Some old pictures of the Sarasota area... (Tampa, Bradenton: motel, house)

[SoFLGal]

Here are a few pictures that some friends and family have taken of the Sarasota area over the years. Kinda cool, I think. I remember most of this stuff, Gypsy you might remember some as well.


Sarasota Memorial Hospital 1963 by Betsy Pearson


Maas Brother on Main St by Steve Lake


Mel o Dee now closed in 2010 by Steve Lake


MeloDee restaurant 1950



98 Rock and 95YNF were "The" stations when I was a kid.


Siesta Key public beach 1983


Cain's Sinclair Station--on Siesta Key in the Village where the Beach Bazaar is now. Circa April 1961. By Candace Kondor


John Ringling Towers by Wendy West


Pretzel King--Another Sarasota icon no longer with us. He was at the medieval Fair every year along with countless other fairs and festivals throughout Sarasota.
By Steve Lake


I remember when the fair first started in the 1980's. It used to cost $2 and now it cost nearly $20 My parents used to dress me up like a doll and bring me here.


South humpback bridge leading from St. Armand's to Lido. Everybody's favorite shortcut to South Lido. by Rex Carr


Plane crash Coquina Beach 1986 by Lisa Blandino


Sarasota got its first TV station in 1971 and this guy was one of the first reporters there... by Gordon Gailbraith


Old Siesta Key south bridge Stickney Point Bridge by Alice Wright


Old Heidelberg Castle on corner of US 301 & Frutiville Rd and 3rd St Sarasota by Wendy Moore


Old Heidelberg By Wendy Moore


Moore's Stone Crab restaurant, Longboat Key by Steve Lake


Marys House of Pancakes North Trail. Later was called Pink Pancake House. The owner Mary used to drive around in a pink Caddy with two poodles both dyed pink! by Steve Lake


Colony Beach Resort pool


Coquina Beach


Marina Jack in the 1960's by Steve Lake


Diving off Longboat Pass Bridge.


Siesta public beach look under the tree to find "The Wall"


Sumter Rd in North Port in 1983 by Greg Bridges


The Explorers Bar on St. Armands. Later Ruby Tuesday's. by Rex Carr


The Shrimp lady that sold bait and mangos by the Siesta bridge


Siesta Key 1948, by James Piatchuk


Siesta Key 2006, by James Piatchuk


Creature Feature--Does anyone remember this guy? He was in all the local parades and he had a show on Saturday afternoons called Creature Feature. At the end he would always say "I'll be lurking for you".


Siesta Beach Pavilion by Rex Carr


Ringling Shopping Center-Publix, Green Stamps Merchandise Store, Center Shoe Repair, Grant's Bakery, Jimmy Crews Barber Shop, Crowder Bros. Hardware, Beauteria Beauty Shop, Darby Cleaners, Diana Shops, F.W. Woolworth, Belk-Lindsey Department Store, Coach Butterfields Toys, Touchton Rexall Drugs. Photo by Rex Carr


Emma Booker on left Sarasota First black educator. Three schools were named after her.


Sarasota Bike and Key by Kenneth Esthus


SRQ Airport 1972. The year I was born. by Rex Carr


Sarasota 1964 by Rex Carr


Bayfront Park by Rex Carr


Mecca which later turned into the Golden Buddha. by Rex Carr

[d4g4m]

I'm showing my age but WOW what a great collection of photos. I remember almost all of them. The good old days.
I remember my first visit to 'Heidelberg' seeing the trampoline in the middle of the restaurant and the swings hanging from the ceiling. Couldn't wait to see what that was all about.
SRQ airport- Plane on the tarmack, exiting on a ladder mounted on a pickup truck or a 727 exiting the rear on the drop down stairs [rain or shine] , walking thru the small tin roof building picking up baggage on a table outside. Free parking and they had flights after midnight.
Mass Bros- the only dept. store and the Sears on the Trail at Bahia Vista.
Even way back, parking was at a premium at Siesta Beach. If you didn't get there early, you had to park on Beach Rd and walk. [no longer allowed, of course]
Spent many evenings at the MelOdee in the 70's when we stayed in a motel on the north Trail. [the North Trail- then and now!]
Marina Jacks when it wasn't a tourist tra I mean destination.
The pretzel guy. I think he also sold pickels. I remember the fair at Ringling. I stopped going when the admission was $8.00
There's a few photos I wish that I had taken.
University Pkwy f.k.a. County Line Rd when it was a single lane dirt road. No I-75
Bee Ridge Rd-Cattlemen Rd when both roads were single lane controlled by stop signs on Cattlemen. Turn a 360 and see nothing but trees, pastures and cows. No I-75
The circus train passing by the station at Fruitville on its way to Venice. [Track which is now our $12 million walking path south of Clark Rd] [Does the $12 million include the overpass being contructed over U.S.41 in Venice at the by pass/biz split?]

