So what the heck happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village?

Back in 1983 I was on a family vacation in Florida, and my parents were visiting some friends who lived in Clearwater, FL. One sunny afternoon our Clearwater friends took us to the Boatyard Shopping Village. Here's a postcard I just found while looking through some old junk.

Click to enlarge, or don't

Look, here's another Boatyard Shopping Village postcard I found online.



The Boatyard Shopping Village was a full of specialty shops and a few restaurants themed to look like an old timey fishing village. It sorta reminded me of Sweethaven from that live action Popeye movie. Well that is a less detailed Sweethaven, and one made out of rusting sheet metal.

Hey those Popeye sets are still standing! Imagine that!



Anywho, here's the back of the post card where you can read the official description for the Boatyard Shopping Village.



So now here's the mystery - what the heck happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village? As you can see from the Google satellite image below, it appears that all traces of the Boatyard Shopping Village have been thoroughly removed.


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Also except for the postcards I've found, I can't find any other evidence that this place ever existed. I thought the place was reasonably cool when I visited as a kid. Didn't anyone else? I thought for sure I'd find someone reminiscing about the Boatyard Shopping Village on some obscure message board.

This place is more mysterious than Brigadoon.

UPDATE:  Be sure to read the comments if you'd like more info on what happened to the Boatyard Shopping Village.  A big thank you to all the people who have left great comments so far!

Prehistoric Forest

Since my last post was super boring I thought my next post should be extra exciting, and what's more exciting than dinosaurs.

This is a low budget brochure for Prehistoric Forest in Irish Hills, Michigan, and Prehistoric Forest was a dinosaur attraction filled with low budget fiberglass dinos.


Although it must be said that these were well done low budget fiberglass dinos, and at least when I visited everything was well maintained and freshly painted. Besides the dinos, there were other odd things to see at Prehistoric Forest like that "burning spring" thing pictured on the upper right above. I can remember asking my father how fire could be bubbling out of the water like that. Yeah kids can be so naive, but then again I was 23 when I asked this. Thank you folks, I'll be here all week!



Since the pictures in this brochure were all B&W I wanted to include some color photos my father took when this attraction was in its prime. Unfortunately I could only find one (I'll update this post if any other pix turn up).


This is the "Neanderthal Man" and if you noticed he looks like he had a makeover compared to the brochure picture.

You should have guessed by my use of past tense that Prehistoric Forest in Irish Hills is now defunct. According to a report online it closed in 1999. Thanks to YouTuber mortuarygirl1 you can see how Prehistoric Forest looked in 2009.


UPDATE: There's a few more color Prehistoric Forest photos right here...

Personal Money Management 1962

Hey it's tax time, and no better time than now to learn a little "personal money management." Well actually you're not going to learn anything from this post, and you're not going to be very entertained either to be honest.

Personal Money Management is a 58 page booklet that was printed by The American Bankers Association in 1962. The booklet is pretty dry, but there are a few illustrations that are "quasi-interesting."



I guess this last one is the "funniest" illustration in the booklet. I wasn't alive in 1962 so what do I know, but that cash register looks comically over-sized to me.

Coral Castle and Wongo

Here's a 1980's brochure for that mysterious monument called the Coral Castle...



Did you happen to notice that little box on the front of the brochure?

I don't know why they didn't list the classic fifties motion picture The Wild Women of Wongo (1958) also since the Coral Castle was featured prominently in the film. Surely "Wongo" would be a bigger draw than You Asked For It. Check out this super sexy clip...



After you've seen a small glimpse of the wonders of Wongo, you are now powerless to resist watching the whole damn movie which I have thoughtfully embedded below...

Call of the Wild

Hey it's a new post! It's a new post for the Call of the Wild Museum in Gaylord, Michigan...

If you look closely at the bottom of the cover of this 1974 brochure you'll notice it's "'Pokey's' nap time." I'll let you in on a little secret if you haven't guessed - it's always "Pokey's" nap time because "Pokey" is stuffed.



The Call of the Wild is a museum of stuffed animal displays, and when you really think about it seeing stuffed animals in a museum display are just as good as seeing live animals at the zoo. Right? I mean whenever I go to the zoo a lot of the animals just sorta lay there and do nothing, so that they might as well be stuffed.


An entire side of the brochure is devoted to a map of the state of Michigan. You won't have an excuse if you should ever get lost in the Great Lake State if you have this brochure in you possession.

I'm happy to report that the Call of the Wild is still in business, and you can visit their site if you click here.

Chicks & Gators

There was a "Moment of Zen" on an episode of The Daily Show years ago that featured a smiling young couple at a zoo (which appeared to be somewhere in Asia) tossing live chicks into the mouths of hungry crocodiles. The next day the producer of The Daily Show gave an apology (a sorta funny apology) to all the horrified viewers who complained.

Well I don't have any video of chicks being fed to crocodiles (hope you're not too disappointed), but I do happen to have two brochures inspired by this event...

