The Captain’s Table was seafood restaurant located on Hollywood Road and Toledo Ave in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. The restaurant, with a nautical-themed decor opened in July 1963.
The building was erected in the shape of a ship and the entrance, which faced the Atlantic Ocean, was at the “bow” of the “ship.” There were three decks, all with an ocean view.
It should come as no surprise that the menu was mostly seafood, with a beef and meats section. Family style dinners were served from 5to 9pm.
I don’t know the date on this menu. I am guessing it is from the late 60s or early 70s. The Captain’s Table closed in 2005.
It’s time for the third installment of slides from the KTLA Channel 5 archives. This week focuses on the graphics that aired before KTLA aired a movie or for one of their early or late programs.
A decade ago I purchased a box of slides from an online auction. The photos, from the 50s-80s were taken by a semi-professional photographer named C.H Ford from Seattle, Washington. There are hundreds of fantastic photos from Seattle, Canada and places continental.
For this Found (Ford) Photo Friday, I though it would be fun to share some of his photos of Seattle.
Seattle Skyline – ca. 1956
2. Alweg Monorail – Summer 1964
3. Meet the Apollo 12 Astronauts – January 3, 1970
4. Fremont Bridge ‘The Trailer’ – July, 1970
5. Smith Cove/Pier 91 – April 1970
6. View of the World’s Fair – Summer 1962
7. View from the Space Needle – Labor Day, 1969
8. View of the Space Needle – December, 1969
9. Night Scene on 4th Avenue (show the Bon Marche Christmas Lights) – 1950s
10. 3026 12th Avenue West – date unknown
11. Warshal’s Sporting Goods – Sometime in 1969
12. U.S. Science Pavilion arches with Space Needle behind – Summer 1962
In August 1967, Glen W. Bell Jr., chairman of Taco Bell Inc., opened regional headquarters for the chain at 4901r 34 St. N. in St. Petersburg, and announced plans to open franchise locations throughout Florida.
Within weeks ads started appearing northern Florida papers selling the concept of Taco Bell:
SECURE YOUR FUTURE WITH TACO BELL America’s fastest growing Mexican Food Drive-In Restaurant Chain offers you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! PRIDE: You prepare and serve authentic and delicious Mexican food exclusively. You own the most unique and beautifully designed Mexican Hacienda-style restaurant. SUCCESS: Over 150 franchised units opened in the past 24 months with more opening all over the nation PROFITS: The exclusivity of the menu and the uniqueness of the restaurant takes it out of the realm of competition. Earnings are excellent and unlimited! REQUIREMENTS: The people we select to own a Taco Bell Franchise are able to invest $24,000 in a business with a substantial return, and have the desire to be independent and grow . in their own business. AREAS AVAILABLE Tampa, Pensacola, West Palm Beach. Ft. Pierce, Lakeland, Gainesville. Jacksonville, and Tallahassee. For Complete Information Write: TACO BELL 4901 34th Street, North St. Petersburg, Fla. 33714
December 14, 1967 a new location opened. The Taco Bell located at 5th Avenue North and 34th St. in St. Petersburg was the first Taco Bell built in the state and the 200th location overall since the company’s inception in 1947.
Tampa Bay Times – November 23, 1967
This was just the start. On December 20th, a Tampa Bay Times article entitled “Taco Tycoon Centers in St. Petersburg”, written by Don Teverbaugh, provided a glimpse in to the mindset of Glen Bell and the company: Glen W. Bell Jr. knew about St. Petersburg was the old bit about the green benches and the shuffleboard courts and he came here by sheer chance he was on his way to Sarasota. But Bell liked what he saw in St. Petersburg and decided this was where he wanted his family to live and where he wanted to expand his business. Bell, a husky ex-marine with a shy smile, is the owner and brains behind one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the nation Taco Bell Inc. In the past year, Taco Bell has jumped from 100 to 200 franchisee! units in operation. This year they will have a sales volume of more than $200-million, he says. Like the McDonald’s Hamburger chain, Bell got his start in San Bernadino, Calif. For a few years he would build up small chains of eight or 10 Mexican food shops, then sell them off. By constantly experimenting he finally came up with the current blend of Mexican foods he features in his Taco Bell shops and he started franchising the system, the first Taco Bell restaurant opened in 1962 and the first franchise unit in 1965. Today it costs almost $20,000 for a franchise, plus an 8 per cent cut of the profit. Bell selects the site, builds the plant, leases it to the operator (on a 10 year amortization basis) and provides the proven path to profits. Each operator is given the right of first refusal for any other Taco Bell restaurants planned in his immediate vicinity. Bell’s first franchised operation in Florida opened here last week and used more than 1,500 pounds of ground beef during the grand opening. It has been a far more successful opening than Bell had ever hoped for, he! concedes. Bell plans about 40 franchises for Florida. The next to open will probably be in Miami. So far, most of the applicants are from California (where he will not sell any more franchises). In about six months, perhaps a year, Bell plans to sell “about 15 per cent” of his company to the public. “I think some of these franchise firms have gone public a little too early but look what’s happened to their stock. It has soared. Maybe I’m wrong for waiting,” he smiles. Right now, Bell is looking over a number of real estate parcels here which he can transform into a training seminar for his steady stream of new operators. He also plans to build a tortilla factory here to supply the Florida and eastern market he is developing.
Postcard of the first Florida Taco Bell
The first location boomed. hundreds and hundreds of more locations would later follow suit. There is still a Taco Bell on the site of the first one. It is unrecognizable, so I am not sure if it is indeed the same building.
