So Hoist Up the John B Sail 18 comments
Normal posting resumes tomorrow.
UPDATE 16 August 2012: Everything is better with mermaids, so I added some more pix.
18 Responses to 'So Hoist Up the John B Sail'
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Matthew
16 Aug 12 at 7:15 am
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Po Folks is still in business. That store is in Panama City FL.
Yes, that's Weeki Wachee. The mermaids wear their traditional tails during The Little Mermaid (except when she gets legs, of course) and most of their revue, Fish Tales, but they go for more of a dance costume for the underwater ballet and the patriotic Fish Tales finale. I've added some more pix to show the traditional costumes. (You really need to be on the front row for the best shots, which I wasn't, mostly..)
The retro McDonalds is in Starke FL as is the Western Auto. There was also a old school Western Steer there which was excellent.
ted
16 Aug 12 at 12:28 pm
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Sounds like you enjoyed several interesting sights on your vacation, and now I hope to see the following shortly:
Dress Barn, Dutch Square
Hibbett Sports, Sparkelberry Square
Merrit Jewlery, Dutch Square
Ladies' Choice Fitness, St. Andrews Shopping Center (former Old Country Buffet)
Display Center, 655 St. Andrews Road (former Piggly Wiggly #102)I'm also keeping an eye on the Dutch Square Kmart (which is the closing that lead me to discover this site) as the property has sold and I'm seeing construction dumpsters filling up with debris from interior demolition (but it's a case of "something's happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear" to quote Buffalo Springfield).
Andrew
16 Aug 12 at 2:34 pm
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Wow, Andrew.......let the man get settled in. It is not like Ted is being paid to do this. Like many endeavors it is probably a labor of love.
Terry
17 Aug 12 at 3:58 am
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@Ted
Thanks for the quick response! I'd always wanted to go to Weeki Wachee when I was little, and I saw the brochures on our road trips. And funny, I was just talking with some friends about the death of the old-school steak place (Sizzler, Western Sizzlin, Ponderosa). We forgot about Western Steer. Off to tell them about it!
Matthew
17 Aug 12 at 7:27 am
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I am not in any grand hurry or anything, it's just those are ones I'm looking forward to seeing in the days/weeks to follow.
Andrew
17 Aug 12 at 1:42 pm
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@Matthew, I had always considered "The Western Steer" the least of the steakhouse chains (after Quincy's & Western Sizzlin') but the one in Starke is great. They bring a bucket of ice and a refill pitcher to your table, and my burger was excellent, grilled all the way through, with steam rising from it after I bit into it.
Not at all what I expected in a very out of the way small town.
ted
17 Aug 12 at 11:48 pm
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Looks like you had a excellent adventure, Ted (no pun intended, unless Bill went with you)!! I need to take another FLA excursion soon! Like the pictures I posted under "Isn't It Time", you never know what you may find in Florida. It is like a whole other country (California and Texas are forgiven in this post).
The giant orange, the library, the adult cafe, and "we have peas" just about sums up what you can find when trekking through the Sunshine State.
I had no idea that Po Folk's still existed. Wasn't there one on Bush River Road around Boozer Shopping Center at one time? If it was, I think it may have been the building (long gone by now) that my aunt and cousin ran as an Italian restaurant called Mama Mia's. The old school McD's and the Steamboat Carwash were pretty cool as well!!
Did you see the Star Trek Exhibition? I haven't had a Star Trek fix since they closed the Experience in Vegas.
Have you ever been to Fernandina Beach? It used to be one of my favorite places before it became so commercialized (like Folly Beach has).
Welcome back!!
Homer
19 Aug 12 at 4:11 am
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Homer, if you browse through the Alphabetical Closings page (linked at the top), you can find a posting on the liquidation of a Kmart in Fernadina Beach.
Andrew
19 Aug 12 at 11:38 am
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@Homer,
There was defnitely a Po Folks on Two Notch.
