Post #608664 by TikiTomD on Sat, Oct 1, 2011 2:36 PM

The Blowfish Bar is celebrating the arrival of two new paintings by El Gato Gomez, created using gouache, acrylic, and colored pencil on poplar wood panels. I am a big fan of this artist’s retro style, especially her futuristic (1950’s sci-fi) creations (see http://www.elgatogomezarts.com/).

Here they are, framing the great room sliding glass door next to the bar...

I spent some time at the Flagler Beach Historical Museum this morning pursuing the origins of the Flagler Beach Pier A-frame structure. I found out that Bernie Wilson, the late husband of the Museum’s current President, Catherine Wilson, actually constructed the A-frame, completing it in 1963. Ms Wilson could not recall any details, and the Museum file on the Pier didn’t address my question. So, I’m still left with an elusive tie-in to an extinct Polynesian restaurant, Beyond the Reef, that was located a few miles south along Hwy A1A in Ormond Beach during the early 1960s...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal November 4, 1962

My next stop will be at the Ormond Beach Historical Society to see if they have images or information regarding the Beyond the Reef Restaurant. All I have to go on is the obituary of the former restaurant owner...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal February 17, 1980

While still in the Flagler Beach Historical Museum, I had an opportunity to look over its latest gift, the skeletal remains of a 1940’s era Tom Blake hollow surfboard, quite a treasure...

Here are several web sites that provide the historical context...

http://www.surfmuseum.org/html/tom_blake.html

http://www.woodsurfboards.com/blake.htm

http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000315.html

With bright sunny skies, low humidity (very rare) and moderate temperatures in the upper 70s, it was too perfect a day to stay immersed in museum dust, so we headed to Hurricane Patty’s for a cocktail and lunch on the Intracoastal Waterway...

-Tom