Ah, Daytona Beach, Florida, land of sand and surf and numerous little motels which fell victim to the wrecking ball over the years. We'll get to that in just a moment, but first let me tell you about a friend of mine.
He was born John G. von Feilitzch in 1906 in Germany. I'm not sure when he came to America, but he eventually settled in the Daytona / Ormond Beach area and became a photographer.
In the summer of 1993, my family and I traveled to Daytona Beach. I brought along some old postcards of my 1960's family vacations and noticed the name John G. Von listed as photographer. I looked in the phone book, was amazed to find his name, and gave him a call.
At first, he probably thought I was a nut, but we later became "pen pals" and Mr. Von sent me dozens of old postcards made from his photographs for clients in the Daytona area. In return, I sent him books on various subjects in which he expressed interest.
In the summer of 1994, I paid him a visit. During our conversation, I mentioned that my mother had an old snapshot of my father and a group of fishermen after they returned to Inlet Harbor from a day out fishing.
Mr. Von told me he had been the official photographer for Inlet Harbor and, if I could identify the date and boat, he would look through his negatives and send me a print. (If you look closely, my father is holding a "ship's wheel" sign with the date. The other sign clearly shows the name of the boat.)
(Another snapshot of my dad, Harvey McCollum, taken on the same day. He caught one of the large amberjacks in back.)
So, sure enough, a few days later I received the photo below taken by John Von on August 12, 1965. You can't tell by these website reproductions, but Mr. Von's photo has much greater detail than the one above taken with the family Polaroid.
A photograph received 29 years after it was shot. What a coincidence that I happened to make friends with the photographer.
Mr. Von passed away in 1996, but I think he would be happy to know that some of his work lives on. I hope you enjoy the following pictures courtesy of Mr. John G. Von, Daytona Postcard Photographer Extraodinaire...!
The Anchorage Beach Colony "centrally located to shopping centers." After a day in Daytona, I'd be running to the shopping center for some Noxema for my sunburned skin.
Shamrock Apartment Motel, "one block from the Boardwalk and Bandshell." In other words, bring your earplugs.
The Cove Motel with "Muzak and laundromat on premises." Who needs Elvis when you've got Muzak? (The Cove is still in operation, same location and building.)
The Monterey featured "free TV and phones in rooms." They forgot to include a comma after the word TV.
Inside the Monterey, customers enjoyed "maid service." The Monterey Motel still exists as a high-rise property.
If you wanted television at the Monterey, you had to visit their modern "television lounge." Watch out for the Hindenburg!
Mr. O.B. Linkous, real estate salesman. (No, I didn't make that name up. It's on the back of the postcard.) I know quite a few middle-age men who, as teenagers, were on their ass in Daytona. Perhaps you're one of them?
Why not drive your Thunderbird to the Thunderbird? It features an "ocean-side patio, cocktail lounge, and elevator service (!)" According to google maps, this building at 500 North Atlantic Avenue still operates as a motel, but under a different name.
The El Caribe accepted the Diner's Club Card. The El Caribe is still in business at the same location, but with a much larger building.
The Vagabond Motel had rooms that could accommodate up to 8 people. Party on!
If your '56 Buick Special is about to rust out from all the driving up and down the beach, roll it through the Busy Bee Car Wash. "Cars automatically washed and waxed while you wait!"
At the Rainbow Court. Somebody please stop those kids on the balcony before they jump!
The exotic Ormond Biltmore Apartments, "on the brim of the Blue Atlantic" featuring a "private shuffleboard court." If you look closely, you can see Hope and Crosby.
The Boynton Seaside Villas offer "you tropical splendor in an enchanting setting of shade-giving Floridian palms." Is that Dorothy Lamour sitting there?
If the Piedmont Driving Club won't accept you, you can always go to the Esquire Beach Motel and enjoy a "room TV with radio and hi-fi music."
The Spindrift is "conveniently located for fishing camps and amusements." Now we're talkin'.
Remember the Summit Motor Inn with a "recreation mezzanine with color TV, billiards, and game tables?" Makes you wish Frank Gehry would stop with the aluminum siding and bring back googie architecture. This property is still in operation under a different name, but subsequent owners have hidden all the googie with boring stucco additions.
Come back, little de Beaux Cottages! Seaside is too expensive!
The Holland Manor Motel urged you to "swim, fish, and play to your hearts content!" There's James Dean leaning on his chickie-run Ford from "Rebel Without A Cause."
Remember the Steak N Shake at 110 South Ocean Avenue? Who cares about HDL levels anyway?
The Memory Lane Motel was "directly on the World's Most Famous Beach, overlooking the ocean." Is that a Packard or Studebaker in the driveway?