The Ellis Puppets were a religious puppet show put on by a couple that lived at 29650 Ryan Road in Warren, Michigan that was “dedicated to God to Show Boys and Girls how they can go to heaven the way the Bible, God’s word, says, and not the way man says. The Bible has the answers.”
The verso of the card below says:
Read John 3:3. 3:46, 3:16, Revelations 3:20, Apoculips 3:20, John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:23, 5:12, 10:0 – 10-13; Invite Jesus today to come into your heart and forgive your sins and save you. He said he will, so try Him. You life will change, see 2 Cor. 5:17. Mrs. Missionary woman’s song and accordion music is done by Mrs. Irene Paulson, a real missionary in Kembe, Central African Republic (write her a letter and tell her how you liked the play and song). Songs by Alberta Williams, Leslie Ellis, Kenneth Overholt; Organist Mrs. David Canine (Pastor’s wife). Recording, John Sperry. All are of Tabernacle Baptists Church, Hazel Park, Michigan. Mr. Ellis is a deacon of Tabernacle Baptists Church, Mrs. Ellis is a church clerk. The puppets are approx. 18″ High. The stage is approx. 7′ high, 3′ Deep, 6′ Long. The music and singing is taped. Message add lib.
I was only able to find one mention of the Ellis Puppets on newspapers.com. There was a little blurb in Sat, August 19, 1972 edition of the News-Journal from Mansfield, Ohio.
Just outside of Chatsworth, Illinois on U.S. 24 lies a historical marker that reads: The Chatsworth Wreck – Midnight, August 10–11, 1887 – One half mile north on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad occurred one of the worst wrecks in American rail history. An excursion train – two engines and approximately twenty wooden coaches – from Peoria to Niagara Falls, struck a burning culvert. Of the 500 passengers about 85 perished and scores were injured.
Summer 1887 had been extremely hot and dry throughout the Midwest. Central Illinois had been particularly bone dry, with no rain for weeks. On August 10, a control burn was ordered to stop the potential for a larger fire from passing trains. The fire was not more than likely not completely extinguished leaving it to burn a small bridge that spanned the creek. The bridge was scorched making it far too weak to support any significant weight. Unfortunately for the crew and 700 passengers heading eastbound that day aboard the Toledo, Peoria & Western on a Niagara Falls excursion, there were unaware the burnt trestle would lead to disaster.
The excursion line was very popular amongst middle-class, white travelers from the Midwest. For only $7.50, a vacationer could take a round-trip ticket from Illinois to the majestic splendor of Niagara Falls. The popularity of the trip caused the train to be especially long with 20 passenger cars, which required two locomotives.
Much of what happened next is shrouded in mystery. Some reports say that the train’s engineer saw the damaged bridge, but was unable to stop in time. Other reports cite a downward slope and high rate of speed combined with the damaged bridge causing the disaster. Either way, the first engine crossed safely over the burnt bridge with no trouble, but the second engine rolled, causing it to separate from the first engine and fly into the ditch.
Immediately the wooden passenger cars followed. Each one crashing first into the second engine then, smashing and slicing into the one before it. Eleven of the 20 passenger cars careened into the ditch. the only ones remaining on the track were the more opulent and heavier Pullman sleeper cars.
Harper’s Weekyl sketch of the accident
Either 81 or 85 passengers died in the wreck. As was word of the accident spread, hundreds of gawkers and onlookers descended upon Chatsworth to see the wreckage. Many of the visitors took souvenirs from the wreckage leading to erroneous and fictionalized accounts that the accident was staged to rob the dead. The August 12th, 1887 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was particularly susceptible to this rumor:
LATEST EDITION DIABOLICAL! Train Robbers Cause the Chatsworth Disaster. Sensational Developments in the Railroad Horror. More Bodies Believed to Be in the Wreck. Inquest on the Unfortunate Victims Now in Progress. Seventy-Six Dead on the Coroner’s Official List. The Temporary Morgues and Hospitals at Chatsworth Full. Caring for the injured – An Official Investigation Begun by the State Board of Railroad Commissioners – A Foul and Sickening Stench at the Wreck – Indications That the Train Was Wrecked for the Purpose of Robbery – A Gang of Thieves Lurking Around the Scene of the Disaster Before and After the Accident The Dead and “Wounded Bobbed Clearing the Wreck Responsibility of the Railroad Company Preparing the Dead for Burial – Lists of the Dead and Injured.
The cause of the accident was a lack of care and transparency on the part of the railroad officials. Had they communicated the damage to the bridge, or even had a smaller train test the strength of the burned out trestle, then the eighty-plus human lives would have been spared.
Sunday, August 14th, four days after the accident the railroad company had gathered most of the debris, possibly including bodies, into an enormous flaming ball of wood, metal and flesh destroying what was left the wreckage and any details to be learned from the accident.
Middletown, N.Y, Aug, 5 – Fire this morning practically destroyed the residence of Lehman Stern, on Highland Avenue, the wealthiest section of the city. Adjoining were the houses of Edson G. Lavidge and Mrs. James Morton, formerly of New York. Each of these residences is valued at over $100,000, and they were only saved from destruction by the fact that there was practically no wind blowing. The Stern residence was in course of construction and was valued at $50,000. The house would have been ready for occupancy in three weeks time. There is only $20,000 insurance. Mr. Stern says that he will sue the city for damages resulting from lack of fire protection.
