I am home and reminicent of past places in my life that have a personal meaning. Hard to go back as pictures are rare, those were the crazy days where picture taking was not in my mind. I ,again, found me a couple that should be in my blog of my dear Daytona Beach, and got me to do this full post on the City, Do see my other posts on it in my blog, I like to tell you a bit on curiosities of Daytona Beach !!! Hope you enjoy it as I
The City of Daytona Beach is located in Volusia County ,in the state of Florida,USA, It extends for almost 152 km2. The city is known worldwide for its many car races or motorcyclists taking place on its sandy beaches. The first car races took place in 1902 and continued there for 47 years,until coming to the Daytona International Speedway. The area where Daytona Beach is located today was formerly inhabited by the Timucua, a Native American people, living in fortified villages. The seminoles, descendants of the Creeks of Georgia and Alabama, frequented the area that existed before the Second Seminole War.(1835-1842),
And why do this post, well found me old pictures of one of working places in Daytona Beach not yet in my blog lol ! Definitively, it needs to be in even if with personal pictures and one taken from Google ! As sadly in those early days pictures were hard to come by as was into postcards collections !!! The job was in accounting position reporting to the owner of a small real estate resort company called Szarapka Corp at 138 Live Oak Avenue, Daytona Beach very near Beach St and the marina ! Good memories here worth have it as this blog ,told you, is my life’s history !
The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) is the main museum in the City and county, and is in fact a collection of art museums and galleries and includes the Klancke environmental complex, the Cuban museum (which I helped moved its works to this new location with Dr Libby (rip), the Root family museum featuring one of the largest collections around Coca -Cola in the world, the American Gallery Dow and the Bouchelle Center of Decorative Arts which, together, form what is probably one of the most beautiful collections of furniture and decorative arts in the Southeast. Among the other museums located in the city are the Southeast Photography Museum and the Halifax Historical Museum (helped move it!) Other spots to see there me think are the Daytona 500 Experience ; Daytona Beach Boardwalk, Daytona Lagoon Water Park, Jackie Robinson Ballpark where the Daytona Tortugas, A Minor League Baseball Team of the Low-A Southeast plays its games, Main Street Pier ; Mary McLeod Bethune Arts Center and the Visual Arts Gallery and The Ocean Center, Just saying, Daytona Beach has over 23 miles (37 km) of public beaches, and more than 10 waterfront parks, Notable Golf Courses Included Daytona Beach Golf Course, (very near my old home !.), and LPGA International, You have my University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University the best in the air, Eagles Soar. Go Eagles. I was for a while until moving to Bretagne,France, the mentor for my alumni assoc in France, about 3 high schoolers from France who went there got the complete rundown from me. I have several nostalgic places that still in touch by social media, these are the Angel & Phelps Chocolate factory and store on Beach St The hotels are plenty in which either have stayed later visiting or had school or business conferences in them such as Treasure Island Hotel (sadly gone), Daytona Peck’s tower and top of Daytona 29th floor resto, Daytona Inn Beach Resort, Acapulco Hotel (now Delta Hotels by Marriott), Perry’s Ocean Edge resort, Holiday Express and Suites (old top of the boardwalk), etc, Glorious eating establishements like Barnacles (gone); Alfie Restaurant, Aunts Catfish, Oyster Pub, Ocean Deck, etc, All good memories forever !
You have passenger airline services at the Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), located adjacent to the Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach is served by Greyhound Bus Lines, which has a terminal located at 138 South Ridgewood Avenue (US 1). The Greyhound routes from Daytona Beach connect with hubs in Jacksonville and Orlando. Votran is the local bus service provided by Volusia County. The City is,also, served by Amtrak by way of an Amtrak Thruway connection between the beachside and Amtrak’s DeLand station, 28 miles (45 km) to the west. I used the airport once, the rest never fyi, However,, plenty of car rides and road warrior trips !!! Daytona Beach is easily accessible by I-95 that runs north along the US Eastern seaboard, and south and I-4 connecting Daytona Beach with Orlando and Tampa. US 1 (Ridgewood Avenue) also passes north–south but much slower thru town’s center. US 92 (International Speedway Boulevard) runs east–west ,and best coming from the I 95 to the beach, SR A1A is a scenic north–south route along the beach. There are four bridges over the Halifax River ( Intracoastal Waterway). They include , the Veterans Memorial Bridge (which carries CR 4050 traffic), the Broadway Bridge (which carries US 92 traffic), the Main Street Bridge (which carries CR 4040 traffic), and the Seabreeze Bridge (which carries SR 430 traffic). All four bridges charge no toll to trafic ! Of course took them all many times !
A bit of history I like tell us that during the period when the British dominated Florida, between 1763 and 1783,(in exchange for Havana, Cuba Treaty of Paris) , the King’s Road crossed what has become Daytona Beach today. This route extends from Saint Augustine, the capital of East Florida, to the experimental colony of Andrew Turnbull, located in New Smyrna Beach. In 1804, Samuel Williams received a concession of land of 3,000 acres (12 km2), coming from the Spanish crown which had resumed Florida to the English after the American revolution. This lands concession included the area that would later become Daytona Beach. In 1871, Mathias Day, Jr., from Mansfield, Ohio, bought a plot of 2,144.5 acres, being part of the old plantation of William, located on the west bank of the tide channel known as the name of Halifax River in 1872, due to financial difficulties, he lost his lands, the inhabitants decided to appoint the city Daytona in honor of its founder and the city was incorporated in 1876. In 1886, St. Johns & Halifax River Railway arrived in Daytona, the line was bought in 1889 by Henry M. Flagler, who joined it to the Florida East Coast Railway, a railway belonging to him. The separate cities of Daytona, Daytona Beach, Kingston, and Seabeze merged to become Daytona Beach in 1926, in the 1920s, the City was nicknamed “The World’s Most Famous Beach” , It borders with Holly Hill, Ormond Beach , Daytona Beach Shores, South Daytona and Port Orange. The city of Daytona Beach is divided into two by the Halifax river lagoon part of the intracoastal waterway as mainland, and the other on the Atlantic Ocean side or beachside for the locals,. The terrestrial speed runners, from Barney Oldfield and Henry Segrave to Malcolm Campbell, went to Daytona several times and ran the 37 km of famous beach. continuously until the Campbell test on March 7, 1935, which established the record at 445.492 km/h (is 446 kph rounded) , and thus marked the end of land speed races in Daytona. On March 8, 1936, the first stock-car race took place on the Daytona Beach Road Race circuit, located in the City to the south, which currently bears the name of Ponce Inlet. In 1958, Bill France Sr (lived and died in DB), and NASCAR created the Daytona International Speedway to replace the circuit on the beach. Daytona Beach hosts notable events including speedweeks to the daytona 500. Other events include the NASCAR coke zero sugar 400, daytona beach bike week, biketoberfest, and the 24 hours of Daytona endurance race.
The City of Daytona Beach and its heritage : https://www.codb.us/27/Community
The Daytona Beach tourist office on things to do/see : https://www.daytonabeach.com/things-to-do/
The Volusia County on tourism info: https://www.volusia.org/visitors/
The State of Florida tourist office on Daytona Beach : https://www.visitflorida.com/places-to-go/central-east/daytona-beach/
There you go folks, coult not leave it out of my blog ! My nostalgic memorable experiences in my dear Daytona Beach, memories forever. Do see my other posts on it in my blog, Again, hope you enjoy this post on curiosities of Daytona Beach !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 