Jim & June's Odyssey 100131 - Sarasota, FL

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Trip Start Nov 08, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Nov 08, 2009

  Sarasota, Florida, United States
Friday, January 29, 2010

SARASOTA – With its modern high-rises, historic Spanish style buildings and international architectural diversity, cuisine, music, art and fashion districts, Sarasota is also known as "Florida's Cultural Center." The entire city is enveloped in lush foliage. Sarasota Bayfront – The park surrounding Sarasota Bay was a perfect place to spend an entire weekend cycling along a landscaped shoreline, through banyan and mangrove canopies, past dolphin fountains, classic statues, weird artistic sculptures, and watching the magnificent boats/yachts. Along the Sarasota Recreational Trail, there are several BBQ/Oyster/cocktail bars, picnic/playground areas, and......

-        The G-Wiz Sciences and Technology Center – An interactive science adventure with exhibits, special events and hands-on activities.

·        Historical Markers – In particular, the story of Phillip Benjamin (considered the brains of the Confederacy), his position as of Secretary of War, his probable role in the assassination of President Lincoln, his fugitive years and, his detailed escape to England, from here.

·        Lawn Bowling Club – Yes, it’s mandatory that all participants wear white, only.

·        Marie Selby Botanical Gardens – With its many distinct garden areas, including a lush rain forest atmosphere, the towering Bamboo Pavilion, Banyan Grove, Cactus Garden and Cycad Collection, it’s the leader in the study, conservation, and display of epiphytes and their canopy habitats.

·        Marina Jacks Yacht Club – A fancy glass building at the entrance to Sarasota Bay with a splendid view of the harbor.  We celebrated Monika’s birthday there with her husband Gunter and neighbors Mike & Jane – the seafood was excellent.

·        Tidal Lagoons – Shallow channels that were renovated/rejuvenated to provide habitats for various marine species including shellfish (oysters, clams), birds & fish.  All are mangrove lined, have elevated wooden walkways (with viewing vistas) and they are very serine.

·        Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall – www.vanwezel.org

The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus troupe wielded tremendous influence over the growth & development of the Sarasota area. Most of their families lived here and other circus-related businesses formed an economic force.  We went to visit their estate.

·        About the Ringling’s – There were 5 brothers and besides owning the biggest circus business in North America, John & Charles Ringling were also major real estate developers and great benefactors to the Sarasota area.  At one time, John owned the entire island of Longboat Key.  There are Ringling freeways, Ringling causeways and Ringling bridges because their circus animals crossed them on their walk from the railroad station to the winter training quarters.  During the off-season, the Ringling’s travelled throughout Europe looking for new circus acts.

·        Ringling Estate – In the center of this 66 acre yard covered with Banyan trees (donated to the estate by Thomas Edison) and landscaped yard and shoreline, is an 8,000 sq ft opulent Ca’d’Zan (house of John) mansion with 41 rooms, 15 bathrooms marble terraces and decks overlooking Sarasota Bay.  Mable’s huge rose garden has won numerous awards and the whole yard is filled with hundreds of Cypriot, Greek and Roman statues.  Money was no object – some paintings were purchased for 40-50 thousand $$$ - this was the 1920’s.  John liked a particular bar in St Louis so he bought it, moved it to the estate and rebuilt it as his own Tap Room.  They threw lavish parties with orchestras serenading guests on the marbled terraces.  They wined & dined Broadway celebrities/movie stars on their yacht and enticed the rich & famous to invest in their entertainment ventures.  They even purchased the New Edzell Castle for US President Harding to be used as his winter White House.

Having spent a lifetime of building their estate, Mable Ringling lived in her house for only 3 years before her death in 1929.  John lived there another 6 years but died penniless – the stock market crash of ’29 wiped him out.  Several years later, Ringling descendents briefly reinvigorated the “Big Top” performances but it died a slow death from decreasing attendance when their 1500 workers became unionized and labor disruptions effected schedules.  At the same time, patrons discovered television, colored movies in air conditioned buildings and drive-in theaters.  The last performance of “The Greatest Show on Earth” was in 1956.  The estate is now owned by the State of Florida and governed by the University.

·        Asolo Theater – An 18th century, 3-storey, half-circle shaped building that was originally built in Italy but purchased by the Ringling’s and moved to Sarasota.  It is considered one of the most important architectural works of art ever brought to America.  Amazing!!

·        Circus Museum – Features venue memorabilia, posters, photos, elephant/horse/high-wire/trapeze costumes, performance equipment, hand-carved multi-colored parade wagons (that hauled elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, hippo’s), a truck mounted human-cannon-ball launcher and the 79 ft long “Wisconsin” rail car that the Ringling’s used to move to their next venue.  Each move required 110 railcars/flatcars.

·        Next door, is the World’s Largest Miniature Circus (built to 1/16 scale) and is supposed to mimic the Ringling Circus.  It took Howard Tibbals 57 years to carve 42,000 individual pieces including 152 wagons, 1300 performers, 800 animals, a 57 car train and 8 main tents – he’s not done yet.  Amazingly, it took 40 horses to pull some of the real big wagons.

·        Circus Clown College – Started in 1968, this is the ONLY school dedicated to preserving the art of clowning.  Here, they also learn how to “Fly through the Air” at the Tito Ganoa Flying Trapeze Park.

·        Museum of Art – This 22,000 sq ft building houses the large art collection of John Ringling who built and then filled it with 17th century Italian & Flemish masterpieces.  The inside is made up of 21 galleries and each one has about 10 large paintings (measuring 10’ x 10’) depicting works from a particular era. Today, this museum is considered one of the best in the world.

Things we Learned:

·        Other circuses that call Sarasota home include the Royal Hanneford Circus, the Great American Circus, Circus Maranatha, Sterling & Reid Circus and the Walker Bros Circus.

·        Throughout the USA, even numbered Interstate highways run east/west – odd numbers run north/south.

·        The Baltimore Orioles have their spring training camp at the Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.  Pittsburgh Pirates train & play at McKechnie Field in Bradenton.



June’s Comments:

Sarasota is a beautiful city and quite easy to find your way around. There are few hills and cycling is quite easy – believe me, if I can do it, anybody can!  Our tour of the Ringling Museum, home, rose gardens and art galleries was very interesting.  It seems that John Ringling had money to burn. There was a painting in his house that he purchased in 1929 for $41,000.  The average family income in 1929 was about $475 and that must have been an absolute fortune to pay for a picture!  I can’t imagine what his art collection would be worth in today’s market.  John and Mable had no children so when they died they left their Sarasota properties and personal belongings to the State of Florida. 



We had dinner at Marina Jacks, a prestigious seafood restaurant and marina along the Bay. Jim had the mixed seafood platter and I had Chilean Sea Bass. The menu is a little pricy but the food was excellent and unlike the usual upscale restaurants, the portions were generous.

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