Hollywood to Honolulu, The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company [Hardcover]

Martin Cox Gordon Ghareeb (Author), Martin Cox (Author), Walter Jaffee (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2009

For over a decade during the Roaring Twenties, a great white ocean liner would sail from berth 156 in Los Angeles every Saturday. The pier was packed with waving and cheering people looking up at the happy passengers crowding the railings. The vessel's band on deck played jazz tunes and popular favorites. The captain stood forward on the bridge wing watching the lowering of the gangway amid a hail of colored streamers and confetti. The liner's whistle would blow at noon, raising the cheering to a higher pitch as the band played Aloha Oe. Slowly the great mass of the liner inched away from the dock. These magnificent ocean liners provided not only a regular connection between the mainland and the islands, but were a high-profile means of proclaiming that Los Angeles was becoming a world class harbor, financial center and artistic metropolis. And the Los Angeles Steamship Company, LASSCO, became known across the country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There was a time when the great steamships ruled the ocean, and it was actually quite brief, only about four decades or so. The ships that come to mind immediately are Titanic and Lusitania, both lost in tragic circumstance, but that's why they're remembered. There were dozens more that blazed new paths of commerce and travel across the seas, creating not just new industries, but the popular-culture image of the luxurious life aboard the ocean liner, where passengers were cared for as if they were in a great hotel. The Los Angeles Steamship Co. was just such a venture. Created to serve the then-small port of Los Angeles -- LASSCO as it was called -- lasted just little more than a decade, but it made an indelible impression, as Hollywood moviemakers often called upon the line to create an oceangoing romance or thriller. All this comes to life in the new book Hollywood to Honolulu -- The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company. Authors Martin Cox and Gordon Ghareeb are obviously steamship buffs and spent years examining newspaper mircofilm for every nugget they could find on the vanished line. It's a fascinating volume, well-illustrated, not just for ocean liner fans but for anyone interested in how Honolulu came to be the crossroads of the Pacific. As every route begins with a starting point, why not Los Angeles? The gamble by Los Angeles businessmen worked -- today, Los Angeles has the busiest port in the nation. --Honolulu Star Bulletin, June 28, 2009

Emerging from obscurity after more than half a century, LASSCO's story is exceptionally well presented. Its services and liners deserve to be remembered as much as their counterparts on the Atlantic are. This volume is not only an eye opener, but also a realistic and revealing appraisal of LASSCO's Los Angeles-San Francisco coastal service, its Hawaiian service, its cruises to nowhere and two circumnavigations of South America. There is much informative reading between the covers, including an exhaustive roster detailing the careers of the more than two dozen vessel owned or chartered by LASSCO, and five Matson liners. Longevity alone should not be a prerequisite for remembrance and Hollywood to Honolulu successfully brings an all-but-forgotten episode of maritime history into the light. --Seatmboat Bill, Summer 2009

The entertaining 70,000 word text is augmented by an armada of photographs and color reproductions of LASSCOs elaborate advertisements. This hard-covered time machine brings to life the people, the dreams, and the celebrities of the era all paraded against a backdrop of global, local and cinematic history. --The Telegraph, Summer 2009

About the Author

Mr. Ghareeb holds a degree in English Literature and is the co-author of The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. He is a contributing editor for Nautical World and Ship Aficionado magazines and has written for Nautical Collector, Professional Mariner, Ships Monthly, Maritime Matters and Steamboat Bill. One of the original guides aboard the Queen Mary, Gordon is currently Vice President of the Long Beach Port Ambassadors Association. He also serves aboard the Lane Victory as ship's Assistant Tour Manager. Martin Cox completed his Fine Art BA degree (with honors) at Exeter College of Art, in Devon, before moving to London to pursue photography. Intrigued by the American West, he moved to California in the 1980s after his first photographic exhibition opened in the U.S. His art has appeared in galleries from New York to San Francisco. A member of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum Research Society, he became President in 1997 and subsequently launched his own website dedicated to ocean liners. Mr. Cox's maritime articles have been published in Ocean Times and Steamboat Bill. His photography has appeared in countless books and publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: The Glencannon Press; First Edition edition (March 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188990144X
• ISBN-13: 978-1889901442
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Voyages !!, May 12, 2009

By 

Tom in Long Beach (Long Beach) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hollywood to Honolulu, The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book!! The authors bring history to life in a way that will have you wanting to book passage on one of the long forgotten liners covered in this book. Who knew that before modern cruise ships, even before the Matson Liners of the 1930's there was a glamourous way to go to Hawaii from Los Angeles. Movie Stars and other notables would book passage on these virtually all first class liners. The gossip columns were always covering the ships of the Los Angeles Steamship Company. Also, you can read about "Shipwrecks Deluxe". How this little known company managed to loose half its fleet without loss of life. A must read for anyone into ships or Los Angeles/Hollywood history.

Tom in Long Beach.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knowing my father and the facinating life he led....., August 29, 2009

By 

Frances M. Schupp (Stillwater,OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hollywood to Honolulu, The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company (Hardcover)

Gordon and Martin have brought to life the world my father lived in while I was a small child...All we knew was that he went to sea and was the Captain of a luxury liner at that time, a ship that was very popular during the 20s/30s "The City of Los Angeles", everyone wanted to sit at his table while traveling with him to the many ports of call he visited,countries, the Panama Canal.The book opened my eyes to all the things that his work involved and the interesting people he worked with and the famous people he was privy to know...the life I remember most is when he decided to leave the glamour of liners and became Captain of some freighters just a few years before the start of World War 2...Since my 2 brothers and I were so young this book has been a wonderful gift for not only each of us, but for our children,grandchildren and great-grandchildren.....if you love the times of the Liners on the West Coast.....this is your book....Frances Hamma Schupp

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Book, May 24, 2009

By 

Cinzia Minet (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hollywood to Honolulu, The Story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company (Hardcover)

This book Hollywood to Honolulu was a present and I have found it to be a real delight. Through fascinating research the authors have rediscovered an entirely lost chapter in the development of Los Angeles and its port in the 20s and opened my eyes to the exciting story of LASSCO Line. In fact I had known very little about it before. The characters who sailed on these beautiful white liners between LA and Honolulu come to life in these pages. The book is a technically detailed and well illustrated tale of the ships built or commandeered into the LASSCO fleet and what happened to them subsequently. Indeed all this is thoroughly documented - with deck plans and photographs and an abundance of expert detail - but there is so much more revealed about this world of leisure travel and of Hollywood during its first great era. It is hard to put down once you start reading, the authors have obviously done wonderful detective work, they've found rare artifacts and photographs and personal stories. The result is a brilliantly crafted book which is a thrill for people like me who love the age of steamships, as well as to anyone who is interested in America and Hollywood rich history.