Grocery store prices were also far different from today’s, with flour 3 cents, hamburger 9.5 cents, and sirloin steaks 15 cents per pound. A gift bushel of Florida oranges and other fruit could be shipped out of state from David Bilgore & Co. at 614 Cleveland, six doors from the post office, for $4.75. The Lorean Beauty Shop on South Osceola Avenue offered a permanent wave for $1.95 and a shampoo, set and dry for 50 cents.

1935 was a time of municipal economy. The salary of the police chief—who doubled as the building and sanitation inspector—was “downsized” from $175 to $150 per month. The city attorney had to make do with $150 rather than $250 per month, but the city manager maintained his $225 monthly salary.

“Platform for Clearwater”

An evening in Clearwater in the mid-1930s could be spent in a variety of ways—a quiet dinner at the popular Garden Seat Restaurant on the bay or a Community Hall sing, or perhaps cooking classes in the City Hall Auditorium or a visit to the Clearwater Art Museum.

35 cents could get you into Clearwater’s Capitol Theater where, on April 7, 1937, “The Oklahoma Kid,” starring Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Lola Lane, showed with “The Mysterious Rider” and the serial, “Fighting Devil Dogs.”

As historian Michael Sanders has described it, youths enjoyed “going to town,” parking in front of one of the three drugstores on Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater—each of which featured “curb-hop” service—and sharing the latest news while sipping a coke or milk shake.