Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots, and Post Houses [Paperback]

John Dockendorf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2004

Relive the days when traveling by Greyhound was so popular. As part of Greyhound's objective to establish the nation's largest national intercity bus system, the company began an aggressive campaign to build its own terminals in the 1930s, an era of 'art deco' styling. And to better serve the traveling public, Greyhound also began building a network of restaurants and rest stops. This collection of vintage Greyhound Bus postcards portrays the buses, depots and post houses from a variety of regions all across America and Canada. A visual treat for all bus enthusiasts and postcard collectors.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Iconografix (November 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583881301
• ISBN-13: 978-1583881309
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 10.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The homes of the hound, January 16, 2005

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots, and Post Houses (Paperback)

Bus and Greyhound fans will enjoy this selection of just under three hundred postcards. Each page has four photos and it's a pity they are not all in color, as it is every other spread has eight in color. None of the cards are dated so a pleasant few hours can be spent with a car and this bus guide Greyhound Buses 1914-2000 Photo Archive to approximately put a year on each postcard, there are plenty of Silversides, GM PDA's 4101, 4104 and stunning Scenicruisers to spot.

The postcard reproduction is pretty good, too and I was pleasantly surprised to see that all the cards have a drop shadow on them which gives the pages extra sparkle. The typography and graphics on the cover, title, intro and content pages are rather dull though, this seems a common book design problem for transport publishers.

Fans of Moderne or Streamline architecture will also enjoy this book. Strangely this aspect of the buildings is only casually mentioned in the intro. In the Thirties Greyhound wanted an up-to-date look and decided to build dozens of streamline bus stations across the Nation. W S Arrasmith of the Louisville architectural firm Wischmeyer, Arrasmith and Elswick designed many of the large city ones. Fans of these buildings can read all about Arrasmith in this comprehensive book: The Streamline Era Greyhound Terminals: The Architecture of W.S. Arrasmith. Other local architects, carefully controlled by Greyhound, designed smaller units. The book has eighty-seven (by my reckoning) postcards of these wonderful buildings and they look just super.

Despite the circumstances of the Thirties and early Forties what could be grander than travelling in a streamline Greyhound bus and arriving at a gleaming streamline depot on Fifth and Main, the lovely postcards in this book capture some of the magic.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geography, Nostagia and Buses, April 19, 2009

By 

John E. Henderson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots, and Post Houses (Paperback)

As an Australian most of my knowledge of American towns is as much how the names of the towns feature in "Pop" or popular music. Reading this book I was please to relate to so many town names and how their locations featured in the Interstate or Long Distance routes of so many Greyhound Services.

Then of course there was the photos or part photos of various era Greyhond coaches; a real thrill for a bus buff.

Very pleasant light reading.