Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two

How many of you can remember going to a ” Filling Station ” and having someone come out to your car to ” service ” your car?  And be happy to do it!  I do not recognize any of these ” attendants ” or the stations were they are working.  These photos were made back in the 1950’s and I did not start driving until 1969, but I can still remember going to service stations.  I do not think that they were phased out until sometime in the late 1970’s and maybe up until the mid-1980’s, when everything became ” self-serve “.  This FHP patrolman looks like a nice guy … I bet he would let you off with a “warning”, something that the FHP patrolman now seem to have never heard of.  A speeding ticket back in the 1950’s most likely only ran $25 or so, now, you are looking at upwards of $200 or more.

The sign on the wall says C.E. Bowden and that name does not register anything to me.  The area next to his building looks like a row of buildings that you might find in some of the rural towns around the Florida Panhandle back in the 1950’s.  I am thinking Marianna, Chipley, Milton … some little town off of Highway 90.

This looks more like it could have been made around Pensacola.  The lady looks happy … to be riding around in a car with no air conditioning and a car full of kids … in the summer.  My how times have changed.  She is a soccer mom and she does not even know it!  I have a few more of these negatives that I will post in the future.  Times were much simpler then … how many times have you heard that before?  Thanks for looking and let us hear what you think … Frank