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?!
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!
That fire vine is lovely, I grew one of those myself on the back fence of my previous home. Interesting postcards.
ReplyDeleteI like them too. I never realized anyone might consider them a pest, but I guess any vine can get out of control.
DeleteA good collection of interesting postcards
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw your blogpost title I thought this would be about your neighbour for some reason.
ReplyDeleteThose postcards provide a fascinating peek into other people's lives back then.
Ha!! That would be a good nickname for the neighbors!
DeleteTidbits from peoples' lives are so interesting. I wonder what the writers would have thought if they could have known their words would end up on a world wide network of communication years later, instead of just being read by the person they sent the postcard to ...
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note, I had no idea how grapefruit grow. They grow on a stem?? Do oranges grow that way?? Sometimes the things I didn't know I didn't know make me cringe.
Grapefruit do grow in clusters, hence their name. They grow like grapes.
DeleteThanks, Ms Moon. I've looked up some images and the branches they grow on don't look strong enough to hold their weight!
DeleteCitrus stems are quite strong!
DeleteI don't feel too bad about putting these words out into the world, since the senders are probably long dead and they haven't written anything personal. (By nature postcards aren't very private, right?)
Oh no, I didn't mean it that way - I was thinking about the sense of wonder they might have at the idea of today's wide communication network!
DeleteThese old images from old post cards are just vintage and stellar
ReplyDeleteAren't they great? I always gravitate toward the postcard and pictures section of antique shops. (It's also a good way to buy and collect something without adding to household clutter!)
DeleteThe post cards are all so interesting, with their snippets of personal history.
ReplyDeleteI realise now that this is just an American difference in writing to what I know. From the second card, "Please write me & tell me about your trip", not 'Please write to me & tell you about your trip'.
Yes, that's a very common usage. In fact I never thought about it being unusual or noteworthy until you mentioned it months ago!
DeleteHow unusual that the steward on that train was a black man when all the passengers were white! Perhaps the lady reader was pausing to admire her book's cover design.
ReplyDeleteWorking as a porter on the railroads was a good career path for African-Americans at the time. It was a traditionally "black job," for want of a better term.
DeleteSome people wrote real messages not just sound bites, whole sentences. Maybe they also wrote letters, back when people did. These are really nice to see.
ReplyDeleteThe woman from Minneapolis had very good handwriting, too!
DeleteAre you sure the “red” pest wasn’t a “Commie”?
ReplyDeleteMy immediate thought was, No, that’s called a lawn.
If those are the beautiful gardens of Patrick Murphy's Candlelight Restaurant at Bahia Mar, Fort Lauderdale, on a photo opportunity, I’d say that’s definitely hyperbole (and a lie). Or maybe they just mean no one is attracted to the place for the food.
The redhead was reading I Am Curious Yellow and didn’t want anyone to know.
I guess V.M. Frank’s world-famousness didn’t last long. I can’t figure out what skating with a single bicycle wheel on each foot could possibly mean.
"I Am Curious Yellow" -- ha! As for the bicycle wheel, check out the video Limbus posted below. Now I understand!
DeleteCycle wheel skates were for women too, to strenghten their legs.
ReplyDeleteMen skating, short film:
https://www.tiktok.com/@lifearchives/video/6864947946048277765
Interesting! I have never seen anything like that!
DeleteThat is so neat - the skater in that clip is very graceful.
DeleteThis is wonderful. Thank you!
DeleteAh, the Sea Breeze with its Lawn Patio. And a phone in every room!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLove that one.
The only thing better would be carrying a phone with us at all times! But that will never happen. :)
DeleteThe woman reading the book must have had excellent eyesight, the book is so far from her eyes. Or maybe she was farsighted?
ReplyDeleteHa! Maybe she needs reading glasses.
DeleteThe Sea Breeze looks rather nice! (Probably a high rise condo now! That's what happened to lots of the mom-and-pops at Myrtle Beach.) Those are all fun one. I really love vintage postcards. I should do a post on some of mine someday -- you inspire me!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think a lot of those small motels are high-rises now. I tried to look up the site and it looks like wall-to-wall condos.