The Sanibel Hotel claimed to offer "luxury at moderate prices, in the center of all activities, with paved off-street parking at your door."
Tuley's was "modern and facing the ocean." I guess that meant you'd have to walk across the highway as your feet blistered on the hot pavement.
That looks like Ward Cleaver's car at the Lyndhurst Hotel. I wonder if he's with June? Hmmm.
If you were lucky enough to stay at the Tropicana Motel, you'd get "carpeting throughout, circulating hot water heat, TV lounge, sun deck, and a tropical patio." There's that term "TV lounge" again. Reminds me of watching TV at my dorm in the early '70s.
The Coral Court Motel claimed to have an A&P supermarket across the street. I suspect the Coral Court Motel went the way of the A&P.
Who cares about SPF ratings when you've got large umbrellas courtesy of the Tropical Manor Motel?
At the Copa... Copacabana you could use your BankAmeriCard or MasterCharge! Only 75 miles to Disney World!
The downtown Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge was "only three-fourths mile from jai-alai and the dog track." Just think how Chattooga County would grow with its own jai-alai court or dog track. Anyone willing to sign a petition?
Seaside Holiday Cottages. I think they filmed "The Truman Show" here.
The ladies on the left are discussing the latest Troy Donahue movie. The Sand Castles Motel "near shops, good restaurants, and fishing pier."
The Daytona Sands Motel was a "beautiful, new luxury motel with heated swimming pool, shuffleboard, and central air conditioning."
The Treasure Island Motel's retaining wall says it all: heated pool, coffee shop, and air conditioning.
We stayed at the Imperial Beach Motel back in 1961.
The Newport Beach Motel was in adjacent Ormond Beach. It's still in operation as a budget hotel.
Somebody call Roy Rogers! Trigger has escaped and must have rabies! And don't let him check into the Maverick!
More Maverick. They don't make lamps like that anymore.
OK, this is the last of the Maverick. It featured "direct dial telephones, color TV, refrigerators in all rooms, background music, and marble vanities and lavatories." Sounds like Versailles to me! And, like Versailles, the Maverick still stands proudly, but without Trigger and the large cow head emblem.
We stayed at the Riviera Beach Motel during our August 1965 vacation. This property is still in operation, but under another name.
Here's a photo I took in 1965 which captures the scene more realistically than a postcard.
I hope you enjoyed this diversion to the Daytona Beach of long ago thanks to the postcard photography of my friend, Mr. John Von.
Update I....a reply from a viewer in Florida:
I came across your delightful web site while googling "John G. Von". Thanks for the pleasure.
I received a photo some years ago of the store I co-operate. Now a boat store but the original photo was from "John G. Von Studio" of the same property possible mid 60's as a A&P grocery store. The photo came from a poorly attired gentleman on a bicycle. He had stopped and was checking out the building while looking at something he carried. This went on for awhile as I was mistakenly thinking "another street person looking for a handout".....
He actually was trying to match photos he had saved from cleaning out a widow's garage to the actual building. We prize this photo and often share the shot with those that shopped the A&P or even worked inside.
Monica Petersohn
Bluewater Boats
730 U.S. 1
Holly Hill, Florida
Thanks, Monica, for sharing!
Update II from Donnie Moses of Atlantic Beach, Florida...
I remember almost every one of those motels as my family and many other families in our community would spend at least one week every summer there beginning in the early 1960s, progressing to a week early in the summer and a week later in the summer by the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It will come as a surprise to some to learn that we lived just 90 miles away in Jacksonville yet went to Daytona to vacation instead of the beaches in the Jacksonville area.
In 1966 the Holiday Shores Motel held a watermelon eating contest for the kids. Photographer John Von was there to document the event and shot the above photograph and the ones that follow.
Photo contributor Donnie Moses, poised to attack a large slide of watermelon.
The Holiday Shores Motel also sponsored a pie eating contest.
Donnie writes...
I am the one on the right, celebrating my victory in the Watermelon Eating Contest with my cousin Tommy. Yes, that's a baby alligator my cousin Phyllis is holding on the left, her prize for having won the Pie Eating Contest or something.
Evidently, Mr. Von had been commissioned by the motel operator to cover the contests and if you wanted to buy the photos afterwards, he would make them available. What a brilliant photographer he was. This photo (above) is 45 years old and looks like a high-definition image.
You might remember the Holiday Shores Motel. It was next to the Silver Beach Inn at the intersection of Silver Beach and Atlantic.
Many thanks to Donnie Moses for sharing his photographs and memories of a wonderful time and place.