Flagler College’s Hotel Ponce de Leon Included in ‘Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places’ List
Apr 24th
The former Hotel Ponce de Leon – the centerpiece of Flagler College in St. Augustine and a National Historic Landmark – won the write-in vote to be included in the Florida Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ “Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places” competition.
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organization asked Floridians to vote on the top 100 buildings in an online competition. The Fontainebleau Miami Beach took first place in the popular vote. The Ponce wasn’t included in the original list of 100 structures, but it garnered enough write-in votes to be recognized.
More than 2 million votes were cast in the competition.
The Ponce joins other Florida architectural structures including the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Cinderella’s Castle in Orlando, the Historic Capitol Building in Tallahassee, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed campus of Florida Southern College.
A former luxury hotel, the Ponce was built by Henry Flagler and it opened in 1888. It is widely considered one of the best examples of Spanish-Moorish Renaissance architecture.
When you first see Flagler College you will think it is part of the original old city. But the school was founded in 1968. The original Hotel Ponce de Leon, which now serves as the residence hall and is the center of the college was built in 1888 and is an architectural masterpiece.
Thomas Edison, whose winter home is in Fort Myers Florida, personally assisted in making The Hotel De Ponce de Leon the first building in Florida wired with electricity. In addition, Louis Comfort Tiffany of the famed Tiffany Stained Glass created the stained class inside the hotel.
The rest of the campus matches that historical architecture and as a result is a major attraction for visitors to St Augustine.
Statue of Henry Flagler at Flagler College, St Augustine
Flagler College is an independent, four-year, comprehensive baccalaureate college located in St. Augustine, Fla. The college offers 24 majors, 29 minors and two pre-professional programs, the largest majors being business, education and communication. Small by intent, Flagler College has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, as well as a satellite campus at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla. U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review regularly feature Flagler as a college that offers quality education at a relatively low cost; tuition is $22,500, including room and board. A relatively young institution (founded in 1968), Flagler College is also noted for the historic beauty of its campus. The main building is Ponce de Leon Hall, built in 1887 as a luxury resort by Henry Flagler, who co-founded the Standard Oil Company with John D. Rockefeller.
For more information contact: Brian Thompson, 904-819-6249, bthompson@flagler.edu
Hydrant flow testing set for area east of San Marco Ave.
Apr 21st
The St. Augustine Fire Department will be flow testing
hydrants in the area on the east side of San Marco Ave. between Castillo Dr. and May St. during the week of April 16. These areas will be tested starting at 1:00pm and lasting approximately 2.5 hours.
hydrants in the area on the east side of San Marco Ave. between Castillo Dr. and May St. during the week of April 16. These areas will be tested starting at 1:00pm and lasting approximately 2.5 hours.
As always, the department works diligently to alert businesses with heavy water usage, such as restaurants or hotels, of testing in their area. The department has expressed its appreciation for the cooperative spirit the community has shown during these important equipment tests in recent weeks. Please call the department with any questions or concerns at 904.825.1098.
“The Three Stooges” Is Soitainly an Embarrassment
Apr 21st
“Soitainly an Embarrassment”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Three Stoges: The Movie is how the publicist wants references to be made about this movie, which is so bad, it is lucky to have any references made to it at all.
However, speaking of references, what first comes to mind is a parody from the Bible: “When I was a child, I enjoyed the antics of The Three Stooges, but when I became a man I put away childish things and don’t find them funny anymore.”
The second reference that comes to mind is that the story is straight out of the 1980 The Blues Brothers: raising money to save the orphanage in which the title characters grew up.
This story starts off with three babies being tossed out onto the steps of the orphanage, and they look just like the identifiable mugs that we have come to recognize by their haircuts, Moe with his bowl-cut style, Curly with his shaved pate, and Larry, who is half bald and half wild and curly haired.
Incidentally, Moe is still the self-appointed leader of the group, but the grownup Larry is played by Sean Hayes, who is more well known than the actors playing Moe and Curly, and so Hayes is billed as the star of the movie.
Then we see the Stooges 10 years later, and they are doing the same shtick that we enjoyed watching them do when we were children. A young couple choose Moe for adoption, but it doesn’t end well, and they return Moe and choose another young boy instead.
Then it is 25 years later, the boys are all grown up now, and everybody learns that due to lack of money, the orphanage will be shut down at the end of the month.
The orphanage needs $830,000 to be saved, and Moe says, “We’ll do whatever it takes.”
All they know how to do is handyman work, however, and of course they aren’t even very good at that. But the Stooges are pure of heart and dim of wit.
And what follows is a falling out among the Stooges, Sofia Vergara as a rich woman who hires them for some dirty work, and a wasted and tasteless introduction of the reality stars from “The Jersey Shore.”
The Three Stooges: The Movie is not much of a movie and soitainly an embarrassment.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
