Archive for the ‘Downtown Pensacola Florida’ Category
Escambia County Commissioners …
This is a photograph of the Escambia County Commissioners. The year is unknown … but if I had to guess, I would say sometime in the 1920’s. One of these men was my grandfather, H.B. Hardy’s brother – L.W. Hardy. I do not know which one he was. The purpose of posting this photo is to show how things got done ninety years or so ago … a group of men sat down at an old wooden table, in old wooden chairs talking to one another, face to face. Anyone that wanted to sit in and listen could just take a seat in a line of chairs against the back wall. If you had a question, you asked it… Sunshine Law, you mean they needed a law to let the sun shine in? I bet they would even let a reporter from the paper sit in, and if he brought along a box of cigars, he might even be allowed to ask a question. Doing business with the county commissioners has certainly changed a lot in the last ninety years. No longer is it how can we help you, the taxpayer, but what can you, the taxpayer, do for your county commissioner? What, no cash donation at election time? Money talks … yes, if you want my attention, there is something you can do to get me to pay attention . If anyone knows anything about the photo above, please share it with us. I do not know if this photo is even hanging up down at the Escambia County Courthouse somewhere … so if you can tell me that, also, please do. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
And Let The Sun Shine In ….
Cole Wedding …
These images are from a ” Cole ” Wedding that my father photographed back in the 1950’s. I had posted an image of two twin girls standing in a hallway of the San Carlos Hotel in an earlier post. I am trying to catalog all of the negative envelopes that I have left, which is several thousand. I have cleaned my darkroom and I have been looking for some interesting negatives to print, also. I do not know what order I am going to post them in, so we will just have to see what I come up with …. here comes some images:
Here is the bride and groom in the reception hall at the San Carlos. The bride’s last name was Cole, since we usually save the negatives under the bride’s maiden name. The groom must have been Jewish ,,,I can not remember the name of the ” tent ” that the couple gets married under. The bride must not have been Jewish, other wise they would have been married at the Temple. Besides, Cole does not sound Jewish. Here is a couple out in the hallway that my father had photographed the twins in …
As usual, I have no clue these people, but it does not really matter. To me, that wallpaper and carpet really clash, but someone obviously thought that they went together. I would almost say that the decorating ideas came from Las Vegas, but this hotel was built before Las Vegas was even a twinkle in the mob’s eye.
Note my father’s 5×7 view camera is in the background. All of these images were from 4×5 scanned negatives, but he did take a 5×7 camera with him to weddings. I have a handful of 5×7 negatives from most of the weddings that he shot in the 1950’s. I thought that I would include this photo because of that camera in the image.
I can remember going to dances back in this reception area back in junior high school … this room was located on the top floor of the San Carlos and was a fairlly large room. The last one is of the girls standing by a wall-sized mirror out in a hall. You will recognize the two twins from an earlier post of them in the hall-way the couple above was photographed in …
I want you to notice how large the mirror is and the gold moulding used as a frame. When they shut down the San Carlos in the 1970’s, the owners sold off all of the furnishings through out the hotel. I remember someone telling me that he had bought some of the tapestries and ended up selling them to an antiques dealer in New York. I wondered sometimes whatever happened to the mirrors when I think about the tapestries.
That is all for now … if you have any comments about any of this, let us hear from you. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
The Corner of Baylen and Government Streets …
I found this image years ago and just set it aside … it really did not do anything me until it dawned on me that the Professional Building was torn down to make the new Court House Annex / Clerk’s Office. Also, this George’s Grill was popular with the Downtown Crowd. I have no idea why my father made this photograph, but I am sure it was for an insurance adjuster … must have been a bad accident here at this intersection. You are looking east toward Palafox Street and you see Mayes Office Supply and Printing business next to the Professional Building on the north side of Government Street. I can still remember when Mayes and the Professional Building were there in the 1960’s and the 1970’s, but I do not remember George’s Grill.
