The Travelin’ Grampa Touring the U.S.A. without an automobile

Focus on safe, fast, convenient, comfortable, cheap travel, via public transit.

Vol. 12, No. 7, July 2019

Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was declared on July 4, 1776, holds a six-day Welcome America Festival June 29 - July 4, sponsored by Wawa Dairy Farms convenience stores, including a Salute to America parade, a daylong outdoor celebration on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and evening concert and fireworks event.

Donald Trump tries to rebrand Independence Day In a failed attempt to militarize and “trumpize” Independence Day, President Donald Trump’s promised July 4 Salute to America * “show of a lifetime” failed to outshine traditional Independence Day celebrations in New York City, , Boston and myriad other communities across our nation. His July 2 tweet promising “incredible flyovers and biggest ever fireworks” didn’t upstage New York City’s fabulous Macy’s July 4th fireworks show nor the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, which opens with a traditional Air National Guard F-15 flyover and U.S. Air Force honor guard flag ceremony. Meanwhile, DC held its three traditional mostly civilian July 4th parades before Trump read a mostly nicely written speech five hours later, amidst a few army tanks, as military aircraft flew overhead. * Salute to America is – and has been – the name of Philadelphia’s annual July 4th parade.

Illustration credits: Wawa Dairy Farms; Macy’s; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Fox News photoshopped AP photo.

Popular Independence Day celebrations include Macy’s big 43rd annual fireworks show from the Brooklyn Bridge and nearby barges, and a Boston Pops fireworks concert. At right, President Trump and an armored army tank on display near the Lincoln Memorial. The Republican National Committee gave out tickets for his July 4 speech there.

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. INDEPENDENCE DAY EVENTS .

Macy’s Brooklyn Bridge fireworks draws most spectators Long touted as the USA’s largest Independence Day event, the 43rd annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks display illuminated the New York City skyline. Millions of spectators on site, plus many millions more via TV, saw more than 70,000 illuminating devices (i.e., fireworks) ignite from, or on, the famous Brooklyn Bridge and four barges anchored off East River Pier 17. American Cinema was the theme of this year’s pyrotechnics extravaganza. Its stores hold a Macy’s Salutes Those Who Serve charitable campaign in July to support and empower veterans and military families, during which shoppers are invited to donate their less-than-$1 change. Fireworks were choreographed this year to a musical score incorporating fan favorites such as Star Wars and Superman.  Over the Rainbow was sung by Oscar & Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson to celebrate The Wizard of Oz movie turning 80 this year. You can see Macy’s 2019 fireworks show at: https://youtu.be/kEb2mtSyyZQ “Best spot to watch these fireworks is from the East River,” says Erin Edwards of NBC News. “If taking it all in is more your style, go to FDR Drive at Houston Street or at East River Park.” Grampa, who worked for a daily newspaper on NYC’s 42nd Street for several years, finds the Market & Cherry streets intersection a nice wheel-chair accessible location. Many, if not most, good viewing spots are reachable via NY MTA subway or bus, he says.

Boston Pops fireworks concert follows all-star 4th of July show Called “one of this country’s largest and oldest public 4th of July events and biggest annual outdoor concerts anywhere in the world,” the Boston Pops fireworks spectacular opens with an F-15 Air National Guard flyover, followed by a flag presentation by a U.S. Air Force Honor Guard from Washington, D.C. Among performers: the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters Chorus, singing patriotic classics and new favorites, Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Queen Latifah, and storyteller and singer Arlo Guthrie celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. As usual, the event concluded with fireworks, accompanying a concert by the Boston Pops, this year featuring popular songs past and present. MBTA subways were on Sunday schedule July 4th until 2 pm and rush-hour service afterward. Fares were waived after 9:30 pm that evening. Closest MBTA stations to Charles River Esplanade from Boston are Charles-MGH on the Red Line and Arlington Street on the Green Line. From Cambridge, closest to the event MBTA stations are Kendall and Central Square on the Red Line.

