•OriginalNoise.Org
the players 
the bridge
Day Tripping [#2.]
The Florida roads are many, and if the break is longer than a weekend, there are many more adventures to have.
“Long Way There”
Little River Band
1975 — Little River Band @ Reitz Union Lawn
((( >>> )))
photographs by dave hogerty
Southwest Florida map by buster o’connor
David Futch takes a ride in Southwest Florida (Ft. Myers to Frostproof) ride, and came upon residents who showed no reluctance in expressing their Ronald Reagan vs. Jimmy Carter opinions.
[FROM THE TOP]
Old Florida
441/301 — In his Damn The Torpedos song “American Girl,” Tom Petty describes the sound of “TRAFFIC OUT ON 441, LIKE WAVES CRASHING ON THE BEACH,” an imagination familiar to anyone living in Florida’s interior, the more rural backwoods, away from both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
Weeki Wachee
SR50 — Newt Perry, a WWII demolition diver, returned to the Florida springs where he had trained for the war, with an idea to assemble a cast of bathing beauties to perform an underwater ballet, seen through large windows, looking into the crystal clear spring. Before Perry’s Mermaids, Hollywood had already discovered the Florida jungle, and was using Weeki Wachee and Silver Springs to represent far away, exotic lands, especially Africa, where Tarzan swung through the Florida trees, and skinny dipped with his “Mate,” Jane.
As the 1950s approached and driving to Florida for Summer vacation became most popular, roadside motels and tourist attractions sprang up to entertain the typical traveling family. Newt Perry saw the value in the natural beauty of Florida, especially the cool, bubbling springs. Not only would the springs be perfect and the river make such offering a break from driving for dad, and a refreshing swim in a crystal clear spring for mom and the kids. For years, throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Weeki Wachee and Silver Springs were used as jungle sets for Hollywood, most notably in the Tarzan film series, including Tarzan and His Mate, with its scandalous nude swimming scene, one many UF students enjoyed in any of many such North Florida springs.
Crossroads
SR50 / I-4 — The rolling hills, on Orlando’s west end were once covered with rows of citrus trees, orange groves as far as an interstate tourist could see. After WWII, roads were improved, and better maintained. Summer vacations on the road became popular in middle class, American families, and Florida was a favorite destination. An explosion of roadside kitsch was made to attract visitors’ attention, and later, housing developments began replacing the groves. [Mount Rushmore at the Hall of Presidents, next to the Citrus Tower.]
Lake Okeechobee
SR80 — Palm Beach, Florida’s Fantasy Island is fewer than 30 miles east, but as you stand next to the lake, it’s as if you’re in another country. A Third-World country. The welcome sign calls Clewiston, on the lake’s south bank, “The World’s Sweetest Town,” and that might be true, considering it being the United State’s largest sugar producing region. But life around the lake isn’t sweet for all. Impoverished cane cutters (mostly Haitian) are trapped in Okeechobee ghettos, as sugar is a maintenance-free crop while it grows, making it near impossible for cutters to earn enough money to move away. East, toward the West Palm Beach suburbs, within shouting distant of Donald Trump’s castle, Mar a Lago, on the east end of SR80. [DOUBLE WHAMMY]
Cape Canaveral
SR50 — Leaving Orlando, and heading east for the coast, at first the road is rural, flat, sandy palmetto scrub and pine. Organized, timber and turpentine style, or wild, in random stands in the pasture. Christmas is a small town sign of civilization, with ruins of an old (1950s) Santa, Tree, and Manger display. Soon after, the old-school, roadside alligator entrance to Jungle Land marks the coming of the St. Johns River, and after the crossing and continuing through and coming to the road’s end in Titusville, at US1. Across the Indian River the Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pads 39A and 39B rise from the Cape, the spot from which every astronaut who visited the moon left the planet Earth. [COUNTDOWN]*
Friday
May 31, 1979
vol. 71 no. 147
The Alligator‘s Patrick Cronin has a psychic moment in Florida’s most mysterious town. Cassadaga* for Gainesvillians, an easy day trip away.
Space & Time
HOME IS WHERE THE ROCKETS FLY
Day Tripping [#1.]*
Mysteries In The Florida Jungle
Day Tripping [#2.]*
Weeki Wachee to the Moon [SR50]
EARTHRISE
Where I Come From
SPACE COAST
Home Is Where The Rockets Fly
NAKED LAUNCH
Pretty As A Florida Picture
ORANGES
Indian River Fruit
ORANGES (CONT’D)
A BEACH FOR ALL SEASONS
SPACE COAST (NASA) TIMELINE
SUMMER (MORE THAN A BREAK)
EXTRA! 1975
FLORIDA SUGAR: HOW SWEET IS IT?
