FLA Seashell Palace Vanished - Beyond Tiki

K kctiki Member Kansas City Joined: Apr 22, 2003 Posts: 439	K kctiki Posted posted on Fri, Jul 30, 2004 7:16 PM The crown jewel of my recent Florida Panhandle tour was to be Allan Davis Seashells in Gulf Breeze. Several tourist info websites promised a beachcomber’s trip to yesteryear. Shells under glass representing a lifetime of collecting from all over the world. Marine specimens of the deep preserved in jars or hung on the walls –giantloggerhead shells and skulls, a mummified devil ray… orange blossom sachets in a vintage 1960’s display… The sign is still there, the building is still there. But it is vacant. Opened in 1950 and now it’s empty. Where did the priceless shell collections and vintage orange blossom sachets go? Does anybody know? But,I still had the shrunken heads to look forward to at the Wentworth Museum in Pensacola. Another disappointment, the shrunken heads are presently “resting in the dark awaiting restoration”. However, the Wentworth Museum does feature a mummified cat. It was accidentally walled up in a house built in 1850 and not discovered until 1948. Completely intact with fur and everything. It appears to have been yowling up a storm when it finally bit the dust, as one might imagine. Not asintriguing as a shrunken head, but suitably gruesome. On a strange note, two days later, at Marie Laveau’s Voodoo Lounge in New Orleans, I saw ANOTHER (almost identical) dried up cat in a glass case right over the bar! Spooky, no? [ Edited by: kctiki on 2004-07-30 19:20 ]
T TikiGardener Member 1st website dedicated to Tiki Gardens Joined: Mar 24, 2002 Posts: 1368	T TikiGardener Posted posted on Sat, Jul 31, 2004 1:58 AM http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/010804/Business/ST001.shtml "The late horror-movie legend Vincent Price, for example, wandered the place for an hour in amazement, commenting he'd never seen anything quite like it." http://www.tustudio.com/PBRLA/poi_adavisshell3.jpg An article from pre closing times. http://www.tustudio.com/PBRLA/poi_adavisseashell.html Another Florida original slides into the gulf sunset. TG http://www.exotic-tiki-gardens.com [ Edited by: tikigardener on 2004-07-31 02:01 ]
K kctiki Member Kansas City Joined: Apr 22, 2003 Posts: 439	K kctiki Posted posted on Sat, Jul 31, 2004 1:15 PM Thanks for the links Tikigardener. I'd associate Vincent Price more with the shrunken heads & mummified cats, but then, that was workaday stuff for him. Glad he got to be amazed by Allan Davis Seashells & Souvenirs, even if I didn't.

K

kctiki Posted posted on Fri, Jul 30, 2004 7:16 PM

The crown jewel of my recent Florida Panhandle tour was to be Allan Davis Seashells in Gulf Breeze. Several tourist info websites promised a beachcomber’s trip to yesteryear. Shells under glass representing a lifetime of collecting from all over the world. Marine specimens of the deep preserved in jars or hung on the walls –giantloggerhead shells and skulls, a mummified devil ray… orange blossom sachets in a vintage 1960’s display…

The sign is still there, the building is still there. But it is vacant. Opened in 1950 and now it’s empty. Where did the priceless shell collections and vintage orange blossom sachets go? Does anybody know?

But,I still had the shrunken heads to look forward to at the Wentworth Museum in Pensacola. Another disappointment, the shrunken heads are presently “resting in the dark awaiting restoration”.

However, the Wentworth Museum does feature a mummified cat. It was accidentally walled up in a house built in 1850 and not discovered until 1948. Completely intact with fur and everything. It appears to have been yowling up a storm when it finally bit the dust, as one might imagine. Not asintriguing as a shrunken head, but suitably gruesome.

On a strange note, two days later, at Marie Laveau’s Voodoo Lounge in New Orleans, I saw ANOTHER (almost identical) dried up cat in a glass case right over the bar! Spooky, no?

[ Edited by: kctiki on 2004-07-30 19:20 ]

T

TikiGardener Posted posted on Sat, Jul 31, 2004 1:58 AM

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/010804/Business/ST001.shtml

"The late horror-movie legend Vincent Price, for example, wandered the place for an hour in amazement, commenting he'd never seen anything quite like it."

http://www.tustudio.com/PBRLA/poi_adavisshell3.jpg

An article from pre closing times.
http://www.tustudio.com/PBRLA/poi_adavisseashell.html

Another Florida original slides into the gulf sunset.

TG
http://www.exotic-tiki-gardens.com

[ Edited by: tikigardener on 2004-07-31 02:01 ]

K

kctiki Posted posted on Sat, Jul 31, 2004 1:15 PM

Thanks for the links Tikigardener. I'd associate Vincent Price more with the shrunken heads & mummified cats, but then, that was workaday stuff for him. Glad he got to be amazed by Allan Davis Seashells & Souvenirs, even if I didn't.