This Hotel del Lago brochure was produced in 1962. This is the Hotel del Lago exactly as I remember it, before the advent of the multi-story “big tower” with the additional rooms, the extension of area where the old restaurant was previously located for the addition of new meeting rooms (which eliminated the old swimming pool shown in this brochure, which had the underwater windows in the basement), and the incorporation of the new, considerably larger swimming pool.

The aerial photo shown really lays out the whole area of the hotel as it was back then really nicely.

This postcard, sent from Maracaibo to Germany, is postmarked June 24, 1908. It translates from German as follows:

“Dear Ms Buchwald! I send you kind greetings from a long distance. I would have enjoyed telling you farewell, however you weren't present.

“It is very nice in Maracaibo, only very warm. Hopefully you feel quite good and also my loves. I intend to stay here for 2 years. Again yours sincerely, your Anna Pabst.”

Below these two postcard images you'll find another one. The scene in this postcard, in color this time, is taken from almost exactly the same spot, but this time reportedly in the 1920's. Doesn't look like much has changed except for a new streetlight and what appear to be telephone poles, so the street appears to have been electrified & perhaps “telephonized” in the interim between the two postcard photos.

This section is not just limited to images from Maracaibo, and this is a good example of that. All of them were taken in the 1920's.

Of these four (4) great panoramic photos, three (3) of them are of the La Salina camp. Two (2) show great views of some of the camp housing and the 3rd shows a photo of the pipe storage yard that was located there.

The 4th photo is a fabulous open-water port view of Maracaibo. Smoke from the stacks of the old coal-burning ships in movement are clearly visible as are a few sailed fishing boats as well.

I aquired these from a dealer. The enlargments you get when you click on them are full-sized at high resolution to allow you to see the images in greater detail.

Steve Sleightholm, being more familiar with the La Salina area than I am, has reviewed the photos & provided the descriptions.

This image of La Salina during the 1920's was taken from the road on the Lagoon side of the original La Salina Lago Petroleum Camp depicting the management family housing. It is at the south end of the camp. Notice the small building immediately to the left of the home in the foreground with side walks leading to it. It is a Laundry Building as back then the homes did not containing washing machines or built-in facilities for washing clothes..

This image shows the offices on the left side of the photo and the bachelor/worker family barracks style housing. This picture was taken from the Lake Shore side of the camp down near the docks.

This is an image of the pipe storage yard. You can see pipe used both for drilling and pipeline. In addition this area stores a large variety of supplies used in production. You can also see the rail tracks that are used to transport supplies to and from the docks. In the background to the right you can see the elevated water supply tank and the oil storage tanks. The Camp is to the far right out of the picture..

A wonderful 1920's open-water view of ships in the port of Maracaibo.

This postcard, probably taken sometime in the late early 1970's, shows three good views of Maracaibo, including a nice aerial shot of the Hotel del Lago. Also shown is the Plaza Baralt and a "general view" low oblique angle aerial shot.
 

These photos of Christ Church were taken by my father in early 1977. Even at that time, changes within the city were visible as witnessed by the tall high-rises around the church that appeared even then. I realize that this is called “progress”, but it's a bit of a shame the way the surroundings mar the original outline of the church against the horizon from the way it used to appear.

But the church still retains it's appealing & attractive lines. Four palm trees (of the six originally planted when the church was first built in the 1930's) on the property parallel to the street were still there back in the late '70's.

It would be nice to see how the church and the propety look today.

The real reason I wanted to post these photos, however, is because they show the interior of the church. I spent many hours in this church as we went to services every Sunday “sin falta”. At one time I was even an acolyte, and my father was the volunteer treasurer of the church for a number of years. We used to stay later by about an hour or so every Sunday after services had ended while my father tallied the day's offering.

I had always remembered the church as being larger, but I suppose that's a common phenomenon of memory. And I had forgotten about the image in the stained glass window in the front of the church behind the altar until I saw these photos again. It had been so familiar to me back then after spending so many hours looking at it during the sermons.

This is another postcard that shows the Hotel del Lago, taken in 1962. This was the hotel as I pretty much knew it when I lived in Maracaibo, before the pool was moved & the multi-story addition was added.

Below the postcard is the original full-color, uncropped brochure page photo from which the black-and-white postcard was taken.

The pool was considerably smaller than it is now, but it was always nicely maintained. They always had a great Sunday morning buffet brunch laid out in the open-air area under the large striped awning. We used to go there after church, stop at Sweeney's bookstore where my parents would get the Sunday Miami Herald & I'd pick up a copy of the latest MAD Magazine or other magazine. Usually we'd then go home, but often we'd go to the buffet, eat all the great food (and in those years, never gain weight!) and spend the rest of the day by the pool. I'd swim in the pool or even sometimes go down & swim in the lake - it wasn't polluted then as it is now. It was a wonderful place to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

“The Hotel del Lago, (Maracaibo) Western Venezuela's largest and most luxurious hotel, 250 air-conditioned rooms, situated on the banks of Lake Maracaibo”.

