The Breckenridge Resort Hotel in St. Pete Beach.
We stayed here one year at Christmas time, and while we like the Gulf Coast's beaches and quiet surf, it was a pretty boring place for 3 children, and not much of a "resort". The beach card is from the Marco Island Hotel and Villas also on the Gulf Coast, though more southerly. This was a lovely place and we enjoyed the quaintness of the shopping area and small town. That was back in the '80's and I am told it has changed considerably since we were there. On the left is the Bon Aire Hotel in St. Pete. The card says " Every room Air Conditioned.....Central Heating Plant. 200 feet of private beach. Open the year 'round. Mr and Mrs. William Curotto, Owners-Managers." The card is dated 8-24-53. 
The World's Largest Bandshell, in Daytona Beach. This card was mailed to my mom on March 15, 1954; unfortunately the writer mentions cold and rainy weather. Not what you want to hear from there, is it? Fishing off John's Pass Bridge in St. Petersburg. Mailed in August 1953, when stamps were 2 cents!
No visit to Florida is complete (says the card) without a stop at world-famed Silver Springs, midway between Tampa and Jacksonville. The card shows a famous "horse shoe palm". This one was mailed 2-10-53.
Howard Johnson's
Motor Lodge in Miami Beach was where my son and his wife-to-be stayed on a trip in 1985. The other two cards from Miami are more recent. The top one shows the famous Fontainebleu Hilton and the lower one is the Marriott on Biscayne Bay and the Omni Complex. The bottom set of cards are two from Walt Disney World, top showing the Dolphin Hotel, in which I stayed for a convention in 1992, and the one of Cinderella's Castle I sent to my parents in 1979. We took the children there at Christmas time. The bottom left card is in honor of Poopie
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who said recently that she used to work with stained glass. I also did stained glass, and when we went to Florida several years ago, we were taken to Winter Park, to the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Check it out:
This card shows a Favrile glass mosaic and marble chapel, created by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1892 for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It is magnificent and I highly recommend a visit here if you are nearby.
I apologize that this post is all over the place photo-wise. I scanned the cards and Blogger kept moving them around so that when I added the written copy, it was not beside the card it was meant for. Hope you can sort through it all.
Lovely cards. I've only been to Florida once, but I enjoyed it. My dream is to rent a cottage on Sanibel Island some day.
ReplyDeleteMichele sent me tonight.
Blogger gets me!!! LOL! But I was able to follow it anyway Judy...LOVE those old postcards..It brings back memories of other times and other era's...Amazing that you have some from 1953 or so...!
ReplyDeleteMore display cabinets needed!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how these places have built up now. I don't think there are any "motel's" left anymore are there? We used to go to Carolina Beach in NC when I was a kid. It was so open and spacious but now...
ReplyDeleteI actually like the "postcard shuffle" layout you have here. Feels like a collage of postcards :)
The west coast of Florida has few of the old motels left. Everything around here is being bought up and torn down for pricey condos and super luxury hotels. At least Miami Beach still has some of its landmarks. There is little of the "old Florida" of the 1950's left unless you go inland to Cypress Gardens or Silver Springs.
ReplyDeleteI've travelled a lot to many states, but I have never been to Florida. I must go there one of these days!
ReplyDeleteI sorta sorted it. I guess this was long before kudzu ate everything, right?
ReplyDeleteI was a babe in arms in August of 1953. I couldn't get blogger to let me enlarge the stained glass one...it's gorgeous. I meant to get here sooner but have been putting lights on tress and doghouses. I found another old book of really old pictures in a box here today. I feel some scanning coming on this holiday season.
ReplyDeleteThis probably got sent twice. Everything I touch is doing weird things tonight. Just remove one of these Judy.
I was just a babe in arms in August of 1953. These are great. With all the writing on the cards you can do so much better making a family history. We have several old pictures and Mom doesn't know who they were. Hopefully, she can get her Aunt Josie to look at them soon. She is the last of the kids living who could sort it all out.
ReplyDeleteAnd the little cartoon above? That is too cute.
I tried this twice earlier and Blogger ate the comments. Third times the charm.
Oh my, Howard Johnson's- they made the best hotdogs outside of delis....
ReplyDeleteI've even been to some of the places you mention but have very little memorabilia. Enjoyed as always.
Sigh...Florida. Makes me want to be there. Now.
ReplyDeleteI love your virtual trips.
Now that I look at this again, I am amazed at how each image and accompanying story stands alone, almost like a time capsule. From the photographic style to the font to landscape and the cars parked outside, I feel as if I'm travelling through the ages as I flip through them.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for this, Judy....your vision rocks.