The Red Pest and a Wheel-Skater

I mentioned antique shopping a couple of times on my recent trip to Florida, and in addition to a stack of old photos I also bought some old postcards. (Well, to be completely accurate, Mary Moon's daughter Jessie bought a few of them for me.) They always make a good blog post!

Above, mailed Aug. 20, 1936 from Jacksonville:
"Dear Mary Jane -- This is the same red pest. I sure miss camp, do you? Please write me & tell me about your trip. I'm sure I would enjoy it. -- Betty Jean"

The card depicts the flame vine, Bignonia venusta, presumably what Betty Jean is calling a "red pest." At the time, Mary Jane lived in this house in Miami, where the card was sent. Google Street View shows vines on the landscaping even just a few years ago, right before the house was torn down. Could it be the red pest?!

Mailed from Sarasota to West Reading, Pa., June 29, 1967:
"Dear Neighbor -- Summer is here and I don't like it. Have purchased an air conditioner so I have some relief but I prefer fresh air. We have had much rain but not for the last week so things are dry again. I water your tree orchid and vine when I do mine. Have a wonderful summer. I am going to Connecticut in September. Best wishes -- Edith Bartlett"

This unmailed card, from the Sea Breeze Motel in Miami Beach, promises "tastefully decorated bedrooms and efficiencies" with air conditioning, free TV and a telephone in every room -- not to mention the "spacious all-grass patio." (Can a patio be grass? Wouldn't that make it a lawn?)

From what I can tell online, the Sea Breeze appears to have been torn down.

Mailed from Fort Lauderdale to Minneapolis, March 22, 1967:
"Hi -- Down in beautiful, wonderful Florida. Arrived last Wednesday and rented the same apartment on the inter-coastal that we had 4 years ago when the Reicherts were with us. The weather is warm, although we have had a couple of cool days the first few days we were here. Driving to Marathon, Fla., 150 miles south of here, tomorrow to meet friends from back home who are wintering there. Hope we can see you when we get home. We'll be back on the 3rd or 4th of April. -- Helen & Cliff"

According to the card's slightly hyperbolic caption, "The constantly changing flower displays attract thousands to the beautiful gardens at Patrick Murphy's Candlelight Restaurant at Bahia Mar, Fort Lauderdale."

This never-used card depicts "the Sun Lounge -- delightful, patio-like club car on Seaboard Railroad's Silver Meteor, between New York and Florida." Oh, for the days when people dressed up to travel. That woman at lower right looks like she's not thrilled with that book. She can't quite hold it open.

This one wasn't mailed either, and looks like someone's personal photo that was made into a postcard during processing. There's a handwritten note on the back:
"A bunch of 20 grapefruit on one stem from a grove near here. The man holding the two, one in each hand, is the father of V. M. Franks, the world-famous trick skater. We saw him one night at Keith's skating on a single bicycle wheel on each foot."

I can't find anything online about V. M. Franks, and I can't quite picture the bicycle wheel thing, so that will remain forever a mystery. But at least we have visuals of the grapefruit!