Pensacola Before PC

I am using a couple of images of vintage postcards as inspiration for posters to hang in my house as part of my home's Old Florida Meets Mid-Century Modern make-over.

Here are the images I'm using for inspiration. Basically the lettering -- size and shape -- will be the same. The overall image will be increased to probably 20 inches in width, max. Matted and framed, they will probably be about 26 to 28 inches in width, with height in proportion. I will composite them in my photoeditor, put them on a CD and take it to a Kinkos or some place to be printed on a high quality color printer.

I have numerous photos (some stock and some shot by me or my hubs) of Pensacola and Florida that will work for the images within the letters. I want the posters to look similar to the post cards, but I'm not trying to exactly duplicate them.

Except for the "P" in Pensacola.

What you see in that post card is the Confederate Memorial in Lee Square. In the Forties and Fifties, when post cards like this were made for tourist industry, Confederate symbols and memorials were not only NOT considered embarrassments to be hidden, explained away or removed; they were part of the area's attraction. A new photo of the memorial will go in the "P" on my poster.

Also on my Pensacola poster, the red and white trainer aircraft in the top right corner will be replaced by the Blue Angels in their FA-18 Hornets (although I think the A-4F Skyhawk II, last flown in 1986, was the prettiest aircraft in Blue Angels' history) ... all six, in delta formation, with smoke trailing out behind. I believe we have images shot by my husband at one of the autumn air shows that may work.

The white building in the N and S, which I believe is the old federal courthouse on Palafox Street, will be replaced with a different building. Not sure which one yet, but there are many to choose from -- iron-lace fronted brick buildings echoing New Orleans on lower Palafox Street, the Chappie James state office building in all its boxy, modernist glory (and I have several good digital images of it that I shot), the new baseball stadium, or Fort Pickens, to name just a few. And, for other letters -- perhaps the statue of Don Tristan de Luna at the municipal pier and the Wall South at Veterans Memorial Park. Of course, the historic lighthouse has to be on there somewhere.

Other images to fit in, if they're needed -- sabal palms, magnolia blossoms, seashells and/or sand castles, sea oats, jumping mullet and alligators.

The bottom of the vintage image features a shot the Pensacola Naval Air Station as seen from the water. I'd prefer to replace that with a panorama of downtown made from Pensacola Bay, if I can find one. If not, I'll substitute a view of the beach and the Gulf of Mexico....

But regardless of what I choose to go in the other letters, or surrounding the name, the Confederate Memorial is going in the "P" -- fer shure...