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Looking Back - Postcards

Now it's Riverside Park. Back in 1959, the postmark date of this postcard sent to friends back in Fredonia, N.Y., it was Imperial River Court in downtown Bonita Springs. The Liles Hotel, bottom left, has been rescued and refurbished as a civic meeting place, though it is no longer a hotel. The same is true of the cottages, which may be used as office space by charitable groups. The city park site is across Old 41 from the Imperial Landing project making headlines these days.

Courtesy Dorothy Dronkers

Now it's Riverside Park. Back in 1959, the postmark date of this postcard sent to friends back in Fredonia, N.Y., it was Imperial River Court in downtown Bonita Springs. The Liles Hotel, bottom left, has been rescued and refurbished as a civic meeting place, though it is no longer a hotel. The same is true of the cottages, which may be used as office space by charitable groups. The city park site is across Old 41 from the Imperial Landing project making headlines these days.

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  • Anyone for swimming? They surely don't look dressed for tennis, at least by today's standards. This undated promotional Naples postcard was part of a souvenir package put out by the Edwin M. Watson real estate firm.
  • This postcard, featuring a photograph by Mike Lee, touts Golden Gate as Collier County's city of the future.
  • Built in 1924 and shuttered since 1998, Bonita Springs' Shangri-La has the city's namesake natural waters on its grounds. This undated postcard says on the back: 'An exquisite, year-round, vacation and health resort. The ideal place for vacationing, fasting, health rejuvenation, weight control, delightful vegetarian-hygienic meals. Pool. Boating. Gulf beaches. Write for free brochure ... Enclose $1.00 for new book 'Fasting Can Save Your Life.' ' Today, wondering what will happen next at Shangri-La is as popular in Bonita as guessing what will be built next to the dog track.
  • In its heyday, Monroe Station looked like this — as captured on a 1970s postcard shared by reader Alvin Lederer. The National Park Service announced plans to restore the outpost on U.S. 41 East. It was one of a string of stops — including Belle Meade, Royal Palm, Fakahatchee, Turner River and Paolita — between Naples and Miami for Tamiami Trail travelers to get gas and food from 1928 until closing in the early 1990s. Trivia: Monroe Station was in the Danny Glover/Joe Pesci movie 'Gone Fishin'' in 1995.
  • The Fountain of the Turtles, originally from Rome, at the Ringling Art Museum in Sarasota.
  • Four words tell it all — Greetings from Tampa, Florida.
  • Though Collier County's founder completed the highway featured here in 1928, the Naples area didn't register on this list of notable spots.
  • It's an old view of a downtown that is being redeveloped. But it's not Naples. It's downtown Fort Myers. We're guessing this postcard, officially undated, is circa 1950s.
  • Lots of today's area residents will feel they saw this for themselves before the old Swamp Buggy Lounge was razed in 2004 to make way for a new Orion Bank on U.S. 41 one block north of the Four Corners in Naples. But this view is older than it looks. The spot had been in the booze business, in one building or another, since 1931. When this postcard was made — circa 1960s? — the place was part of the local Nick's Liquors chain. Note the old Sinclair gas station peering in at left.
  • Yes, it's an old postcard; it just looks new because the Ochopee Post Office does not change much, mostly because there is not much to change. The so-called nation's smallest post office is on U.S. 41 about 35 miles east of Naples and 70 miles west of Miami. The tiny office is a converted shed of a general store that housed the area's first post office in 1932 and burned down 21 years later. The sign to the left of the post office says it doubled as a Trailways Bus Depot when this undated postcard photo was made.
  • Believe it or not, this is the La Playa resort on Vanderbilt Beach in 1968, long before the facelifts that made it what it is today and the parking lot/tennis court was turned into a parking garage. The year of this scene: 1968. The resort was a 'motor inn' at the time.
  • The old postcard here seems simple enough. We’ve seen ones like it many times before. But for Phyllis Mathers of Naples, it brings back a great story and great memories. Here is the letter she sent to us with the card: The year was 1965. I was in line at the register in the former Grant’s store (now Marshall’s and Office Depot at Naples Shopping Center) perusing the postcard rack. The red and white sail in the picture caught my eye, and the “1600” on the sail confirmed the fact that the boat was my son Shannon’s. On closer examination, I realized the gathering on the beach was indeed our friends and family. That’s Shannon sitting down facing the Gulf and the Ewing family boys, John and Joe, sitting beside him. The two girls lying down are Shannon’s cousins. The girl soaking up the sun on the right is Beckie Brack. Apparently they can take your picture and print it without getting permission, and this particular picture was on note cards and a calendar. We cherish the memory of all the hours on the beach and sailing.
