Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: tourist attractions

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of smiling faces of yesteryear - photos of smiling people . A Silver Springs souvenir folder with a photo positioned so that it looks like we're peering into the front of the boat to see the smiling passengers inside. Silver Springs is a Florida tourist attraction -- and now a state park -- known for its artesian springs and glass-bottom boat rides. For an earlier example, see another Glass Bottom Boat Ride photo and folder.

For more information, see the full version of this photo.

A photo of a dock or a pier for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a 1957 snapshot of the Steel Pier , an amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Billed as "The Show Place of the Nation," the pier hosted a variety of shows and acts, including a diving horse and a bicycle-riding bear. When I purchased this photo, however, I didn't realize that it showed a bear and a woman riding bikes on the high platform visible on the left-hand side (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After I spotted the bear, I still couldn't imagine that you could train an animal like that to climb a ladder and ride a bicycle. But a YouTube clip of the Bicycle-Riding Bear that's part of The Nieroslavski Family at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. --filmed during summer 1960--provides a glimpse of how the bear performed its act. Attitudes toward animal acts have changed over the past fifty years, however, and making a bear ride a bicycle seems inhumane and dangerous by today's standards. As far as I've been able to determine, there are no longer any bicycling bears or diving horses in Atlantic City.

"In Washington, D.C., see National Historical Wax Museum. America's finest air-conditioned wax museum. 26th Street at E. N.W., near Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 9 am to 9 pm, including Sundays. Commander Alan B. Shepard." Cover of a 1960s brochure for the National Historical Wax Museum.

A fairground or amusement/theme park photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Or more concisely, a theme park photo for the Theme Park! Santa Claus poses with some of his friends at Santa's Workshop , an amusement park located in North Pole, New York . The group is gathered around an imitation North Pole--the white base of the pole is visible to the left of Santa's boots, and the "North Pole" sign at the top is partially hidden behind Santa's cap. For another Christmas theme park with its own North Pole, see Shivering at the North Pole, Santa's Village, Jefferson, N.H., 1969 .

"My Glass Bottom Boat Ride at Silver Springs. Walter Ray." A cleverly constructed souvenir folder and photo, positioned together so that it seems like we're peering into the front of the boat to see the passengers inside. Silver Springs is a long-standing Florida tourist attraction (and more recently a state park ) known for its artesian springs and glass-bottom boat rides. Walter Ray, for whom the boat is named, was one of the co-owners of Silver Springs. For a similar image, see PopCulture's glass-bottom boat photo .

The woman here is pretending to shiver in the cold as she stands next to the North Pole and igloo at Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire, during the summer of 1969. This is one of a number of vacation photos I purchased recently (in 2013). For another example from this set, see Home of 1000 Animals, Lake Placid, N.Y., 1969 . For another Christmas theme park with its own North Pole, see Santa's Workshop, North Pole, New York .

"Home of 1000 Animals" was a tourist attraction that was part of the Sterling Alaska Fur and Game Farms, with locations in Lake Placid (as seen here) and Ausable Chasm, New York. According to the sign, there was "No Place on Earth Like This," and many tourists--like the ones here in the car pulling into the parking space--were undoubtedly trapped into stopping. Among the thousand animals inside were St. Nick's Animals , a Santa-themed section where visitors could feed goats, deer, and other animals. This is one of a number of vacation photos I purchased recently (in 2013). For another example from this set, see Shivering at the North Pole, Santa's Village, Jefferson, N.H., 1969 .

A linen postcard with a close-up of a rattlesnake being "milked," which supplies venom for use in making antivenom . For another view of the procedure, take a look at a slide of a rattlesnake milking demonstration that also took place at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute in Silver Springs, Florida:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of your most popular vintage photo (post one of your most viewed or liked vintage photos that you haven't previously added to the Vintage Photos Theme Park) . With 2,884 visits, this is currently my most viewed vintage photo on Ipernity, I'm not sure why a photo of snakes turned out to be so popular. For other photos with lots of views, see my album of Most Viewed Vintage Photos, Dec. 22, 2019 . I was surprised to hear from "MJFTampa" about this photo a couple of years ago (see comments section below). He said, "This is an incredible find for me: This is my father, he worked for Ross Allen from 1962-1965; he was also on a billboard in Panama City Beach promoting Ross' reptile show during the summer season. Amazing what we can find on the internet!" ________ Signs on the wall: "Kinds of poisonous snakes milked at Ross Allen's: 47. Date: 12-31-59. Number of snake-bites, institute personnel: 47. Number of fatalities, institute personnel: 0. Snake-proof boots manufactured by Gokey Co., St. Paul, Minn. Coral. Scarlet king. Gokey snake-proof boots." This is a Kodachrome slide dated January 1964 that shows a man "milking" a rattlesnake at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute in Silver Springs, Florida, in order to obtain venom, which would then be used to produce antivenom . Several other snakes are lying on the floor near the man, who's evidently wearing a pair of the "Gokey snake-proof boots" that are advertised on the wall behind him. According to Wikipedia, Ross Allen (1908-1981) was "an American herpetologist and writer who was based in Silver Springs, Florida for 46 years, where he established the Reptile Institute. He used it for research and education about alligators, crocodiles and snakes, also sponsoring and conducting collection expeditions." See also a linen postcard that shows a scary close-up of the rattlesnake milking :

"Visit Roadside America, famous miniature village, Route 22, Hamburg, Pa. Harry R. Dubbs, Allentown, Pa." A cardboard sign for Roadside America , the quintessential American roadside attraction.

This red-border Kodachrome slide (undated, but probably from the late 1950s) shows an underwater performer at Weeki Wachee Springs. She's holding food to attract fish in one hand, while she hangs on to the air hose that she uses for breathing in the other hand. As Wikipedia explains, " Weeki Wachee Springs is a natural tourist attraction located in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where underwater performances by 'mermaids,' women wearing fish tails as well as other fancy outfits, can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting in the spring of the Weeki Wachee River."

Vintage Kiss-L-Toe packages dating to the 1950s on display at the National Christmas Center in Paradise, Lancaster County, Pa., in 2009.

"Mr. Santa Claus. Santa Claus, Ariz., on Hiway 93. Gallup Photo." Stamped on the back of this real photo postcard: "Santa Claus, Arizona, via Box 373, Kingman." See Wikipedia's Santa Claus, Arizona article for the story of what is now an "uninhabited desert town" and how it used to be a Santa-themed tourist attraction.

This photo showing some of "St. Nick's Animals" was taken at the "Home of 1000 Animals," which was a tourist attraction that was part of the Sterling Alaska Fur and Game Farms, with locations in Lake Placid (as seen here) and Ausable Chasm, New York. As the signs suggest (see text below), visitors could purchase food in order to feed Angora goats, several varieties of deer, and other animals. For another photo, see Home of 1000 Animals, Lake Placid, N.Y., 1969 . St. Nick's Animals, Lake Placid Notice. Deer will eat from your hands. Buy food from machines and get good pictures. Angoras climb the mountain. Feed 'em on top. Get a good picture. Here are . . . brown Japanese, white European, Dama dama, [and] Indian spotted deers.