Tootsie

The giant fiberglass Muffler Men of the 1960s were so popular at their peak, that other companies wanted to get in on the act. Uniroyal Tire Co. enlisted International Fiberglass to manufacture a series of giant bikini women to grace their storefronts, and this is one of the few remaining examples left. "Tootsie", as she is locally known as, can be found in Bradenton, Florida, specifically at 6111 15th St. East. There was another in Ocoee, but as far as I can tell, it's now gone.

If you're too lazy to go out there, you can glimpse her on Google Maps (above) and Google Maps Street View (below).

Read more about the "Uniroyal Gals" here.

Coin-operated Flipper

On the crazy streets of St. Petersburg, not far from the panda statue, there's this old coin-operated Flipper children's ride. But was green really its original color, or have one of these "shabby chic" antique dealers overstepped the boundaries of pop culture curation once again?

St. Petersburg Panda

Spotted on the sidewalk along Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.

Pirate Woman

"Ladies can be captains," sang Adam Ant in "5 Guns West", and here's one now. This fetching statue of a female pirate can be seen outside The Beach Haus at Gulfport Beach.

Abstract Bird Statues

When it comes to public art, I like mine the beakier the better. So when I spied this grouping of bird statues in St. Petersburg, I was well pleased.

The Barefoot Mailman

Located at 1210 Hillsboro Mile in Hillsboro Beach, a statue stands of a barefoot mailman. Why? Because in the late 19th century there were eleven barefoot mailmen who trudged along the beaches between Palm Beach and Miami to deliver the mail. Roads were very poor in those days, and taking the shortcut up the coast seemed like a preferable route at the time. However, it wasn't as easy as a seashell searching stroll: approximately 28 miles of the "barefoot route" required postal carriers to row more than one boat to get to their destination. All this just so some guy in Lemon City could send a "Wish you were here" Florida postcard to his cousin Sylvia in Weehawken.

There are actually three barefoot mailman statues; another is in Pompano Beach and the other can be found on the Coast Guard's Hillsboro Inlet Light Station to commemorate the mysterious disappearance of James "Ed" Hamilton, who had moved to Florida from his original home of Cadiz, Kentucky.

In 1887, Hamilton vanished while he was out attempting the swift completion of his appointed rounds and the mystery has never been explained. Hamilton's possessions, including all of his clothes, were found neatly laid out on the north bank of the Hillsboro Inlet. The rowboat that he had used to cross the inlet was missing.

It has been speculated that alligators got him, but his body was never recovered and why he had removed his clothes remains a mystery.

There are antiquated reports that a "stranger from the north", no name given, was charged with stealing Hamilton's boat and tried in Federal Court in Jacksonville. As per the custom of the time, the man's name was never publicly released or entered in the record because he was found innocent. What really happened out there? We may never know now.

In addition to the statues, there's a historical marker about the barefoot mailmen located in Boca Raton. Curiously, it lists Hamilton as having drowned, which is really only conjecture on someone's part.

Tarpon Springs Sponge Diver Statue

Tarpon Springs is certainly proud of its sponge-diving heritage, and this statue of a diver dressed in an old-fashioned diving suit graces a city street.

But when I see these old-school diving suits, I can't help but think of the anecdote about Salvador Dali, in which he showed up to give a lecture at a university dressed in one of these suits, complete with bolted-on helmet. He launched into his speech oblivious to the fact that no one in the audience could understand him through the helmet. After some minutes of this, Dali realized that his handlers had provided no means for air in the suit, and he was suffocating. He began to make wild gestures, beseeching someone to help him and beating on the helmet, but the audience merely thought it was just part of Dali's surrealist performance-art. Fortunately, someone figured out just in time what was happened, and saved the world's greatest painter from what would have gone down in history as the strangest accidental death of a celebrity ever.

