The Pier Area

Its almost hard to remember this area with vacant land especially the lot to the right of the pier with the Australian pines.

Photo taken August 16th 1968
Courtesy of the Les Whitaker Jr. family.

PS: Happy Thanksgiving!

Margaret "Peggy" Wall

July 6th 1929 - November 21st 2009

Naples Shopping Plaza

Who didn't know about this place? I remember Liggetts getting robbed in the middle of the night probably in the late 60's. They tried to get the safe open & couldn't & drug it almost all the way out to the highway. It left ruts carved in the pavement almost all the way out by the sidewalk & then loaded it up & took it with them, I don't believe they were ever caught. At one time there was a game machine in front of the drugstore & Publix bag boys would always be playing it without spending any money. You could put a pop bottle under one side & play for free all night. I always thought those bag boys were geniuses for figuring out how to stick it to the man.....

PS: Looks like the picture must have been taken around Christmas time judging by the decorations.

Open Hearth and Friends . . .

Before the north wall was removed and the lighted "disco" dance floor was installed, it was "Nick's Domino Club", before that it was "The Port Hole" with an 8 foot round window facing the Tamiami Trail, but around 1970 it became the:

These are T-shirt captures

Cameron played so many gigs there in the early 70's they almost became family. Lane Cameron now has a recording studio in Reno.

(Big Daddy's reference has been removed)

Save the turtles

Not too long ago someone said it would be cool if there was a posting about the "turtle tanks" at Boat Haven.

Well, here ya go . . . complete with a little "lift" from "DuBroy Setptic Tank company" and Captain Cecil Lamb passing by in the background aboard his tarpon-fishing boat "Silver King".

This is in the early 60's, before roofs were added over the tanks. The gas docks are located behind the crane, and the Boat Haven building is in the left background.

City Dock (part deux)

This was taken in the late 60’s from a Cove Inn balcony. Two small structures are the Dock Master’s “office” on the right and bathrooms on the left. The flat-roof houseboat is tied up at the site of the future gas dock. The long low white roof covering the boat slips was removed a few years later to accommodate taller boats and as a maintenance issue; the roof over the slips on the right war later removed as well. Royal Harbor is visible on the far side of Naples Bay.

Seagate 1968

When my dad got the keys to his new house in February of 1960, we were the 10th family to live out here. It's about six miles from Four-Corners and before I had a drivers license, a trip to town other than church or school was a big deal.

2009

It's changed a little since then and it's still six miles to Four-Corners, but I guess a trip into town is no longer a big deal.

A Landmark Gone

People of the planet Earth . . .


Man, I thought it would be there forever, now there are those who never even knew it existed.

Demolition underway . . .

Demo Photo courtesy of Erica Schneider

The Water Tower

Sorry I don't have time to do a story (mom's in hospice) but looking at the spray paint on the tower it will probably light up the comments.

Seagate Homeboy Sez:

Please say hello to your mom for all of us . . . . Over the years she has been the “Most Favoritest Publix Cashier Ever”. (Yeah, I know about the spelling)

Now about that water tower . . . . Take note of the ladder on the left side below the catwalk. Now look at the support leg angled inward to the tank. The last 40 feet or so, where it separates from the leg, the ladder appears to lean back away from vertical. It didn’t matter if it was initiated by impetuous youth, fueled by alcohol, and aided by adrenalin, upon reaching that point, second thoughts rushed in about proceeding further, but there was no turning back (didn't want to be called "chicken").

Back in the day, the tradition was to climb late on graduation night. Yeah, the cops knew, and guys from previous classes ended up on probation. There’s even a story about someone climbing to the top of the tank and "liberating" the red warning lens . . . . Not my crew.

The way to not get arrested was to climb the night before graduation, or dumb o’clock in the morning, then try to keep your mouth shut on graduation day. No arrests are pending . . . .

p.s. It was scarier going down !!!

Seagate Homeboy

NHS Class of '67

"Four Corners" looking East - 1963 or so . . . .

It wasn’t ‘zactly a challenge, but Brookside Homeboy said “Here’s the picture, knock yourself out”.

I’m gonna give it a try:

NE: Graber’s Gulf station, The Lamplighter Cafeteria, Lily Pulitzer (Shift-Shack), Corbin-Lindabury Garden Supply, Atlantic Coast Line RR Depot, Tamiami Tire Supply, Prather’s Dry Cleaners, Naples Generator & Electric Motor Repair, Naples Redi-Mix, Direct Gas Station, Benson Insurance Agency, Pancake House, Brookside, Davis Boulevard, Naples Municipal Airport.

SE: Naples Federal Savings and Loan, Baroni's Restaurant, Hertz Rent-A-Car, Cris-Tal Market, Brehm’s Atlantic, Naples Flowers/Gene’s 5th Avenue Florist, Hansen Chris-Craft, Naples Marine Center, The Gordon River Corp., The Fish House, M & M Marina, Boat Haven Naples.

NW: Reid’s Sinclair station, Park Law Offices (formerly B & W Hardware); Alexander’s Dept. Store (formerly Arnold's 5 & 10, Vic’s Shoe Repair, Western-Union, Fone Foyer, Inter-County Telephone (and Telegraph) Company.

SW: Naples Liquors, Naples Travel Agency, Lords ‘N’ Lollipops, The Miami Herald Circulation Office, Naples Real Estate Exchange, Holland Salley Interiors (the original), The Book Nook and Arcade w/Rice’s barber shop, Rexall, Tamiami Trailways and the Bus Station Restaurant, Naples/Beach Cab.

Seagate Homeboy
NHS Class of ‘67

The Yankees Win . . . !

The 1959 Kiwanis Yankees that is . . .

Bottom Row, left to right: Benny Roome, Nicky Pedro, Juno Stalnacher, Wayne Jenkins, Bill Donovan, Don Kenton & Dudley Goodlette.

Second Row, left to right: Mark Hannah, Jack Redenbaugh, John Abbott & Mike Sharpe.

Top Row, left to right: Doug McNaughton & Gary Sharpe.

Coaches: Mr. Hannah on the left, and George Allen on the right.

Photo Credit: Bill Donovan

If You Don't Remember This Car...

You didn't live here in the 60's! I finally tracked down John Gray the owner of the Golden Orchid/Hawaiian Pearl thanks many times over to Kim Kelsey & Larry Biela. This is one photo I been dying to get for a couple years! The car was a 1957 Mercury Monterrey ( I always thought it was an Edsel). John bought it in 1960 & Mr. B did the custom paint & body work. He sold the car to someone in Ft Myers in 1996 & the guy was going to convert it back into a 2 door Mercury, go figure that? John was a Mercury Outboard mechanic at Boat Haven for 28 years Chrisse (Boat Haven's owners daughter) said he was the BEST Mercury mechanic they ever had. The 2nd photo is his custom bicycle, he told me he started pedaling during the gas shortage in the 70's. He did a cross country trek on the BIKE Centennial in 1976 from Illinois to Kentucky. This car truly was a Naples legend in my eyes it was the Batmobile of Naples hats off & hi 5 to Mr. John Gray!

The City Dock

No story here, but it's a cool picture. The city dock was off the beaten path. If you walked anywhere off 5th Avenue or 41 as I did, that's all you would do is WALK! You had to stay on the main drag to catch a ride.

How about "Add Your 2 Cents" if you can can do better than this lets post it?

" . . . every picture tells a story don't it . . ."

Might be slow here for a little while I had to run my beer can mom to the hospital last night so hang in there folks!

Seagate Homeboy to the rescue ! I've got a story . . . er. at least a long caption.

"Crayton Cove", looks like the mid-50s.

Imagine that the "Cove Inn" complex was a sand lot with no seawalls, just the bay water lapping on the mud shore.

There was the "Sportspot Marina" on the left as you walk off the dock. On the right was a mud bar, and a little cinder-block building to the right that would become Schryver and Associates in the mid-60s, only to yield to "The Dock Restaurant" in the mid-70s. The long, low building seen beyond the end of the dock is the "Old Cove" restaurant which was a local gathering spot/watering hole for decades.

There was a "day cruise" aboard an old 40 foot wooden powerboat named "Helvetia II". She was operated from the dock by "Skipper and Missy Pond". Here's a picture from my personal stash dated 1958.

The day cruise went into "The 10,000 Islands" and did a stop at the island home of Roy Ozmer, "Hermit of The Everglades".

It was very cool for a 9 year old.

p.s. You don't have to have an account of any kind to "Add your 2 cents".

You can post as "Anonymous". If you get an error message when you click "preview" or "publish, it's not you, it's the software. Don't freak out!!! Click on it again.

If you like, you can compose and edit in your computer's word processor or even in your e-mail's compose screen, then copy/paste it into the box (in the event the comment box unceremoniously flushes your carefully worded composition, you will still have your original). SH

Disorderly Juvenile's Headquarters

Just a lovely place to hangout when you're 16 by far much better than sleeping in the swamp with the Junior Deputy's.....
Gee Mr. Rogers you swear Okeechobee Boy's School is really better than these weekly visits?

PS: For the unknowing the photo is the former Collier County Sheriffs office & jail under construction.