USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Hotel Postcards



The hotels in Taipei used to sell little packets of postcards. I don't remember what they cost, but I'm sure it wasn't very much.

Sarj sent me these photos of one such assortment along with the envelope they came in. He purchased these at the First Hotel, the same place where he experienced the earthquake that he described here in May. He says that the center photo is the hotel, of course; the one in the lower right is the lobby and the other three are the different restaurants in the place.

By the way, the First Hotel is still there and you can read about it at this website. It's not exactly a luxury hotel by today's standards, but it doesn't sound too bad. Well...except for that water leaking through the ceiling thing that one reviewer talked about.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The hotel I remember most was the President Hotel (Tung-Yi Hotel) as it was just outside the South Signal Compound Gate. Search President Hotel Taipei on Ebay and you will find postcards. This was a very large hotel and the reason I remember it so well was when standing all night watches I would see the neon red sign just outside the gate on the top floor. The other one I remember was the Ambassador Hotel a few blocks south of the compound...it was a nice hotel. I think the Ambassador is still there, perhaps under a different name, but I need to research if the President is still there?

Don said...

I remember seeing various hotels around town, but the only name I can remember is the Roma Hotel.

I believe it may have had other names prior to 1973, but it was very close to the compound. If you turned left coming out of the east compound and went to the first intersection, it was right there on your left side.

I noticed that the building was still there in the photos that Kent took last year for the Taipei Air Station website, but I don't know if it's still a hotel.