Aquatarium is located on the Gulf of Mexico, St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Vintage St. Petersburg Aquatarium
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
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9 comments:
Read about my memories of AQUATARIUM at http://www.florida-backroads-travel.com/remembering-the-aquatarium.html
This aerial photo shows the huge main tank of the Aquatarium. When the oceanarium opened in 1964, they had two pilot whales in the main tank. They were purchased from Sea Lions International in California since Marineland of the Pacific would not consider selling pilot whales to anyone else in Florida since they were partly owned by Marineland of Florida. Marineland resented the other oceanaria which were popping up on both coasts of Florida. One of them, the Sea Zoo, was in South Daytona - just 35 miles south of Marineland! Sea Zoo was a 'marine menagerie' and was the tackiest marine attraction in history.
Greg,
Great, great history. I sure appreciate you sharing it with us. To have earned the title "tackiest marine attraction in history", because granted there have been a few, must have put Sea Zoo beyond verbal description. Thank you again for the great history lesson. You can be the Surf RJR, and he, RJR can be the Turf RJR. :)
Wade
KING OF AQUARIA says: "Mr. Burck, I wish I could go back in time and visit gone-but-not-forgotten places like 'SeaZoo' and 'Marineland of the Pacific.' One of the biggest disappoitments in my life is that I never got to see Marineland in California! Growing up, I would write oceanaria all over the country and what a thrill it was to come home from school and find a big, fat press kit from Marineland in the mailbox! Back in the day American oceanaria used to try and outdo one another in their publicity and promotional brochures by claiming to have the biggest tank. From 1954 - 1964 the largest tank was at Marineland of the Pacific containing 640,000 gallons. Then, in 1964 the Aquatarium opened with a tank containing 1,244,000 gallons. But the biggest tank of all was at Enoshima Marineland in Japan. They had a tank nearly the size of a football field measuring 200 ft. long by 100 ft. wide and 28 ft. deep! It was built mostly in-ground to prevent it from bowing in the center. I believe that tank has since been demolished and replaced with a newer amphitheatre-style pool. I would love for someone to dig up and display photos of Enoshima!"
King of Aquaria,
If you don't like Surf RJR, King Of Aquaria is more then appropriate. I do appreciate your great insight into marine parks of the past.
Don't we all wish we could go back.....I look at the new display tanks at Marineland Niagara surrounded by artificial rocks, and while granted better for the animals, in addition to looking like everybody elses, they lack the "hand on" feel the old concrete and stainless tanks used to have. The filtration system of a land locked, manufactured salt water facility was a marvel to behold, as well as a nightmare of the folks maintaining it. The Space Age/Jetson architecture made each facility unique in it's own right, but then their was a lot of copying of each other. I first performed at Marineland and Game Farm in Niagara Falls in 1976, and yes the competition was fierce with other facilities. For Marineland their "nemesis" was Sea World of Ohio.
Wade
http://www.florida-backroads-travel.com/more-marineland-memories.html
I grew up at the SEA ZOO in South Daytona. My step-father, M. S. Bangs, developed and operated the attraction before moving to Oak Hill to develop BirdLand. One can still see the masonry dinosaurs he built there. What a wonderful childhood. At Sea Zoo we had the first manatee in captivity which I fed daily, thanks to Piggly Wiggly's throw away green leafy produce. Rattle snakes were routinely milked by from Silver Springs who used the venom for medical purposes. "Baby", our dancing porpoise was a delight to feed from the canal pier.
Tacky was never a word I would have used to describe the facility. The area was not paved as was Marine Land, but natural sandy, and the alligator pit was a wooden fence.
I could go on and on about the history of this wonderful, educational place.
Mr. McQueen,
I would enjoy hearing more about Sea Zoo. Truthfully, growing up in North Dakota, I had never heard of it, until it was mentioned here. I would also like to hear more about Birdland, as I have never heard of that either, except for a mention year's ago by Jungle Larry Tetzlaff when I was working at Caribbean Gardens.
Children of an animal facility owner, like my children who grew up surrounded by tigers and elephant's normally have a very different perspective of the world they live in.
Wade
Dear Raymond: You might enjoy the article about 'Sea Zoo' on the website: www.florida-backroads-travel.com.
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