Life Magazine’s photo archive is being hosted by Google and all of their photos from the 1860’s on are available online. There are a number of photos from Jacksonville that can be found here:
http://images.google.com/images?&hl=en&q=jacksonville+source:life&&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20
the full archive is at:
http://images.google.com/hosted/life
Ya gotta love this sign over the water fountain... :D
(http://tbn0.google.com/hosted/images/c?q=32b975e2f8a1d674_landing)
I thought those water fountains were put there for the sole purpose of washing our soles!?
Is that fountain for whites or colored?
Bosnians only. ;)
^ It says it was at a Jacksonville Beach rec center in 1956. The whole facility was probably whites only.
We,the Bosnians,only drink from the bottle.
Umm,wait I am American now.
'
I don't think this is every picture Life Magazine has of Jax. I distinctly remember a full double page color photo in Life of Michael Jackson's Thriller Tour at the Gator Bowl. As I recall he did 4 straight nights in his only Florida appearance and sold out every one. Some 250,000 tickets. Was circa 1984 I think.
Here is more specific info from a Michael Jackson fan site about his Jax concerts for his "Victory Tour", not named "Thriller" as I thought. It shows 3 shows, not 4, and sellouts at 45K each but I still think they may have had far more than that as the stadium held much more. I think they closed off one end for the stage, but that would still seem to leave a lot more than 45K seats. I also noted one other Florida venue on the list, Miami's Orange Bowl in November, 1984.
July 21, 1984 Jacksonville [Florida, USA] 45,000 * Gator Bowl
July 22, 1984 Jacksonville [Florida, USA] 45,000 * Gator Bowl
July 23, 1984 Jacksonville [Florida, USA] 45,000 * Gator Bowl