Florida Spectacular

Send us your Florida questions!

Quick, name a B-movie made in Florida. Did you say Creature from the Black Lagoon? Cathy and Rick talk about the history of one of Florida's most enduring movies and the areas where Universal filmed it, its little-known connection to Citizen Kane, and why The Little Mermaid and Creature from the Black Lagoon tell essentially the same story.

Links We Mentioned

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Shape of Water

Fiji Mermaid

Ningyo

The Legend of Mami Wata

Rick’s blog "Remembering Marineland”

Rick’s blog about Marine Studios

Rick’s blog about underwater starlet Ginger Stanley Hallowell 

Newspaper article about Ricou Browning

The Creature Returns to Florida

Check out classic horror films showing on Turner Classic Movies all month.

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week Rick and Cathy talk about Florida Man — but not the weird ones; the men who make Florida spectacular. From Abiaka to Lawton Chiles, they celebrate these wonderful men. (And yes, there's at least one in the works about great Florida women, too.)

Links We Mentioned

Governor Bob Graham and his Workdays

Governor Lawton Chiles and Walkin Lawton [VIDEO] — trail named for Chiles

Nat Reed (and his book, Travels on the Green Highway)

Guy Bradley and Officer Down Memorial Page  and the Guy Bradley Trail

Abiaka/Sam Jones

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

"The rules are different here." Florida attracts all kinds, but often not the right types of people. 

This week Rick and Cathy talk about some notorious Florida men, starting with the earliest exploration narratives to more contemporary gentlemen (and they use that term loosely.)

Links We Mentioned

Governor Claude Kirk

Governor Sidney Catts

The biggest con man in Florida: Gregor MacGregor

Jean Jacques LeMoyne (more plates here)

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and Theodor de Bry's Images of Florida Indians

Murph the Surf

“Florida Man,” explained article by Kristen Arnett

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Bird is the word on today's episode of The Florida Spectacular! Hurricane Idalia brought more than storm surge to Florida — for the first time in a long time, flamingos stroll along our beaches. Although many people (including Cathy!) didn't realize this, flamingos are, indeed, Florida natives — or so says the FWC. 

Photo credit Beth Forys, for The Gabber Newspaper.

Places to Bird in Florida

Archbold Biological Station, Ding Darling, Disney Wilderness Preserve, Everglades National Park, Fort De Soto (Pinellas County on Tampa Bay), Lyonia Preserve, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Orlando Wetlands Park in Christmas, Oscar Scherer State Park, Payne's Prairie Preserve State Park, Sweetwater Wetlands Park

Links We Mentioned

Atlas Obscura: "The Centuries-Old Mystery of How Florida Got Its Flamingos"

Birdwatcher, or you want to be? Check out the Great Florida Birding Trail.

Learning the Birds by Susan Fox Rogers

Vultures strip mining cars in Everglades National Park

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

With Jimmy Buffett's death still sending waves of sadness through his immense fan community, Rick and Cathy turn to talk of Florida's music scene. Although Buffett wasn't a native Floridian, he spent his fair share of time in the Sunshine State — but he's far from the only great musician to make beautiful music in Florida. Join them as they talk about Tom Petty, Gamble Rogers, and other storied Florida musicians.

Links We Mentioned

Florida Folk Festival

Southern Accents by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the Runnin' Down A Dream documentary.
Gamble Rogers: The Black Label Blues
Tom Petty: Among The Wildflowers exhibit at the Cade Museum in Gainesville
Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free: the Making of Wildflowers documentary, 2021
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream documentary
Return to Forever: Gainesville’s Great Southern Music Hall exhibit at the Matheson History Museum in Gainesville
Figurehead: Music & Mayhem In Orlando’s Underground exhibition at the Orange County Regional History Center
Gamble Rogers: A Troubadour's Life, by Bruce Horovitz
Music Everywhere: The Rock and Roll Roots of a Southern Town, by Marty Jourard
Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey To Fillmore East, by Bob Beatty
Good Day Sunshine State: How the Beatles Rocked Florida By Bob Kealing

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

This week, Rick and Cathy welcome Joy Wallace Dickinson to talk about Florida's film history. From the silent film era, to the definitive film on aging gracefully (Cocoon), to more modern films, this episode's a walk down Florida's celluloid history. Find Joy’s old Florida mystery, Secrets of the Flamingo Cafe, on Amazon.