I did take in the Star Trek Exhibition. The classic Enterprise (the *real* Enterprise -- James T. Kirk's) bridge set was the centerpiece, but they also had props and costumes from all of the various series and movies.
Fernandina Beach was my Father's home town, and like a second home to me growing up. I take many pictures there, but they end up on the Closings site only occasionally. See these, for instance.
I'm afraid I may have to add the beautiful Centre Street Post Office before too long.
Also, I'm afraid the beach-side Putt Putt may not last much longer.
ted
19 Aug 12 at 12:23 pm
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@Ted - A friend of mine was a manager at the K-Mart in Fernandina Beach in the early 80's. I visited him a couple of times while he was there and fell in love with the area at that time. It was so laid back, just a perfect place to get away from everything.
Those tiny boxes at the post office remind me of the ones that were in the original Irmo post office when I was a kid. I'm sure there are some still around in various small towns. The only ones I know of are at the post office in State Park off of Parklane.
The Putt Putt pics also brought back a lot of memories. I spent a great deal of my free time in the 70's/early 80's at the one that was on St. Andrews Rd. (where the dollar store is now). There was a Dairy Queen on the corner of St. Andrews and Ashland (where the McD's is now) that we would go to eat between games. I saw a few people take out the windows of the old Ryan's steakhouse that was next door with some well placed tee shots....:^)
My Mom doesn't remember what the restaurant was on Bush River Rd. that my aunt eventually took over but she is sure that it had Bill Anderson as a spokesperson. Po Folks, as far as I can determine, was named after an old song of his. I'm pretty sure it was located where the Chick-Fil-A is now. Do you have any old phone books from the 80's/90's that may reference Mama Mia's Italian Restaurant? Just asking.
Homer
19 Aug 12 at 11:18 pm
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"Mama Mia's Italian Touch Restaurante" was listed at Boozer Shopping Center in the Feb 1985 book. There's no ad though, just the listing.
ted
20 Aug 12 at 12:03 am
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That's it Ted! My aunt made some of the best lasagne and pizzas you could find at that time! After she retired and gave up the restaurant she couldn't be patient sitting around the house so she went to work at the Hardee's in Ballentine just so she could be around people. She passed away a few years ago, but she kept working up to the very end. She was the true southern lady. She loved food and people and realized that they were the common denominators that people from the South hold in their hearts.
Homer
20 Aug 12 at 1:14 am
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Po Folks was indeed on Bush River Road, very close or directly on the Chick Fil A site. After Mama Mia's, it was a Brandelli's (sp) Bistro or something.
jonathan
20 Aug 12 at 10:00 am
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Po Folks was at 215 Bush River according to Google, which is where the Advance Auto Parts is now
Kevin
21 Aug 12 at 8:17 pm
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@ Kevin. That is strange, since I thought that Western Auto, which turned into Advance Auto, had been there for a long time. Not doubting you, but would not have thought that myself. I know that Chinese place had been there a long time.
jonathan
22 Aug 12 at 12:20 pm
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The hit on Google is a listing of pay phones, which is definitely very dated as it includes several Revco's, Quincy's etc. It says there is/was a pay phone at Po Folks at 215 Bush River Road. I honestly don't remember, although I remember eating at both PoFolks and Golden China a few times sometime between 89 and 92 when i lived in Lexington ( and there were very few restaurants in Lexington). Chick Fil A is at 229 Bush River Road now.
Kevin
22 Aug 12 at 8:39 pm
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OK, looks like Google maps led me astray. A search for 215 Bush River Road places the pin at the Advance Auto Parts, which is really 249. So 215 would have been on the other side of Chick Fil A, where the aerial view shows a vacant lot.
Kevin
22 Aug 12 at 8:50 pm
Welcome back! You should've broken this up into a bunch of posts. Too many questions. First, Po Folks is still around? Second, are the underwater ladies at Weeki Wachee, or somewhere else? Just wondering why they don't have the mermaid fins on anymore. Third, where's the retro McDonald's?