of reminiscing that I've done in this review.

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