DQ room pix re: real size

DQ room pix cont.

The first one is my very first room on the DQ, 131, which is now part of A 119. This is the entire room. Our bathroom was across the hall, a public one with 3 showers. The men's was across the lounge on the starboard side. The second is the view from that room forward through the Aft Cabin Lounge. Note the simplicity of furnishings, in contrast to the assortment of antiques and other accoutrements as now the Betty Blake Library. The third is a sunrise picture taken at L&D 14 in LeClaire Iowa in Oct. 1981. When I was a passenger I saw a lot of sunsets, but not many sunrises. I had to meet the boat up at 14 and deliver the cookies there as she was going to land in Davenport after I had to be at school (ah, those dreadful days preretirement when vocation got in the way of avocation!)

Ahh...Skid Row!

My sister Judy & I spent two nights in one of those skid row rooms...we just used our parents' stateroom bathroom!

I was in 338 the 2004 UMR trip with you Judy when I met you all at LaCrosse.

One of the former A rooms(?) 120-121-122??? anyways, it over the engine room...I like that room in summer as it is protected from the sun, and it's cool!!

Gentrification

Skid Row was where the unlicensed white employees bunked when I started on the Queen. It was like a small, friendly community aboard the boat where the citizens gathered in lawn chairs and chatted or watched the sights on shore roll by, all to the cascading clamor of the waterfall that chased behind, but never quite caught-up with the steamboat. As times changed, the company saw the potential value in the unique shantytown; gentrified it, and sold the rooms to the tourists.

Judy, very interesting pictures. I go crazy with the "what has changed over time" stuff. Wonderful.
Have you cruised since the company stripped all the paint off of the cabin walls? The cabin deck rooms have medium oak paneling now and all the paint is off the windows, also. I also vaguely remember that they stripped the paint off of the wood ceiling, too. It's also interesting to see that the Tiffany windows were operable, I'm pretty sure they are permanently closed now. And is that a steam radiator behind the decorative panel at the outside wall? It's gone, also. Stateroom 322, by the way is where Deb and I will be in 20 days, also has had all the paint stripped off the walls and ceiling, as have all the "F's". interestingly, the "E" rooms on the Texas still have the white painted walls. And the company has added lighting over each bed, it looks like the lighting in 322 back then was a little dim. Room 131 is cool, I especially like the personalized air conditioning system.
The Betty Blake just looks so foreign to me, and pray tell is that an ashtray? Sign of the times...Compare that picture to the ones that Franz has recently taken.
Thanks again and keep 'em coming, your pictures are marvelous,
Bruno

My first and only trip on the DQ. I was in I think room 131 not sure, no bathroom, had to go across the hall for shower and facilities. I was 13 years old and my parents put me on a Amtrack train from Charleston WV by myself. Capt. Don met me at the station in Cincy and took me to the DQ. It was a 3 night ( I think) to Lousville and back, the I road the train back home.... Don remember this??

Ok, Deb just informed me that not ALL the walls had the paint stripped off in a given cabin. Of course I did the macho thing of saying she was wrong, to which she got out our photo albums and once again, I was wrong. Stated another way...she was right.
Anyways, and I'm not trying to hijack this thread, I have some pictures stored on my Mac, nicked off the net, that are very interesting to compare to Judy's. The first is the Betty Blake today almost from an identical angle as Judy's. The second is a very poor resolution of Room 119, what was once a part of Skid Row. The third is Room 121 a typical C on the Cabin deck as compared to Judy's picture of Room 106. I cannot find any pictures of a typical F room except for my personal non-digital pictures and I don't have a scanner. I know I've seen really good pictures on the net of Room 312, a D, the Fred Way Stateroom. I'll search some more.

Bruno

Here's another picture of the very same C room, 121

Keep in mind that this 121, now a C, is made up of TWO former Skid Row rooms! 119 was formerly THREE!!!! Today's 117 was the women's public restroom and a bathroomless cabin. Today's 118 was the men's public restroom and a bathroomless cabin. Up on the Sundeck, today's 306 was the Captain's room, 307 the Chief Engineer's. 311, 312, 313, 314 were the other officers' quarters: pilots, watchmen, Vic Tooker and there were about 8 rooms, not 4.. The old 314 which was converted from a public restroom in '73 to a stateroom in '74 is now part of 316, ditto on the port side. Its interesting, but the Texas Deck is the only one that hasn't had rooms reconfigured. They have reclassified some, but not enlarged or doubled up or anything. The two rooms that are behind the stairs, now pilot rooms, used to be passenger rooms with 'obstructed views'. When I was in 324 several years ago, I believe the walls were stripped of paint. I'll have to find a picture to see for sure...

121 is my favorite room...I spent my last DQ trip in that stateroom...it helped what was the end of a tradition for me...

Thanks Bruno for posting that pic!

Room G

Capt. Tom,
I have just a hint of the event, but I am sure your DQ adventure made more of an impression on you than my minor role in it all did upon me. How is everyone remembering all those room numbers? Must be more of the same, but then, I was never a pasenger on any of the boats. Room G is the only one I recall. Still have the Greene Line leather key fob somewhere in my steamboat stuff. Wonder what that would fetch on eBay? But I'd never do that.

I'm looking at diagrams of the DQ when I'm quoting room numbers. I of course remember my 338, but beyond that I need help recalling what was what, and of course today's numbering is totally foreign to me.