Naples Municipal Airport

So you could drive up to the terminal find a parking place at the front door. Walk in with your bags with no metal detector in sight, get your ticket & walk out across the runway step in a puddle of oil & board your plane? What's wrong with this picture, the only thing you thought about was is this plane ready for the mosquito plane army? Am I drunk or is this thing weaving sideways down the runway? You'd usually get up to about 6th grade with your life flashing before your eyes & the plane would hit cruising altitude......

3rd Street South @ 12th Avenue South

The 2 story building on the left at one time had the only elevator that I knew of in town. But keep in mind there might have been more but I hitch hiked & my travel was limited until I got my Yamaha dirtbike. After that the town & surrounding areas were mine for the taking. :):):)

Muldoon's Pizzaria 835 4th Ave South

This is the original rough drawing or blueprint of Muldoon's counter. Muldoon's was a small pizza restaurant located in the small brick building the 1st block off 41 on 4th Ave South. Before there was Muldoon's it was Monty's Bar B Q & as a teenager I would get dropped off in town & head over to Monty's because you could buy a BAG of french fries for 25 cents. The bag was huge & at least you have something to eat before you started drinking Saturday night beers before the dance at the Teen Center. The dances were put on at the Norris Community Center located across from the police station. I had a heck of a time walking by there in a straight line it was a bad place to put a police station at least from a drunken teenager's point of view. The beer was usually free donated by weekend boater's without their knowledge or consent (I'll leave the rest of that story for another post).
Muldoons things courtesy Bill Woznak & Gerry Johnson

Swamp Buggy Jail 1965

Can you name any of these women? The only one I can spot is Patti Loach front center outside the jail with the Wesleyan sweatshirt on. I remember watching the parade on my bicycle & the jail guards would spot someone without a badge or a swamp buggy buck & manhandle the hell out of them & put them in the jail. This was no sissyfest I mean it was a borderline ass whippin' spectacle the perp (I must watch too many cop shows) would basically get pounded pretty bad if he resisted & have to ride the rest of the parade in this jail while the whole town got a laugh. They finally had to stop doing it due to injuries & lawsuits (gee, like that hasn't screwed up everything fun). The jail would usually get stolen right before the parade & there would be a huge manhunt for it everywhere.
***** 5 Star comments here!

1971-72 Swamp Buggy Badge

Bill Kilgore sent me these badges & made a note saying all of them have the same buggy artwork, it's hard to remember life before Photoshop isn't it?
Interesting comments here!

Coconut Circle Off Estey Avenue East Naples

You know I have to give a shout out or maybe a little tribute to my good friends Johnny Frye & Bobby Evans both Coconut Circleler's. They both passed away at an early age & I shared a ton of laughs with both of them. Johnny Frye hands down had the worse jokes I've ever heard in my entire life. The funny part was he could tell them non stop walking all the way into town from East Naples you had no choice but to walk, sweat & listen. His jokes usually turned out to be more fun than the trip itself. His delivery & laugh at his own jokes made them pee in your pants funny...
Large building in photo is East Naples Middle School.
Map link.
http://tinyurl.com/nawygd
Photo taken September 17th 1968
Courtesy of the Les Whitaker Jr. family.

Whole Lotta Coughing Goin' On

Lowdermilk Park being gassed down by the mosquito fogger truck. Gotta admit there was a ton of stupid kids in this town including me. I mean lets be real how close did you have to get your bicycle to that bazooka pipe blowin' out all that death gas? And they say my generations problems were drug related? Maybe they should get one of these Jeeps & put it at the county museum after all every kids followed their trucks closely. I remember a blue yellow flame shot out of the death pipe about 4 feet one time & ended my hobby as a close follower. The only other thing in town that shocked your senses any worst was trying to use the bathrooms at the pier....

Mosquito Plane Dusting North Trail At Pippins

Funny thing is in the 60's these planes were as common as backhoes & dump trucks are today. You could almost set your watch to their flight patterns but they would always manage to sneak up on you & scare the hell out of you when you weren't expecting them. I worked in Marco in the late 70's & they would fly between the condos on the beach. You could actually look down on the pilots if you were standing on one of the higher floors.