Philly, where Independence Day began, celebrates it six days Though it began Saturday June 29, as expected, Thursday July 4th was the Philly celebration’s most popular day this year, with a morning Salute to America * parade, all-day entertainment on the Ben Franklin Parkway, plus evening concert and fireworks at the temple-atop-the-hill Philadelphia Museum of Art. To expedite getting to/from events, Southeastern Transportation Authority increased service at peak times, especially for those attending the concert and fireworks. “We encourage people to take the Market-Frankford and Broad Street subway lines, because everything is kind of within walking distance to them,” says SEPTA’s Carla Showell-Lee. “If you’ve taken that mode you want to get back to that before service ends at 12:30 am.” SEPTA Regional Rail was on a Sunday schedule July 4th, adding or holding trains for passengers leaving Center City after the fireworks and concert conclusion. SEPTA bus detours from 5 am Thursday to 1 am Friday included routes: 7, 9, 17, 21, 32, 33, 38, 42, 43, 44 and 48. Due to road closures, CCT paratransit had two special pickup/drop-off points not far from Ben Franklin Parkway activities. * President Trump tweets named his militaristic July 4th show Salute to America. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser told National Public Radio she didn’t mind “a president celebrating the military” but that she did have “serious concerns” about him “glorifying military might.” “That scares me the most,” she said.

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NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH .

Memorable anniversaries abound during July 2019, many fondly recalled by Grampa on this page and pages following, including the 50th anniversary of the first men walking on The on July 20, 1969.

Why Grampa recalls July 20 Moon landing so vividly July 20 marks the 50th anniversary of landing the first men on the Moon. Grampa recalls the event vividly. Aside from him choosing an 8 Moon mission photo to illustrate the cover of a publication he edited around that time, on July 20. 1969, the day astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the Moon’s surface, Grampa’s son John, then age 8½, and daughter Therese, age 10, were in Philadelphia at a memorable Fels Planetarium sleep-over event especially arranged for science-minded kids to observe the landing. A local TV station airing network coverage of the event had a camera crew and reporters at the planetarium, interviewing astronomers and other space experts there. The kids, sitting on blankets and sleeping bags, were watching a big TV screen’s fuzzy pictures of the Apollo 11 LEM (lunar exploration module). At home, Grampa also watched that station’s fuzzy telecast. “I’m ready to step off the LEM now,” he heard astronaut Neil Armstrong say. After a brief pause, Grampa heard Armstrong add: “That’s one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” After some network commentary, the TV pictured the sleep-over kids, clapping and cheering. “Seems one young man is not too impressed by all this excitement,” said a TV reporter, as the TV screen showed 8-year-old John in his sleeping bag – sound asleep. For more: https://youtu.be/HCt1BwWE2gA

Picture credits: Wikipedia photo by girl’s father Jack Weir; The Franklin Institute; National Aeronautics & Space Administration.

Left: Girl reads The Washington Post headline The Eagle Has Landed. Two Men Walk on the Moon. Center: Youth peers thru telescope at Franklin Institute. See story on page 4. Right: Apollo 11 astronaut bootprint on Moon soil.

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NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH .

Ride public transit to Moon landing exhibition nearest you If you have grandkids, take them on public transit to one or more institutions featuring this month the 50th anniversary of the first landing on humans upon Earth’s moon. They include: ● Franklin Institute, Philadelphia (see story below), ● Exploratorium, San Francisco, ● Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago, ● Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, Denver, ● Bell Museum, St. Paul, Minn., ● Houghton Library, Cambridge, Mass., ● Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, N.Y., ● Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, both in New York City.

Franklin Institute very convenient to public transportation Founded in 1824, the Franklin Institute is a world-class science museum, named for Benjamin Franklin, noted Philadelphia scientist and hero. This month it is honoring Apollo 11’s 50th Anniversary with a Summer of the Moon program, including many moon-related events, including: ● rooftop lunar telescope observing, ● 1960s-style Night Skies in the Observatory dance party, ● exclusive IMAX and other movies, ● interesting expert speakers, ● lunar lander tours, ● rocket demos, ● live TV science shows, ● a real meteorite you can touch and ● museum-wide anniversary celebration July 20. On display is a “moon rock” picked up by astronaut Dave Scott during the mission. The museum’s Fels Planetarium has eight screens displaying live news from NASA. At a Space Command exhibit, grandkids can build a Mars rover and see it travel over rocky moon-like terrain. Franklin Institute is a few blocks walk or cab ride from SEPTA Regional Rail Suburban Station and Market-Frankford subway stations, and routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34 & 36 subway-surface streetcars. Amtrak 30th Street Station is a bit farther walk or cab ride. Route 33 bus stops in front of the museum. It’s also Stop #15 for 20-stop Philly PHLASH bus. Bus routes 32, 33, 38 and 49 stop nearby. SEPTA subway and buses link conveniently with PATCO high speed line and NJ Transit trains and buses from New Jersey. In a Science Park outside the museum is an Apollo Lunar Exploration Module (LEM) built by Grumman Aerospace not to land on the Moon but to run tests to develop actual LEM space vehicles that finally did land there and return. It’s on loan from Smithsonian Air & Space Museum since 1976.

