Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!

Even I can tell how fake this nighttime scene is of Times Square. I have to wonder what the artist wast thinking when they put the moon on top of the Paramount Building. My first thought was of Ghostbusters. Somethin' strange is surely going on because back down on the street we're about to have some serious car crashes and some people needing to run for their lives. Oh yes, that is a haunted sky surrounding the jello colored scene. The Paramount building has most assuredly been slimed.

Click on either image to see it larger.

To see more hand tinted postcard images of nighttime scenes click here, here, here, and here.

Here is my favorite image from the book Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities which started my search for nighttime postcards. I can only wish to find a card like this. It's stunning and goes way beyond a normal postcard. Sad to think that artists that did work such as this are now nameless. The postcard above...no problem not knowing the "artist," but the one below is in another realm.

SALT LAKE CITY at night

As I mentioned yesterday, I purchased a book called Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities which has inspired me to go through some of my vintage postcards searching for night scenes, real or simply imagined by the manufacturer.

The one below of Salt Lake City, Utah is a prime example of the company trying something but failing miserably. Proportion is way off. I mean WAY OFF!

Click on image to see it larger.

Look at the cars. Tons of cars. Cars jammed in with no room to even open a car door to get out. Then look at the cars on the left side of the street, their size in comparison to the street lights. Oh sure, the artist was trying to draw perspective, but it looks like they had a bunch of VW Beetles parked along the street, very very tiny Beetles.

And then there's the car driving down the righthand lane. Why so close to the backend of each parked car? It's a wide street. They even make a point of bragging about the wide street:

This is an excellent night view of alt Lake City's main business thoroughfare. Note the unusual width of the street so typical of all streets in Mormon communities.

Huh? Mormon's were known for their wide streets? Okay, I'll leave that alone. It's just odd.

What's also odd is that the left side of the street seems to be the "dry" side while the right side is where the honky tonk "cafes" are located. Remember, when this shot was "taken" you could not buy liquor or even a Coke in this town. So as to what was going on on the two sides of the same street...one can only imagine.

I can't find anything about the manufacturer, Carpenter Paper Co., other than that they began operations in 1896.

More nighttime scenes to come.