A tour of the 'Heart' of Panama City Beach in 1986

A few slides at first, then a video camera capture of a monitor displaying an old VCR cassette. It's a dashboard cam heading west on Front Beach Road in 1986. Goofy Golf with the giant Tiki is the only remaining icon of old PCB.

[@michaelellis8526]

My senior year will never forget cruising the strip with My friends every Friday night then heading to the woods on Saturday and Sunday to the spring or Rattlesnake pond. And those Saturday nights at Sparkle Berry Hill All the Boys and girls riding up and down the hill then going back to the fire. Miss those days!!

[@briannewsome9038]

what I wouldnt give to go back to that time

[@davidabney7700]

Well said sir. Same for myself!

[@mm6461]

Too many serial killers back then.

[@danabarry81]

Amen!!

[@danahorton1202]

Back in my day Schooners was called "The Beach Party" i saw Johnny Paycheck play on a Friday one week and Head East on a Saturday the next week I think that the original "Beach Party" will live on via Schooners in the same location as in all the old locals minds. It has always been a hang out for locals since the 70's and those like us remember what it was and why It keeps going as a beach legend no matter how many hurricanes hit it.! You never forget you old watering hole!!!!

[@devonwhetstine6817]

Wow. So this is what my dad saw growing up. Now, all we see is high rise condos.

[@christosvoskresye]

Yeah. Even Highland View is starting to be that way, and Mexico Beach is well on its way.

[@moonwillow5]

Going to Panama City Beach in the early 1980s were the best days. Does anybody recall the giant statues, like for restaurant, The Sir Loin, and the big bull at Angelo's? Going to Miracle Strip Parkway and watching MTV videos at the little hotel where we always stayed…..oh how I miss those times. So many sweet memories.

[@aslmx1918]

Angilos is still there. Best steak in the world

[@moonwillow5]

Wow! That’s good to hear! I’m glad something from the past is still there ! Loved PCB in the early 80s

[@aslmx1918]

@@moonwillow5 it’s a lot more family oriented now but in the summer of 1988 it was a different story. Very fun but different. 🤘

[@moonwillow5]

@@aslmx1918 ha! It was pretty family oriented back then for us. My family only ventured out to Miracle Strip PW and Alvin’s Magic Mountain, which was big stuff to us. The rest of the time we played on the beach and listened to 80’s music. Now all of that seems so long ago and far away. 80’s music always takes me back there.

[@davidabney7700]

Oh, do I remember Sir Loin! That great big knight stood by the road (98 Front Beach). During the late 80's and early 90's we would dine there each time we visited PCB, our second home! The oyster-rockefella was superb!

[@ricka.2148]

Great video. I grew up in PCB. I go back yearly & spend time on the beach. Great place. Best seafood in the country.

[@oldpanamacitybeach]

Thanks for the compliment, Rick.

[@ellobo1326]

I ate at Angelo’s last night. Only my 3rd trip to PCB in past 15 years. But spent many a summer vacations there in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s changed sooooo much ! 😢

[@jwgreek8606]

I take it not for the better.

[@73gmiller]

Great Video. I grew up on the beach. My parents had a business so we all worked very hard during the season. This video brings back so many memories of a place changed so much.

[@oldpanamacitybeach]

Thanks, Greg, for the nice comment.

[@gabrielwatson7721]

My gosh. Burning your feet off because your flip flops broke, going to Alvins to buy a new float, bringing extra batteries for our boom boxes, the Miracle Strip Amusement Park, putt putt and go carts, and a refreshing dip in the pool at The Admiral Inn! We stayed there every Summer for YEARS! There was a Micky D's across the street. But my favorite place was on the beach. I've gotten so many sunburns but didn't care. We were kids/teens and nothing else mattered back then. Lord, let me remember those days of happiness. 💯🙏👍

[@gabrielwatson7721]

Chris. Indeed! I was a Cheat Commando, too, I suppose. Shipwreck Island was another one of my hangouts! The Lazy River and Mushrooms you could sit under. Glorious!😅 Where did you stay? Condo or hotel?

[@johnsheetz6639]

So exciting! I remember my parents, babysitters taking me down there cuz that's all I begged for. The swimmin'.the fishing just excitement for me as kid. Go home and watch Knight Rider fun times

[@jonathanmitchell9886]

I was in PCB a couple of weeks ago, and it was the first time that I actually found the Strip difficult to recognize. Alvin's Magic Mountain being gone really hurts.

[@davidbutler7448]

I was there Labor Day Weekend. We stayed at the Beach Tower. It was very sad to see that empty lot. And after all of these years I still can't get over the coaster being gone.