Biggest Air & Space Museum isn’t in Washington DC Largest Smithsonian Air & Space museum isn’t in DC. It’s in Virginia, about 25 miles west of the city, and a 15-minute ride from Dulles International Airport. Officially named Steven F Udvar- Hazy Center, it’s three times the size of the air/space museum on the DC mall, where on July 16-20 a five-day celebration celebrates the Apollo 11 first moon landing. Udvar-Hazy holds items too big and too many for the DC museum, e.g., ● Discovery space shuttle, ● Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird world’s fastest jet plane, ● Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb at end of World War II, and ● a Concorde, first supersonic commercial airliner. Last time Grampa was there, 170 aircraft or spacecraft were on display ● Space Science exhibit shows-off satellites and space probes actually flown in space. ● Human Spaceflight exhibit celebrates the more than 500 men and women in space since Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s pioneer flight on April 12, 1961. ● Both museums have an IMAX theatre. Grampa especially enjoys the Virginia museum because it exhibits an Autogiro aircraft resembling one that he remembers, as a small boy, seeing being built at a Kellett Aircraft factory in Philadelphia. Ten years before they came along in the early 1950s, autogiros did pretty much what helicopters do now. Fairfax Connector bus #983 stops at Udvar-Hazy Center, Dulles Airport and Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail station. The museum on DC’s mall is a short walk from L'Enfant Plaza Metrorail station.

Marshall Space Flight Center not reachable by public transit Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has daily reenactments of the 1969 moon landing. Sadly, there is no Huntsville Shuttle transit system bus stop nearby.

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NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH .

Photo credits: National Aeronautics & Space Administration; LIFE magazine.

Earthrise, the most famous photo from space, was taken on Christmas Eve 1968 by Astronaut William (Bill) Anders aboard a NASA spacecraft. At right, Jan. 20, 1969 LIFE magazine cover featuring that photo.

On first Moon round-trip nobody got off there Grampa recalls the first NASA manned mission to The Moon because, as editor of a publication at that time, he chose to run on its cover a photo of the Earth taken from the Apollo 8 space craft while it orbited our most familiar satellite. Apollo 8 made ten orbits around the Moon and returned to Earth. Nobody stepped onto its surface during that trip. Apollo 11’s crew did that several months later. After a nearly three days trip (68 hours), on Christmas Eve 1968, during its fourth obit, Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman snapped a black and white photo of the Earth. Astronaut William Anders then said, “Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! There's the Earth coming up. Wow, that's pretty.” Borman then said jokingly, “Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled.” Anders laughed and asked astronaut James Lovell, “You got a color film, Jim? Hand me that roll of color quick, would you...” Lovell did and the result became , probably the most famous photo ever taken from space. When Grampa heard NASA had downloaded the Anders photo, he asked that a copy be sent by messenger to the daily newspaper’s office on 42nd Street in New York City where Grampa then was employed as an editor. He had the photo printed as a duo-tone blackish and bluish cover picture, coincidentally very similar to the full-color illustrated cover of LIFE magazine’s Jan. 20, 1969 issue, published one day after Grampa’s publication appeared. That was precisely 50 years ago.

60th anniversary of the first unmanned Moon voyages Jan. 3, 1959, the Soviet Union’s Luna-1 was the first spacecraft to fly near Earth’s Moon, failing to crash-land there as planned. March 4, 1959, NASA’s Pioneer 4 spacecraft also flew past The Moon, without photographing its surface or atmosphere, failing its main mission. On Sept. 13, 1959, the Soviet Union’s Luna 2 unmanned spacecraft successfully completed its mission of crash-landing on The Moon’s surface, after transmitting valuable scientific data en route.

