I’ve only ever seen people crowding the dock throwing streamers across the bow, and waving to people they have little chance of spotting at the start of movies set aboard a cruise ship. (And on “The Love Boat” of course.) But this shot taken some time in the mid-1920s proves otherwise. This is the Port of Los Angeles filled with well-wishers seeing the SS City of Los Angeles as it heads toward Hawaii. The ship was part of the Los Angeles Steamship Company line that sailed the highly competitive California-Hawaii market. That crowd is packed shoulder to shoulder, so I have to wonder if something special was going on that day, or was every departure farewelled so enthusiastically?
Andie P says: “The streamers, little tightly coiled paper strips that were given to any passengers that wanted them, were something fun for those at the rail to do even if they had no one sending them off. They still had them in the ’50s on the Matsonia and the Lurline, and the other Matson ships, which is how we went to Hawaii and back in 1953, although not as many were thrown as on the bigger liners, especially the ones that sailed out of New York.”
Here’s a postcard of the SS City of Los Angeles. It looks to be a fairly impressive ship!
May not be the same ship?
Hmmm…I’m not sure now. I got both photos from a detailed website about the Los Angeles Steamship Company line.
My mom accompanied my grandmother (her mother-in-law) on grandma’s trip to Hawaii in 1962 (?). They went on the S.S.Lurline (first time I’d ever heard that name until I heard of George Wallace’s wife), and we went down to San Pedro (essentially, the port of Los Angeles) to see them off. There weren’t quite that many people as there is in the picture, but we did the whole streamer-throwing thing. It was a lot of fun! So, the tradition lasted at least several more decades after this picture was taken.
We moved to Honolulu in 1959 sailing there on the S.S. Lurline. We had the same send off with crowds and streamers. When we got to Honolulu, we were greeted by swimmers diving for coins thrown to them by passengers at the ship’s rail. It’s a bygone era.
Before I found this photo, the Lurline was the only LA/Honolulu ship I’d heard of.