The advertisement in the April edition of Southern Living magazine shows a serene picture of Pensacola Beach, post-Hurricane Ivan. Posted on 05/15/2005 3:27:27 PM PDT by blueberry12
On September 16, 2004 a category 4 hurricane swept through Northwest Florida causing billions of dollars worth of damages.
The advertisement in the April edition of Southern Living magazine shows a serene picture of Pensacola Beach, post-Hurricane Ivan.
It reads: "Welcome Back -- Pensacola's enduring appeal has withstood the test of time and weather once again. Hotels, restaurants and attractions are remodeled, expanded, and renewed."
The headline on the front-page article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Spring broke."
Appearing on March 26, six months after the Sept. 16 storm, the article describes college students finding "an unexpected level of wreckage" when they arrived at Pensacola Beach for spring break.
What's the real story as the tourism season approaches?
The first test will come Memorial Day weekend, when 66,000 vehicles usually cross the Bob Sikes Bridge to Pensacola Beach -- including locals, family tourists and tens of thousands of gay and lesbian visitors in town for the traditional four-day party weekend.
The second test will come with the Blue Angels air show on July 2, which usually draws 150,000 to the beach and is being held despite the strident objections of the City of Gulf Breeze.
But beach visitors already are confronting a myriad of problems as they step onto the new beach.
"I've seen the ads," Sarah DeSpain of Pensacola said as she and her husband waited for oysters and grouper nuggets at the popular local beach restaurant Peg Leg Pete's, which reopened just last week. "Have the people who have taken out the ads even been here since the hurricane?"
A look at the "remodeled, expanded and renewed" Pensacola Beach shows:
Including condominiums and homes, about 25 percent of beach rental units are expected to be available by the time summer begins next month.
Fort Pickens Road to the west is closed. So is County Road 399 linking Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, though it's expected to reopen before the Blue Angels show.
Now, there are nearly 500 fewer parking spaces, including 300 fewer at the Gulf Islands National Seashore to the east of the central beach and 100 missing spots near Fort Pickens.
Tourism brings more than $800 million annually to Escambia County, including nearly $300 million a year to Pensacola Beach, according to the Haas Center Business Research and Development at the University of West Florida.
But no one is expecting this to be a banner year.
Peg Leg Pete's general manager Jimmy Wiltcher is relieved the restaurant is back in business after digging out from 4 feet of sand. But he's wary of putting out the welcome mat for too many visitors.
Homes behind the restaurant are crumbling, uninhabited and covered with blue roofs. Workers still are repairing the closed Tom Thumb store next door. To the south of the restaurant, condominiums are closed and fenced off.
"It's going to be tough for tourism this year," Wiltcher said. "The hotels aren't open. The condos are damaged, and people aren't going to see the same Pensacola Beach they normally would. I don't think we should tell people that everything is great, so come down to Pensacola Beach. And there's some of that going on."
Pensacola Beach resident Johnny Chisholm, an organizer of the annual gay and lesbian festivities, is resigned to a smaller celebration this year.
"On a good year, we have 50,000 to 60,000 who come for Memorial Day," he said. "We're planning on that being a third off this year. There are a lot of people who aren't staying at the beach but are staying in town instead. The people coming down are aware that the hurricane hit and that there is some damage. But we're expecting a great time anyway.''
'We have since pulled back'
Ed Schroeder, vice president for tourism at the Pensacola Bay Area of Chamber of Commerce -- which purchased the Southern Living ads -- makes no apologies for trying to lure visitors to the beach.
"The last thing we want to do is try to portray ourselves as totally untouched or totally back, but people can still have a wonderful time on Pensacola Beach," he said.
"Nobody has called us and said the beach is not ready. There are plenty of businesses out there ready to accommodate people. There's no reason to hang a 'Closed' sign on any doors."
But many businesses are closed -- especially hotels.
Ellis Bullock of the E.W. Bullock and Associates marketing firm, which developed the Southern Living ads, said the ads were written in the winter when tourism officials thought more hotels would be up and running on Pensacola Beach.