Sealife Simulacra of Tarpon Springs

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Big Beethoven Head

In Fort Myers you'll find the New University Pyramid Village, a peculiar little resort primarily aimed at Europeans visiting America. And it's here you'll find a giant bust of Beethoven, for reasons no one has really adequately explained. (And, even odder, there's a tiny little statuette of the Sphinx just below it, too.) But there it is. Tell Schroeder the news.

Annie the Dragon

In 1971, Florida artist Louis VanDercar constructed an enormous hollow dragon statue on an outcropping of rock on the Space Coast's Merritt Island. Popular for children to play inside, it was affectionately known as "Annie". After Warren McFadden took over the property in 1981, he used it for many fundraising events for charities like Yellow Umbrella Abused Children Foundation. McFadden made a number of additions and improvements to the statue, such as rigging it to shoot flames out its nostrils on the 4th of July.

Unfortunately, the sculpture partially collapsed into the water and fell apart during a storm in August 2002. The owner and the Brevard County government were unable to come up with a mutually viable plan to rehabilitate it. In 2008, a developer planned a luxury hotel/spa on the site and promised to reconstruct the dragon as the hotel's centerpiece, but like so many developer's promises, it never to came to pass. Many have tried to mount campaigns to bring the sculpture back, but all have stalled. Oddly, it seems virtually everyone in the area wants it to be rebuilt, so why hasn't it?

Above: Annie in her heyday. Below: An old postcard depicting the outcropping before Annie's construction.

Christ of the Abyss

Christ of the Abyss is a 8.5 foot, 4000 pound bronze sculpture of Jesus Christ hidden under the sea at Dry Rocks Reef six miles east of Key Largo. It is a copy of the original, which is also underwater in the Mediterranean Sea off San Fruttuoso.

Wanna check it out? Strap on your snorkel and make your pilgrimage here.

VFW Missile

This cheerful sight - what appears to be either an antique missile or a replica thereof - adorns the front yard of a VFW hall on Central Avenue in St. Pete.

Aku Tiki / Traders

In a world where most of the glorious Tiki-themed businesses of yesteryear are gone, it's refreshing to see that the Aku Tiki Inn still survives in Daytona Beach. Somewhere along the way it was conglomerated by Best Western, but kudos to them for retaining much of the place's original character. A giant Moai with red glowing eyes greets you at the entrance, and it's a replica of the original which was destroyed by Hurricane Charley in 2004. Other Tiki decorations, many by the great Witco, still remain on the premises.

The hotel's restaurant, Traders, doesn't quite recreate the splendor of old. There are no waitresses in coconut bras and grass skirts bringing you wooden platters of Ono and Dr. Sam Tee cocktails.

More photos of Aku Tiki here.

Lygia and the Bull

Oh, a statue of a naked woman tied to a bull? Okay.

Lygia and the Bull is a sculpture by Giuseppe Moretti, based on Henryk Sienkiewicz' 1895 novel "Quo Vadis," in which the Roman Emperor Nero condemned a princess to die in the arena because of her Christian faith. Without the backstory, however, tourists viewing it on display at Sarasota's Ringling Museum of Art are no doubt puzzled and quickly consulting the brochure. And of course, finding out the statue's grim meaning is a real buzzkill.

Protruding Shark

Just another day in Interzone.

Upside-Down Gator

An alligator, mounted upside down along one of the walkways at John's Pass, watches you from above.

John's Pass Pirate Statue

This pirate statue at John's Pass can be found near Cups (a store that sells nothing but Tervis tumblers.)

Big Pink Cat

This garishly decorated cat statue greets visitors to Atlantic Beach.

Snell Isle Panther Statue

Among the many pleasant examples of statuary on Snell Isle, there's a series of panthers that stand guard at street corners and intersections.

Morris the Casino Cat

Behind the Gulfport Casino there's a tribute to Morris the Casino Cat, whose ashes are interred inside the stone post supporting his miniature statue.

I mistakenly thought the popular "Morris the Cat" TV commercials didn't appear until the mid-1970s, but I checked and learned that the 9 Lives ad campaign began in 1968, so it seems likely after all that this Morris was named after the cat food Morris.