Genuine Florida

I was digging through my chest of childhood memories the other night and this little piece of Americana surfaced. It’s taken directly from a Stuckey’s Location Guide, circa 1974 or so, which shows thumbnail maps of 24 Florida locations, including one (Titusville) with its own “Campark.” But this is the real gem. I remember it, too. It was an early form of email for travelers. To distill the description: a friend or business associate could call the Stuckey’s 800 number and Stuckey’s would type a message to you into their computer network. Then, when you stopped at a Stuckey’s, while you grabbed a coffee and some pecan rolls, you could also check their HELPS computer to see if anyone left you a message! Almost seems cute, now, but this was pre-cell phone, pre-Internet. How modern thinking Stuckey’s was, and how a once mighty brand has faded.

HELPS email from Stuckeys

Notice the pine rocklands with their scrubby South Dade pine in the background. Since it doesn’t look like anything along the Tamiami Trail, I’m willing to guess this is the Musa Isle Seminole Village along the Miami River, a tourist attraction that was around until the 1960s.

Now here’s a find! Anita Bryant sings the virtues of the “Florida Sunshine Tree!”

From 1947, another blast from the past:  the grand opening ceremony for the Rickenbacker Causeway.

Savage reptiles! Knighthood! Dragons! Alligator wrestling! Here’s the Alligator Farm I remember from my youth …footage from the Wolfsonian archives.