Steve's Photo Gallery 1

Steve has provided these two historical shots of Venezuela. I thank him for allowing us to share it here.

The photo below shows the first commercial aircraft in Venezuela. It's believed to have been taken in Maracaibo, but this can't be confirmed. While the side of the aircraft is marked with AVIACIÓN COMERCIAL VENEZOLANA, the tail is marked with the old LAV (LINEA AEROPOSTAL VENEZOLANA ) trademark, which existed from 1929 to 1960:

This was originally a French-owned company, AEROPOSTALE (LIGNES AERIENNES LATECOERE), which was purchased by the Venezuelan government in 1933 after the French government decided to stop subsidizing it.

It was in 1960 that VIASA was created from the international routes of LAV, and the name of the airline was simplified to AEROPOSTAL. In 1994 the company was sold to CORPORACIÓN ALAS DE VENEZUELA, under which it operates today, owned by Haydhelen Velazquez de Ramiz and Nelson Ramiz.

While the date of the photo is unknown, it was probably taken sometime around 1933. The aircraft is most likely a French Latecoe 28. This company still lives on today: Latecoere is the manufacturer of the passenger entry doors on BOEING's new 787 Dreamliner.

The photo below is of the Catedral de Mérida. Construction of the Cathedral was started in 1803 based on the design of the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain, and the final touches were made in 1960. It stands across from the Plaza Simón Bolivar.

Steve's grandfather took this photo.

These early, historical photos taken at two of the best-known Lake Maracaibo oil camps. The first was taken in 1945, the other two in the 1920's by Steve's grandfather. All of these photos are quite spectacular, and we're grateful that he's sharing them with us here.

Steve contributed this spectacular aerial view of the La Salina area taken in 1945 and marked up the areas of interest.

Steve writes, “My grandfather took this photo back in the late 20's I believe when he was working for Lago Petroleum Corp. It is old Lagunillas and he had a note on the back of it saying that one had to be out of their minds with boredom to go into the village.”

“Attached is a very early photo of the original La Salina oil camp. The camp was first owned by Lago Petroleum Corporation (owned by Rockefeller) which was later acquired by Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1928 and then was rolled into Creole Petroleum Corporation when Rockerfeller acquired a majority interest in that company in 1932.

“My first memories as a child start in this camp. We lived in one of the houses on stilts which was on the lake-front just behind the coconut palms in the left forground. You can see the roofs of those houses. If you enlarge the photo and look towards the center, you can see the two tennis courts and swimming pool. There is a lady walking her child in a stroller on the sidewalk and you can see a 1929 car on a the bay-side road slightly off-center-right.”


Main Street at Midday, Cabimas, late 1920's.	Market street, Lagunillas, 1929.


Busy Maracaibo harbor. “On the right you can see pelicans lined up on the roof the the large warehouse. In the foreground, you can see sacks of grain that have been transferred to the pier and which men are loading on trucks. The style of the truck cabs help date the picture -- late 1920s. In the harbor in the foreground are jettney boats for transporting passengers. Further down the harbor is a building with a large printed sign: Tome Cerveza Polar.”	Schooner berthed at Lagunillas dock. “Workers are unloading supplies from a barge. In the distance beyond the schooner at the dock you can see sails of additinal schooners on the lake. Again, this picture is from the late 1920's as was taken by my grandfather.”	“This is one of the few closeups that I am aware of depicting how the village was constructed. The wooden wall on the left was a wave barrier to protect the homes during the occasional lake storm. Grandfather wrote in his letters to my father that the village was filthy and stunk terribly as there was no sanitation -- just the lake. Both he, my father and uncle used to frequent the bars in the village with other oil hands.”

“Note the limited harbor facilities that existed at the time. You can see one tanker taking on oil on the long warf. The dike is very low. The string of buildings just off shore are pump stations to move the oil in the pipelines coming from the lake. Also, note how few wells there are.”


“A note on the back of the photo written by grandad says that a native worker would pay a real per day for a place to sleep in this boarding house and if he wanted 'company' it would cost Bs 5. Lagunillas village, circa late '20s. Pretty premitive conditions.”	Schooners in Maracaibo Harbor, 1929.

These are three great, and in many ways classic, photographs contributed by Steve Sleightholm.

The first was taken by his father. Steve advises that it was taken in the late 1920's or very early 1930's.

Steve writes, “While sorting through many photos that my father took while living and working in Venezuela, I came across this one of the woman walking home along a dirt road taking water home in a bucket on her head. I know this picture isn't unusual in many of the less developed countries of the 3rd world. It was taken in the late 20's or very early 30's before my dad was married.

“For me, the picture is pretty much representative of what I knew the back country to be like in Venezuela as late as 1963 when our family returned to the US. I suppose that the picture is still representative of much of the country at this late date and that is a real shame for the wealth the country has had which has not made its way to the people.”

This second phtograph shows the city of Mérida that Steve's grandfather picked up on an excursion he took looping up to Mérida then over to Trujillo and back to Lagunillas. He took the trip shortly after he joined Lago Petroleum Corp. at the Lagunillas facilities. He believes it dates back to about 1927.

Acquired during the same trip in 1927, this view show the town of San Rafael de Mucuchies, “the highest and coldest town in Venezuela.”

These photos show the old, original Lago Petroleum Lagunillas club house, swimming pool, & outdoor movie screen at the volleyball court. Steve relates that, referring to the bottom right photo, “...The bowling alley is the original one that was an all-weather affair. The pictue shows my father and my brother, Bill at about 1 year of age so that puts it about 1941."

Original Lagunillas club pool.

Original Lagunillas clubhouse.

Movie screen at the volleyball court.