EXTRA! (PG3)
ON THE ROAD WITH CHARLES KURALT
Wakulla to the Moon
A1A (FLORIDA’s EAST COAST)
Sugar (Raw Alternative)
SUWANNEE RIVER (GHOST STORIES)
SUWANNEE RIVER (BLUEGRASS)
MAYPORT (JAZZ)
THE POLICE (ROADTRIP TO THE FUTURE)
ROLLING STONES (TANGERINE BOWL)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (TICKET QUEST)
A Beach for All Seasons (Cocoa)
SUMMER (MORE THAN A BREAK)
close to home
LAKE ALICE
DEVIL’S MILLHOPPER
PAYNE’S PRARIE
CEDAR KEY (BACK IN FLORIDA TIME)
CRESCENT BEACH (MAP)
CROSS CREEK (CUMQUAT MARMALADE)
ORANGE LAKE (STEVE Z) EDUCATED GROWER
MICANOPY (MADNESS)
MICANOPY (WIKI)
LOCHLOOSA
ICHETUCKNEE
CASSADAGA (PSYCIC-DELIC)
BLUE SPRINGS
ORANGE CITY
FROSTPROOF
ZEPHYRHILLS
WEEKI WACHEE (SR50)
SILVER SPRINGS (SR40)
Silver Moon Drive-In (Lakeland)
OCKLAWAHA RIVER
OCALA NATIONAL FOREST
YANKEETOWN
ORLANDO
DELAND
DAYTONA BEACH
MOSQUITO LAGOON
CAPE CANAVERAL (National Seashore)
Playalinda Beach
MERRITT ISLAND (Wildlife Refuge)
BOUND FOR PORTUGAL
SUMMERTIME
SAIL AWAY (FORT LAUDERDALE KEY WEST)
IN THE PRESENCE OF THE POPE (JOHN PAUL II IN NASSAU)
SUMMER IN THE CITY
NYC (A FACELESS CITY)
SATURDAY IN THE PARK
MARDI GRAS MAGIC (TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS)
MIDNIGHT LIGHTNING (TURTLES IN THE MOONLIGHT)
I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
road trips
ROAD TRIPS #1 (MUDCRUTCH / CASSADAGA)
DAY TRIPPING (SR50) WEEKI WACHEE
ROAD TRIPS #3 (BEACH FOR ALL SEASONS)
ROAD TRIPS #4 (HOME IS WHERE THE ROCKETS FLY)
ROAD TRIPS #5 (WAVE RIDER)
ROAD TRIPS #6 (SAIL AWAY)
ROAD TRIPS (NOTES) 1.
ROAD TRIPS (NOTES) 2.
ROAD TRIPS (BOUND FOR PORTUGAL)
ROAD TRIPS (TIME FOR SUMMER)
FLORIDA MAP (EAST COAST)
FLORIDA MAP (INTERIOR)
FLORIDA MAP (WEST COAST)
FLORIDA MAP (THE KEYS)
FLORIDA MAP (PANHANDLE)
Friday
May 31, 1979
vol. 71 no. 147
The Alligator‘s Patrick Cronin has a psychic moment in Florida’s most mysterious town. Cassadaga* for Gainesvillians, an easy day trip away.
Happy Medium
By Patrick Cronin
Alligator Staff Writer
Patrick Cronin
Frostproof
Another freeze, in January 1977, brought a dusting of snow to Fort Pierce and flurries as far south as Miami. Temperatures sank into the 20s again in most of the Indian River area. Agriculture officials estimated statewide damage could exceed 15% of the citrus crop. Again, vegetable farms also sustained heavy losses.
It was written in a number of Florida newspapers, that for many growers, 1985 was the last straw. Many groves were sold to housing developers who were quick to clear the trees, making monstrous gated communities to satisfy the explosive red tide moving into Florida.
An Associated Press report said “The freeze turned oranges rock-hard in groves as far south as Palm Beach. Along the Treasure Coast and inland toward Lake Okeechobee, temperatures in the 20s damaged citrus and ruined crops of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash.
See all local history-related stories published in 2021Brush up on Treasure Coast history with these classic booksTreasure Coast has lots of history, just not so many old historical buildingsVero Beach celebrates its centennial in 2019How each Florida ‘coast’ got its nameUnlock a century of Treasure Coast history in newspaper archives at IRSC, Indian River library
“Say Hello To Gainesville”
((( Steve Forbert )))
steve forbert
“Country Fool”
((( Sea Level )))
“Cats On The Coast”
((( Sea Level )))
“Ramblin’ Man” (1976)
((( Allman Brothers )))
“Southbound” (1976)
((( Allman Brothers )))