  • This postcard, featuring a photograph by Mike Lee, touts Golden Gate as Collier County's city of the future.
  • At this busy time of year, when roads and parking are stressed to the max, this 1958 postcard of downtown Naples' Fifth Avenue South looks like a place you would like to be. This card is common in collector circles, but visitors always get a kick out of seeing it.
  • This undated postcard says Cove Standard Service was at Naples’ Eighth Street and 11th Avenue South — 'adjacent to City Pier and Sports Spot Marina.' However, the scene seems to more resemble U.S. 41 in the heart of the city. Longtime residents differ on whether they recall a gas station by Crayton Cove — in addition to the stations at Four Corners and the one that became The Mole Hole on Third Street — yet there are no county records to that effect. Nevertheless, the picture-postcard station offered 'wash and polish and free pickup and delivery.' Bob Adams was the manager. Wanda Rimes Rodriguez of Naples, whose parents — Ronnie and Evelyn Rimes, were the owners and operators of the Crayton Cove Standard Oil station in the early 1960s, settles the debate. The station was located at the corner of 12th Avenue South and Eighth Street South, indeed in Crayton Cove.
  • Before there were plans for fancy shops and condos, and before bait shrimp were kept in this holding tank, Boat Haven Marina on U.S. 41 East kept now-protected loggerhead turtles on display. This is the front of an undated postcard that says, 'Visit America's finest small boat marina located on Naples Bay.'
  • The year is 1927. The scene is the Naples Depot as workers add the finishing touches. The scene is from a postcard issued by the Collier County Museum, which is making the depot part of its countywide network of historic preservation and storytelling.
  • Jungle Larry collected wild creatures for many years in many lands. He was formerly with Frank 'Bring 'Em Back Alive' Buck. Millions saw Jungle Larry on TV and at Cedar Point, Ohio, and also Naples-on-the-Gulf, Florida. This undated promotional Naples postcard was part of a souvenir package put out by the Edwin M. Watson real estate firm.
  • 'Municipal Yacht Basin. Crayton Cove has facilities to accommodate more than one hundred luxury yachts, charter boats and smaller craft.' This undated promotional Naples postcard was part of a souvenir package put out by the Edwin M. Watson real estate firm.
  • This undated promotional Naples postcard was part of a souvenir package put out by the Edwin M. Watson real estate firm. Caption: Broad Avenue in the heart of downtown Naples. This is only one of many beautiful palm-lined streets for which Naples is famed.
  • 'Lavish landscaping. Naples' climate is ideal for abundant growth of every tropical planting — orchids, bougainvillea, poinsettia, jasmine and gardenia.' This undated promotional Naples postcard was part of a souvenir package put out by the Edwin M. Watson real estate firm.
  • When the center of Naples was the center of Collier County, this was the headquarters or flagship branch of the county public library system; the headquarters is now where the growth is, in North Naples on Orange Blossom Boulevard. Emergency medical helicopters used to land on an open field behind it, en route to Naples Community Hospital. The expansion and facelift that library patrons see today at the Central Avenue branch was completed in 1992.
  • Until the early 1980s it was called Kelly Road. Now it is Bayshore Drive. But the name of the mobile home park featured in this undated postcard has not changed. It’s still Moorhead Manor, shown in this view looking east, with the entry off Bayshore in foreground.
  • The appeal was direct in this 1970 postcard, from the collection of Nina Webber of Cape Cod, Mass., and Naples. These days sea oats that thick are hard to find around here — if the photo were made in Southwest Florida at all.
  • Let's go to the beach — and get some shade from the rays! This is how it was done at the Naples Pier in the early days of Naples, according to a 1950 postcard shared by Paul Stevens.
  • The Alvarez Packing House was once open like the one pictured here on this vintage postcard, titled 'Packing oranges in South Florida,' but the family enclosed it because it was too cold to work there in the winter.
  • Old postcards of Naples paint a picture of Broad Avenue South through the years. This undated post card shows the westward view from Gulfshore Boulevard.
  • Old postcards of Naples paint a picture of Broad Avenue South through the years. This undated post card shows the westward view from Gulfshore Boulevard.
  • Old postcards of Naples paint a picture of Broad Avenue South through the years. This undated post card shows the westward view from Gulfshore Boulevard.
