Vintage Jacksonville

This is another photo by Loyd Sandgren that he took of Jacksonville’s Olympic Weightlifter Joe Dube’ putting on a demonstration for a crowd at the old bandshell at Jacksonville Beach.  Probably shot in the 1960’s.  This was from a group of photographs owned by Joe Dube’ that were shot by Sandgren who covered Dube’ before and after his medal winning performance in the Mexico City Olympics in 1968.

Tags: 0001, audience, Bandshell, crowd, historic photograph, jacksonville beach, Joe Dube, Olympics, vintage photography, weightlifting

“This was the 100 block of West Bay St.  On the left was the Mal Haughton & Co.  Then the Mock Furniture Co.  Then Brown’s Camera Store, it started in 1916, then one of the offices of Stockton, Whatley & Davin Co.  The 50’s.”  LS

Loyd Sandgren started working as a photographer for Brown’s Camera store after he left the Navy in the 1940’s.  He also did photography for Stockton, Whatley & Davin, often flying around the state to photograph their real estate ventures.  A parking lot and a small office building now occupies this block of Bay Street.  Here is another post showing the view from in front of Brown’s Camera looking North to the other side of Bay Street.  The Bank of America tower now covers most of this side of the road.

Tags: Bank of America, Bay Street, Browns Camera, downtown, historic photograph, Mal Haughton & Co, Mock Furniture, Stockton Whatley & Davin, vintage photography

“The interesting thing about this picture is the man that owned it had to move away and he said to me, “it’s a great house and you should have it.”  I liked it, as it had 4 bedrooms and looked like a house from the North.  My wife didn’t like it that much and the house was very expensive, $13,500 so we let it pass.  It was on San Marco lake.”  LS

The photo is undated but I’m guessing it is from the late 40’s early 50’s.  I drove past it the other day and it looks almost unchanged from this photo except it now has a solid driveway and a bay window replaces the flush windows to the left of the front door.  I would guess it would sell for a little more than what Loyd Sandgren had the option to buy it for if it went on the market today.

Tags: historic photography, home, house, Lake Marco, neighborhood, San Marco, vintage photograph

An early 1950’s view of the Mathews Bridge shot from Arlington looking North West toward Jacksonville’s Talleyrand area.  The 7736 feet long by 58 feet wide steel bridge first opened to traffic April 15, 1953 and is celebrating it’s 60th. anniversary connecting downtown Jacksonville to the Arlington neighborhood and opening the door to the commercial development of the area East of the St. Johns River.

Tags: Arlington, bridge, historic photograph, Mathews Bridge, St. Johns River, Talleyrand, vintage photography

“Here is tow ships that were at our base.  This was in 1944 and they were about as big as we could handle at the time.”  LS

Another early photo from U.S. Naval Frontier Base, Mayport, Florida.  I could not track down any solid information about this particular ship but if any Navy Ship experts out there can add more specific details, they would be welcomed.

Update:  Larry Lyons came through with this link which fills in a little more information about the ship.

Additional Update:  Don Smith also added some additional insight about this particular ship which was build here in Jacksonville.  See his comments and link below.

Tags: historic photograph, Mayport, Naval Frontier Base, navy, ship, vintage photography

I’ve never thought much about radio as a spectator event but apparently this show production at WMBR packed them in with the overflow audience watching from outside the viewing window.  Quite the formal affair as well.  I love how the men are all in their suits and ties and the women all wore their hats.  Only the kids got a little leniency in the formality of their attire.

I don’t have any specifics about this particular photograph but radio station WMBR was the second radio station to set up shop in Jacksonville.  It started broadcasting in 1934 from a studio in the Carling Hotel.  It was the first competition for the city run station WJAX which opened about a decade before. In 1949 the owners of WMBR started the first TV station in Jacksonville named WMBR TV-4.  WMBR was bought by Post-Newsweek in 1953 and the name was changed to WJXT TV-4.  Five years later the radio station was sold off.

Bonus Trivia:  The MBR in WMBR stood for Miami Beach Radio.  The station started in Miami in 1927, moved to Tampa and then was sold and relocated to Jacksonville.

For this post I liberally borrowed information from a story I found written by a dearly departed co-worker at The Florida Times-Union, Bill Foley who could bring history to life and weave a story like few people I have ever had the privilege to work with.

Tags: 004284, audience, clothing, formal, historic photograph, radio, studio, TV-4, vintage photography, WJXT, WMBR

“A close up of downtown in the late 1940’s.  The photo was taken looking South & East.”  LS

An interesting aerial image of downtown Jacksonville with small typed labels scotch taped to the surface of the print identifying existing roads, locations and buildings built years later that have taken the place of several that are shown in this photograph.  Loyd Sandgren never gave me the impression that he was particularly nostalgic about the changes he saw in Jacksonville during his 30 plus years documenting the ebb and flow of the city but he was very conscious of the scenes he had captured that in his later years only existed in his photographs.

Tags: 001516, aerial, city view, downtown, historic photograph, skyline, vintage photography

Located at 2300 Kings Avenue, Howard Biser’s Restaurant advertised itself as being “Famed for Florida Sea Foods” and “Serving the best cup of coffee in Florida.”  I can’t vouch for either but according to the sign out front, it was “Recommended by Duncan Hines.”

This view is looking North up US 1 from what is now Philips Highway.  The sign for Mitchell Avenue places the location at the point where the I-95 Southbound off ramp feeds onto Philips Highway.  I believe the building was displaced by the Scottish Inn that stands on the location today.  In the background is a banner across the highway directing motorists to “Turn Left to Oriental Gardens.”

Tags: advertising, Biser's, fish, historic photograph, Howard Bisser's, Kings Avenue, oriental gardens, Philips Highway, Restaurnat, seafood, sign, vintage photography

“Governor Fuller Warren at the Lobster House with the owners of the restaurant, Mr and Mrs Glickstein, talking about how there was not going to be a sales tax in Florida.  Shortly after that he went to California to get married and the sales tax was passed without him.”  LS

Fuller Warren served as the Governor of Florida from 1949 to 1953.  During the first year of his term as governor the state of Florida adopted it’s first state sales tax with a rate of 3%.

Tags: Fuller Warren, Glickstein, historic photograph, Lobster House, politician, restaurant, sales tax, tax, vintage photography

Another photo from the Loyd Sandgren Collection of the McLanahan Amoco Service station located at Main Street and Beaver Street.  A couple recognizable buildings peak up from the downtown skyline.  I particularly like the advertising sign on the wall to the left.

The billboard has a particular connection to me although it predates me by a few years.  It advertises for Amaco gas but at the bottom of the billboard is the line “Don’t Miss 12-Hour Grand Prix for Amoco Trophy…Sebring, Florida. Sat., March 23rd.”  From my research this would date the photo from 1957.  The race was won by a Maserati 450s co-driven by Jean Behra and Juan Manuel Fangio and the second place finishing Maserati 300s co-driven by Stirling Moss and Harry Schell.  Also listed as a possible driver in the second place car was Carol Shelby although he never drove in the race. Those are some heavy hitters in the racing world. I first went to Sebring in 1960 as an infant while my father worked on the medical team there.

Tags: advertising, Amoco, Beaver Street, downtown, gas, historic photograph, Main Street, McLanahan Amoco, Sebring, service station, vintage photography