I have a couple of photographs from the dolphin arena, that was at the inlet, when my parents visited on their honeymoon in 1954. I've had trouble finding any more information about it or photographs of it. Does anyone remember it?
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Comments
That is cool! It was way before my time, so I don't have info on it. I would be interested in knowing the history. Thanks for posting the pic!
This is awesome - and something I have never heard anything about. I'd love to learn more about it too. I'll add it to my list of topics to try to research, but hope someone here can add some more info. Thanks for the pict!
Wow! OCguy.........it must really be off the wall if YOU'VE never heard of it!
De1trblu - If you have any other picts I'm sure we'd all love to see them!
They might help figure out exactly where this attraction was located - there is not enough background in this image to get any sense of where it was
Do you have any more info about the show?
According to the OC official facebook page, it was in the area where Sunset Park is now. You can see open water behind it. I have a couple of other photos, but this is the best one I think. I will post the others shortly. I appreciate the interest. Having lost both my parents, and my grandparents there is no one left to give me the answers.
The more I look at them the less I can be sure they were taken in OC. But I do know these were developed in 1954, and that is when my parents were married. Someone, an elder, in my family at some point in my youth told me there had been a dolphin show in Ocean City somewhere near the inlet. I always associated these pictures with that memory. I certainly would like to be able to verify that these were taken there. I don't ever remember them telling me of a trip elsewhere in those years.
I added one photo to my original post. It won't allow me to post anymore. I do have one other, pretty much the same view though.
De1trblu,
I spent some time looking at these last night and doing some research. I could not believe that such an apparently permanent concrete pool structure could exist in OC in the 1950s and I would not have seen it in any many other photos, including many aerial shots I have seen. Given the water behind it it would need to have been on the ocean beach or on a wide area of the bay. I did quite a bit of digging and I was pretty certain the pict was not taken in OC. The second picture confirms what I suspected.
The picture definitely was not taken in OC, in the second pict you can see palm trees on the right side. All palm trees in OC are imports, and I believe all have been imported in the last 30 years. They often don't survive the winter, so in some cases they are reimported every year. Seacrets does a huge replanting every year in early May.
So where were these taken? They were almost definitely taken at a place called "Marine Studios" near St Augustine Florida. Marine Studios was later named Marineland of Florida. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marineland_of_Florida
How did I come to this conclusion? I did some searching on dolphin dhows and there are lots of them out there, but only a few overlooking the ocean. Look at the two pictures below:
From http://www.cardcow.com/64153/feeding-time-at-marine-studios-marineland-florida/
From http://moultriecreek.us/journal/?p=78
Notice the similarities to your pictures. The performer's platform, the rails bent towards the pool with three sections and three rails on each side of the platform, the squared off walls beyond the railing, and the arched in section behind the performer with people standing or sitting along the lower white wall, the performer in a sailor suit, the ocean behind the performer. In your first pict you can make out all of these features. The clincher is your second picture which shows the folded platform or ladder to the right of the performer in the picture. You can also see that in both of the pictures above. You can also see a building in your second picture that is visible in the color picture above. Based on looking at several pictures of this pool, 1954 is the right era.
Hope this information is useful to you. Thanks for the mystery, even though it turned out not to be an OC thing, it was still an interesting search.
Hey OCguy, you seem to be pretty good at your research... I have a paper due on the Discussion of the different parts of the Sarbanes-Oxley law and wether it has made a difference. Try to get it to me by next week. MLA format... Thanks
I kind of thought they had a Florida feel to them, especially with so much open water behind them and after I scanned the other one I thought they were palm trees. Thanks so much for your research. I just don't remember them telling me they went to Florida. But your picture looks exactly the same and I am confident your are right. That was my whole purpose, to know for sure. I do appreciate it.
Kudos OCGuy! Nice research on these photos.
Ocguy do you work for the CIA?