Carson’s Pawn Shop, the oldest in Pensacola, is closing shop Jan. 1 after opening on Pace Boulevard in 1957.
It’s a place that has seen it all, from folks pawning hearing aids and gold teeth to stuffed animals and even a giant Canadian moose head that’s been mounted on the cinderblock walls since the early 1960s when some fellas brought it to the shop in a Volkswagen Beetle.
The moose is called Clyde and for years it, or at least its head, has been the unofficial mascot of the pawn shop started by watchmaker Ralph Carson during the Eisenhower administration. It was never for sale. Until now, or more accurately, this past April when owner Randy Spivey announced he was closing up shop…