Coconut Heads on Pegboard, Florida, 1960
This is not an art installation in a snooty, big city gallery or museum. (Although it could be and should be.) This is the perky polka dotted wall of a sunshine state souvenir stand dressed with dozens kooky characters. They are to coconuts what tiki gods are to palm tree trunks. Each is hanging there just waiting to be bought, bagged and taken to a new, more permanent home like a patio, tiki bar or rumpus room. Each one has been carefully carved, painted and finished by hand then imported from the exotic island it came from for our pleasure.
Together on the wall they’re certainly mesmerizing and nearly hypnotizing. They look at you every time you walk in the room. No two are exactly the same. Each has his, (or her) own personality. I’m not sure that today they would all pass the test of political correctness. Which one would you choose? Or do you just want them all?
Among the many reasons that coco palms are among my favorites in the world of trees is the fact that they give us coconuts, some up to 100 a year. (Thank you coco palms!) We eat the hearts out of palms too. They also give us milk. And if you need, or want to, you can even build yourself a nice tropical hut out of a palm tree too. Do palms ever stop giving?
I was never cuckoo for Coca Puffs. (Give me Lucky Charms or Captain Crunch any day.) But I’ve always been cuckoo for coconut. Put the word coconut in front of shrimp, cake, cream pie, macaroons and milk and you’ve got yummy, yummy in your tummy. Mix it with pineapple and you’ve got the ultimate exotic tropical isle taste treat sensation of the highest order!
The word coconut is so much fun to say too. But why are coconuts called coconuts when they are neither cocoa nor nuts. Hmmm! Confusing aren’t they. They’re not even fruits. According to coconut experts, they are seeds. If I plant one will it grow?
Here’s to coconuts, coconut characters, coco palms and YOU!
January 21, 2010
Los Angeles
Hi! this caption is very exciting for a coconut collector as I am.
thank you
Hi Charles,
As the proud collector of 273 logged carved coconuts of every description, this photo made my heart beat faster!
Thank you.
This reminds me of visiting The Shell Factory when vacationing at my grandparents’ home in Port Charlotte, FL. I see it is still there – 2787 North Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers, FL; http://www.shellfactory.com. Tamiami Trail is a topic in itself.
We use to visit my grandparents in Ft Lauderdale every winter when we were living in New York, I loved these coconut heads when I was a kid! Totally forgot about them, brings up good memories! I miss the simple days!
I have one of these sitting on my dresser – it’s the monkey on the far left above the two palm trees. The yellow sticker says “Jo Jo — A nut from Florida” on it and it is a bank. The nut screwed to a piece of redwood. Hotbeds of tourist crap like this in the 60s included Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area, Key West, and Pinellas County.
My grandparents had one of these at one time. They were retired “snowbirds” who would spend a month in Florida every winter to escape the frozen northeast. There were always standard souvenirs that made it back: orange blossom cream perfume that came in a tube (do they still sell it, I wonder?), toothpick holders, salt and pepper shakers, and a coconut head. I miss those days (and my grandparents.)
As a contemporary photographer, this is something that I would probably photograph today. It’s timeless.
What I particualrly admire in this shot is how little distortion there is in the pegboard. It’s really hard to take a picture of “graph paper” but this photographer nailed it.
It gives me all the more confidence that the color balance is correct too, which is otherwise somewhat hard to believe.
My family went to Florida in 1970, when I was just three. My older brother bought one of these heads, a pirate with a knife in its mouth. I was cool with it sitting on the dresser of the bedroom we shared, but at bed time in the dim light, it freaked me the heck out. I haven’t thought of that for decades until today.
Charles, you can plant a coconut and grow a coco palm from it. You can also send a coconut, in it’s husk, through the US Mail by simply writing someone’s address on it and taking it to the post office. The husk is it’s own packaging! Thsi is the coolest photo I’ve seen in a long time.
Speaking of Lucky Charms or Capn Crunch, you can put the cereal in a bag, roll it with a rolling pin and sprinkle it the Cherpumple. I learned that from TIPical Mary Ellen.
I used to have the Coconut bank 5th row from left, bottom row of coconut faced banks. These had a hole in the top for coins and mine was called “Nutsy”. He had the blue crossed eyes. My aunty bought him for me in Florida
Love this photo, it is so KOOL, leave it to you Charles to find such treasures…
Reminds me of Gilligan’s Island.
That is absolutely gorgeous! I love the bright colors against the blue background, and OH how wonderfully retro is pegboard! Pegboard-o-my-heart!