DeleteI LOVE this post! So Florida. First off- they tore down that house in Miami? That breaks my heart. I love that style. It's always been a dream of mine to live in a house like that.
ReplyDeleteFlame vine is a pest. It is just one of the many pests that call my yard "home".
I would stay at the Sea Breeze so happily. Again- torn down? Of course it is.
I don't think I would feel comfortable on that train. Those men in suits are a little scary to me. Plus I'd probably be jumping up and trying to help the porter pass out drinks or something. How could anyone read in such a small space with so much going on around them? I do like the jalousie windows.
And finally- the cycle-skating. Whoa! People really do odd things. I wonder why it's not still popular?
I know -- I'm sad about the demolished house, too. Looking at Google Street View shots taken in recent years, it seems it was in disrepair and in fact was boarded up for several years before finally being torn down.
DeleteI think that jalousie window at the end of the train car might not be real. It might just be a poster. Why would there be a window at the end of the car? Wouldn't it just look out at the next car behind?
These are great. That Sea Breeze motel makes me think of places my family stayed so many years ago. That skating thing has me perplexed. Skating with a bicycle wheel just makes no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the video link Limbus posted above. I was picturing a large bicycle wheel but apparently that's not what they mean.
DeleteMary Jane and Betty Jean, how very southern. Too bad they tore that house down but I guess it fell into disrepair since one of the pictures showed it boarded up. The Sea Breeze looked like a good lace to stay. And I loved the Sun Lounge with all the shades drawn.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it looks like the house had a rough life at the end, there. We can't have too much sun in the Sun Lounge!
DeleteI didn't really find that flower display very impressive - maybe you had to be there? :)
ReplyDeleteI know! If you're going to take a photo for a postcard, wouldn't you make sure you had a darned fine floral display going?
DeleteThese are great, Steve!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like them! :)
DeleteYou wonder about the people who actually held these post cards. What was the story behind things. That's where you begin as you try and put pieces together.
ReplyDeleteI love doing a little research to try to round out the story!
DeleteI'm a sucker for photographs, postcards and pondering their "meanings".
ReplyDeleteMe too! I can't resist these glimpses of the past.
DeleteThe postcards are fascinating. They provide a glimpse of the past and some of the present. The plants shown are still with us, but most everything else is history. The people shown are dressed up and nobody dresses like that today.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame people don't dress up more. On long flights everyone's in pajamas and sweat pants!
DeleteOld postcards and photos are fascinating. Some of my friends love those times when people were classy and dressed up to go anywhere, but (perhaps as a casual Pacific Northwesterner), I value comfort while traveling.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone -- comfort seems to trump all else these days. That woman in the train carriage probably had incredibly uncomfortable "foundation garments" on, too -- bra and girdle and that kind of thing.
DeleteI am VERY impressed with the grapefruit haul!! I may just take that pic down to my tree and have a little talk with it.
ReplyDeleteRight?! Twenty grapefruit on one stem IS a little crazy.
DeleteFabulous selection, Steve!!! My father-in-law was trained as a hotel manager and he taught me that a hotel patio is an outdoor area adjacent to a lounge and/or dining room where food and drink can be served. Silly me used to call it veranda. Not ever again.
ReplyDeleteOh, well, I guess by that definition, this would count as a patio! I think of a patio as a hard surface.
DeleteI knew a Helen & Cliff during that time, but they didn't live in Minneapolis. If it's grass, it's a lawn, not a patio. Your postcard posts are always fun!
ReplyDeleteHa! It would be funny if this were your Helen and Cliff.
DeleteThese Are So Cool Brother Steve - Thanx A Million For Sharing
ReplyDeleteBe Well ,
Cheers
P.S. I Believe Olga Girl Is Sniff Around For A Just Because Treat
Olga gets more treats than she knows what to do with these days. (Figuratively speaking -- of course she knows what to do with them. :) )
DeleteYou have forgotten a possibility for the reading lady in the Sun Lounge...she might be reading the newly unbanned 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and did not want anyone to see.
ReplyDeleteHa! Surreptitious reading in the Sun Lounge! Sounds like a blog post title.
Delete