One more thing, this is my 300th post on this blog. I never made it this far when I had it over on Blogger. I hope to keep this going for quite some time because I still have thousands of negatives and photographs that I can post. One of the most important things that I have learned is that just because an image does not have any “meaning ” to me, someone out there on the internet usually recognizes someone in the photo or the location in the photo and will comment. Making me glad that I took the time to post the image. One such image is the one that I titled ” First Methodist Musicians “. I have received some nice comments and a few calls about that image … and I sat on those images for years before I posted them. So thanks for looking and as usual, all comments are appreciated and I do respond to all of them, even though it might take me a while to getting around to writing. Please check back … Frank
Romana Street in the 1950’s …
This panorama was made in the 1950’s, not sure of the exact year. This is looking west on Romana Street toward downtown Pensacola. On the left side of the street you see a Pittsburgh Paint Shop and then you have the Pensacola News Journal Building which takes you to the end of the block. Across the street is the Morrison Cafeteria building. I have some posts earlier where I show some interior shots of the kitchen and the table areas. Then I had several exterior viewsof Morrison’s before they renovated later. Local businessman Quint Studer has just purchased the Pensacola News Journal building and is planning to tear it down. I believe an article in the local PNJ in the last week or so said that he plans on constructing housing in it’s place and possibly some offices. Pensacola is really going to be going through some new changes in the next few years … we will just have to wait and see how all of this pans out. I am still not convinced that what was done to the end of Palafox Street was worth tearing down the old Municipal Auditorium. Most of the buildings that they built at the end seem vacant, however they are very nice and attractive. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
First Methdist Musicians …
This is a group of musicians from First Methodist Church in downtown Pensacola Florida on Wright Street from the 1950’s. I believe that the organist’s name is Morrison, but I am not positive about that. None of the other musicians look vaguely familiar. Here is one more of the group …
I know that someone out there will see this and let us know who they are, it just might take a little time. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
First Methodist in Snow …
This photo was taken back in February 1957, when it snowed so hard and there were several inches on the ground for a day or so. Notice the snow on the roof of the church. I found this photo years ago and I started to remove the telephone pole and parking meters out front, but it was just too much trouble to do. Let me rephrase that statement … I was spending too many hours on removing the objects and I still had a lot of hours to go before I had every item taken out. This is going to be a job that I have to pay someone to do for me if I want it done correctly. Taking out the objects is not the hard and time consuming part, it is replacing parts of the image to make them blend in with the original setting. So I thought that I would just post it the way it is and see what type of response I get, if I get any at all. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Baylen and Government Streets …
This is the corner of Baylen and Government Streets in 1960. In today’s Pensacola News Journal Sunday Edition ( 3 Nov 13 ) the attorney firm that occupies the corner where George’s Grill is located had an ad celebrating their 25 years in business. The ad had a nice photo showing the exterior of their office building. I remember that I had seen this negative years ago and tracked it down and posted it to show how times have changed. This view was made 53 years ago and none of these building are no longer there. The Professional Building was torn down years ago to make way for the new Escambia County Annex building and garage. Next to the Professional Building was Mayes Printing and Office Equipment, which moved out to Car City in the 1980’s ( ? ) , not sure of the date. I do not remember George’s Grill, but I remember Mayes and the Professional Building. Thanks for looking … Frank
Oldsmobile / General Motors Parts Department …
The photo above was from a local Oldsmobile / General Motors car dealership in downtown Pensacola. The photo was made in September of 1948. Notice how the service tech is wearing a lab coat and how clean the parts department was. It looks as if the parts guy was even wearing a tie and might have had on a lab coat, also. If you look toward the back of the frame, you see a ” control center ” made of glass stuck above the cars … to monitor work production, not to catch any service techs goofing-off and not working. Now, this was back in 1948, so I can imagine the customer’s response to a facility such as this. After having dealt with a ” shade-tree ” mechanic, this was like going to a doctor’s office / hospital. I am sure that General Motors had this in mind when they had dealerships convert their service departments into spaces such as this … now when the customer received their bill, they might have to be taken to the emergency room from the sticker shock! Thanks for looking and all comments are welcomed … Frank
Miss America 1951 …
Here are a few more photos of Yolande Betbeze from Mobile Alabama who was chosen as Miss America 1951. The link goes to the Miss America web site, but you might want to go to her Wikipedia site and read what they have say. I am not going to go into it here, but she was one of the most controversial winners that the Miss America had up until that point. Here are several of her from a parade … most likely a Fiesta Parade, but I am not real sure which parade it was. Here we go …
The middle photo was taken on the corner of Palafox and Garden Street because see the Masonic Lodge building in the background ( which is now Vinyl Music Hall ). As far as any of the people in the background, maybe you might see someone that you recognize and identify. That policeman sure pulled some tough duty escorting Miss Betbeze around … he must be the chief or the chief’s relative, I am sure that this would have been a prized job to have. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Another Paper Machine View …
No information or details on this image other than the obvious … a paper machine. I would guess that it could be one from the Pensacola News Journal that my father had made back in the 1950’s. I have a post somewhere on this blog of a man standing along side of the paper machine showing the scale of the machine. I wish that I had more info, but photos like this have always been interesting to me … I hope some of you out there find this interesting also. The more than anything else, it just shows how far technology has progressed in the last 40 or 50 years. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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