Space tourism celebrates 30th anniversary this year Space tourism isn’t waiting to happen. It likely began far back as 1989, when British chemist Helen Sharman was selected from among 13,000 applicants to fly aboard a Soviet Soyuz TM-12 spacecraft to the Mir orbiting space station. After lengthy training, she did so on May 26, 1991.

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NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH .

Gray Line tour buses go to in Florida Apollo 11’s launch was from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. On July 16, a reenactment of that historic mission takes place there, employing archival television footage from that date exactly 50 years ago. Visitors paying $175 each, children $150, will ride buses from the visitor complex to the Apollo/ V Center. Here they’ll learn about the 12 missions that took humans to and from the Moon. Then, it’s off to the Banana Creek launch viewing area for presentations, Q&A, discussions, and launch sequence reenactment. Other days the space center visitor complex remains an interesting place to learn about space exploration, at its Heroes & Legends exhibit and U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, where films and exhibitions celebrate and honor our nation’s space explorers. At an Astronaut Encounter event, real astronauts answer visitor questions about their experiences, training, space journeys, etc. IMAX theatre films there also feature astronaut interviews and various space flight topics. Currently, no public transport is available to the visitor complex. In Orlando, Gray Line Orlando and Florida Dolphin Tours offer transportation to/from the visitor complex. For more: www.kennedyspacecenter.com/landing-pages/apollo-50th

If diligent, Space Center Houston reachable via public transit bus Houston Space Center’s 50th anniversary lunar landing celebration July 16- 20 includes repeated Apollo 11 countdown and Neil Armstrong first steps on the Moon reenactments. It expects at least 15,000 visitors those days, each paying $49.95, or if a member $20. Other days, entrance price is $29.95 adult, $27.95 senior, $24.95 child ages 4-11. Manned Space Flight Education Foundation owns and operates Space Center Houston, a space museum and science education institution. Museum exhibits include: ● Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, ● Gemini and Apollo shuttle era Astronaut Gallery, ● International Space Station Gallery, ● space shuttle Independence atop carrier aircraft, ● Mission Mars, ● Journey Into Space, ● Apollo Art: 50 Year Retrospective. Also available is a tram tour of the NASA Johnson Space Center. Grampa hasn’t been there in quite a while, but it still appears reachable via Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (aka Metro) bus routes #246 and #249. They run about once an hour. Trip takes about an hour from downtown Houston. Museum entrance is a short walk from bus stop. For more: https://spacecenter.org/visitor-information/

Ride Metro bus to Seattle Museum of Flight moon landing exhibit To celebrate the 50th anniversary of men on the Moon, Museum of Flight in Seattle holds a 1960s- theme Lunar Block Party July 19-21, including: ● Saturday night July 20, American Idol concert, with winner Laine Hardy, runner-up Alejandro Aranda and 2019 finalists, ● July 19, British-mania Beatles Tribute band and various 60s-theme activities, ● July 21, a brunch with space experts. Thru September 2, the museum features Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition. It includes: ● the Apollo 11 Columbia command module, ● many moon-landing mission items, ● dozens of NASA and Russian spaceflight items from the Smithsonian Air & Space collection. Among them: ● a Soviet Sputnik satellite, ● a cosmonaut spacesuit, and ● remains of rocket engines that boosted Apollo missions to the moon. Visitors can examine the Columbia spaceship up close and explore its intricate interior via an interactive 3-D tour created by the Smithsonian. Ironically, the city’s most prominent landmark is a Space Needle tower restaurant, built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which about 20,000 rode its elevators daily. It’s a favorite tourist attraction. To get to the Museum of Flight, you can ride King County Metro bus #124 from downtown Seattle or from the Sound Transit and Amtrak Tukwila train station. Get off at the bus stop directly in front of the museum entrance. The Space Needle is a short Monorail train ride from downtown Seattle.

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NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH .

Photo credits: Xnatedawgx, Jeffrey Beall and Vxia/Chicago, via Wikipedia.

Denver RTD (Regional Transportation District) subway train, transit bus, and light railway train.

