Archive for the ‘Pensacola Business’ Category
W R Jones Used Cars …
The only thing that I am fairly sure of is that this car lot was on the corner of Garden and Pace Blvd ( and I am not even 100% sure of this being Pace and Garden ). At one time this corner was the location for Astro Lincoln-Mercury before they moved out to Car City on Highway 29 North. Here are several more views …
The old cars are interesting to see and also look at all of the oil stains in the road…one thing that I have noticed from all of these road photos that I have worked on over the last few years is how much oil you find on the streets. These cars back in the 1940’s and 50’s must have leaked oil like a sieve … I have often wondered if it could have been inferior gaskets made out of cork back in those days. Whatever the problem, it was something that needed to be fixed. Any comment about any of this is appreciated. I have several more posts ready to go and I will put them up next week. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Concrete Supply Company …
I do not know anything about Concrete Supply Company, I ran across these the other day and thought that they looked interesting. It must have been a huge operation with all of the trucks that they operated. These photos were made on August 24, 1956, or that was the date on the negative envelope. The construction business in Pensacola must have been booming during this time for this company to maintain and operate so many trucks. Here are a few more photos …
I have no idea where this business was located, but it sure took up a lot of property somewhere in Pensacola. If you have any information regarding this business or the concrete business in general, please feel free to share it with us. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Pensacola In The Early 1900’s …
These are images that someone had brought to me thirty years or so ago to copy and make prints. I must have given the negatives to the person because all I have are the prints. The thing that impressed me about these images was how sharp they were. Whom ever the photographer was that photographed these scenes must have had an incredibly sharp lens, along with fact that were shot on 8×10 film. I have seen 8×10 images that were no where near as sharp as these prints. The prints that the person brought to me were contact prints, so I am sure that that played a part in the prints sharpness. The image above was of the Escambia Hotel. I have no idea where the hotel was located, but I would imagine that it was either in North Hill or in downtown Pensacola. I also believe that these prints were taken somewhere around 1910. The next one is of the train station in downtown Pensacola …
This is the old L&N Train-Station in downtown Pensacola. The Crown Plaza Hotel across from the Pensacola Bay Center on Garden Street is there now. The street in the back of the station is Wright Street. I can remember this station as a kid in the 1950’s. I would go down there with my father and pick-up packages that would come in on the train. The floor inside the station was black and white tile in these geometric patterns. It was all open – no air conditioning – and I always remember it having lots of people coming and going, sitting around waiting for their train or to pick-up someone or moving packages all over the place. I was too young to really understand what was going on, but it did fascinate me with all the activity. The next image is one of Ferdinand Square on Palafox Street …
The building on the left side of the frame is what today is called the TT Wentworth Museum. At one time it was the Pensacola City Hall. You can read the signs on the side of the buildings in this image and the ships in the harbor is visible. This park is still pretty much today as it was over a hundred years ago, except with more foliage from the trees and the shrubs. I do not put up many other photos from other photographers unless I think that the images are somewhat relevant to Pensacola or are related to other photographs that I have posted in the past. And I think that these fall into that last category … anyone from Pensacola can relate to these images. Thanks for looking and I have some more current images that I will post shortly. As always, all comments are appreciated … so if anyone out there remembers the old L&N Train Station or the Escambia Hotel, please let us hear from you … Frank
Fiesta Car Wash …
I had posted something on the Fiesta Car Wash on the other blog, but I cannot remember ever posting anything on this blog. There are more negatives on this car wash and I will post them when I run across them. This was before my time, so I do not know where this car was located or anything about business in particular. I have a lot of negatives that I need to scan and I plan on to in the not too distant future. If anyone remembers the Fiesta Car Wash, let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Florida Fence Company …
These images were made for the Florida Fence Company back in the 1950’s. I do not know the subdivision or location of the pictured house / fence. I have some more ” subdivision ” photos that I will post in the future. To me, they are fairly interesting, but I do not seem to get a lost of response when I post those type of images. Here is one more showing more of the house …
One thing that the young viewers might not recognize are those metal structures on the side of the house. And also, there is not one satellite dish in the picture. I want to say that the larger of the two antennae might be some type of radio antenna, like a ” ham ” radio tower. But I am not sure, or maybe it is the other way around. I feel confident that someone out there can fill us in. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Sacred Heart Hospital Nurses From The 1940’s …
No names, I just thought that this was just a nice photo of a nurse out front on the steps of the Old Sacred Heart Hospital. I had scanned 30 or 40 images from the 1940’s at the hospital back in February, but just never got around to doing anything with them. So, I thought that I would post a few of them now and see if anyone might recognize any of the girls or maybe the nuns. Here is another …
Some type of luncheon or dinner, you decide. Here is one more of some type of presentation …
The nurse on the left side of the image is one that keeps showing up in some of the images, but I do not know who she is. She just has a very familiar face for some reason or another, this was at least ten years before I was born so she would not have been someone that I would have known. This is all of these that I am going to post now, I will save more for later posts. If any of you nurses from the 1940’s recognize any of these girls, please let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Hopkins Boarding House …
OK … I took these back about thirty years ago for Mrs. Hopkins, so technically they are not my father’s, but I thought that they were more relevant over here than over on my blog. I cannot remember why she had me do these and as you can tell, since the parking lot is practically empty, these were made on the one day that they were closed … Monday. I cannot tell you how many meals that I personally at here or how many meals that I carried out over a span of twenty or so years. For a span of several years back in 1981, 82 and some of 83, I lived only a couple of blocks from here on Spring and Barcelona Streets. This was the only restaurant that cooked and served liver that everyone seemed to enjoy. And everyone knew about the fried chicken! This place was around back in the 1940’s because my father used to tell a story of one of his friend’s that Mrs. Hopkins would not allow to eat there because he ate so much. I cannot attest to that because I used to see some guys eat so much, I do not know how they were able to walk away. Here are a couple of more views …
If these photos do not make your mouth water for some good home-cooked fried chicken, nothing will. I can not remember if the place closed before Ed Hopkins died or it closed soon after it passed away, but I am sure that someone out there knows. If I do not receive a dozen or so comments about these photos, I will be greatly disappointed. If you never ate here, going to Golden Corral and Ryan’s does not even come close these days. The one thing that I always liked was the fact you ate at a ” communal ” table with everyone. I always enjoyed talking to strangers, so it never bothered me, but my wife was never comfortable with it all that much. No, I am not going to run out to KFC or Church’s for a fried -chicken fix when I get through with this post. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
PS – I had one more of the north side of the house that I forgot to post earlier that showed the parking lot. It did not hold a lot of cars, so you ended up parking in front of someone’s house several blocks away and walking. The walk back to your car always took longer since you were always so full. Thanks … 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
Wholesale Furniture Warehouse …
This business was located on the north side of Mobile Highway and you saw it on your right when came over the viaduct that crossed the railroad tracks from Brownsville. In fact, I believe, that this building is still there. Obviously, it has been remodeled and reconditioned since the 1950’s when this photo was taken. I have no idea who owned this business / building and I was also curious if this owner had anything to do with the furniture stores over on “T” Street. “T” Street has become the flea market and antique haven for Pensacola in Brownsville. Please notice that I did not refer to them as ” junk stores”. I have driven by on “W” Street on Saturdays and almost end up in a wreck with cars pulling into the parking lots, so that can get to stores on “T” Street. It has been years since we have gone ” shopping ” over on “T” Street … we are at the stage of trying to get rid of all the junk, I mean antiques, that we have accumulated through the years. Thanks for looking and 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
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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