According to Google, there is no information on the Internets about the now defunct Chicken Little Museum in Sterling, MI. I don't know what happened, maybe the sky fell down on it, but it looked like "a fun place to stop."

And who could resist that clip-art of the crazy clown, or that cheeky eye-catching text, "A PEEP show of Chicks" on the front of the brochure?


The inside of this brochure is full of text describing the museum. The final paragraph says the admission was only $1.00 (50¢ for ages 3 to 12). Wow that's CHEAP, cheap, cheap (get it? I don't know why I'm not working on Madison Ave.).

On the back of the brochure are testimonials from people who visited the Chicken Little Museum. I like how the first testimonial states it was "kept very clean." That's good to know those baby chicks weren't being kept in squalor.

And now on to the gators at the Everglades Alligator Farm in Homestead, FL...

I find it interesting how the juxtaposition of the speeding air boat and the group of gators makes it look like the boat is going to clobber the gators.

Well I guess if you're going to visit an alligator farm you might as well visit one were you can take a fun air boat ride thru the Everglades too. Also I'm very happy to report the Everglades Alligator Farm is still in business.

Check out their video...

Monster Love

Because Valentine's Day was less than a week ago, I thought I'd try some sort of romantically themed post. So how about something romantic, but with monsters, or what passes as romance with monsters. Monsters usually aren't the candlelit dinners and walks on the beach types.

Check out this fun page from National Lampoon Presents Peekers and Other True Facts (1982) called Carried Away by Bill Moseley which featured 10 photos of movie monsters carrying off woman.

Click image to MONSTER-SIZE it!

Movie monsters today don't seem to be carrying off the ladies like they use too. Maybe modern monsters have to go through some sort of sensitively training.

Anyway there are a ton of these "monster carrying woman" shots as you might have guessed, and after quickly leafing through my personal collection of horror movie books I've come up with a few more...

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 1920

As you can see this monster carrying off a woman goes way back to the silent era with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Man Made Monster 1941

I love old horror movie trailers, and to make this post more exciting (thanks all you busy YouTubers) I've included a few trailers. Now you can see the monster carrying a woman action if you watch the trailer for The Atomic Monster, aka Man Made Monster...

Robot Monster 1953

From Hell It Came 1953

Here's a trailer for From Hell It Came ...

The Alligator People 1959

I know this picture above doesn't show a woman being carried away. It's only a struggle now, but I assume it's a moment before the alligator man carries the woman away. Maybe I should watch The Alligator People sometime to find out.

Beach Girls and the Monster 1965

The above picture seems to only be a publicity photo. Judging from the trailer below the monster in the Beach Girls and the Monster only attacks the girls...

It! (aka Curse of the Golem ) 1967

The Horror of Frankenstein 1970

The Horror of Frankenstein 1970

Yeah "Frankie" is no longer carrying the woman, but I had to include this second shot from The Horror of Frankenstein for obvious reasons.

You're welcome fellas. (FUN FACT: That's David "Darth Vader" Prowse as the Creature.)

Now that you've seen those pictures, and if you watch the trailer below, maybe you'll be like me and wonder why they didn't feature this actress and her gravity defying breasts more prominently in the trailer (look fast at the 1:36 mark). It could only have helped ticket sales.

 Dracula vs. Frankenstein 1971

This mush faced creature has to be the ugliest Frankenstein monster ever, and Dracula is kinda unconventional looking too if you view the trailer below...

Movie posters also prominently feature this iconic image...

Captive Wild Woman 1943

This movie is confusing. Is it a about a mad scientist who turns a girl into a ape, or is it about girl who has a psychic bond with animals? Whatever it's about, it doesn't look like any gorillas are carrying away women from what's in the trailer below...

Invasion of the Saucer Men 1957

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster 1965

"See the kidnapping of the Earth maidens for the love starved slaves of a sterile planet!" shouts the announcer in the trailer below. (FUN FACT: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is also known as Mars Attacks Puerto Rico. Which is a damn good title too if you ask me.)

Robots also got in on the carrying away women act too (the "Ro-Man" from Robot Monster doesn't really count as a robot because I think he's more monster than machine)

The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951

Gort does carry Patrica Neal in The Day The Earth Stood Still, but that isn't Patrica depicted on the poster. If you check out the trailer you'll see a quick shot of Gort carrying Patricia...

Forbidden Planet 1956

Robby the Robot never carries anyone in Forbidden Planet, but it still makes for a cool looking poster.

Demon Seed 1977

Just for the edification those budding movie buffs out there, with all these robots walking away with hot women in their arms, the first time a machine actually impregnates a woman is in the Demon Seed.

Giant insects (or arachnids if you're gonna get technical) get the ladies too (well, at least on the posters).

Tarantula! 1955

Missile to the Moon 1958

The giant moon spider in Missile to the Moon is twice the playa his earthbound cousin is.

The Wasp Woman 1959

Since turnabout is fair play here's one poster where the guy is getting carried away. But this scene only happens on the poster, and the poster artist takes great liberties on what the "wasp woman" actually looks like as you can see from the trailer below...