Archive for the ‘Florida’ Category
Everglades On The Bay …
The Everglades Hotel on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami was built back in the 1920’s. It was finished in 1926, several months before the famous hurricane of 1926 that demolished a lot of South Florida from the Keys to Miami. I have seen several shows on this hurricane on the Florida Public Broadcasting Channel that have been very interesting. I have posted other photos from Miami and Miami Beach that my father had taken, but just ran across this negative the other day. The hotel was demolished back on January 23, 2007 and there are videos on YouTube showing the demolition if you are interested. If anyone has any stories that they want to share of their stay at the Everglades Hotel, we would love to hear them. I still have more negatives of Miami to scan and post, so please check back. Thanks again for looking and check back …. Frank
Home Show at the Pensacola Municipal Auditorium …
I am going to start off with this young lady displaying the new colorful rotary dial phones from Southern Bell and Telegraph. It comes in a variety of beautiful colors, however, since color film did not become used wide-spread until the 1960’s and this is 1956, you are just going to have to take this lady’s word for it. There is only one model of phone at the present time, but it does come in eight beautiful colors … as you can tell from the various tones of phones. Be the first on your block to get rid of your basic black phone … the start of phone envy!! Moving on to soft drinks …
Two magnetized Royal Crown Oven Mitts for only 50 cents and two RC bottle caps. I almost will wager that this is one of the first promotions in stores back in the 1950’s. It is hard to believe that before this time the retailers had yet to utilize store promotions. All of that untapped consumer advertising gone to waste for those previous years. Well friend, no need to worry, because in the next thirty years or more they would more than make up for years of no promotions. It is hard to even imagine the decades before without in-store promotions. And let’s not forget the radio stations and TV stations getting involved, along with magazines and newspapers. Your head should be spinning now in ” promotional heaven “… It has only just begun! Thanks for looking and if any of you remember this Home Show down at the Pensacola Municipal Auditorium, please let us hear from you. Thanks again … Frank
Town and Country Plaza …
This is a view of Town and Country Plaza being built back in the early 1960’s. The camera was a Wide-Lux Panoramic camera that used 120 roll film. I do not know who the developers of this project were, but I doubt that this was a local group. The road in the foreground was called ” Pottery Plant Road ” and was eventually changed to Fairfield Drive since the Pensacola Interstate Fair used to be located on this road before it was relocated to Mobile Highway. Here is one more view …
Back when this shopping center was built, no one could envision a shopping mall that would be enclosed and air conditioned. In fact, I am sure a lot of people at this time would ask ” what is air conditioning ? ” . If anyone wants to share there shopping experiences here at Town and Country Plaza, please feel free. Thanks for looking and please check back. And Happy Holidays to everyone …
Liberace and Friend … Updated ……
I posted this photo years ago and I did not know who the lady is. Someone had mentioned a name for her when I posted this on the first blog that I had on Blogger six or seven years ago. But I cannot what they said her name was and when I “googled” it nothing came up. So I did not pay that much attention to it. Recently, I have been reading a book by author Steve Fischer entitled ” When The Mob Ran Vegas “. On page 113, there is a photo of Ruth Gillis and it said that she was one of Liberace’s show girls when he played the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. I am not going to bother trying to get permission to see if I can post it here, you are just going to have to take my word for it. On the web there are several photos of her with various other entertainers, one being Ernie Kovacs and here is a link to the photo. I have tried ( not very heard though ) to find some other photos and information on Ms Gillis, but have not turned up much. I do not know a date for the above photo and if I had to guess I would say that it would be 1955 or 1956. In the book it says that she started as a show girl with Liberace on April 20, 1955 at the Riviera. I was hoping that someone might have remembered seeing Liberace in Pensacola when he came here, but I have not received any comments from anyone. I might have to go down to the PNJ and see what it takes to go through there microfilm files. If anyone has any thing to share, please let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
The Community Chest … Part One …..
