Mr. and Mrs. John Shafer resided in Three Rivers, a small city at the confluence of the St. Joseph River and two tributaries (the Portage River and the Rocky River) in St. Joseph County of south-central Michigan.
Today, Three Rivers is home to a Benedictine Monastery of the Episcopal Church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Rivers,_Michigan
In May of 1939, the Shafers received a postcard from their daughter, Isabel.
The postcard was mailed from New York City, the site of the 1939 New York’s World’s Fair.
That event – proclaimed as “The Dawn of a New Day” – opened on the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration in New York City.
At the outset, 35 States and 62 nations participated – until the outbreak of World War II led the closure or withdrawal of several exhibits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_New_York_World%27s_Fair
The fair attracted 45 million visitors, and several buildings were renovated for the 1964 World’s Fair at the same location.
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The face of the postcard is a drawing of the “Hotel New Yorker”, sitting across the street from the northwest corner of Penn Station in Manhattan.
Designed by Sugarman and Berger, the 42-story building in the Art Deco style opened in 1930.
Originally, the hotel had 2,503 hotel rooms above the fourth floor -the lower floors held restaurants, shops and amenities, conference rooms, and ballrooms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yorker_Hotel
The first proprietor, Ralph Hitz (whose name is on the postcard), was a colorful entrepreneur from Vienna who set the standard for luxury hotel services and marketing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Hitz
In later decades, the hotel was sold and re-sold numerous times, and has had multiple renovations; today it is owned by the Unification Church.
(I have never stayed there, but have enjoyed the hotel café with visitors departing from Penn Station, on many occasions.)
The postcard was published by the E. C. Kropp Company of Milwaukee.
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On the reverse, Isabel greets, “Mother and Dad”.
The postcard seems to have been a priority as Isabel reports, “Just arrived” and “waiting for our bags.”
I assume that this means Isabel and her party are waiting for luggage to be delivered to the hotel room.
A full evening is planned; “Cocktails and then dinner”, followed by a trip “to National Broadcasting Station”.
That Isabel is not traveling alone is implied in her comment, “Our rooms are together.”
The group is having a “grand time”.
One hopes that Isabel enjoyed fully the dinner, the show, and all her other adventures in New York.
Although the postcard has a printed note, “Convenient to the site of the 1939 New York World’s Fair”, it is not clear that Isabel intends to visit that exhibition.