  • Here is a seldom-seen scene from Naples' olden days. The post card, shared by Paul Stevens of Naples, shows the Bayshore Hotel, looking west from today's Naples City Dock at 12th Avenue South. The hotel opened in 1921 and burned down in 1934. The city water tower came down in the 1960s. The water tower in the background belonged to the Naples Hotel, where the Plaza on Third Street is today. The Dock restaurant would be at center, right.
  • Shuffleboard action — Local postcards to family and friends back home used to feature life's simpler pleasures. This undated souvenir shows shuffleboard action at the former Keewaydin Club, south of Naples' Port Royal and Gordon Pass. It was a winter retreat for the low-key rich and famous from 1935 to 1995; now it is an enclave of luxury mega-homes, still accessible only by boat. A 1995 Daily News story said: 'The name Keewaydin was taken from 'Song of Hiawatha,' a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Indian word means northwest or homeward-bound wind, according to a short history of the club prepared in 1992 for the Collier County Historical Society. 'The concept for the Keewaydin clubs was initiated in 1893, beginning a network of summer camps that reached their peak in the 1930s. 'A lawyer named Chestman Kittridge convinced the original Keewaydin Camp in Ontario to expand its reach to Southwest Florida. He envisioned the Keewaydin Club in Naples as a resort where parents could bring their children for a respite from the harsh northern winters. He started in 1935 with a lodge and two cottages and established a school for the children of island vacationers.'
  • 'This 1940s postcard could have been captioned 'American Gothic — Naples,'' says Lynne Frazer, author of a compilation of local images from 1940 to 1970. 'The truck on the pier, and the day's impressive catch, hint at the laid-back atmosphere of the small town, where fishing and the beach were the biggest — and perhaps only — attractions.'
  • This postcard, from 1971, shows that Naples' landmark Lowdermilk Park hasn't changed much over the years. The beachfront site with its Polynesian-flavor picnic/dining/restroom hut still looks much the same despite facelifts and expansions over the years on Gulf Shore Boulevard North.
  • Now it's Riverside Park. Back in 1959, the postmark date of this postcard sent to friends back in Fredonia, N.Y., it was Imperial River Court in downtown Bonita Springs. The Liles Hotel, bottom left, has been rescued and refurbished as a civic meeting place, though it is no longer a hotel. The same is true of the cottages, which may be used as office space by charitable groups. The city park site is across Old 41 from the Imperial Landing project making headlines these days.
  • The postcard is undated, but it looks at least 50 years old. The scene is the Rexall Store, were Naples Fifth Avenue Pharmacy operated at Fifth and Eighth Street, a block west of U.S. 41, until 2006. Now, it's Rossopomodoro Italian restaurant.
  • It's still there. Though downsized today, the Royal Palm Hammock fuel outpost remains at U.S. 41 East — called Tamiami Trail and Route 94 here — and State Route 92, 17 miles south of Naples. A side building that has hosted restaurants and shops would be off the right side of this undated postcard scene.
  • The Gordon Pass Touring and Fish Camp (with Keewaydin Island visible in the background, to the south) has been replaced by a Gulf-front mega mansion.
  • Trails End Motor Hotel, a block north of the Four Corners, has been razed for a residential/commercial project called Trails End.
  • Undated postcard shows the pharmacy — with the Rexall sign intact — looking southwest.
  • Golden Lion Inn — Longtime Collier County resident and history buff Alvin Lederer shares this undated postcard of the Golden Lion Inn. 'It was the Holiday Inn in the Everglades,' he writes. 'Now the National Park Service uses it as a rangers headquarters. During the days of pot smuggling, the Golden Lion was a busy place with DEA agents in three-piece suits trying to catch locals selling their haul in the lounge. I am told it was quite comical.'
  • Golden Lion Inn — Longtime Collier County resident and history buff Alvin Lederer shares this undated postcard of the Golden Lion Inn. 'It was the Holiday Inn in the Everglades,' he writes. 'Now the National Park Service uses it as a rangers headquarters. During the days of pot smuggling, the Golden Lion was a busy place with DEA agents in three-piece suits trying to catch locals selling their haul in the lounge. I am told it was quite comical.'
  • Beautiful, tropical Naples-on-the-Gulf - for Florida sunshine living. This would have been the front cover of the postcard booklet. Edwin.M. Watson's real estate firm created an 11x14 cm souvenir viewbook, produced by postcard publisher Florida Speaks Corporation, containing 13 images of Naples and Southwest Florida. E.M. Watson / State Archives of Florida

Enjoy these postcards that depict scenes of Southwest Florida's past.

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