Links We Mentioned

Dave Barry's Big Trouble

Why you can't watch Cocoon anywhere.

Jacksonville’s Norman Studios

Bouncing Baby, a 1916 silent comedy, that was filmed in Jacksonville and stars a young Oliver Hardy.

A Florida Enchantment, 1914 silent comedy filmed partly in St. Augustine.

Florida filmmaker Victor Munez

Gal Young Un on Prime

Elvis Presley’s Follow That Dream

Ruby in Paradise on Prime starring Ashley Judd

Trailer for Ulee’s Gold

Theatrical trailer of Sunshine State by John Sayles

1981 trailer for Body Heat with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt

1948’s Key Largo (mostly not filmed in Florida)

Trailer for Parenthood (1989) – much of which was filmed in Orlando

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

There's no denying Florida's dealing with its hottest summer in... well, as long as we've measured such things. It's tempting to feel like individuals cannot make a difference, but that's not the case. This week's episode goes over simple things everyone can do to help cool Florida — and the planet.

Links we mentioned

The Plastic Project

FDEP's letter to the EPA

Diane Roberts' brilliant opinion piece from the Florida Phoenix

Map of Wakulla cave system (largest on the planet)

Proposed 16-pump gas station above aforementioned cave system fails

Florida Springs Council

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Florida education's making national news. This week, Cathy and Rick take a walk down memory lane to their own first days of school. They also talk about Florida school integration — which happened not that long ago — and how that created a ripple effect that still impacts where elementary school students attend school. 

Finally, they debate the merits of sending a child to a public Florida school knowing the state has revisionist history curriculum mandates.  

Links we mentioned

School integration in Florida

Florida school choice

A fantastic history teacher from a Florida public school (read the comments under his obituary)

Why Governor Ron DeSantis is a modern-day Claude Kirk (no, seriously)

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Ever heard the phrase, "you have to go north to get South"? That's not untrue. People often ask whether Florida is part of the South. The short answer: It's complicated. Yes... and no. 

Rick and Cathy talk about why that is, what they love about the South, and why it's such a complicated answer.

Links We Mentioned
Garden & Gun Magazine
Burden of Southern History by C. Vann Woodward
"Is Florida Part of the South?"
Southern Storytellers on PBS
The Liberal Rednecks and the Liberal Redneck Manifesto

Our Favorite Southern Towns in Florida
Welaka
(To see: Welaka Fish Hatchery and Aquarium)

Two-Egg
History of the name
Two-Egg Stump Jumper

Cross Creek
The Yearling Restaurant
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
Wood and Swink General Store

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

With unprecedented temps scorching the country, Florida may not seem like the place where you can stay cool in the summertime, but Cathy and Rick share how they stay cool, where they go, and what they do that make summertime in Florida delightful.

Links We Mentioned

North Florida
Dry Air Caves at Florida Caverns State Park

Apalachicola Chocolate & Coffee Company

Up the Creek Raw Bar

Boss Oyster — closed

Kelly Park at Rock Springs

John Gorrie Museum (He invented air conditioning!) 

Northeast Florida

Flagler College Tour (formerly Ponce de Leon Hotel, built and owned by Henry Flagler)

Lightner Museum

Government House Museum

Springs Park (Green Cove Springs)

Lincolnville Museum

Meehan Irish Pub

Central Florida

Orange County Regional History Center

Orlando Science Center

Blue Bamboo Arts

Timucua Arts Foundation

Disney Springs

Boathouse (eat!)

Drawn to Life (watch!)

House of Blues (art! blues! food!)

Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar (Indiana Jones, tacos, and the Fountain of Youth!)

Rick's piece about Disney Springs

Cathy's article about a Florida talent in Drawn to Life

Other links

Florida Humanities St. Augustine gathering

Gumbo Limbo trees

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at [email protected].

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!