Old Florida/Nostalgia

[civil42806]

The late 60's and early 70's had to be the peak of the tourist trap period of St augustine.  Still have very fond memories of it.  By the 80's it had started cleaning up its act quite a bit.

[blizz01]

Great shots, btw.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

Great shots, btw.

Thanks    not bad for a little Bloggie camera. It's not about the equipment anyway, but the user.

[L.P. Hovercraft]

The best old Florida stuff is still down south...  gotta hit the MaiKai!
http://www.maikai.com/

Seconded!  Stopped at the Mai-Kai for the first time on the way down to Key West last June.  This place is a true Tiki landmark that apparently just avoided being torn down several years back.  I definitely recommend checking it out to enjoy a Mai Tai or seven amidst it's retro splendour.

[Debbie Thompson]

What fun. I remember Six Gun Territory well.  Fake western town, fake gunfights.  The day we went back in the mid-60's, a teenage Ron Howard was there signing autographs and fake gunfighting.

Rainbow Springs - not just a glass bottomed boat. You sat underwater entirely...kind of like inside an aquarium with the fish outside.  And there was a place where screens were draped over the trees and exotic birds were within.

Cypress Gardens - water ski shows

Bok Singing Tower in Lake Wales - bell concerts several times a day.  Nearby is/was a hill where you could put your car in neutral, and it appeared to roll uphill.  I forgot what it was called.

[ChriswUfGator]

Cypress Gardens was awesome! Not just the watershows either, they had the most beautiful impatiens you've seen.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Anyone with a love for old Florida nostalgia should take a look at Tim Hollis' "Selling the Sunshine State" and "Dixie Before Disney."  Absolutely wonderful and available in some local bookstores (including San Marco Bookstore and Chamblin's).

[north miami]

  see   Carlton Ward,Jr.  Florida Cowboys

  as real as a sixgun legally riding on hip in a Florida National Forest-not nostalgia.The new old Florida.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Bok Singing Tower in Lake Wales - bell concerts several times a day.  Nearby is/was a hill where you could put your car in neutral, and it appeared to roll uphill.  I forgot what it was called.

It's called Spook Hill and it's still marked with signs, I believe.

[Ocklawaha]

The place on Highway 16, if it ever opened at all, was a very short lived "Old Spanish Castle" attraction I remember them building it and thinking the sprayed on stucco walls looked horrible. They were never painted, and the place never even had a parking lot.

There were two other cool places along that same stretch and on the same side of the road. Mr Perry, of St. Augustine, who was older then dirt in 1960, built a complete 2' foot gauge railroad with a loop that went about a mile into the woods. There was a small 1950's style white building on the property that served as his office-depot-and what ever else. The second one was also a railroad, it was a 15" gauge railroad at the old chicken farm. The owner of that place had tons-o-money, and had two of the most expensive small scale locomotives you could buy. It had little flag stop stations no bigger then a bus stop. The little stations in spite of being sort of open air were quite railroadish. Then suddenly one day he was gone, the railroad gone, and only the chickens were left. It was located across from the Publix give or take 1/2 mile, I haven't been able to locate the site as it is built over. I'm highly curious about the cool small buildings, and if one or more of them ended up as somebody's tool shed?

CALLAHAN


LAWTEY

The two that were the most fun were the little roadside zoo's, one in Lawtey and one north of Callahan. The one on the north I think outlasted the other, but I could be wrong about that. Yankee's have always wondered just how smart we are and these places settled the question once and for all. They would catch every Yankee tourist that came down US-1 or 301, and charged them several dollars to watch "the alligator shows..." Now I ask you, I don't know how smart southerners are but have you EVER seen a southerner spend $5.00 bucks to see a gator?

JACKSONVILLE

Also in Jacksonville or beaches: Riverview Park and Botanical Gardens, Florida Ostrich Farm, Florida Alligator Farm, Panama Park, Lincoln Park, Storybook Land, Kiddyland, DIXIELAND, Griffen Park, Dizzyland, Oriental Gardens, Zoo, Roosevelt Park, Masons Park. The old places were fun without the illusions, plastic and rapid fire pace of Disney... and you NEVER waited in a long line.

OCKLAWAHA

[mbwright]

There is still some track in the parking lot area of the current Flea Market on 16.  Not sure if this is the same thing Ock was talking about.  Would have been fun.  I've ridden the steamers in LA at Griffith Park.  Lots of fun.

[floridaforester]

Someone mentioned Marco Polo Park early in this thread.  Does anyone remember where it was located?  I was very young but I think it was off US1 a good ways south of St. Aug.  Anyone?

Also, I grew up just down Anniston road from Slippery Dip and spent many a summer day sliding down the hill.  Yes, heaven forbid you ever fall off your mat because the concrete would literally scrape the hide off.  And right across the street was a great par 3 9 hole golf course.  Very cheap and it was great fun to slice your drive off into the trailer park to the east.

I thought where the Wal-Mart is at Beach and southside used to be drive-in movie theatres.  It was perfect because as kids we would go watch the PG movie and simply turn around and watch the boobies in the R rated movie.   Someone designed those very well. Good times for a 10 year old boy!

[Ocklawaha]

MARCO POLO: Just on the left side of I-95 at Old Dixie Highway in Volusia, between Palm Coast and Daytona Beach. The property is an RV park today.

OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

I remember MPP   but also remember that it was not around for long.... Was thinking it was down in the Highway 40 area, but Ock's description sounds accurate.

Ahh....6-gun Territory!!  Now that was a fun place.. Too bad it dried up and was razed  to become " 6-gun Plaza "   Mall ....ugggggh!!!

[Ocklawaha]

I remember MPP   but also remember that it was not around for long.... Was thinking it was down in the Highway 40 area, but Ock's description sounds accurate.

Ahh....6-gun Territory!!  Now that was a fun place.. Too bad it dried up and was razed  to become " 6-gun Plaza "   Mall ....ugggggh!!!

Sort of poetic justice that 6-Gun plaza was built for Woolco! Sucks to be them... There is however one of the nations premiere train shops in that place.

OCKLAWAHA