Comments on: COCONUT HEADS ON PEGBOARD, FLORIDA, 1960

By: Maestrati Phil

Maestrati Phil — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:52:58 +0000

Hi! this caption is very exciting for a coconut collector as I am.
thank you

By: Candace

Candace — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:20:18 +0000

Hi Charles,

As the proud collector of 273 logged carved coconuts of every description, this photo made my heart beat faster!

Thank you.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:13:23 +0000

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.

By: Babs

Babs — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:23:43 +0000

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!

By: Steve-O

Steve-O — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:10:24 +0000

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.

By: Melanie O.

Melanie O. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:39:09 +0000

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.)

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:27:40 +0000

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.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:00:12 +0000

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.

By: kevin mummery

kevin mummery — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:48:10 +0000

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.

By: Phillip

Phillip — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:42:59 +0000

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.