Thursday, May 28, 2015

Anita King - 1st Woman to Travel Solo Koast to Koast in a Kissel Kar




The first woman to travel alone by automobile - arrived in New York City on October 19, 1915 - 49 days after leaving San Francisco. The October 24th issue of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote:


"Completing one of the most daring undertakings by a woman that the annals of the automobile industry record, Miss Anita King, "The Paramount Girl," who left San Francisco on September 1st last in a KisselKar to drive across the continent, absolutely unescorted by any one, arrived in New York City Tuesday.

Dispatches to the local KisselKar branch received yesterday told of the incident, wires being received both from the New York City branch of the Kissel company and from Miss King. That Miss King's unusual record will stand for some time is not only the opinion of the fair star of the screen, but of hundreds of persons scattered from one end of the country to the other who have watched with considerable interest the progress of the "shadow actress" across the continent in her motor car.

Shortly after Miss King's arrival in old Gotham, the actress, escorted by motorists, sisters and brothers of her profession and "movie" fans by the score, called on Mayor John Purroy Mitchel of New York and delivered to that executive a batch of messages from Mayors of the principal cities of the country through which she had passed, the ones which attracted the most attention being those from Mayor James Rolph, Jr. of San Francisco and Mayor Sebastian of Los Angeles. "There were redeeming features of the journey--many of them--else I never could have held out," Miss King tells the local Kissel branch in her message. "Not once during the entire racking drive did my car fail me and I put it to some terrible tests."









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