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!
O my God! You've done it. The Golden Orchid /Hawaiian Pearl. You are a genius, even if you were educated in Naples. Get more back story on Mr. Gray. Post more photos. Tell me where to send you the luv offerings. I was having a really bad day till I saw these pics. Damn!
ReplyDeleteYou rule for finding a pic of and info on the Golden Orchid. This thing was like some alien spacecraft to me when I used to see it as a kid.
ReplyDeleteStinson did not remember this, but I do: a guy who used to fly around in a one man helicopter - like, open cockpit, like a go-cart in the sky. Do you remember ever seeing this in Naples circa late 60s/70s?
Your blog is great. The picture of the Beach Store at night is a heartbreaker.
John Eder
ex-Naplesian
Thanks to Danny, Kim Kelsey and especially John Gray for the pictures!
ReplyDeleteSo, if my memory serves me right...
It was in the mid 60's living on Kelly Rd. (aka Bayshore Blvd.) Us little East Naples hoodlums/greezers... as we were called back in the day..Ha!
We use to ride our bikes every place that our feet could pedal around town. On the list was John Gray's car that was just around the corner on 41 from Kelly Rd for a look at the famed Golden Orchid/Hawaiian Pearl so we could see if his car was there. If not, it was up to Boat Haven to see if Johns car was at Boat Haven.
The air brush work and tail-fin/custom body work done by the man known as Mr. 'B'(Bill Hunt) was one of the highlights of our trek.
As kids, we could only dream of having a car as cool as a Batmobile, or a facsimile of, as we saw it at 9 or 10 years old in the late 60's. The Sea Turtle tanks at Boat Haven were next, then, off to get a Shake at the Beach Store on 3rd St. S or maybe a Cherry Coke at Brookside Bowl/Billards made by Alice Redenbaugh sraight from the the fountain, and then shoot some PinBall.
That was "The Real Naples" as a kid that I remember...
Was John Gray living in that trailer park opposite the original Macdonalds? I'm sure he moved around some. Has he been a mobile home man his whole life? In the photo, the trees behind the trailer look like Land Yacht Harbor scenery. My brother thinks he lived there in the early 70's. I hear Danny Wall tracked down Mr. Gray in the hospital. How would you like to be laid up in Naples Community Hospital and the first face you see after waking up from heart surgery is Danny Wall? A Fred Sanford Big One moment if there ever was one.
ReplyDelete--Gill & Vic
Way to go Homeboy you found the missing link for the Golden Orchid/Hawaiian Pearl car. Great photos and info there will be more to come one day I guess.
ReplyDeleteWay to go Homeboy you found the missing link for the Golden Orchid/Hawaiian Pearl car. Great photos and info there will be more to come one day I guess.
ReplyDeleteWell, Danny, you did well finding those great photos and a great story to go with it.
ReplyDeleteNow, your next challenge is to please find a photo of Ol' Paint, 1960s Naples' second-snazziest set of wheels!!!
--Jim
Well, Danny, you did well finding those great photos and a great story to go with it.
ReplyDeleteNow, your next challenge is to please find a photo of Ol' Paint, 1960s Naples' second-snazziest set of wheels!!!
--Jim
Wow! This is truly too much! I cannot believe that you are managing to locate the absolute 'greatest hits' of romping around Naples as a teenager!
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with those that mention that we need more stories, etc. from Mr. Gray! This might just be the golden opportunity for you to try putting up a short video on your blog!
...and now that someone has mentioned it above, we also need some shots of the sea turtle tanks at Boat Haven! (of did you have those early on?)
Most excellent work! You're the best!
Donald
We tried to rescue the the turtles. Free Willie syndrome. Three in the morning. Bad Idea. Three of us from Royal Harbor and environs: two in the tank to lift them out, and one guy by the pickup to catch the turtles and slide them onto the bed. Never got a grip on the turtles other than to notice they weighed too much to hoist, anyway. The water was close to sewage, so we ruined our Eagle's Nest clothes. German guy who ran an excursion boat off the Boat Haven dock blocked our truck with his green Jaguar and was going to call the cops. We told him we just wanted to release the turtles back in the wild. He thought we were going to cook them. We convinced him otherwise and he let us go. His boat was egged soon after.
ReplyDeleteMY FATHER ROBERT FRANKLIN FLUTY USED TO WORK WITH JOHN AT BOAT HAVEN BEFORE HE STARTED HIS OWN BUSINESS BOB'S APPLIANCE SERVICE. THAT WAS THE COOLEST CAR IN NAPLES. GAIL FLUTY
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing these pictures and thank you to the family. I was just telling my family the other about the Hawaiian Pearl after looking at the Turtle tanks in Boat Haven. My sister used to take me there to see the giant Turtles and part of those memories was seeing the Pearl all shiny and the talk of the town.
ReplyDelete