Cruising on the SS Lurline - 1949

SS Lurline – April, 1949

A few years ago I wrote about how my grandparents, Sig and Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy, loved to cruise.  You can read about it HERE.  At the time I knew they had cruised on the SS Lurline during the 1950’s based on Passenger Lists I’d found but I hadn’t run across any photos or anything to tell me much more about those cruises.  Until today.

A few months ago my husband rescued a box of “stuff” from the garage and brought it inside so I could go through it.  There were quite a few scrapbooks (my grandfather was the king of scrapbooking) but being that they are, for the most part, history of real estate transactions in Fresno, I wasn’t too interested.  But thrown on the top (not inside the plastic box but literally thrown on the lid of the box) was a pile of things that I never got around to going through.  But today was the day.

The first thing I found was a pile of what looked to be prints of some kind.  Beautiful in their own right but even more beautiful when I opened them up and saw they were dinner menus from the SS Lurline in 1949, 1951, and 1956.  Here’s a sample.



What fun to read about the what was on the menu when my grandparents were sailing.



Now that’s some interesting selections – Broiled Fillet of Barracuda?  Turtle steak Saute?  Yes, I think that really is steak of a turtle (thank you, Google), although I’d prefer to think, instead, it was a special cut of beef steak.  I’m not too adventurous when it comes to eating so I can’t get past the thought of eating a turtle.

I picked this particular menu because of the date – Monday, April 25, 1949.  As I was going through some envelopes in the same stack I found some photos from what appears to be this trip!  And there on the back was the date April 25, 1949 “on board the Lurline bound for Honolulu”.  How ‘bout that?

Mildred Loraine (Guzendorfer) Levy April 25, 1949, On board the Lurline bound for Honolulu

Sigmund Levy April 25, 1949, On board the Lurline bound for Honolulu

Were they dressed for dinner?  Knowing my grandparents and their love of dressing up, I’d say they were dressed for the daytime activities and then later changed for dinner.  But anyway, at least I know it was the same day.

And the next day they took a few more photos.

Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy – April 26, 1949

Her dress is so interesting – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.  The 1940’s sure brought out some wonderful styles.

Sigmund Levy – April 26, 1949

Not only did I find the photo above of the Lurline (I’m assuming they purchased from a professional photographer) but in with their personal photos was this photo from the deck of the Lurline.


What fun to see the deck of a cruise ship from back then – although I’ve never been on a cruise ship like that, I can’t imagine you’d have too many people lying right on the deck as they are here.

I spent a little time on Google and found an interesting short movie titled “Over the Sea to Honolulu 1940”.  It is a great way to really understand what life was like sailing across the Pacific in 1949 – I could visualize (my dad loved to say that) my grandparents on the ship.

Some fun activities on the typical cruise:

• If passengers missed golf while they were away, they could golf from the deck and would always get a hole-in-one when their ball landed in the Pacific Ocean.
• There was shuffleboard, swimming (see that pool above?), and even horse racing (you have to see it to believe it).
• The 5th day at sea brought the first glimpse of Diamond Head.  Being that I know they arrived in Honolulu on April 27, 1949, I can assume this dinner menu was from their 3rd day at sea.

In the event you’re interested, the link to the movie is below.  It’s a 10 minute video with the first 3 minutes or so being specifically about the Lurline.

My grandparents sure lived an exciting life – who knew?

http://cruiselinehistory.com/sailing-on-the-ss-lurline-to-hawaii-late-1940s/