[spotrod]

Originally Posted by xlabel

Old Florida to me is when you could go to Cleawater Beach and the meters were 10 cents for a 1/2 hour and there were always plenty of spots available. The rock shops and souvenier shops up and down US 19. The old Aquatarium on St Pete Beach. When you drove up US 19 the last traffic light was pretty much Tarpon Springs. Only had one pro sports team back then ,the Miami Dolphins. I-4 was 2 lanes either way and thier was hardly anything between Tampa and Disney. Busch Gardens had one brand new thrill ride, the Python. You could still swim in all the lakes. You stand on any bridge, pier, seawall and catch lots of big fish. Waking up to Salty Sal who gave the fishing report at 6 Am every morning. That was the good old Florida days for me.

i remember when it cost nothing to hang on clearwater beach ahhhh those were the days...........

[Strel]

Originally Posted by verobeach

Quite a generalization there, strel.

Well that's what the data show....

[BornInFL]

Originally Posted by ChrisA70

Heck old Florida to me is from 1994-1997 when I first went there, from then it has changed a lot, and not for the better in many ways. I can imagine how good it was in the 70's 80's... I have heard it was good, my mother in law grew up in Miami, and it is not even recognizable to her anymore she said...

OMG, my wife's parents gre up in Pembrooke Pines and also their parents lived in Miami for yrs... they wouldnt move back there for a million dollars. But back then, they actually enjoyed (somewhat) Pembrooke Pines but they would hate life if they lived their now. A lot of that area (Pem. Pines) went downhill after Andrew.

[compelled to reply]

Apparently, when people move somewhere, that means it goes "downhill". There was nothing in Pembroke Pines before Andrew except on the very east side, which yes used to be nicer until everyone started moving west...

[P Andrews]

Oh yes, how I wish that it was, like it was back then. The early 1960's, I remember traveling US-1 everywhere. Taking regular trips to Miami, to visit friends, and then shopping at the commissary & BX, in Homestead before trekking back north to Palm Beach County. We didn't mind the time it took, people were not so rushed. That's what was so attractive about Florida. And on US-1 it gave you the opportunity to stop at all the roadside juice and souvenir stands. They were not just for the tourists. As a matter a fact, In the summertime, there were little to no outta state tags. Unlike today.
We never locked our doors, car or home. When I was in school there was no A/C. (If the A/C was not working today in the schools, they'd close the schools!) It was defiantly a simpler time. I believe
our values were in a much better prospective. We enjoyed family and friends, and took the time to get to know our neighbors.

[TD*]

I enjoy reading this thread.

[LABART]

In the 70's and 80's when I was just a little kid and lived in Jupiter there was nothing there. We played on the school playground after school and on weekends. We went to Tequesta for grocery shopping because other than two or three convience store there was just the Big Dollar Store. There were no fast food restaurants, there was a pizza shop (with the best pizza, nothing grease pools in the pepperoni) and a taco shop (that had the best tacos).
It is completely unrecognizable today. I especially like the fence around the school.
When we moved to the Melbourne area in the 80's there were no condos on the beach. You could actually park on the side of the road and go to the beach.

When you think about it, it really isn't that long ago that things changed so drastically.

[P Andrews]

Originally Posted by cmsvmom

Yeah, I remember stuff like this too. Not necessarily pre A/C, but homes were built for cross breezes so that they did not get too hot (ok hot enough). A/C was one room units. And yes, a lot of central florida was dairy country. South florida too. I can remember sneaking into a farmers field at recess from school and helping myself to peppers and cukes. I can also remember mango groves on vacant lots, and my mom telling me to not climb those trees (which were great for climbing) so I didn't get blamed for wrecking the mangos.

And a lot of corny road side attractions. Does anyone remember before the Miccousoukkee built a casino, they had a restaurant and gator wrestling - and they used to sell these post cards for "Flour Dough, the Shoe Shine State"? Sort of a fractured fairy tale type of history.

Really old florida had weird postcards. Still does, actually.

I not only was familiar with the post card, I had one, wish I still had it. We didn't get it in Miami, we got it at Deep South Bar= B Q that used to be on State Road 27 in around Clewiston. The post card had a comical story about Ponce De Leon and his trip to Florida. It also offered an opportunity to purchase a Map of the entire United States in that comical form, it was called: "The Map of the Untied Status" (Does anyone know where to find these maps anymore, I don't even know who made them. You are the first person that remembers that they existed, I couldn't believe it!

[P Andrews]

Originally Posted by Pizza Hun

Lots of people talk about "Old Florida" on the forums. Is that Florida before Disney & the influx of foreign tourism or does it go back further than that?

It goes back to when people could just come here to get away from it all.
Now when they come here, they just bring it all WITH THEM.
We are generally speaking, before the I-95, Disney World, and Condo's Littering the entire East Coast all along AIA, so you don't even know there's an Ocean behind them. You could go west of Congress and be in the woods.
Or go out to State Road 7 (441) and kill a Swamp Cabbage for dinner. It was a lot of fun. So much less complicated. And people were happy to not be in a hurry. We just miss that, and I'm sure if our kids were around back then they would've loved it too.

[oceandreams94]

Old Florida to me is how I remember it from the late 70's and early 80's.....