Florida's Citrus Tower (1974)

Recently, Florida's Citrus Tower celebrated it's 50th anniversary. In its heyday, Citrus Tower was owned by Wometco, which also owned most of the major pre-Disney Florida attractions as well as a movie theater chain. Then as now, it's basically a 22-story tower with an observation deck reached by elevator. At the base was a restaurant and a gift shop. In the 1960's, the novelty of seeing miles of lush orange groves from hundreds of feet in the air was worth a stop! You could buy fresh fruit, homemade candy and souvenirs. Out back was a miniature grove garden with various species of citrus trees on display. But in the 1980's, Central Florida suffered several major freezes. It was then that the citrus industry moved further South. Since then, the area has had a lot of commercial growth and new homes.

This Super 8 sound movie (shot with a Kodak Ektasound 140 camera) begins at the Tower's House of Presidents. Wax figures of the Presidents from Washington to Nixon are on display. We then go to the top of Citrus Tower and look out over the acres of orange groves that were present in 1974. It's a great look at Florida's past.

Filmed: April 28, 1974

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Kerry
• Decker
• Citrus
• Tower
• Clermont
• Orlando
• Florida
• Wometco
• orange
• groves
• 1974
• Kodak
• Ektasound
• 8mm
• sound
• home
• movies

[J1j1p]

I just picked up a kodak ekstasound 140, do you know where to get film from? and any info about shooting with it.

[KKD1247]

Hi. Super 8mm sound film has been discontinued but if you can find any Super 8 silent film, it will work - altho without sound. The Ektasound 140 was a basic Kodak camera with a mild zoom. All automatic - no manual controls. Find some film & have fun with it.

[fluteplayerIN]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I used to look for the tower when we visited Florida and knew we were almost to Orlando when we got to stop here. So different now.

[pserpas]

Things to do in Florida before the invasion of the Mouse.

[daewooparts]

lol why the CREEPY music !!

[timetobuyawatch]

is the tower haunted? is that the theme from The Exorcist?

great video!

[WrestlerHHS]

Hey! I just bought a ektasound 140, I have film and batteries inside it, but when i hit the little trigger i get nothing! the battrey check button yeilds a blue light and when the trigger is depresed I can see a red light that responds to sound from the mic.

why wont it record?

[rush1er]

I was born at Miami Baptist, and grew up around what is now Town N Country. It used to be all Strawberry fields. I haven't been down there in 15 years.( I live in WPB now)

[woodencoasterfan]

Nicely done. I was born in Coral Gables, FL in 74 and we moved to Orlando in 75 where I currently live to this day and I do remember vaguely visiting the Citrus Tower as a child. I remember hearing stories of how you could see Citrus Trees as far as the eye could see. Thanks for posting this.

[CassetteMaster]

Cool! You can hear the sound of the camera.