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Lost Attractions of Florida
Everybody knows about Disney World, Universal, EPCOT, Sea World and a slew of other Florida attractions. But how about bygone Sunshine State attractions such as Texas Jim's Sarasota Reptile Farm and Zoo, the Skull Kingdom, the House of Mystery or Dixieland Amusement Park. Many were roadside stops started by families as an extension of a fruit stand or market. Oranges and sodas in the front, alligators in the back. Many of the attractions were free, designed to lure customers for the fruit stand or store. Others changed a small fee. Some became nationally known, such as Cypress Gardens, where Johnny Carson not only broadcast, but water-skied. The roadside attractions had their heyday from the 1920s to the coming of Disney in 1971. It was a much simpler time, and a large tree known as The Senator could become a top attraction, along with a St. Petersburg drug store. Revisit these lost attractions with author Jim Clark.
192 pages, Paperback
Published February 27, 2023
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April 14, 2025definitely your inch deep mile wide overview of some of Florida’s defunct road side attractions.
The good: chapter 14 lists a bunch of brief descriptions of the more obscure attractions, and I learned about new attractions I’d never heard of.
The bad: this is a short book, but even at that, there were many redundant passages, wasting space in an already short book. Details were poorly edited, within a paragraph data would contradict itself. The first sentence would list a closure in one year, then list later in the paragraph that it closed a different year. Additionally, there were typos and incorrect names of attractions. It makes the content feel half baked at best.
Overall, this certainly should not be used as any sort of a reference text, but it was nice to see some of the photos, as well as just learn of the existence of some of the more obscure attractions!
The good: chapter 14 lists a bunch of brief descriptions of the more obscure attractions, and I learned about new attractions I’d never heard of.
The bad: this is a short book, but even at that, there were many redundant passages, wasting space in an already short book. Details were poorly edited, within a paragraph data would contradict itself. The first sentence would list a closure in one year, then list later in the paragraph that it closed a different year. Additionally, there were typos and incorrect names of attractions. It makes the content feel half baked at best.
Overall, this certainly should not be used as any sort of a reference text, but it was nice to see some of the photos, as well as just learn of the existence of some of the more obscure attractions!
January 8, 2024
As one might expect, there have been some unusual and quirky tourist attractions built over the years in Florida. I had been to some of them as a child so reading this book was a fun look back for me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews