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Growing Up in Pensacola Review

Review of Growing Up In Pensacola Personal Essays by Charlie Davis
East Bay Publishers, 372 pages
Andrea Walker
Carefree summer days, swimming in Bayou Texar, fishing, and a country home on Olive Road make Growing Up In Pensacola by Charlie Davis a fun summer read. The author grew up in East Pensacola Heights, then as now, an eclectic community. The reader will enjoy imagining the now-familiar streets as they were in the 1930s and `40s, unpaved clay roads. Davis writes candidly about his family, the adventures of his brothers and friends and the extended community with lots of old Pensacola names some of us recognize.
The simpler time takes us back to the pre-pollution days of Bayou Texar when scores of children could swim across the bayou to Bayview Park in East Hill instead of walking the longer route across the Gadsden Street Bridge. Of course, one time they had to be wary of the "the huge scaly creature . . . as it suddenly appeared splashing water everywhere" attracted by shrimp heads several of the boys were tossing into the bayou from the wharf at Walker's Boat House. After a few days, the boys decided to catch it and created quite a stir when they landed their three-hundred pound mystery.
Many of the anecdotes are laugh-out-loud, especially the inventions of his brother Bob. From kayaks, to the "world's first outdoor motor bicycle" to the bullet ride, life was never dull at the Davis household. "Our yard looked like a school for industrial arts students," Davis writes in Chapter Nine.
In 1946 no roads had been built on Pensacola Beach from the old casino, so difficult to imagine now. That did not stop adventurous boys with a Tom Sawyer spirit from taking a homemade dune buggy and battling mosquitoes all night to go turtle hunting. The moon was full, and as one mishap led to another, turtle hunting was soon forgotten. "It was a memorable experience out of adversity . . . one of those times when I unexpectedly felt close to God" (333).
The collection of essays includes stories of animals, the Old Pensacola Zoo at the fairgrounds (formerly on Fairfield Drive), and many boating and fishing stories. Told in the down-home voice and style of a Pensacola native, the book contains amusing anecdotes, fascinating facts and figures and a lovely collection of old photographs. Davis relates stories of politics, religion and even one of possible reincarnation (see Chapter Six Big Bird). Whether the reader hails from Pensacola or not, Growing Up In Pensacola is a fun way to relax in a hammock with a glass of iced tea and reminisce about summers past.
Andrea Walker
freelance writer/reviewer

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