[joeyddog]

What great pictures. Thanks

[gypsychic]

Great photos - sure do bring back some memories. We used to eat at Mel-o-Dee all the time, it is sad to see it sitting there empty, now.

Did the Golden Buddha give way to where the Jo-To is now?

[On-da-Beach]

Sir Graves Ghastly... what did I win???



Once again, GREAT POST!!

[Robert321]

Enjoyed that very much, thanks for sharing.

[SoFLGal]

d4g4m-Yeah the pretzel guy sold pickles and pretzels. He'd yell "The pretzel king is here". I swear you could hear him for almost a mile. He used to wear clip on earrings of pickles and as he got older he'd wear green tights.

I wish I had some of those pictures as well. I think I have a few pictures that my grandpa took of the circus coming over the south Venice bridge. I'll have to see if I can locate them.

I remember when all of the area around what is now I-75 was just cow pastures. It's kind of funny seeing all these big fancy developments out there now. I still think of it as farm land.

Gypsy-I think it might be Jo-To's now.

Thanks Robert, ondabeach and Joey

I remember cashing in our "green stamps" at Publix and I think it was at the Ringling Shopping center above.

Just remembered what the scary guy's name was--Mr. Paul Barer

Here are a few family photos:


Proof my mom dressed me up like a dork to attend the Medieval Fair. That's me in the princess outfit and my brother on the right and a friends of his on the left.


Here's a picture of The Islander newspaper, which my father owned in the 1960's and 70's and sold to the New York Times in the 1980's. It's still the local newspaper for Anna Maria Island.


Here's my brother on the front of the Longboat Key phone book in 1974


Longboat Key flooded 1972, first day of hurricane season. That's my dad's car.


My mom hanging upside down on the bars in front of the Venice Beach Pavilion--May 1957.


Shenkel's on Longboat Key at Easter 1971. We'd go there every year for Easter. That's my brother the year before I was born. I think Shenkel's was later turned into The Poseidon and I believe the building was finally torn down.


My parents first house on Firehouse Road, Longboat Key, 1967 It was half into the Gulf of Mexico when my parents moved it a mile or so up the key


My grandparents in their trailer in the 1950s. They stayed at a park on Palma Sola Boulevard in Bradenton, 1950s


Gulf Park Oar House on Bradenton Beach, Fishing lodge built about 1909, burned down around 1979. My parents used to go there to hear the Allman Brothers play before they were famous. This picture was taken by my grandma in the 1940's.

Here's an article I found about it: The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper :: Anna Maria Island News :: Anna Maria Island Feature Stories


Here's a picture my grandma took of Bradenton Beach in 1933.


My grandpa took this picture of the ferry from Tampa to Bradenton, before the Sunshine Skyway.


That's my grandma and my uncle in front of The Nook, a restaurant & package store on 14th St in Bradenton, 1953


The Nook, a restaurant on 14th St in Bradenton, 1950s


Kentucky Military School, Venice, 1933. That's my grandpa in front of the old KMI building in downtown Venice. It's now the Venice Mall.


Great Great grandmother Reeves house in city of Anna Maria, Beach Rd, 1947


Experimental aircraft that landed at Holmes Beach Airport, 1964, my dad and the pilot. My dad did a story about him for The Islander Newspaper. The pilot crashed his plane a few years later and died.


My mom standing in front of Braden Castle, Bradenton c 1964


My mom in 1963 on Holmes Beach with Jet, the greyhound


Sinclair gas station on 14th St my grandfather, Bill Reeves, owned in the 1950s


KMI in 1951. My grandfather was in the KMI and the old building is now the Venice Mall.

[FringedNFab]

Interesting read SoFLGal thanks so much for all the history and pictures. I love stuff like this and my Mom will too. It's so funny though because Siesta Beach is still as busy as that and crowded lol.

[Floridaa]

Great Pics/Thanks.

[Karen and Jim]

Ahhh...aren't memories wonderful? Thanks, SoFLGal, for sharing your wonderful family photos.....good looking family, by the way!