A Before and After …
I thought that I would show a before and after photo, so you can see what I start out with and then what I do in Photoshop. My father made this image from a window across the street from what I call the old Masonic Lodge. It was located above what at the time was White and White Men’s Store, which later became Douglas Allen, which is now Vinyl Music Hall. In the photo below, I removed the telephone lines from above and I cropped the image to focus on the San Carlos Hotel. This photo was made around 1955 … note the covered bus stop in the lower right of the photograph.
And here is one that I cleaned up that shows more of the surrounding area … note that the two-story building in the back left of the image is the old Pensacola Catholic High School on the corner of Garden and Baylen Streets.
On the bottom view, you can see up Palafox up to the Southern Bell Tower, which is about four blocks up. When I first found this negative, I was only interested in the San Carlos Hotel. But after I got to looking at the whole image, I saw how much of downtown Pensacola is included in the image, I thought I would just re-do the image and show the whole frame. If anyone has any stories about the San Carlos or downtown Pensacola during this era, you are welcome to comment. Thanks for looking …
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
One memory jogger for me is the small piece of the bus stop in the bottom of a couple of the photos. You can just see a little bit of the roof. It stood in the center of Garden Street to the East of Palafox. My mother and I waited for many a bus at that little stop. They tore it down long ago, of course, and I think one of the Pelicans stands about where it was.
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Donovan Baldwin
April 14, 2013 at 3:30 pm
My uncle, Harry Robertson, owned a successful Tom Houston Peanut Company snack food franchise on Intendencia Street. He used your dad frequently, I think. Somewhere in my photo collection is a Thanksgiving Day photo of our family around the dining room table with a large turkey in the center. The home address is 1759 East Jordan Street on East Hill. It is still standing. BTW: Your dad made that photo. Bill Kreitlein
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Bill Kreitlein
September 24, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Thanks Bill … I cannot see the house, but I know exactly where it is. I will have to drive by there sometime. I have a lot of homes around East Hill that my father made the exteriors of at various times and I will go by in the future to see if it is one of them. Thanks … Frank
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Frank Hardy
September 26, 2012 at 9:25 am
I gave the incorrect address. The correct address is 1756 East Jordan. It was a white house. Bill Kreitlein
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Bill Kreitlein
September 26, 2012 at 12:35 pm
It still makes me sad when I remember how many photos were lost in the fire of Mr. Frank’s studio. I love the way you are able to clean the pics up and bring out the best in each. Gonna make sure the rest of the family knows you have this site so they can enjoy from Winter Haven area.
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Roxanne S. Bonifay
January 28, 2012 at 10:31 am
Thanks for the comment Roxanne … these photos are from negatives from the 50’s and 60’s that he had stored in his garage in Cordova Park. I spent a year or so going through them after he died in 2008 and pulled several thousand out that I thought were interesting. This is my second blog with his photos and I plan on keeping this one going. Thanks – Frank
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FrankHardy
January 28, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Your father photographed many of our family’s events and I also took his photography class at Bayview Park in 75 or so. It’s hard to imagine the things he could have done had Photoshop existed in his time. Your scans and repairs often makes the images better then they ever were.
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Kenny Kay
September 24, 2011 at 6:05 am
Thanks for the comment, Kenny. I am not sure about the teaching at Bayview Park, but he could have, since it was just down the street from the studio on Twelfth Avenue. I am curious in seeing who is viewing this blog and if they are local or not. Please feel free to add anything you might know about any of these posts … Frank
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FrankHardy
September 24, 2011 at 9:30 am
very cool blog! love the photos, thanks for sharing :)
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Oeil Photography
September 22, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Thanks for the comment … I appreciate when you take the time to look and I am curious who is out there viewing the site. Also, the spread you shot in Pensacola Magazine this month looks very nice.
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FrankHardy
September 23, 2011 at 8:04 am