Customer Reviews

Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids: A History of One of Florida's Oldest Roadside Attractions (Florida History and Culture)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mermaids in space suits. Mermaids on a swing set. Mermaids eating a 5-foot hot dog. If you like kooky photographs of bathing beauties then this is absolutely a book for you. It features hundreds of them, each one remarkably clear and full of detail.

But, frankly, they're not the point. As its University Press of Florida pedigree suggests, "Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids" recounts the serious -- yet never dry -- history of one of America's most funky roadside attractions. Marvelously researched with tons of personal interviews, it tells the sometimes inspiring, often fascinating and always slightly strange tale of how what started as a local novelty grew to be internationally famous, surviving everything from a visit from Elvis Presley to, after one performer nearly drowned, a mermaid strike.

Even better, the book doesn't limit itself just to Weeki Wachee. There's a whole chapter on Wakulla Springs, the Tallahassee-area attraction with a similar homespun past. The author explains how Wakulla storytellers used tales such as that of Henry, the pole-vaulting catfish, to offer "a better brand of natural history than that found in far more sophisticated circles." (I can vouch for Henry. I've seen him jump that pole many times!)

Produced in the same wide-rectangle proportions as a giant postcard, the book is smartly designed and well printed. It's one you'll love to have in your library.

Lu Vickers has captured the history and essence of a very special Florida attraction in this book. This book offers a glimpse into a fascinating place during a very interesting time in Florida's tourist history, where the unusual was the draw. It has obviously been written with great care and attention to detail, and is a beautiful homage to the legacy of Newt Perry's vision & creation. We are very lucky to still have this historical and unique attraction~ perhaps this book will help to further encourage locals and tourists alike to take a trip and visit this special Florida icon. Doing so will help to make the experience of watching such graceful and talented performers available for future generations.
~Marina~MeduSirena~

I absolutely loved this book! It is filled with beautiful, quirky, and amazing photos. The book is full of information and stories that will have you spellbound. My grandaughter and I even shared some bonding time while reading and looking through Ms. Vickers book. We laughed at some of the antics of the mermaids, and we even had our own mermaid beauty contest! Not going to tell you who we picked--have your own mermaid contest.

Lu Vickers has written an amazing book that has everything in it about the Weeki Wachee mermaids. You will love it. Every time you pick it up, you will find more amazing facts. We are planning a visit within the next few weeks to go to Weeki Wachee to see the mermaids for ourselves!

I fell in love with Weeki Wachee as a little girl and have fond memories of wanting to be a mermaid! I swam every summer more under water than on top! This excellent book brought my childhood back to life for me and wonderful summers spent with my grandparents, who lived within 35 miles of Weeki Wachee. Loved this book and highly recommend it if you ever went there and was transformed into a Mermaid!

For Florida girls growing up in the 50s and 60's the big goal was to become a mermaid at Weeki Wachee. They were so beautiful, so elegant, so perfect! That describes this book as well. Anyone who loves mermaids, roadside attractions, Florida, real bathing beauties or who always wondered what the girls were doing while Lloyd Bridges was on a Seahunt, will love this book!!! Thank you, Lu Vickers!

A highly detailed account that is part of a published series from the Florida University System. It has terrific detail and the writing style is enjoyable. Chock full of photos! Gives a perspective on the park that tells the positive and negative impacts on Florida of these attractions. I liked that it also gives a perspective on development of other water attractions in Florida and the people. I never knew that Ricou Browning, who played the underwater role in "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," had so many other accomplishments and played a large role in the Florida springs attractions. I really enjoyed this book and I believe it is a real bargain for the price. Recently, I visited the park and if you get to Florida I can recommend Weeki Wachee Springs for a great fun-filled day!

I ordered this book by mistake thinking I put it on my wish list, and am sooo glad I got it!! It is a wonderful book not only about the mermaids of Weeki Wachee, but also a history of Florida and the Roadside shows. It brings one back to a simpler, more wonderful era. Very moving and nostalgic. Now I must make a trip to Weeki Wachee. Great book for mermaid lovers.

Book was recommended by a former Mermaid from Weeki Wachee - it's a great book, well done - wonderful pictures and history from the area.

