USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C o m mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n t a Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 18, No. 33
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
August 22, 2018
1 Section, 8 Pages
Pensacola Icons: What Landmarks Define Our Cit y?
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espite Pensacola’s small town feel, our city is filled with iconic landmarks and a rich history. The “Icons of Pensacola” exhibit in the T.T. Wentworth museum, which opened July 10, tackles some of this history by focusing in on six undeniably Pensacola icons. The icons featured include three which still exist: the Blue Angels, the Graffiti Bridge and the Sailfish Sign, and three that are no longer around: the Norwegian Seaman’s Church, the Pensacola Dairy Company, and the Hotel San Carlos. When asked about their choices of icons, the chief curator at the UWF Historic Trust, Lowell Bassett, said: “With each of these six we tried to find something that was relatable, something that you didn’t have to be a local to appreciate. It was incredibly hard to narrow it down to just six. I think we had over fifty ideas initially. We had to really look and figure out which ones offered the best look at Pensacola’s history.” The exhibit, on the 3rd floor of the museum, will run until Oct. 31. Its arrangement is meant to give visitors freedom to engage with it in whatever way they want. “We kind of had an open floor plan, so the idea is that when you come in, the sightlines can pull you in any direction, and you can go towards whatever most interests you,” said Bassett. One way the sightlines could take us is towards the large portrait of a Norwegian man on the wall. His eyes seem to be following you, beckoning you to come look. The Norwegian Seaman’s church is the most obscure icon of the six, as very few recall it in living memory. It was a prominent Protestant church and a cultural institution in Pensacola during its time of operation from the late
19th century up until it was torn down in 1934. “The unique thing about the church was how difficult it was to find anything, any artifacts at all, relating to it. It was this massive stone building— we couldn’t even find a brick. Not one. And one of the few people we could find who recall it was a woman in her mid 80s, who recalled her grandparents attending the church.” The church was part of the large Norwegian presence that existed at the time. It was a place where sailors could go to find literature to read via a worldwide library system of seaman’s churches, where they could socialize with other sailors, where they could both send and receive letters from home, and where they could worship. There was a massive Christmas celebration held by the church, in which sailors would often receive Christmas gifts all the way from Europe to open here in Pensacola. Music that would have been sung at the church plays at the exhibit, performed by a Norwegian group. Eventually however, the Norwegian population of Pensacola left, leaving few behind. Those who remained moved to what is now Immanuel Lutheran Church
By Rita Johnson • Photo by Richard Rodriguez
for their place of worship, and memory of the church faded with the Norwegian population. Another Pensacola icon which has faded into history is the Pensacola Dairy Company. The Dairy Bar, owned by the company, had an iconic milk bottle on the top of the building, what Bassett calls “mimetic architecture,” or architecture that signals what a place was selling. In this case, the restaurants main fare was all things dairy. Built in 1926, initially the restaurant was strictly dairy, selling ice cream, milk, and cream, as well as delivering milk; it later evolved into a drive-in style restaurant. It was torn down in the 1970s however, to make way for the I-10 off ramp by the Bay Center. The museum features milk bottles and bottle caps from the Dairy Bar, as well as laminated examples of the old menus, in addition to an advertisement for the sale of milk for World War II, both of which you can pick up and read for yourself. The Hotel San Carlos is the last of the lost icons. The tone Bassett takes when talking of it is bittersweet, it is clear how much of a loss the tearing down of this hotel was. “It was one of those things that was done to really put us on the map,” said Bassett. In its heyday there were advertisements as far north as Chicago for the Hotel San Carlos, and it was the premier destination if you were having any sort of formal event in Pensacola. The hotel was torn down in 1993, after it fell into disrepair in the 60s and through the 70s, but is missed by many now. Bassett
talked of its demolition, saying, “People really hated to see it torn down. Even people who supported it when it was torn down are kicking themselves now for removing it, because it was one of these places that any other city would have found a way to support it, to revitalize it. There were a lot of ideas on the table when it was torn down, but unfortunately at the time there just wasn’t the foresight to preserve it.” The most prominent item on display for the hotel is one of the old bell-hops desks, which was restored by a member of the Historic Trust to how it would have looked in its glory days. Other artifacts, such as old keys, silverware and an ashtray with special matches are on display as well. The most prominent of the other three still existing icons is the Blue Angels. Undoubtedly a Pensacola legend, the world famous Navy flight demonstration team is the pride of Pensacola. A video detailing the experiences of recently retired Blue Angel pilot Matthew Suyderhoud provides fascinating insight into the group and the amount of skill that it takes to be a Blue Angel. The flight suits on display are on loan from two former Blue Angel pilots. Bassett expressed particular delight in having been able to get a flight suit helmet. “You see the flight suits all the time, but not usually the helmets. We were very excited to have gotten this one.” The Graffiti Bridge and the Sailfish Sign are the two other existing icons that many think of as going hand-in-hand, since you
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often have to pass under both in order to get to the beach. The 17th Avenue overpass, known lovingly as the Graffiti Bridge, was once thought of as a major issue. The graffiti on the bridge was regarded as projecting an undesirable image. For many years, ramping up in the 1980s, locals tried to find a way to combat graffiti on the bridge. In 2008, it was decriminalized, cementing the bridge’s status as an everchanging iconic Pensacola landmark. The title of an informative plaque at the exhibit says it best: “From Eyesore to Icon.” The Graffiti Bridge display is by far the most unique one, going out of its way to catch your eye. The wall art was done by artist Poppy Garcia, and the display features pages from Rachel Pongetti’s book, “The Pensacola Graffiti Bridge Project,” where in 2011 she photographed the Graffiti Bridge every day for 365 days. The Sailfish Sign, commissioned by the Santa Rosa Island Authority in the 1950s was originally on Palafox, on top of Escambia Motors. In 1962 it was moved to the location near the Bob Sikes Memorial Bridge, and the original sign was replaced by a new one in 2003. On display is part of the original sign. “We have the original sailfish sign, so the pieces you see up there are the original… we’re one of the only places where you can get up close and personal with it,” said Bassett. In the end, Bassett hopes visitors leave the exhibit with a better understanding of the interesting story of Pensacola’s history.
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