Antique & Vintage Postcards

Aqua-blue walls, a jaunty ship's-wheel sign, and a tall pole topped with a model sailboat announce the Lake Front Motel in Cooperstown, New York — one block from the Baseball Hall of Fame and overlooking the glacial beauty of Otsego Lake, the "Glimmerglass" immortalized by James Fenimore Cooper. This mid-century chrome card captures the motel's roadside-Americana bravado in full: the neon "MOTEL" sign blazes red at the right, tulips line the parking-lot fence, and the shimmer of Otsego Lake peeks through the trees at the rear. The back copy promises a recreation center, boat rentals, fishing, excursion trips, a coffee lounge, AAA approval, and a phone number of simply "468" — a reminder of how small-town America once kept things uncomplicated. Published by Peter L. Hollis of Cooperstown and printed by the celebrated Dexter Press of West Nyack, New York, this unused card is a crisp time capsule of the golden age of American motor travel and baseball pilgrimage.