Some old pictures of the Sarasota area... (Orlando, Englewood: school, live)

[SoFLGal]

Anyone remember these places:
Zayre's Dept Store
Zip's Ice Cream
Behold the Turtle/Playground South and later The Animal House on Ringling
The Brown Derby by South Gate Mall
Rocky Raccoons on Siesta
The Trolley Station at Stickney Pt and US 41
Brewmasters
306 Bomb Group by the Sarasota/Bradenton Airport

I remember South Lido Beach on the weekends where everyone parked in a big circle and turned all the radio stations to 98 rock and played frisbee in the circle. LOL

Was just talking to my pops and we were talking about my daughter getting accepted to New College in Sarasota. He said he remembers back in the 70's when his friend graduated from New College and they all wore black arm bands in protest of the Vietnam War.

Then on the weekends people would meet out at City Island where Mote is now. The kids would drink beer and climb the tall, tall radio tower. Damn kids

[SoFLGal]

For photo credits check my profile. I have them posted there. Some of the pics are mine and some are various friends. Larry Kelleher took a great many of them. He's a long time Sarasotian and has great memories and photos of the area.

[mrs.cool]

I LOVE these pictures, and I'm not even from there!! Keep 'em coming!!

[beachymom]

LOVE all of the pictures!

[SoFLGal]

Here are some old pics from the M'toto Room in the old John Ringling Towers. It was destroyed a few years back to make way for the Ritz Carlton.


Love the fish on this one-reminds me of the weird fish from Finding Nemo.

[SoFLGal]

Louis and Eugenia Van Wezel, hanging out by the pool in 1957. Note the matching spiffy bathing suits! The Van Wezel Hall is the big purple building on the bay.

[SoFLGal]

Above are two pics of the old Skyway Bridge. The original span looks like it was made of matchsticks! And it wasn't the scarier of the two spans.

The bridge had a surface of concrete pads with expansion gaps between them. There was a rhythm of thumps, and then a roar as you went over the grating, followed by thump, thump thump.

At the time of the Skyway disaster my father owned The Islander Newspaper and reported the story. The date was May 9, 1980. Something interesting about that date is that it's my mothers birthday and for the next few years every year on that date someone died on the Skyway. There were several suicides on that date (jumping from the bridge) as well as the first three years the bridge was being worked on a worker died every year on May 9th. Kind of creepy....

http://www.skywaydisaster.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMjBGLxMdP4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Skyway_Bridge

http://www2.sptimes.com/weather/SW.2.html (broken link)



Here's what the Arcade looked like before it was demolished. It attached to the Pier and you could drive right out there, park and go fishing or whatever you wanted to do. Note Bird Key was nothing to speak of, and you can see the tip of Golden Gate Point on the right side of the image.


Unfortunately, this is the Hover Arcade (before becoming City Hall) at the end of Lower Main Street - look closely; you can see the fish pond on the lower right side of the image. The Arcade was a fantastic building (1913) and you could drive your car onto the pier. If you heard a horn blow and echo under the arch, that meant someone scored a kiss. Good times!


The Hiss Home on New Pass, facing the Ringling Ritz ruins. Another "Sarasota School" treasure

[SoFLGal]

Wagon Ho! I think this was turned into a car dealership at one point.


Herald-Tribune front entrance. Check out the spiral staircase.


South side of the Herald-Tribune building at 801 S. Trail. First floor is the composing room and Linotypes. Second floor is the newsroom. The glass walled section at upper left is where the editorial writers pontificated.




Main St ca. 1950. I wish you could zoom in on it. Here's some of the spots: Harmons, Sports Shop, Ernest Sears Hardware, Sals Pizza, Sears, The Colonial Hotel, Blossom Flower Shop, Lois Lee, Orange Blossom Hotel, Johnny's Coffee Shop, the Hotel Sarasota, and Three Sisters. You could drive through the arch at the Hover Arcade right on to the municipal pier.


Players on Woods St


The first Ringling Bridge that originated on Golden Gate Point. Note, there is no protected area for the fishermen to stand and cast their lines, as the cars pass. Need to have eyes in the back of your head - kinda like a flounder.


L to R Sam Mashota, Jim Cash, 6'6" 376 lb Jewfish, Dan Byrd, the hand made speargun was made by Dan in the late 40's. The fish was speared off City Island were Salty Dog is now. Dan still has the speargun.


Jungle Gardens


Main St Sarasota looking East from 5 Points 1955


This is what the sales office for Ringling Isles looked like before it became Columbi's and later Cafe L'Europe. My, St. Armands has come a long way from Ringling's day.


County Line Rd, now University Pkwy.


Here is a shot of Donald Roberts Furniture. I loved the mid-century look of the place. It later became a Top Value Stamp redemption center, the Southside Baptist Church, and now a Surgery Center.

[Big House]

Awesome pictures SoFLGal! I am a history buff, always like learning about the areas where I live and travel.

This kinda proves your lineage as a archaic SWFL resident, and why you know so much of the area. I know I've learned a lot from you since joining the forum.

[SoFLGal]

Truth be told they aren't all my pictures. Many of them are but not all. There are some old timers who deserve credit for many of these-Larry Kelleher, Gary Morgan, Rex Carr, Dan Byrd, Steve Lake, Troy Syprett, Gordon Galbraith and a few others. Together we have a pretty awesome collection of old photos of the area!

I'm an old picture fanatic. My parents, grand parents and great grandparents took a lot of pictures when we were kids. We probably have over 100 albums of the Sarasota area. I find more and more pictures as I look through them