Several weeks ago the Pensacola News Journal printed an article by John Appleyard about the Community Chest. The Community Chest later turned into the United Way. It was an interesting article by Mr. Appleyard, as they all are. I ran across these images years ago and set them aside … the only thing that interested me were all of the photos of the local ” movers and shakers “, since my father had taken the photos. A lot of the names are very familiar to me and a few mean nothing to me, but that really does not mean anything since these images are sixty years old. I was only two when these were taken. There are a few images, so I am going to break these up into two posts. Since I do not know anything much about the images, I am just going to post the images and leave out any comments to the end. Here we go …
None of the people standing in front of the tally boards are familiar to me … I recognize a lot of the names / faces of the the people on the boards. I am sure some of you out there will be able to identify these of these people. I also apologize for not being able to figure out how to put a link to Mr. Appleyard’s article in the Pensacola News Journal. In fact, I am not sure if I would be allowed to since so many publications do not allow bloggers to link to their sites because of plagiarism laws. Maybe someone out there will let me know how to link and if I am even allowed to. Thanks again for looking and feel free to comment. I will post the other images in a week or so … Frank
Easter Sunrise Service in Pensacola at Bayview Park on Bayou Texar …
This post is going to be all over place … Going from Bayview Park on Bayou Texar to First Baptist’s new church building on Palafox Street, so please bear with me on this. But at least you are going to see some interesting images that I do not think that I have posted before or if I have it was years ago. Here we go … the other day Troy Moon from the Pensacola News Journal wrote an article about some group wanting to remove the cross at Bayview Park on Bayou Texar. The cross sits on the site where the Easter Sunrise Services were first held and the group wants the cross aken down because it offends them – my words not Troy’s. I do not have any photos of the cross, but I do have photos from one of the Easter Sunrise Services that was held on the site from back in the 1950’s. The First Baptist Church of Pensacola held the services and it was widely attended by thousands of people and I can remember going with my parents and having a good time as a kid. The choir’s sashes have ” PHS ” on them, so I am assuming them to be from Pensacola High School. That could never happen today …. a public school participating in a Christian Church’s function would most likely take an act of Congress in these times for that to happen. But I will not go there … Here is another view of the stage –
Apparently First Baptist Church was in a growth spirt at this time and they were out growing the building that they had been in and had decided to build a new sanctuary on Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola. I know that I have photos of the original church and congregation in older posts, so if you want to search them here on the blog, please feel free. So they must have been doing something right at the Easter Services since the church was attracting new members. Now this is where I shift gears and go to some ground breaking photos on Palafox …
I have no idea who these people are and I have other photos from the ground – breaking, but these were handy and ready. Now I am going to move onto some the new sanctuary photographs …
The second image is a panorama view from the first service held in the new church sanctuary. I have a photo of Reverend Jim Pleitz that I ran across and I am embarrassed to admit that I do not know if he was here when the new church was built, but I am sure that someone out there can tell us …
And the last photo is a view of downtown Pensacola with a sign and a cross adverting the Easter Sunrise Service at Bayview Park. You know that would never be allowed today, since no telling how many people that it would offend today. I want to thank Troy Moon for writing the article and it would be worth your time to read it and see how ridiculous this group’s request is. Whatever happened to if you do not like something, just turning your head until you pass or just not going there to begin with. I guess that the people who like the cross’s meaning and beauty have no say so in this issue. Here is the Pensacola downtown photo …
Thanks to Troy Moon for writing the article and I am sure he will keep us posted with the group’s progress in demolishing / taking-down the cross. Stay safe … it is a crazy world out there!!! That is it for me. Feel free to comment and please check back and please read the PNJ … Who knows, maybe Andy Marlette will draw a cartoon with Mayor Ashton with a hammer and chisel taking down the cross and the City Council picking up the pieces and hauling them off in Councilman May’s truck.
1930’s Delchamps Basketball Team …
Back in the 1930’s, my father worked at Delchamps Grocery store when it was located at the corner of Garden and Baylen Streets. He played on their basketball team and he is the guy standing, second on the right side of the photograph. This photo might have been taken between 1932 and 1934. He graduated from PHS in 1934, so I know that it was not after that time. The photo was taken in the old gym that was located on the corner of Baylen and Belmont Streets, but it is no longer there. Note the walk-around that surrounds the court behind the backboard. I scanned this photo years ago and have been looking for it because it has the names of all of the players written on the back. I am sure that there are some “old-timers” out there that will recognize some of the names. Carter Photography on Palafox in downtown Pensacola made the photograph, but I just put my tag on it for identification. This is also the original tone of the photograph and I did not bother to alter the color just because it looked interesting to me. If anyone has any photographs of this old basketball gym, I would like to see them. I am not sure if the building might have been the original YMCA before it moved to it’s present location on Palafox, but if anyone knows please comment. Thanks for looking and as always, all comments are welcomed and appreciated. Check back … Frank
OK … I have found the back of the above photo with the name of the players:
The names are as follows: from the left – Delmar Jones, Clarence Dannelly, Murdock Campbell, Albert Swain, Mr Roberds_Manager, Mr Aiken_Frank’s Boss, Albert McLellan, Frank Hardy, Jack Britton.