"Back in the January-February time frame, there were certain indications that there would be hotels open today that are not open," Bullock said. "So the first few ads out of the gate basically stated, 'We're open for business.' And it did feature a beach scene."
Bullock said upcoming ads will feature a different lure.
"We have since pulled back and punted so to speak,'' he said. "The new ads will put the emphasis on the historical and cultural aspects of the area, and not as much on the island or the beaches."
Beautiful beach
Still, people are coming to Pensacola Beach -- tourists and locals alike. A look at the beach on any weekend shows that. Beach officials can't get an accurate count of how many vehicles are passing through the Pensacola Beach toll booth. The counter has been down since Ivan hit.
"During spring break, we had bumper-to-bumper traffic for three hours in a row,'' said Sandy Johnston, executive director of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce.
"Most aren't staying on the beach -- they're staying in town. The three hotels on the beach are packed and filled to overflow. Still, people keep coming out here."
And why not?
Pensacola Beach remains beautiful -- the beach itself, that is.
Gentle emerald waves lap at the beach shore. The beach dunes may be gone and the white sandy beach is as flat as a sleek skim board, but so long as you're not looking at the man-made structures, it's still a postcard view.
"This is my first trip here, and I think the beach is pretty good," said Jordan Reynolds, 21, of Alpena, Mich., who is staying in Pensacola with friends. "There's construction and signs telling you not to go into certain places, but the beach itself is nice. It's not like Michigan, that's for sure."
Friends Stephanie Hallenbeck, 24, and Nina Kuokkanen, 30, from Boston spent a recent day relaxing in the sun right behind the closed-down The Dock bar and restaurant on Casino Beach. They knew the hurricane caused destruction -- Hallenbeck's parents reside in Pensacola -- but weren't prepared for the lasting damage.
"We were disappointed that some of the beaches were closed," Hallenbeck said, as workers sweated to repair The Dock and work saws buzzed. "And there's a lot of construction going on. We usually go down toward (Navarre), so we were a little sad that we had to go right here in the middle of the beach."
But if you would come here, you could still see that most houses on the beach need a lot of repair: 
As the article said, there aren't too many hotels available right now: 
Many hotels look like this: 
President Bush visited Florida and Alabama right after Hurricane Ivan hit the area. He was harshly criticezed by Kerry and other democrats who charged saying, the President should be focusing on more important matters... 
I was on this beach 3 months before the hurricane hit! Now it's gone: 
Is that down toward Ft. Pickens?
Looks like it.
Yes, there was a road here previously. You can still see a small piece of the road on the bottom right-hand corner.
And The Alabama beaches are only slightly better. Some rental companies are booking guests into hardhat areas. I guess they hope that most won't get too angry and will be satisfied with a discount if they say something about it. Restaurants are fewer and farther between. Wear your shoes if you go to the beach. Debris from storms may be waiting. Every month the contractors move the opening dates another month into Summer. Many condos will not be ready this Summer AT ALL.
All the while the advertising continues "Come on Down" we're back in business. Actually they are giving tourists "the business"
Hurricane season starts anew June 1.
On the road going west to Fort Pickens, there was an underground battery for two 16-inch naval rifles... buried under a sand dune. Do you know what happened to it? Just curious- I explored it circa 1963, when it was stripped of guns and machinery, but still had lights.
A northern BamaMan
Heck I bet the beach fishing has improved.
They may have to do some thing about that
new pass forming though.
This is right down where that little boy was bitten
by the shark?
My mum lived in Pensacola up until this year so was down
there off and on.
Boomark
No, I don't know. But I strongly doubt that it stayed in place. These waves had tremendous power. They washed away all kinds of heavy structures. Some other pictures show that large chunks of concrete foundations were washed away. Click here to see a picture of Fort Pickens right after the hurricane.
The battery I mentioned could not be missed if still there- like two subway tunnels with a round concrete overhang ( shell burster ) over each entrance, facing seaward. Thanks.
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