[@jonathanmitchell9886]

@@davidbutler7448 I know what you mean, and I'm not sure if I've got the heart to ever go back. The PCB we knew exists only in photographs and memories now.

[@brian_b_music]

@@jonathanmitchell9886 I’m a life long resident, and I just want to cry every time I go out to the beach. They tore everything down to build the stupid condos. Now there’s a condo every few feet, but all of places that made this beach what it was are gone.

[@jonathanmitchell9886]

@@brian_b_music It really is heartbreaking--even more so because the change seems to have been completely unnecessary. No one wanted it to happen, except for the handful of soulless moneygrubbers who built those condos.

[@brian_b_music]

@@jonathanmitchell9886 You’re absolutely correct. They cared more about MTV and being known as the place for spring break. Now MTV is gone but it’s still the same song. I’m afraid it will never change.

[@davidabney7700]

Thank you so much for sharing this great, great home video of PCB. Some of the "best years" of my life was spent in PCB during this very same time frame (1970's-1990's). This video brings back great memories of a great place!

[@oldpanamacitybeach]

Thanks for the kind comment..!

[@williamstalvey6920]

The construction business and the continuous greed of money has virtually ruined the nostalgia and the way we in the seventies and eighties got to expierience such a cool wonderful beach#used 2 love Panama City...fantastic trips/memories

[@davidabney7700]

Ditto's on those High Rise Condo's that have erased the view of the ocean from 98 Front Beach Road. The Mom & Pop's of this video made PCB the greatest ever for my family and I. Never been in a High Rise and still stay at Lolleye's Motel on Surf Drive. One of the few M&P's left. Those high dollar High Rises makes me ill.

[@williamstalvey6920]

@@davidabney7700 agree wholeheartedly Panama City was the best in 1970s and 1980s Then I went to Destin And they ruined that as well....stayed @ A spyglass inn or something like that....now its Sun Destin

[@mm6461]

Ted Bundy loved Florida during the 80’s

[@williamstalvey6920]

@@mm6461 what a moron response; but The Good Lord says, dont mock fools....so, no mocking

[@jwgreek8606]

SanDestin

[@lambertman]

This is great. Used to go to PCB as a kid in the 80s. Last time was in 1991 and these are great memories. Not for nothing, I love that you caught the digital billboard during that timeshare disclaimer that always confused me :)

[@aprillawson4578]

I started coming here for the summer in the 70's. My Dad was stationed here! He was in the Coast Guard working out of the Navy base

[@gwenlancaster3372]

Too bad they let the highrise condos take over....It was better before. They should have put in a zoning limit on height, such nothing over 4 stories.....The high rises make a canyon of concrete and discourage the open feeling of the beach.

[@Vector_Ze]

They should've established a set-back line decades ago. No new development within X yards of the high water line. Or, no new development south of US Hwy 98. Oregon, and other states have most of their coastlines protected from development. Bay County could have done the same, but it is owned and controlled by morons.

[@lcar4000]

Gwen Lancaster i agree. Those high rises changed the look of the beach, for the worse.

[@cayogator]

yeppers, I moved away to Gainesville in 89, it was great back then !

[@williamstalvey6920]

Very well said, I fondly remember the days of pulling up alongside the beach, parking and having access to the ocean. Thank God , alot of us grew up when we did so Panama city beach and destin fla we enjoyed it, for what it was back then, a true beach town.

[@davidabney7700]

Never were more truer words spoken! Ruined the old time PCB atmosphere! Never been in one, cost too damn much!

[@matchpoint14]

I went several times in the mid to late eighties with my buddies. Rudy a local there that worked on the beach renting chairs and taking people out on his sailboat for hire. He was cool enough and took me and my buddy out on his catamaran sailboat we had no money he just wanted to give us a little treat. Almost 40 years later and it is still the only time I have been on a sail boat. Thank Rudy, I wonder what ever happened to him. He was very tan with very blond hair. Does anyone know him? Also late at night we could see a boat anchored all the time way out offshore, me and 3 buddies hijacked one of those tricycle pedal boats and we pedaled all the way out there to that boat for some crazy reason we got kinda close and the man inside came out with a gun and threatened to shoot us we turned and pedaled back as fast as we could. On the way back in it was my turn to be in the water at the back kicking and pushing, because there was only room for 2 at a time. I was scared to death of a shark biting my legs off it was dark and quite a ways out. This was very close to the Top of the Guld and La Vela.

[@heathmcrigsby]

I want to go back. PCB is a hell hole now.

[@johnnystir9796]

Perfect video and perfect music. Thank you.

