Posts Tagged ‘Downtown Pensacola Florida’
The West Florida History Center and University Archives …
The above image of ” Maxey’s Liquors ” is by the photographer Cottrell taken back in the 1920’s. You can find it in the West Florida History Center and University Archives out at the John C. Pace Library on the UWF campus. You can find these images on line here and other images from the UWF archives. These images have been scanned and are online for your browsing convenience. The files are high-resolution and not just low-resolution scans for the internet. I was really impressed with all that is out at UWF and the archives are located in the basement of the library. Anyone is welcome to use the facility and I talked to Stephanie Johnson when I was there. There are other people in this department if she is busy. The above photo of Maxey’s Liquors was just one that caught my attention because this business was located on Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola about where the Tin Cow Restaurant is now located. The L&L Pawn Shop next door was where my father used to have his wedding albums gold-stamped with the bride and groom’s name. I can remember the inside of this store like it was yesterday. Even though my father did not make theses images, I thought there would be readers of this blog would be interested in knowing that these archives are online and available to everyone. The photo below is of Gilmore’s Furniture and Jewelery Store located on Palafox Street about where the Rex Theater was located before it was converted into a church / spiritual center …
At some point, maybe the 1950’s, this business relocated to the 400 block of Garden Street. I have an image somewhere on this blog that my father had made of the new Glimore’s building at night. Just type ” Gilmore ” into the search area on this blog and the post should come up. There are literally thousands of images on this UWF site from lots of various photographers and places. I have a phone number ( 850-474-2794 ) for Stephanie Johnson out at the archive department if anyone has any questions or comments. I knew that this archive was out there, but I had no idea how large it is and how easy it is to access. There are a lot of people that are interested in local history and this is just one more place for them to go and research or just to view all of the images. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Downtown Pensacola Through The Years …
This first image of the Palafox Wharf in downtown Pensacola was made back in the 1930’s and this is strictly a guess. I found the negative in an old Kodak printing paper box that my father used to put negatives in once he was finished with it. My guess is that someone else had taken the photograph and had brought it to my father to make prints. That is only a guess and I doubt if we will ever know the story, but it shows Palafox Street in a different era … back when wind powered the ships. The strip of land on the far side is where the Port Royal development is now located. On the roof on one of the buildings in the top right of the image is a sign advertising ” Elebash Jewelery Co. ” so that might date the photo if someone knows when the sign was painted. The next photo was made in the 1950’s …
If someone can identify the year of the car parked out front, we might have a date for this photo. I am going to make a guess and say that the car is a Chrysler, but that is just a guess. This is Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola and like I mentioned earlier, I think that it sometime in the 1950’s. I personally do not remember ” Day’s Credit Clothing ” or the ” Quality Shoes ” shop next door. The last is a photo standing in the middle of Palafox at the Romana Street intersection.
This is looking north up Palafox and I am going to say sometime in the early 1970’s, maybe 1973. I am sure that someone out there can most likely tell us. It has really changed over the years. If anyone has any comments about the time-frame of any of these images, please comment. If anyone can remember any of these stores or anything else we would love to hear from you. Thanks again for all of the nice comments from everyone over on Facebook … it is nice to know that some local people enjoy remembering Pensacola and vicinity through the years. Thanks again for looking … Frank
St. Michael’s Catholic Church …
Here is an interior view of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in downtown Pensacola Florida that I made back around 1982 on 4×5 sheet film. This is a few that few people see unless they walk up to see the altar. I do have some altar photos somewhere and when I run across them I will put them up. I cannot tell you how many wedding that I have done here, but I would guess over a hundred. One job that my father and I did here was to photograph each station of the cross and made a photo album for a man’s wife who visited the church and could not get over how detailed each piece was. We also gave an album to the priest at the time which he was thrilled to get, since the only photos he had were a bunch of snap-shots. I put a link to the church that you can click on to take you to the church’s site. I was sitting here thinking how the previous post was about a liquor store and then I followed it up with a church post … that was not a ” Sinner and Saint ” message since we are going into Mardi Gras season this time of year. I just happened to have these two images ready to post and they are in the same folder, so there is no hidden meaning here what so ever. Like I said in the previous post, if you want to share any memories that you have about St. Michael’s – you got married here or attended a wedding in the church or even attended St. Michael’s School and had First Communion in the church … feel free to share them with us. Thanks again for looking and please check back … like I said in an earlier post, I have a few more ready to go and I will get them up in the next few weeks … Frank