Some of the names of the players I recognize – McLellan, Campbell, Dannelly are all familiar to me. If anyone recognizes any of the other names, let me know. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Water Skiing on Bayou Texar …
I have posted some photos from this ski show that the ski club had back in 1979. I ran across these photos a while back and have been sitting on them for a while, so I thought that I work them up to post. I remember getting some comments when I posted the other ski club photos and thought that you might enjoy looking at them. As usual, I do not know who any of the skiers are since they are younger than me. I would guess that the boy and girl on either ends of the group above might be Bonifay children, but as usual, I could be wrong. Here are some of the group skiing …
That is all for now. I have not gotten a lot of images worked up to post, but I am working on a few as I write this. Please check back and feel free to leave any comments that you might have … Frank
Bayou Texar …
This is Bayou Texar around 1920, if I had to make a guess. I would also guess that this area would be south of the Cervantes Street Bridge. The grass flats are still in the area and the oak trees on the bank are still there. Someone had brought me this image to copy thirty years or more and they told me that it was a photo of their family. The photo was in horrible shape and they did not want to spend the money to have the image restored, so I just copied the print and made copies. I found the negative and scanned it, then worked it up in Photoshop in an hour or so. And that is what you are seeing here. I do not know who the photographer was, but it looks like an image that might have been created by Cottrell, who was located in downtown Pensacola at the time this photo might have been made. But as usual, that is only a guess and I could be completely wrong. I can not remember who brought this print to me either, it was such a long time ago. I have been busy with other things the last month or so and have not posted much, but I have not forgotten this blog and plan to keep it going for some time in the future. I have been posting to my Instagram account and here is a link. I post everything from my personal images to photos that I have put on this blog. I like the way Instagram works and the people that respond to my images are different than the ones that are just looking at blogs. I have tried Twitter and have it linked to my blogs along with Facebook, but I do not really care for either one of those, especially Facebook. That is it for today and I will be back with some new photos in several weeks. Let me hear from you if you have any comments or questions and thanks again for looking … Frank
Hygeia Bottling Company for Coca-Cola in Pensacola Florida …
I have had this image sitting around for years and was surprised that I had not posted it yet. I went back through 390 something posts and could not find where I had put it up, so I decided to post it. The Hygeia Bottling Company had the franchise to produce and bottle Coca-Cola in Pensacola Florida when Coca-Cola first came out. I obviously did not take this photo or did my father … someone had brought me a photo to copy and I just saved me a negative. That was over thirty years ago and so I can not remember who, why or what for, but it must have impressed to save a negative. I have no clue where this is in Pensacola or the year the photograph was taken. Maybe if someone could tell the make and model of the car on the right hand side of the image, we could establish a year for the photograph. I wonder if this is the train tracks that run parallel to Wright Street or the tracks out on Border Street in Brownsville. One more thing, I have started using my Instagram account and posting all different examples of my photography and these photographs from this site. Some images have not been posted on either blog yet, so it is just not repackaged or redesigned images for Instagram. I am just trying to find new ways to attract viewers to my blogs and create new interest in my photography. I have enjoyed posting on Instagram since you get instant responses and there are a lot of new people that I can be exposed to that I otherwise would not. I still do not have a Facebook site for my photography and somewhere I am going to get around to putting one up. I really like my blogs and the people that I have reached through them and I have no plan of slowing down, even though that I have had them for years. It seems that people are so fickle now days and what is popular today will not be two or three years from now. Thanks again for looking and if anyone knows anything about this image, please let us hear from you. Also, if anyone has seen this image before, let me know. Please check back … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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