At the bus station behind the Stacy Trent Hotel in 1937, Trenton, New Jersey

It's 1937,  we're in Trenton, New Jersey, and we're going to take the bus to Philadelphia and back. The fare will be one dollar round trip.

I found this image on the Duke University site, which has a lot of cool old images, and its exact location puzzled me. Information about the location of the Hotel Stacy Trent was easy to find, but it took a bit of staring at this photo to figure out that we're on Front Street, looking west, towards Willow. And like so many of the photos there on the Duke site, it's rich with detail, and it made me want to walk into it. Come on!


Personally, I've never been anywhere near Trenton, but I have ridden buses, and I do like to leave the driving to someone else! There are two reasons for this, I love to sight-see, and I've always owned unreliable cars. In this imaginary adventure I'm leaving the Rolls-K'Nardly in Trenton, because I'm afraid that while it might make it there, it probably wouldn't make it back. I'll take the bus!

Let's see, there's hourly service. What time is it? Thank you, I think we have some time to kill, I'll just lean against this wall, hold up the Hotel Hildebrecht. I wonder if we should eat before we leave?


According to the sign painted on the wall, there are two dining rooms at the Stacy Trent. Maybe we could go to the coffee shop? A cup of coffee and piece of pie sounds good. How much money do you have?

Luckily, we're time-travelers from the 21st Century, and whatever the prices are we can get whatever we want. I wonder if I can get a hamburger? I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!

Here's the bus, time to go to Philly! Thanks for riding along with me in 1937!




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