PS – I just went to the church’s site and they have a photo gallery that has lots of photos … activities, interior and exterior views, etc, etc. I should have done that before I wrote the post, but you know me …
Pensacola USO in the 1950’s …
I do not know what the ceremony here portrays, but it looks like it might be a July 4th celebration since I see some lady dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. The ceremony looks as if it were held in the building on Spring Street that was once the USO Building. I think it now is a storage / supply building that Escambia County uses for surplus office equipment. There were 15 or 16 negatives in the envelope, but I only bothered to work-up around four of the negatives … I might do some more later, but they seem to be all about the same as these. I am sure that some of you will recognize some familiar faces in these crowd shots. I am also not exactly sure of the date. Sometime in the 1950’s seems like a good guess …
OK, I had done five of these images, so I believe that I have eleven more to do. I have a box full of new negatives to scan and I will start work on them next year. I am up to almost four hundred posts and I am not sure of the total number of prints, but I would guess close to eight hundred images. I hope everyone has a safe and happy new years. This year 2014 has really flown by, however 2015 is starting out slow for me. Please check back and if anyone recognizes any of these individuals let us know … Frank
Pensacola High School Annona Ads …
These photos were shot to be used in ads for the Pensacola High School yearbook Annona. As usual, I have no clue who any of these young ladies are in any of these photos or do I know exactly which business they advertised. But I am confident that some of you out there will let us know. I am going to say that they are from the 1950’s, but they could be from the 1960’s. The one above is from some dress store in Pensacola and it most likely was downtown somewhere, since the malls did not come about until later ( I am guessing about that ) in the late 1960’s I would guess. Here are several more photos …
The last photo of the girls looking at the silver settings was made in side Elebash Jewelery store in downtown Pensacola I believe, bit I could be wrong. The girls in the cosmetic store is not familiar to me at all, so if anyone recognizes the store let us know. Thanks again and I hope looking at these photos puts you in the shopping mood for Christmas …. Check back and be safe … Frank
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
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
Fiesta of Five Flags 1954 …
Here are some images from 4×5 color transparencies that I ran across and forgot that I had found. I actually had found them 10 years or so ago, but they were so discolored that I did not want to bother to post them. I figured out how to color correct images in Photoshop several years ago, but never ran across the transparencies until just recently. I am not sure who any of the people on the float are, but I know that the float is some where on Palafox Street. If you look real close on the right hand side of the image, you can see the front of the Municipal Auditorium way in the background. I am not sure what the building is directly in back of the float, but I am sure that someone out there can tell us … Here is another float that was in line before this float …
And then here is one of the King and Queen of the Fiesta …
These scans could have used some more work because if you look close, you can see some very small dust marks in the sky and on the costumes. But for this blog they are not that noticeable. I am going to post below an original scan of one of these transparencies, so you can see how much they had discolored through the years ( almost 60 to be exact ). However, with the creation of Photoshop you can almost bring back any image to it’s original color and brilliance. Here is the original scan …
Some difference … If anyone knows who any of the people are, please let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Rex Theater Concession Stand …
Here is a photo taken at the old Rex Theater in downtown Pensacola of the Concession Stand. Look at those prices … hot dog for 15 cents and 5 cents for a snow cone. Now, I do not think that they even sell hot dogs and I know that you could not get a snow cone. In fact, I cannot even remember the last time I saw hot dogs advertised at a theater’s concession stand. Ten dollars gets a tub of pop corn and a watered down cola … times have sure changed!! I am hoping to do a few changes to this blog and my personal photography blog site, http://frankhardyphotoblog.com/
They are not going to be any major changes, but I hope they are a slight improvement in the way that the blog will be presented to you to view. I am always trying to improve the way these blogs will come across to you. This is only me doing this and I am learning as I fumble along, so I want to give it a more polished look. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
You must be logged in to post a comment.