I grew up in a small town just a few miles from the Springs in the 40's and 50's and Weeki Wachee was our old 'swimming hole' where the men of the town would go clean out the 'grass' every summer so we could all swim and play even tho the water was ice cold and we would shiver and shake but refuse to get out and warm up. I remember a lot of the things happening that are included in the book and knew some of the 'mermaids' since I went to school with them and our P.E. teacher was also a mermaid. I spent many summers trying to learn how to eat a banana and drink a grapette under water(I never did accomplish this). This book brings back lots of memories and I think anyone who can 'remember when' would enjoy it and also anyone wanting to see a slice of 'old Florida' would also enjoy this book. I took my grandchildren back to the Springs last summer where we saw the mermaid show twice and once again swam in the icy water. They tried to be mermaids for weeks after and were enchanted with the 'mermaid' idea just as I was back in my day.

American ingenuity can change a place of natural beauty into a roadside attraction, like Mount Rushmore. Florida didn't have mountains to carve, but it had alligators to put on farms for tourists to see, or Cyprus Gardens for those who want to watch acrobatic waterskiing, or various monkey or ostrich farms. It also had beautiful springs of water so clear it was almost invisible. You could get perfect views of turtles swimming below, or fossils of mastodon teeth on the bottom, but for entrepreneurs, that was not enough. And so, the clear springs near the west coast of Florida became infested with mermaids. In _Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids: A History of One of Florida's Oldest Roadside Attractions_ (University Press of Florida), Lu Vickers has lovingly told the story of a longstanding example of tourist kitsch, accompanied by the photographs compiled by Sara Dionne, who also did research for the book. There are hundreds of photographs here in a lush-looking volume, stills from movies made at the springs, and reproductions of advertisements and brochures. The authors have looked at a wacky place seriously, and told the story of the mermaids with affection and with a larger view to the history and devotion to travel entertainment of the region.

The natural beauty of the springs was appreciated by the ancient Timucua Indians, and by visitors like John Audubon, but commercialism started when the St. Petersburg Springs Corporation bought the land. Newt "The Human Fish" Perry, was the attraction's guiding entrepreneur for decades, putting in an underwater theater, a submerged boxcar-looking room with seats in it and the windows giving a view into the waters. They could see fish, and turtles, but Perry knew they needed entertainment. Somehow, everyday activities became imbued with magic when they were performed underwater. People were amazed to see the swimmers simply eat and drink within the depths. There were an underwater brass band, underwater track meets, an underwater wedding, an underwater fashion show, an underwater beauty contest, and lots of other stunts. The water was so clear that some observers of films of the shows thought that the performers were simply held aloft on wires; bringing fish in didn't work, since the fish would go hide, so bubbles had to be prominent in the pictures.

There were landlubber stars who made their mark at Weeki Wachee. _Tarzan_ with Johnny Weissmuller was filmed in part there. So was _Creature from the Black Lagoon_, taking advantage of local talent and clear waters. Bob Hope, Howard Hughes, and Esther Williams (naturally) all showed up to see the show. So did Elvis, who saw a special show featuring a mermaid holding a placard that read "Elvis Presley's Underwater Fan Club." Introduced to the mermaids afterwards, he was awed by being with the swimmers; he held the hand of one of them, who said afterwards, "I thought he was going to rub my knuckle off, he was so nervous." Times change, and so do fashions, and so do attention spans. The springs have had ecological difficulties. The shows started before a lot of the Florida development boom, before the lawns and fertilizers, which have made algae bloom, making the water murky at times, and leaving a brown scum on the sands of the bottom. Draining a lake nearby caused silty water to enter the springs, clouding them. The resourceful mermaids dreamed up a new show, _The London Fog Mystery with Sherlock Holmes_ and performed close to the glass, until the waters cleared again. The biggest obstacle for the springs has been Disneyworld, whose powerful draw has shut down plenty of other small Florida attractions. Weeki Wachee has barely gotten by at times. It has added and subtracted different attractions, like alligators and birds of prey, and even in 2003 was going to retire the mermaids, who were only putting on irregular shows anyway. That resulted in the successful "Save Our Tails" campaign. Vice President Dick Cheney made a campaign visit there in 2000, and in 2005 the attraction showed up on a list of potential terror targets. There are more important institutions, and more important histories, but the mermaids have provided lots of goofy, touristy fun for decades, and for all its footnotes and references, _Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids_ delivers curiously oddball entertainment, too.