These two postcards show Avenida 5 de Julio in the El Paraíso area of Maracaibo. Judging from the cars, they were both taken in the late 1950's, and my guess is they were both taken at about the same time.

In the top image, Supermercado TODOS can be seen on the left with Sears Roebuck on the right. In the bottom image in the opposing view, Sears Roebuck is shown on the left with TODOS on the right in the background.

This absolutely wonderful photo of the Club Los Andes taken in 1958 was generously contributed by Tom Dickey. It's a great shot of the club in its early years and allows us to see what it looked like close to when it ended its life as a vessel & began its life as a club.

Tom's father was a geologist with CREOLE in Maracaibo between August 1958 & March 1970. They lived in the Creole Camp & Tom attended EBV for all of 7th & most of 8 grades.

SLIDESHOWS

Over the years, I've received numerous Powerpoint presentations through E-Mail that consist of numerous old vintage photo slideshows of Venezuela. Many of these are of the city of Caracas, but are interesting in that many of them show the city during progressive, more stable, and perhaps happier times, when Caracas was growing by leaps & bounds and construction was everywhere, fueled by petrolem revenues - times when Caracas and Venezuela were full of hope for the future. Others show photos of buildings that were new when the photo was taken but have since aged & have been torn down. Some show construction of the highways before they became over-crowded. And others just show interesting photos of the past.

There's at least one presentation that shows Venezuela as a whole, without a city focus, but the shots are beautiful indeed.

Those without Powerpoint can't view these presentations unless they were saved with the viewer built-in (and most weren't). Since buying Powerpoint isn't cheap if you don't already own it, I've converted them all to FLASH presentations so that they can be viewed with the Macromedia FLASH viewer that's available for free and can be downloaded as a browser plug-in. The conversions come with player controls along the bottom of each presentation which allows one to stop any photo at will for a closer view and then continue on with the automatic slideshow, or it even allows for manual progression instead of automatic progression through the slideshow if one prefers.

In any event, all of them have historical value, and so I'm presenting them here, all in one place. Please be patient to allow them time to load, particularly on slower connections.

Avenida 5 de Julio / SEARS, late 1950's judging from the autos - Jacqueline Alcal Collection.

Avenida 5 de Julio at the intersection of Avenida Bella Vista, 1959.

Cerveceria Regional, date unknown - Jacqueline Alcal Collection. I knew Mr. Fred Gerhardt who managed this brewery in the '60's, and our class took a tour of this building.

Edifício 5 de Julio on Avenida 5 de Julio, date unknown.  

 

Edifício Zúlia Motors on Avenida Bella Vista, late 1950's judging from the autos.

 

 

 

“Petrolera” - Beautiful example of an oil-company- designed house on Avenida 3D. High ceilings & the vents visible above the windows maximize air cooling, as does the reflective metal roof. According to Pedro, this home still exists in a wonderfully preserved state thanks to the efforts of preservation groups (such as FUNDAPATRIMÓNIO) in Maracaibo today, and is one of the few remaining examples built by the oil companies at the beginning of the 20th Century in Maracaibo.

Christ Church - date unknown, but taken sometime in the 1930's judging from the autos. Christ Church was established in the mid-1920s by a group of British Shell Oil Co. employees. (Photo originally taken by the Kauffman family.)

Christ Church - date unknown. (Image originally provided by the Kauffman family.)

 

Creole Camp & Club taken in 1972.

(Click above for higher resolution enlargement)

Campo Delicias, 1950

Spectacular aerial view of the El Saladillo area of Maracaibo looking towards the Puente General Rafael Urdaneta bridge in the distant background. Date of the photo is 1962 - Pedro López Collection.

(Enlargement is large - high-speed connection is recommended)

Three of these photographs of Maracaibo were taken during the 1920's, all having an “AZO” 1920's postcard stamp box on the reverse. The date for the photo of the Liceo Baralt is undetermined.

Liceo Baralt

Edifício “El Paraíso”

Low oblique aerial photo of Maracaibo. In terms of today's skyline, it's interesting to note how low the skyline used to appear, with few buildings - except for the church on the horizon - over two stories.

A caimán placed on a fountain wall at Plaza Bolívar.

 

This is a photo that was recently discovered by Oster Bayne (see below for more information about Oster) that came from his father's collection. Taken in 1950, it's an aerial shot of the Maracaibo harbor with the CREOLE Marine Offices and jetty in the foreground at about the 4 to 5 o'clock position, and the city in the background.

It's one of those historically priceless photographs that has survived over half a century, and has fortunately been preserved by Oster's father to now be shared here by all of us.

This is an early view of the Hotel del Lago shortly after it was built. The grass, which doesn't yet reach the lake shoreline, is spotty & clumpy, and the Club Náutico next door has yet to be built as the club it later became.

This is a postcard of the airport that replaced the old Grano de Oro airport, called "La Chinita", named after the Virgen de Chiquinquirá. Located farther out of town, there's plenty of space for future expansion, which was the main problem facing Grano de Oro, and was the reason for the construction of this new airport.