I hate to reveal my age, but the first photo is the way I remember Destin. My family first started going there in the 1950's and continued well into the 80's (until we moved toward SoWal). My first memories of Destin probably started in the late 60's. At that time, we always stayed at the old Silver Beach Motel/Cottages (which, along with the Spyglass next door were the only two real motels). You could walk from Silver Beach east toward what is now Henderson Beach and not see a living soul for miles, and zero gulf front development. The only real restaurants in Destin were the Blue Room and Marler's Diner. At that time, you could buy a gulf front lot in the area for around $30,000. Not a week goes by when I don't hear my father say how stupid he was for not buying a huge chuck of gulf front property. We would all be retired now if he had.
I remember when they built Shoreline Towers in the early 70's. People were aghast. If they only knew what was in store 20-30 years down the road.
I rarely, if ever, get down that way anymore. Might as well be in Miami Beach.
Forgive me for waxing nostalgic, but that photo just put me in the mind of days gone by.