17 September 2011

Saturday Snapshot...What I'll Miss About Florida...

For more of this week's Saturday Snapshots, please visit Alyce with At Home With Books.

The move from Florida to Virginia Beach is done. I'm happy to be back in an area I love, but there is so much about Florida I'll miss, especially since this is where my husband and I got married. In North Florida, the Neptune and Atlantic Beaches areas are barely known about, even though it's just outside of Jacksonville. When tourists visit Florida, they never go North; it's South Beach in Miami, the Gulf Coast, or the Keys. North Florida's First Coast on the Eastern side consequently has some of the best, uncrowded beaches around. And sand so firm you can ride your bike on the shoreline!

Jacksonville also has significant film history since it was the original Hollywood. New York producers looked for a spot to have their winter headquarters and they settled on Jacksonville for its easy railway access and warmer weather. Then, someone realized California had better weather...

Quick Creative Facts about Jacksonville

Jacksonville's 1st silent film studio was opened in 1908
The first picture made in Technicolor and the first feature length color movie ever produced in the United States was filmed on location in Jacksonville in 1917, entitled The Gulf Between
Jacksonville was a crucial part of African-American film history. Richard Norman produced films starring African-American actors showcasing positive images, versus the derogatory roles offered at the time and in contrast to the negative images The Birth of a Nation stereotyped.
G.I. Jane, starring Demi Moore (all the training scenes especially), Basic, starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, and Forces of Nature, starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck were filmed in Jacksonville.
Pete's Bar, established in 1933 in Neptune Beach (pictured below), was mentioned in John Grisham's book The Brethren.