Archive for June 2016
The Launch of the USS Pensacola …
This is almost a first me … I have actually done some research on the images that I am going to post today and I am going to include a link to more photographs for those of you might be interested in seeing more images. Two of the photographs are one’s that I have copied for a lady in the past and the other three are from the US Navy site that I am going to give you a link to at the end of the post. The first image is one from the Navy site that sort of starts the story of the USS Pensacola launch at the Brooklyn Naval Yard on 25 April 1926 …
You see all of dignitaries from the Navy and I know that there are several in this crowd from Pensacola … Harvey Bayless is one who was the City of Pensacola’s City Manager in the 1920’s and he could have even been Mayor at one time … who made the trip to New York and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Now the next photo is one that I had copied and showed the ship at a lower level being sent off from the ways. I am surprised that the Navy does not have copies of the prints that I am going to show and I can only think that maybe the ones that I am showing were shot by a photographer that the City of Pensacola might have hired in New York to record this event for them. I have not seen them in any local archives such as the Historic Trust, so without further ado …
Interesting don’t you think? The next photo is a Navy photo showing the boat coming down the ways from out in the East River …
Here come the Pensacola out into the East River. The next photo is one that I copied showing the USS Pensacola completely out of the dry dock and off of the ways out in the East River. I believe that the bridge in the background is the Manhattan Bridge. It possibly could be the Williamsburg Bridge, but if I am wrong, I apologize. At least I have a fifty-fifty chance of accuracy and for me that is pretty good…
Look how many tugs it takes to move the Pensacola around! I could have retouched out all of the trash in the East River, but I am striving for authenticity here and besides since this is 1926, I figured that the US DEP would be pretty lax around a naval shipyard. I do not know if we even had a DEP in the twenties, so there goes my claim for authenticity in the last sentence. Next and last image is a Navy photograph of the USS Pensacola ( CA-24 ) tied up at the dock…
In fact you can see part of the bridge I mentioned earlier. There are a lot more images of the USS Pensacola on the Navy here.
I hope you have enjoyed this little bit ” visual ” naval history and how I tied it all together. Don’t get used to it because I will be back to my old self of just posting photographs along with a few unrelated comments. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I have been posting more to Instagram than my blogs, but I have unearthed a lot of new negatives that I have sifting through and will post in the months to come. If anyone happened to be at the Brooklyn Navy Yard when the Pensacola was launched and want to share it first-hand, we would love to here from you. You can find me on Instagram at: frankphardy . For some unknown reason it would not let me do FrankHardyPhotography so I used my middle initial “p”. But you can type “frankhardy” into search and I pop up. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Pensacola Fire Department …
This is in the square at Palafox and Government Streets sometime back in the 1920’s. That is the Escambia County Courthouse in the background. Look at the facial expressions on the fire fighters … also look at all of the activity in the background. Everyone is busy and going someplace. Even though this is a black and white image ( toned actually ) it seems that black or some dark color is the predominant color for suits, dresses and cars back in the 1920’s. As usual I have no clue who any of the fire fighters are or what they are doing, but it doesn’t matter. Here is one more from a different direction …
Here you see the TT Wentworth Museum in the background, that at one time used to be the Pensacola City Hall. Even I can remember going down to the City Hall back in the late 1960’s and up into the 1970’s and doing business there. So it must have been in use up until the new City Hall down on Main Street was built back in the 1980’s. I have some photos that I took when they were building the new City Hall over on my other blog that I have showing my photography. If anyone knows anything about either of these two photographs, please feel free to comment. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
New York City 1931 ….
This row of billboard advertising in New York City was located on 12th Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Avenues. 12th Avenue runs north and south next to the Hudson River up and down Manhattan. 42nd and 43rd Streets run east and west and will take you across to Times Square. On the right side of the frame is the Taxi or Hack Stand, at least that is what the sign says. I Google Earthed this address to see what is located here now and it looks like the UPS shipping store is here. I doubt if there are very many around today that remember when New York used to look like this, so I do not expect any comments. But the billboards on the wall are interesting and I am surprised of the companies listed that are still around today… GM, Gulf Oil, Heinz. And let’s not forget the Ringling Brother’s Circus. I can almost imagine Tony Soprano’s uncle going to the Hack Stand here to catch a ride across town to the Italian Social Club. Thanks for looking and I have some photos of Pensacola in the 1920’s ready to post, so please check back …. Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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