[@richardburchett]

I'd love to see an inside video of the Old House at Miracle Strip Amusement Park

[@runswithwolf7498]

The haunted house at M S was cool 😎

[@jimmyc2895]

My daughter was conceived at the miracle strip hotel seen in the video the year before this video was made.Wow..hard to believe its 2021 and my daughter is now 35 years old

[@MrCatalina31768]

Just fyi, that video was made in 1985 from a 1977 Dodge Aspen stationwagon.

[@Vector_Ze]

Such specificity! Did you make the 'video'?

[@MrCatalina31768]

Yes. I was 12 at the time. There just happens to be another Dodge Aspen Wagon right in front of us. We were camping at St. Andrews State Park for 2 weeks. He took this video from a youtube that I posted earlier. I don't mind however.

[@jimrockford4968]

Oh my God. That was me hitch hiking.

[@jimrockford4968]

The holiday inn had a huge waterslide and pool in the front of the hotel. Is it still there?

[@stevenr4652]

The Genie statue. Wish I had a picture of him, but i cant find it anywhere on the internet.

[@oldpanamacitybeach]

There's a lot in the photo section of Old Panama City Beach FB page...maybe even some video...

[@flashinthepan3273]

0:28 Does that happen to be that abandoned old rock formation looking building on the beach across from the Boar's Head? I always wondered what that used to be. Noone I ever asked could really give me a definitive answer. I first moved to PCB in '08'. I'm not there now, but moving back in a few months. I hope everyone is ok after the storm.

[@theweakestlink2278]

The big rock looking store was an Alvin's Island gift shop. It was huge. By far the best one on the strip back in the day.

[@ridecaptain1]

The rock you speak of was the U-turn Sunburn Saloon.It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1995,I got the salvage rights and still have a lot of the pressure treated lumber and poles.

[@marcelg4956]

so right about the condos BIG money dont give a f@ck I remember deer walking on the beach in the late 70s. It's still a beautiful place. But i think they should bulldoze all that shit down back to all natural.

[@Chichilovee]

We used to stay at sea aqua. Eating watermelon on the picnic table 😋

[@terryhobbsiii]

Dot forget funland

[@highwayexplorer]

What was the place that was a tall white castle building and had a bunch of video games in early 1980’s?

[@Dr.I.C.Spots247]

Castle Dracula wax museum

[@jonathanmitchell9886]

Does anyone remember Beagle Burgers? They were little square burgers of the Krystal/White Castle variety, and the restaurant was in one of those two tiny buildings beyond Alvin's Magic Mountain--I just can't make out which.

[@jimrockford4968]

Jonathan Mitchell no but I remember dairy king

[@jimrockford4968]

The old Americana motel had Budweiser cans in the coke machine

[@maxspurlin2002]

Awesome .

[@jwgreek8606]

The year of my birth.

[@charityclaborn4611]

Holiday Terrace!

[@dannystacy9824]

the lady that ran that in the early 80s could be tough. she would personally inspect the rooms before she gave deposits back. lol

[@cayogator]

where was Schooners ???

[@Vector_Ze]

You say "video camera", but in 1986 ... don't you mean film camera? Anyway, nice capture. I'm a reluctant long term resident of Bay County and I enjoyed your video, even though 1986 is long after I'd given PCBch up as lost. Nowadays, the only time I go out there is if business requires it, or better yet if a hurricane is approaching. It's really sad for me to see the condo canyons which have replaced paradise. One of the reasons I'm a severe weather fan ... I cheer the storms on, wishing for the maximum damage. Doesn't do any good though, the rich bastards just collect the insurance subsidized by all Florida residents and rebuild "bigger and better" than ever. They're Trumpish folk, screw them and what they've done to the "World's Most Beautiful Beaches". And old advertizing slogan which is a JOKE nowadays. 10-20 years earlier is really when it was in its prime. And probably before your time. Cheers.

[@oldpanamacitybeach]

Thanks for commenting. The camera that was used to capture the footage from VHS playback on a monitor was a digital camcorder.

[@dougs7367]

Nope, video camcorders were a thing in 1986. They were large, pricey and used VHS tapes but you could buy them at Sears and other electronics/department stores.

[@davidabney7700]

@@dougs7367 I had one of those Sear's Monsters. Mounted on my shoulder, but I captured a lot of PCB memories on it.

[@jwgreek8606]

Tell me about it!

[@Vector_Ze]

@@dougs7367 It's pretty clear the source is film.

[@heyyou2925]

The music 😑 off beat 😑

[@nelsondagen3180]

Terrible choice for background music to this piece,,a hit song from 1986 would be a no brainer to me but what do I know? Lol

[@oldpanamacitybeach]

Yes, you are correct. A former partner replaced my selection in order to qualify for monetization. I will change it back soon. Thanks for the comment.

[@aristidesmoreno5026]

Esa vaina no es Panama

[@derrickevans3016]

Not good any more...all politics!