Very early Pensacola photographs

Look at the two large gothic looking buildings on Palafox. one would be at the corner of Chase and Palafox and other at the corner of Gregory and Palafox. Does anyone know what either of these buildings is? Could one of them be the Pensacola Opera House?

No not the Opera House. Pensapedia says it was at Government and Jefferson and looked like this...

Pensacola Beach in 1959. That's Deusenberry's Par 3 golf course to the right of the Casino.

The patio of the beach casino in 1950.

more 1959 photos showing the Par 3 golf course (adjacent to the Casino parking lot).
That was the same time our Dad's took me and my cousin to play golf on that thing about every weekend. We used to joke about how the golf course was more sand than grass. lol
And it was lit so you could play golf at night too.

the cement block beach houses in 1959



a campfire in the dunes in 1959

The Spanish Village (also a 1959 pic) built for the Quadricentennial.
The one thing I remember about going inside there in 1959 was how good the air conditioning
felt in the heat and humidity of summer on the beach.
That and the Casino ballroom were the only things on the beach which had AC at the time.





That last pic is looking east with Little Sabine in the background. And the beach core area (Casino) beyond that.
Also you can see the row of school buses in the parking lot. I don't remember it but the schools must have taken
about all of us there on field trips.

According to this map http://lcweb2.loc.gov/gmd/gmd393/g3934/g3934p/pm001170.jp2

The building at the NE corner of Palafox and Chase was the County Courthouse.

Here's where the map shows the Opera House. SE corner of Jefferson & Government. Legend #5

According to Pensapedia, the opera house seated 1400...
The second, or "peanut" gallery was set aside for Negroes, and a section of 15 seats was reserved for the demimondaine of the town (them's the naughty gals, kids).

Quote :

Good info, Eric.

That's the same property where the old city hall/wentworth museum is located. I'm surprised to learn that because I thought that old city hall was as old as the Opera House.

Shit now I'm really confused. According to pensapedia, the Opera House lasted until 1917. And the old city hall was built in 1908.
But it sure looks like that map shows the Opera House on the same piece of land that the old city hall sits on.
I don't understand how both could have occupied the same property for the 9 years between those two dates.

BobW wrote:

Good info, Eric.

That's the same property where the old city hall/wentworth museum is located. I'm surprised to learn that because I thought that old city hall was as old as the Opera House.

Actually, Bob. The old Opera House was North of the old City Hall/TT Wentworth Museum. (Chase & Associates is where the Opera House was located.)

I spent my high school years at Gulf Beach... now called Perdido Key. Our landmark was the beachfront "Old Hotel" that was started in the 1920's but never finished. They built Gulf Beach Highway to access it. Families would sweep the concrete bottom floor and have week-long reunions there with tables and tents under the concrete of the second floor. It was a perfect spot to set up on and, if it rained, you were dry. I even got a little nookie up on the second floor one night

It has been torn down (late 1990's or early 2000's) and condos are there now. It was behind the bar now called "The Reef".

This picture was taken from a huge concrete parking lot that was built as part of the Hotel and the camera is facing generally West toward Alabama.

Regarding the Old Hotel, a guy named JD White has a picture of his granddaddy and one of the Baars standing by a pile driving machine... and the machine is driving the first piling at that hotel.

Okay, this isn't VERY OLD, but it was taken of the plane named Donna that crashed in Escambia Bay while on approach to Pensacola's Airport. The caption said 3 people died. I was dating a girl who's sister and her boy were on that plane... the boy was one of the fatalities.

The photographer "Crestviewcodger" on Flickr said that they quickly painted over the logos on the plane. This was taken at NAS.

And another couple of not so old photos, but of something we'll never see again...

Trader Jon's...

That place was a story in itself.

Eric wrote:

Actually, Bob. The old Opera House was North of the old City Hall/TT Wentworth Museum. (Chase & Associates is where the Opera House was located.)

Okay now I understand. I wasn't thinking that both could have been side by side on that block.

I wasn't being very observant. You can actually recognize the city hall beyond the Opera House in the photo I posted earlier...

BobW wrote:

This lady is the 1880 version of the young blonde chicks we see here in Pensacola blasting around in their little BMW convertibles.

yelladawg wrote:

BobW wrote:

This lady is the 1880 version of the young blonde chicks we see here in Pensacola blasting around in their little BMW convertibles.

The crowdinthe picabove was maybe Gallery night?

Great pitures ,BOb,

Thx Bob for sharing. I love theses ole timey pics especially from this area.