Doctors Pass & The Mooringline Bridge

Photo taken September 17th 1968
Photo courtesy of the Les Whitaker Jr. family.

Anchor Drive-In Liquors Dime Holder/Keychain

The Anchor Lounge was a small but rowdy bar that sat at the northwest corner of 3rd Ave South & 41 where the CVS drugstore sits today. A classic old Florida butt kicking bar that was painted along the top with happy dancing feet around the entire building. It had wood floors & on a good night the place would rumble & vibrate with all the dancing going on. It's one of those places that has seemed to disappear without a trace I can't find a good picture of it anywhere. This appears to be the only piece left of it which is totally cool its a key chain & on the back is a spring loaded dime holder. I guess it was for a call home if you were too drunk to make it there. Only problem is I don't know if there was phone booths around back then. Closest one might be the telephone company on 5th Ave South but I'm not sure that existed when this key chain was around. I've never heard of this key chain all of these years a good friend gave it to me which I'll keep with me until I move permanently to 111th Avenue North.

Anchor Drive-In Liquors
294 Tamiami Trail South
Phone # MIdway 2-2954

Key chain courtesy Marvin Lightner Jr.

Even MORE 3rd Street Community Service Station

You can even see the rubber hoses Stumpy ran over on his bicycle. I think I'd throw my Bread Basket hat on the ground with that kind of pressure. Funny thing is I've heard the Bread Basket hat story from at least 3 people so far.

For an explanation of this story see the comments section in the other Community Service Station story 3 posts below this one.

Crayton Cove Area Without The Cove Inn

Photo taken January 22nd 1963.

1963 United Telephone Gas Station Ads

Community Service Station @ 12th Ave South & 3rd Street South

Now occupied by Hansome Harry's, my reference bored chimed in & stated no way could this photo be 1974 so I'm going with them & agreeing I must be outta my mind for typing that in the 1st place. So I'd venture to say it's sometime in the early 60's? I've heard the story of the man who worked there with the bread basket hat (SUPWIFDAT?) his name was Adam Moog, I love getting these little strange stories of these odd little people & places.
1963 phone # MIdway 2-3423

North Trail @ 4 Corners

I was having a conversation with SH & we were laughing about the 60's/70's in Naples. When you were coming into downtown from the north or east the 4 Corners usually determined your night of activity. From the east you could head straight down 5th to the pier & Beach Store or go north to Lum's, Chris' Gourmet Castle (whatta name) or beyond. From the north you could take a right & do the pier or head east to Al's Aquarium (a bar on the east trail). SH had a car so he had way more options than I & I was usually on foot with my thumb out hitchhiking. The funny part to it was you were always looking for the party & it never dawned on me till years later that looking for the party, was the party. 4 Corners truly was the center of the universe....

In the photo the north trail was 4 lane until Central actually 6 lanes, but 1 lane each way was for parking. At the northwest corner of 3rd & 41 was the Anchor Lounge a funky little bar that was always good for a little fist flying action. I think the police spent as much time there as the patrons.

Gulfshore Blvd @ 5th Ave South

If you notice in the picture at all the beach ends there were no touristy looking wood boardwalks or bushes. No rules no regulations & no parking meters just open ends to the gulf. I believe (and don't hold me to this) that the flashing light that used to be at 5th Ave & Gulfshore Blvd was put there because someone drove down 5th & into the gulf. I'll have to check my sources but they haven't let me down yet.
Map link to house on the beach at 5th Ave South.
http://tinyurl.com/kjcbja
Photo taken September 17th 1968
Photo courtesy of the Les Whitaker Jr. family.

WQAM Fabulous 56 Survey October 4th 1969

I put the links in for radio reference to follow up on a comment, there really wasn't much radio until late at night that's when you could pick up KAAY out of Little Rock. There was also WSHE out of Miami you really had to work at being entertained by any media in those days. Nothing like now where you are bombarded anywhere you go.....

Clyde Clifford link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Clifford
KAAY Little Rock Link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAAY
WQAM Courtesy Gerry Johnson