Denver RTD 50th Birthday party July 12 at Union Station Denver’s public transit system marks its 50th anniversary on July 1. On that date in 1969 the Colorado General Assembly created the Denver RTD (Regional Transportation District) that now serves riders in all or part of eight counties. Five of these then had no public transport. In 1971, the RTD acquired Denver Tramway Co., founded in 1886, successor to Denver City Railway Co., beginning in 1871 as Denver Horse Railroad Co. RTD holds an official 50th Birthday Party July 12 at Union Station. For more: http://www.rtd-denver.com/50th.shtml

Glasgow, Scotland, marks 125 years of municipal transport To mark the 125th anniversary of Glasgow municipal transport, on Sunday July 7, Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust (GVVT) opens its Bridgeton Bus Garage to the public to display a variety of transport buses, including classic double deckers and Number 111, Glasgow’s oldest surviving bus, a 90-year-old antique Leyland Titan. Also there: ● the trust’s Back on the Road program, ● model Glasgow-theme bus layouts by the Model Bus Federation, ● motion picture films picturing transport from times past. First Glasgow’s Caledonia Depot also is opening its doors that day to celebrate its heritage and also showcase the range and color of its present fleet. In addition, it has painted three modern vehicles in the current First fleet to resemble Glasgow liveries of the past. To accommodate visitors, a GVVT or First special bus will run every 15 minutes linking Bridgeton, Caledonia and Glasgow city center.

Photo credit: McKinney Avenue Transit Authority; Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust.

McKinney Avenue Trolley in Dallas. Glasgow, Scotland, bus garage.

McKinney Avenue Trolley in Dallas celebrates its 30th San Francisco and New Orleans aren’t the only major USA cities with vintage streetcars. In Dallas, Texas, McKinney Avenue Trolley celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. Founded in July 1983 by McKinney Avenue Transit Authority, its M-Line’s air-conditioned and heated restored trolleys operate normally 365 days a year, providing safe, clean, reliable, convenient public transportation free of charge (except charters) in Dallas’ vibrant Uptown neighborhood.

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NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES THIS MONTH .

Photo credit: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum; The New York Times, Wed. Nov. 4, 1944.

Left: President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepts nomination by Democratic National Convention at Chicago from train in San Diego, Calif. Seated at right are his son and dauhter-in-law. Right: Headlines proclaim FDR 4th term winner.

75th anniversary of FDR accepting 4th term nomination on train Grampa, then 11½ years old, was listening to a radio when he heard President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aboard a railroad train in San Diego, Calif., speaking to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The date: July 20, 1944. Though only six weeks after the D-Day invasion of France, the president spoke as if World War II was on the verge of a successful conclusion. He talked about military veterans, a post-war economy, and a peacetime world organization. FDR never lived to see the war’s end. He died April 12, 1945. WWII ended Sept. 2, 1945. That world organization, the United Nations, was founded on Oct. 24, 1945. See and hear his acceptance speech at: https://youtu.be/vOsmGR9C0xc Roosevelt regularly rode in a specially outfitted Pullman railway carriage, aptly named Car No. 1, which currently is at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, Fla. Miami-Dade Transit Metrobus #252 stops at 152nd St. & 127th Ave., about a 20-minute walk to the museum.

NYC marks 50th anniversary of reduced senior citizen fares On July 1, 1969 New York City Transit introduced reduced bus and subway fares for senior citizens. This followed the New York State Legislature creating on March 1, 1968 a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to oversee transportation operations in 12 counties, including NYC Transit. From July 1966 to July 1969, NYC Transit regular adult fare was 20¢. It had been 15¢ since July 1953. Today, base subway or local bus fare is $2.75. Seniors pay reduced fare is half base fare, $1.35, or even less sometimes with a Reduced-Fare MetroCard discount.

Seniors ride free in Pennsylvania; half fare or less elsewhere On Aug. 26, 1971, Pennsylvania’s legislature passed Act 91, establishing a Lottery Fund to generate revenue via lottery ticket sales, which began in March 1972. Act 91 required that seniors be able to ride on public transit at half fare or better. Today, seniors can ride free. The Pennsylvania Lottery pays their fares. In 2017-2018, about $164-million in Lottery funds paid provided nearly 33.6-million free transit rides and 3.4-million shared paratransit rides, or about 101,000 on any typical day. In 1976, federal law began requiring that all U.S. public transit systems getting federal financial assistance provide half fare or better to seniors ages 65&+ during off-peak operating times. ______© 2019, all rights reserved. The Travelin’ Grampa is published monthly as a hobby by John A. Moore, 112 E. Greenwood Ave., Lansdowne PA 19050. One-year (12 issues) by email: $99. Special discount available to U. S. residents ages 65&+.

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